Has Approach Control Been Set Up Realistically In Tsw 3?

I’ve been playing SEHS for TSW 3 for quite a while now and one thing I’ve noticed is how approach control has been set up.

On every occasion, the signal will only clear until my train is very close to the signal and/or until I have come to a near complete stop. It’s not like I approach the red light at speed either. No matter what speed I approach it, it always clears in the exact same position.

In my experience of seeing how approach control is done in real life, I don’t think it has been set up correctly/been simulated fully in TSW, as the ‘trigger point’ has been placed way too close to the signal.

In real life, the train would coast towards the signal before clearing, in plenty of time so it doesn’t force the driver to come to a complete stop.

Another thing I noticed yesterday is that whilst driving an empty stock 357 into Gillingham sidings, my shunt signal would not clear/illuminate until I moved my train close up to the signal. The problem with this is that my previous instruction was to stop at the platform. So the game wanted me to move off the platform towards a red signal from standstill, which obviously isn’t realistic unless specially instructed to.

 

I'm not sure that's right, as the slower I approach the signal eg. Gillingham, the earlier the signal clears, but only somewhere between the magnet and the signal. IRL there's two ways of ensuring a train is going slow enough to clear the diverging signal

- a short track circuit (TC) - once the train has entered this circuit the signal shall clear - depending on the speed of the divergence depends on how long this TC is, and how far away the TC is from the signal.
- and/or a timer - once a train has entered a TC a timer starts to prove the train is slow enough to clear the diverging signal. The timer will never clear the signal at the same place as it depends on how fast the train is going.

A 15mph divergence or position light indicator should only clear if the train is below 15mph (or nearly stopped)

I think DTG have chosen the timer method - but they may have put the TC/ timer closer to the signal than necessary forcing you to go slower for longer. If you stop before the "check speed" TC then obviously the signal won't clear until you draw forwards.