Hey Folks, I will be updating the Tutorials, Guides & Helpful Information section next week with a selection of items posted in here. Just wanted to say what you're all sharing in here is wonderful, and please keep it up.
I wrote this guide for Boston to Providence a while ago for an American signaling stream that Matt was going to do. It's been a while and I'd rather just get it out there now so people can get some use out of it. It's a thorough look into Wayside Signals, Cab Signals, Automatic Train Control (ATC), and Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES). Enjoy!
Look closely at the photos. You'll see the flashing symbols around the light. Tough to see on a small screen, hence why I recommend zooming in
Wish I had that when I did my tutorial on ATCS and ACSES - I went on a magical discovery tour through various training manuals .
Would you ever be able to do a live stream to show everyone how to realistically operate on this route?
I have done that before I believe but I'm open to doing one again. It's just weird doing one when the signals and safety systems aren't in a great state.
That would be helpful, although obviously even better if everything was prototypical. Be that as it may, thank you for your written guide. It's very helpful!
Copied over the guide I once made for TSW2020 to TSW2 about UK/US/DE signalling. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2717677029
In the section on US signals you say "There's signalling charts for several railroad operators on the internet, but in my experience they're hard to learn and I could never really find a logic in them." Well, the first is true, but I can help you find the logic. The basic idea in US speed-signaling systems derived from the old New York Central System is that position = speed. A standard interlocking signal will have three three-aspect heads. The allowed speed is indicated by the topmost signal that isn't red- ergo top = line speed, middle = medium (almost always 30), bottom = slow (15 or 20 depending on RR). To this has been added limited (45), indicated by flashing green. The devil unfortunately is in the details, and each individual RR has added complexities to a simple concept
yeah, I figured out that the lower the green light is, the more restrictive the signal is. And obviously a yellow light is more restrictive than a green light. I guess I could add that info the guide, but I don't know how useful it is, considering ... ... the actual speed restrictions seem to differ on each railroad. There is no standard I could add to my guide, right? And then, that's just the green-red-red, red-green-red, red-red-green and yellow-red-red, red-yellow-red, red-red-yellow signal aspects. That still leaves any signals with a combination of a green light and a yellow light that make little sense to me. Or at least, I haven't been able to discover a standard that applies to all US railroads.
I'm afraid that for your guide you wouldn't be able to do just one overarching "United States" guide. You could do one for Union Pacific, which would at least take care of three routes. A second, which included ACES/ATC, would cover the NEC and Sand Patch (which use the same system). LIRR unfortunately is pretty much its own thing (and doesn't work right now anyway)
I want to keep things at least a tad simple, or else I'd just be copying guides elsewhere on the internet and my guide wouldn't really add much. So I'm trying to find a balance. Explain the basics which should help people at least for the majority of cases, without going into too much specifics which only complicate stuff.
A useful workaround for those who want to play London Commuter without experiencing the endless red signal bugs. Always spawn on foot when starting a service as opposed to starting via the timetable select menu. Having completed more than 250 services on London Commuter to date, it's a shame to still see people unable to enjoy the route with endless red signals who don't know about spawning on foot. Hope this helps! EDIT: Almost 600 services as of May 2023.
I am a completely new user of TSM 3. I was lost in terms of the very basic operation of the game, including how to just how to navigate around the game. After more than an hour in the training center, I am just able to move an engine. Is there any video that demonstrates the basic commands and the ability to move around in the TSM world. I watched many videos of various train routes and the driver is moving all over the place, in and out of the front cab, up and down the track, etc. I spent way too much time trying to just exist in the world. I found a list of about 200 commands to use in TSM and only learned less than 15 commands. I recognize most users are experienced and don't need this, but I sure do.
I'm sorry, but this one assumes one knows how to navigate in the TSM world. I'm looking for something more basic so I can just move around the world, then I want to learn how to make the actual trains move, etc.
Moving on foot is pretty simple: WASD or the arrow keys (either works). Mouse to control direction. Shift key to walk (or, change the option to default to walk, then shift to run). Most locos require the E key to climb in- but there's a trick to that, you need to open the door first if it isn't already. L key gives you a flashlight at night. Be advised that in most places your movement is restricted by invisible walls to tracks and their immediate right-of-way, and limited movement around stations.
