I hope that my question is not considered to be utterly stupid or that I am really missing something obvious here. On some TSW2 routes, there are extensive shunting yards with a large number of tracks and manual points to be operated. One example of this is SKA with the yard between Stolberg and Aachen Rothe Erde. There ecen is a track that extends to a part of Eschweiler. Even in a "free roam" gameplay or scenario editor, it is NOT possible to access this yard, the reason being that all entrance points and signals are dispatcher controlled. That leads to my question: what are these extensive yards for and how can they be used? Have htey been created with a view to potential later extensions (such as the BR363) being included? If so, would it be a good idea to station a loco (for those who have it) on those yards? Again, sorry if it's just me being thick here, but I really don' get it...
You are certainly not being thick. It is a fair question. Artistically they are present because they are there in real life. If they were missing, there would rightly be many complaints. It would be nice if they were more populated though, even if only by AI trains. I think the way the game works though, they would only be usable by the player in a scenario, maybe in the case of a freight loco DLC being released for the route.
AI trains even when not doing anything suck up processing power = framerate. The way around this is to put in decorative static rolling stock which is visual only, without physics models, but to date this has only been done on LIRR and NEC.
Yeah, they could at least put some static Wagons and/or coaches and/or Locos in yards, just to make it feel a bit more lively. Going past empty yards can be rather dreary.
Yes I have noticed that, and also mentioned about it - between other issues - several months ago. Furthermore I request this areas be included on Scenario Planner, for creating your own rides on them. Apart from the yards, there are also some other areas further the "normal" end of the route, which have several tracks that can not be used.
If you look closely at the Route Map you can see coloured areas - Stations marked as light blue, Yards being the Yellow/orange, and reversing points/station bypasses as the Dark purple. Maybe we could be able to click on these and use them as start points, and then choosing where to end in the same way.
There are two ways that these things are represented. DTG either make all the tracks, signals and crossovers work (such as the ones noted above by others) or they put in "scenic track" which is visual only and has no in game use (such as the lines next to the Bakerloo above ground section You can see which is which on the route map In the Boston route, DTG have populated the line with some AI and wagons so hopefully the preserved crew can do this on some of the older routes (as a layer most probably) or even have such things as a kind of diorama (similar to the guys in orange on station platforms in rush hour routes) But for now we have vast open shunting / freight yards just waiting for future possibilites...
It's not a stupid question, it's a very good one. The main reason these sidings and areas of track are there is for route accuracy. If they are there in the real world, they should be there in game. DTH sometimes builds these areas as scenic only and off route, not allowing access in any way. Sometimes these areas are reserved for specific scenarios and sometimes they have been utilised/unlocked by DLC. With regards to trains being absent, see other posts in this thread talking about memory.