PC Gwe Speed Limits

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by hyperlord, Jul 8, 2019.

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  1. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Hi guys,

    since the last 14 (or so) days I play with security systems activated, the next progression after removing almost everything helpful from the HUD ;-)

    On German routes I'm happy, it's the signaling I learned most about. Next step (for me) is GB and I thought I might give GWE a revisit. Yesterday I jumped into an HST from Paddington to Reading and soon after leavin London the trackside speed limit (sign) showed me a 125 - so I crancked up the throttle and after 2-3 minutes I was driving 200 km/h (got really sweaty fingers during that).

    Then I think I saw speed signs signaling 60 and 40 (especially near stations) and braked accordingly. The security systems didn't go nuts or anything BUT there never came a 125 sign again after that. I drove the entire rest of the track (30 km ...) with 60 miles per hour and therefore failed to reach Reading on time. Futhermore over the course of the entire ride, on the HUD, the "red-bar" was permanently at 200 km/h (125).

    So I am wondering:
    1 Are just my eyes so old Iand I didn't notice a 125 sign?
    2. Is there a general "HST drives fast, no signs apply to this wonderful machine"-rule in GB?
    3. Am I doing speed limits on GB route terribly wrong in the first place?

    I looked up the GWE manual but there are no information regarding speed limit or signaling in general.
     
  2. Sintbert

    Sintbert Well-Known Member

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    Those 60/40MPH signs you have seen are most likely just for diversions. Those with the arrows below the speed. If you do not diverge, then they are not for you.
     
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  3. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Oh yes I've seen them and AFAIK they have to be read like "this is the speed, if you change the track at the switch ahead", right?

    Now that you say it, I think I overlooked the arrow. To be sure I'll drive the route again later, this time wearing my glasses, and report back.
     
  4. Sintbert

    Sintbert Well-Known Member

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    Exactly. They count only for the track from switch to switch, after that, its back to line speed and that one is most likely not repeated.
     
  5. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    You're absolutely right with everything, just verified the route. Thanks, I understand that much better now!
     
  6. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Bear in mind some of the safety systems have been set up wrong in GWE. So if you get an AWS warning (long beep in the cab) during a green signal, with no diverging route set or decreasing speed limit, you can safely cancel it and continue to accelerate to line speed.

    The most noticeable places it happens is at Slough (heading both east and west) and also accelerating out of Reading heading towards Paddington.
     
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  7. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    It can be quite confusing when you don't know the route and you come across a diverging limit but don't see the little arrow, you also don't get any forewarning of the limit before you get there (of course in real life the drivers know from their own knowledge)
    I would advise when route learning to always drive the route FIRST time with the aids in place to make your notes and only then remove the aiders
     
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  8. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Thank you guys, feels much better after a couple more tours. It's really something different than WSR or TVL where you drive lower speed.
     
  9. Sintbert

    Sintbert Well-Known Member

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    Well you get advanced warnings, just not in form of the actual speedlimit. You get progressively lower signal aspects, so you can slow down to the actual diversion. And if there is no speed board ahead of the diversion, you go for the lowest possible, which would be 40mph on the mainline, 15mph for a yard entry. With those speeds you are slow enough to adjust ahead of the first switch.
    For higher speed diversions like the 60mph or even 80mph you have a board well ahead of the diversion that announces that speed. At least i think i have seen some, may be that its from TS19..
    But in the end, every real driver knows every speedlimit anyway, those boards are just to define exactly where they start.
     
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  10. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Also one other thing, in real life when you are going onto a diverging route, with a different speed to the line you’re currently on, you’d get flashing yellow aspects. The point of this is to slow you down, for the purpose of not over speeding when taking the diverging route. It is also more effective than a standard non-flashing yellow, as that means the next signal could potentially be red, when in fact it is a green aspect, forcing you to slow down for no good reason.

    Whereas in GWE we don’t have this as explained above. In fact I think sometimes it shows a green and then the next signal shows you going on to the slow lines, with the crossover being 40mph for example. So you could be going 90mph on the Mainline and the next signal showing you’re about to crossover, so there is very little time to react with the brakes.

    It’s just one of quite a few issues with the signalling in GWE.
     
  11. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Which involves having that knowledge in the first place, and in the case of a divert for a HST you would need to know two miles ahead, which may well be before the first adverse aspect...
     
  12. Sintbert

    Sintbert Well-Known Member

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    Well, you "should" have the same signal progression as if you're driving towards a red signal, just with blinking lights instead of solid. So it should be enough way to stop ahead of the signal.
     
  13. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    I know that, you know that... newbies and foreigners probably don't
     
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  14. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    The blinking yellow signal happened yesterday, too.
    I start braking until I reach the next lower limit (e.g. 60 mph) until the next light (usually green). It only happended once, that there was really a red light ahead.

    I noticed on a other run, that I could see a yellow signal and upon approaching (like 400 meters away) it switched to green. This was happening for 2-3 kilometers. But I was cool, still on time.

    I get used to the signaling more and more. I guess it's somehow "learning the route", too.
     
  15. LastTrainToClarksville

    LastTrainToClarksville Well-Known Member

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    I'm puzzled. Why would you throttle up to 200 km/hr after seeing a 125 speed limit sign? This just does not make sense to me.
     
  16. Railfan722

    Railfan722 Well-Known Member

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    200 km/h is 124 mph. Presumably, they are running with the metric measurements on, and most speed limits are fairly easy to convert - 60 mph is 100 km/h, 100 mph is 160 km/h, etc. The speed sign is in imperial, and hyperlord's HUD is reading it out in metric because it doesn't switch automatically, and as long as speed isn't critical for safety systems (PZB) then it's probably easier to do it that way than switch it manually for every route.
     
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  17. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Thank you Railfan722 that's correct and saved me some typing ;-)
     
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  18. LastTrainToClarksville

    LastTrainToClarksville Well-Known Member

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    I apologize for raising the question -- I have trouble dealing with more than one measurement system at a time.
     
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  19. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    You are welcome AND I have the same problem, that's why I stick to metric and have a piece of paper in front of me with a table of miles=km for every sign or speed limit I came across. Obviously I like the German routes most ;-)
     

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