New Driver here. Having some trouble on the MTA Harlem line, safety features on. The speed zone on the dashboard is not very well represented in the digital hud. Train registers some areas as 60mph zones but the digital hud says 45 or 30 in some areas, the actual train does not represent it.
At what speed should I be running the new Rail Treatment Train while cleaning the rails? I just watched a YouTube video of one operating in England, and it looked to be running about 10 mph. Is there an official speed for them to operate at? Thanks!
When driving freight on RRO I kept coming up to some mystery red signal that I couldn't see. I eventually found that I was being stopped by a sign that acted as a stop signal by digging through this pdf I found. It is a useful guide to many of the German signals and also the signs, it also explains how lzb works and so on. Document is in English. https://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/railreports/intranet/_pdf/deu_signale.pdf
For a UK signal guide I recommend this video by the British Ace: It's very good and teaches you everything you need to know about signaling in the UK!
Nice little idea I've thought of over the past couple of days. I've started to pick braking points for stations eg a bridge or an electricity box instead of trying to remember braking distances for all the different trains. This helps with route knowledge and if you're always changing trains helps you to stop nicely on the platform more often than not.
I do the same with IoW. Both versions. When traveling South near Brading you get a warning for a 20mph section before the station. I always wait until the crossing after that warning sign and then put the brake into the first notch, always slows me down perfectly and I hit 20 just before the section begins.
Thats how its done in real life, even more before safety sytems were not up to todays standard. Signalracks, landmarks, tunnels and bridges are always a good reference for a braking point.
Yep it was this line of thinking that led me to this! It's only took me about a year of playing haha.
As an aid to route learning I've started using a speak-to-text app on my phone so I can drive a service once with the HUD on and calling out speed changes, stopping points etc as I drive then printing out the notes and keeping in a binder for future runs. For me at least its definitely a quick and efficient way to make notes as I drive.
Welcome firas#2762 to TSW. Try this link for: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o7zeIn-Nshe7_bzqkd7hQg2QrV0G9xNvBevPoxTunA8/edit#gid=0 German Synergies. The sheet is somewhat outdated though!
A good rule of thumb when trying to brake for Boston Back Bay while on track two with the Acela is that when your engine hits the platform, apply a 10 pound reduction from the Brake Pipe, then as you approach your stop marker start reducing your automatic brake till your at a minimal reduction. If you also want to be picture perfect with your stops, I suggest trying to get this sign as close to the middle of the side window as possible. This is the result of doing the following above. Now in this scenario I did apply the engine brakes a little early, however I released the automatic brakes and coasted to my marker before applying a minimal reduction then graduating off the automatic brake. And just so there isn't any confusion, this is the sign you want to line up with the middle of your side window.
Many content creators specialize in train simulation games and provide in-depth videos on different aspects of the game, including train operations, routes, and techniques, for example on you tube. so this is no problem
For driving HUDless it would be helpful to have maps with the speedlimits of each british and us route. On the german routes it ist no problem because I know all the speedlimits. I already have some (ECW, CRR, WCL, TVL, IOW) but it would be helpful to know all speedlimits on every route.
It would be AWESOME if DTG released a route map with each route (modeled perhaps on the German Buchfahrplan). We have some very good ones made by the community, but a .pdf available on Dovetail's site would be great (and perhaps remove the sting of "No manual for you!")
I'd love that too. In the last year or so I've begun to drive on British routes more often after riding almost exclusively on German (and LGV) routes. I put a lot of time writing down speed limits on OSM-prints to help me, but it's a tedious job to do. The big issue I have with the UK routes (like BML and SEHS) is the absence of mileposts to help with situational awareness. I use landmarks (counting bridges and the like) to help me anticipate upcoming speed reductions and stations, but the learning curve is definitely much shallower than on German routes where speed reductions are almost always announced and braking points are easy to estimate based on mileposts. Still I do like the learning process, but e.g. on BML there are so many different routes and speeds assigned to those routes that it requires many hours of practice to succeed.
Not sure if this is the place to ask but one thing I never figured out is: Does departure time mean the train starts moving or the doors close? On MML the train takes about 30 seconds to close it's doors so I wonder if it's good train driver etiquette to close the doors 30 seconds before departure?
Departure time is when the train leaves. From what I've seen, guards close the door around 30 seconds before then (at terminal stations anyway). AI trains of course close the doors at the departure time.
