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Blackfoot 2 route, Reworking the template
dgionet
post Jan 14 2011, 06:41 PM
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Hello to all,

Following the completion of the Mactier template, I have decided to have a second look into Ted Kocyla's other excellent route, the Blackfoot 2 Sub and its template, done in March 2008. The experience acquired during the last years, including creating traffic inside dark territories with the Ozark and A&O Sub routes (from VSC) this year made me reconsider trying to make another attempt to create traffic inside the Blackfoot Sub, which at the time had no meets along, just eye candy traffic.

The second attempt earlier last year ended not satisfactory. This time, I believe I will be able to create some traffic patterns with meets along, on the same basis as with the VSC routes. The traffic will be minimal since in the earlier 2000, only a few trains move along the Blackfoot sub on a daily basis. Most traffic moves on the parallel Wainwright Sub. The Blackfoot Sub, done in the early 1900's, was ideal for the steam era in terms of consists length and with the current 100+ car loads of today, the sidings cannot hold them for meets.

In MSTS, the major problem with the Blackfoot Sub route is the length of the traffic trains compared to the VSC routes, a lot longer today. To create traffic for both VSC routes, I have created very short paths, not longer than the length of a couple of engines to allow traffic to move smoothly, having no interference with the traffic paths. With short player paths, all switches become manual and when the player train turns the switch to take a siding for an oncoming meet, the switch which had been turned remain as is and will cause the traffic train to stall at this area where the switch had been turned. But at least the traffic consists, being shorter than the siding's length, were able to clear the switch ahead of the player train so the player train can move again and resume the run.

However on the Blackfoot Sub, long consists versus the many very short sidings present in the route used in the past for meets in the earlier template couldn't make traffic possible at every siding. I couldn’t have 25-cars AI consists as the traffic trains are a lot longer across the sub.

While reading the details, I have discovered that only 4 passing sidings were actually used for meets between both ends of the whole route, 3 between the crew change points at the North Battleford and Vermillion Yards. They are at Bresaylor, Waseca, Blackfoot and the other one at Innisfill, between Vermilion and Vegreville. Vegreville is long enough as well to hold long consists. The sidings, each about 1¼ mile long (in the Subdivision timetable) could hold along reasonable consists and will make traffic possible with meets. The passing siding at Lloydminster is too short to hold any meets there and rather be diverted at Blackfoot, about 5 miles further west. Traffic timing will be the most important issue as I will try to make the timing stick to the diagram with the designated time to eact meeting point. Testing the traffic patterns will take some time.

Here’s the preliminary diagram with the passing sidings and Yards (marked in yellow) for the entire route in preparation for the final document:



In most routes, the passing sidings are from 10 to 20 miles apart. Here the 4 sidings, about 30-35 miles apart, will mean longer waits for the oncoming train but at least, you will see some traffic. The user will see whether one train or maybe none at all. That will be checked out as I look into the issue in planning the traffic. Remember you can activate in AG the “No AI traffic” feature if you wish not to have traffic in your SLG-generated activity. Also the EB and WB templates will reflect as possible the true operations regarding crew changing. That means that a WB leaving North Battleford will have to set Vermilion yard 1 as his final destination for the crew change, the same way it was done with the Mactier template. It is about the same principle for the other way around to North Battleford.

Also included in the future package is a LOCALS template that will depict some local work between North Battleford and Denholm and return, some local runs in Lloydminster for each of the CN and CP tracks and surroundings.

The first screenshots
North Battleford with SD60F's as the player trains for the WB and the EB Templates

Crossing the North Saskatchewan River

Entering Delmas





On this first attempt, the traffic train arrived at Waseca about 6 minutes late to the expected time.

At the Oil tank spurs

Past the Lloydminster plant


See next post for a few additional shots of shots from the LOCALS template...


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Denis Gionet
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dgionet
post Jan 14 2011, 06:50 PM
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Here are additional shots from the LOCALS template
The first two at Lloydminster




At the North Battleford Yard with idling CTRW Geeps waiting to return home along CTRW's Blaine Lake sub.


BTW, the equipment pack that complement the route will be the only download required to use the templates.

Will update later


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dgionet
post Jan 18 2011, 11:43 AM
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Here’s an update so far.

The templates, completely redone are now finished and are being tested. There are 4 templates: EB, WB, also LOCALS for each of the CP (at Lloydminster) and the CN (at Lloydminster and between North Battleford and Denholm)

I am including some shots of some SLG-generated acts:

Vermilion


North Battleford


Using the wye for the return trip at Denholm


The remaining from the EB between Vegreville and Vermillion, the crew change point onto the Blackfoot Sub
Vegreville

The UGG siding East of Vegreville

The Agpro elevators East of Lavoy

The last three in Minburn






On that last act, almost all trailing point sidings were part of the work, with pickups and setouts. A lot of work has been done which took near 2h45 minutes and was closing near Vermilion for the final destination at Vermilion 1 yard siding for the EB crew change.

Everything went perfect until ...two miles from Vermilion my train crashed at 12h15 with a WB which was supposed to arrive at Vermilion no earlier than.... 13h10, hmmmm dry.gif Well, back to the drawing board!

A node may be the reason for that surge in speed and will try to find the culprit.

I may consider using shorter successive paths rather that a single continuous path using the arrival time at the area before the meet. The arrival time would be the same as a straight line. For example, the AI WB straight path beginning at North Battleford starts at 9h29 and reaches the Waseca passing siding at around 11h00. Maidstone, the village before is reached about 10 minutes earlier at about 10h50. Then we could make a path which starts at Maidstone at 10h50 and will reach Waseca at the same time as with a long path and ends at the end of the siding. That would reduce the risk of encountering nodes which may be responsible for the problem I had with the AI train.

Remember, the passing sidings will be a lot longer than the AI consist itself and the user may not see the train disappearing at the end of the siding unless using the #3 view. And so on with the Blackfoot siding. Both sidings may be the only ones to be used for meets. From both ends of the Blackfoot sub, it will be unlikely that there will be meets at Bresaylor, whatever the direction taken. That will be investigated further with the testing.


Will update later


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Denis Gionet
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dgionet
post Jan 24 2011, 05:15 PM
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Hello to all,

I have finally been able to set some AI traffic in some areas of the Sub. It took some head scratching and some testing the time of the player engines to some areas while taking in consideration some work prior to the meet.

AI traffic paths have been shortened trying to avoid a similar problem as previously encountered. The player train is expected to have only one AI train throughout the activity. One siding has been temporarily set East of Lloydminster to provide a substitute meeting place because Waseca is too far away for a meet.

Here's the AI traffic pattern map to have an idea.



I have also worked into refining what has already done so far and the templates are now ready but there's more...

Last week, I had a surprise PM from Rory Rice in the Mophouse site, the creator of the original Blackfoot route. He is currently working along the CN's Blackfoot sub and has provided me with some interesting details about the train operations along the Sub. From this information, I have tried as best as possible to reproduce some runs under MSTS. The result: two new templates have been created to depict current operations, one for the CN 411 West manifest and the CN 828 grain run.

The daily WB 411 run start at 0500 from NB and stops at Vermilion, Vermilion Yards 1 and 2 are the sidings to be used as final destination where the user might have to split in two its load and wait for the Edmonton crews of the EB 412 to switch trains with the 411. Pickups and setouts are done only in Lloydminster and the Husky plant along the way. The grain handling is done by the 828 train (see next template)

Starting at 0500 (not sure of the exact time but will apply the same as the 411), The 828 is a grain run and is done by Edmonton crews. It sets out empty cars and picks up loaded cars for Edmonton. Starting at Vermillion, it goes as far as Lashburn and returns to Edmonton, working along the remaining grain terminals up to Vegreville, the Western end of the MSTS route and the rest of the work towards Edmonton

Here are some shots including the two current-time templates, the 411 and the 828.

Vermilion EB


Next two: The WB411 in North Battleford at 0500






The next two: the 411 working the Husky plant at around 0620




The CN 828 at 0500 leaving Vermilion with a 55-car load of empties for its daily run


Will now start testing the whole package and Benny is helping me as well. Thanks again Benny for your time.

Will update later





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dgionet
post Jan 24 2011, 09:06 PM
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I have just finished successfully the 411 act. in 3h30 minutes with work in the Husky plant and pickups in the Lloydminster yard. Working the Husky area took 45 mnutes

Some shots of the 411 Act.

Towards the Lloydminster yards for the last pickup (next two)


Highballing to Vermilion before sunrise

Reaching Vermilion after sunrise

The last setout backwards after splitting in two the 80-car consist


The 828 is expected to be longer to run, depending on the work to be done. Will find out during testing

More to come!


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dgionet
post Jan 30 2011, 02:01 PM
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Hello again,

Continuing testing the templates and the traffic patterns seem to hold on with short delays ( from 30 seconds to a minute). I have made corrections to the traffic timing and it should correspond to those on the map. It has been a good decision to create shorter paths to be able to make sure the traffic timing remains as scheduled. Depending of the starting path and the length of the act, the user may or may not encounter traffic. But in most cases he will but no more that one train.

Overall, it is very good and have still to work on what is probably the longest of all templates: the CN 828 grain run from Vermilion to Lashburn and back to Edmonton, ending the run at Vegreville on its way home.

Some screenshots of SLG activities:
WB at Claysmore

WB West of Kitscoty

WB Lavoy

WB The last setout at Vegreville before proceeding to Edmonton

WB waiting at NB for a train moving along the Turtleford sub for some grain handling.

WB Meet at Bresaylor as scheduled

CP locals at the Husky storage sidings

EB at Lloydminster for some work before going east

EB the meet at the Husky Storage 1 siding used as a temporary measure on time as well

EB at Vermilion taking its load EB. It met a WB at Blackfoot with a one minute delay


No specific idea when is my next post as my daughter is flying out of the bird's nest as she gets married next week-end. Things will be a little bit slower but will get back with a template package closer to completion.

Cheers


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dgionet
post Feb 6 2011, 06:18 PM
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Hi to all,
Back from a busy day Saturday with my daughter's wedding and everything went great. Glad to slow down the pace back to normal.

I stayed home today and took some time to complete what was started a while ago.I have been able to complete to what I believe was my longest activity ever made with MSTS. The CN 828 grain run had been successfully done. From Vermilion, with 55 empty grain cars, I have started the run EB as far as Lashburn and back to Edmonton with the last cars to be worked at Vegreville, handling close to 120 grain cars and took slightly over 8 hours to complete. Everything went great along.

Since the WB CN 411and the EB CN 412 run daily along the route, it was important to organize the meets carefully. For the WB 411, which starts at 0500, the MSTS run to Vermilion took 3½ hours to reach its destination. The best time to meet the 411 is directly at the beginning of the run at Vermilion, that is at 8h30. On your way back, you are expected to meet the 412 at Blackfoot and will be waiting for you inside the passing siding.

Remember, with so many grain cars in the consist (was up to 70 at one time) and once your work EB is over, you will have to go to Waseca and use the passing siding to make your turnaround back to Edmonton. It took 2½ hours to reach Waseca and the rest, about 5½ hours.

I have also created one template for the CTRW railway, a very simple one. With your load inside the Blaine Lake Sub ( up to 40 cars), simply bring your load to North Battleford, reverse and take back some cars for the way back home. Since there are no sidings in the Blaine Lake sub to set your cars, your activity is expected to end at the Brada passing siding, which simulates an oncoming meet and the player will have to stop at the end of the siding to succeed the activity.

Here are some screenshots of the grain run:

The start of the run at Vermilion at 0830 with the 411 coming in


At Islay for the first pickup


Marshall


At Lloydminster WB


The meet at Blackfoot


Handling grain cars at Vermilion, about 6 hours done since its departure


Past Claysmore


The next two at the UGG complex near Vegreville with some grain handling



The last pickup at Vegreville at 16h33 which will end successfully the activity.


I hope to release the completed package in a week or two, pending the green light from Benny and John, who are testing the acts, before uploading.


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Denis Gionet
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dgionet
post Mar 2 2011, 08:06 PM
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I have received the green light from John and Benny to release the template package. That should be sent to Steve later tonight. Sincere thanks to both for helping me with the testing. Just to remind everyone that in the upcoming package is also included a set of updated maps for the route, courtesy of Moe Smith. Thanks Moe!

Here is what will be probably the last screenshot of the topic before its release.




Be on the lookout for it in the next days


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Denis Gionet
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dgionet
post Mar 3 2011, 06:10 AM
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Just to confirm that the template package has been uploaded and is now available in the templates page.

Thanks again Steve!

Enjoy the set and happy trainsimming to all!


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