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I am working on release of a couple of new models and am trying to sort out the prefered wire height setting. Back in June, Paul DeVerter proposed some standards for overhead wire height: ( http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID12/16.html )I want to do a quick survey to see how that is working for everyone.Please get back to me in this forum with the wire height that you are using for your routes. Let's use the Route Editor setting for comparison. You may have discovered by now that the route editor height is measured from the track base, which is actually 0.325m below top of rail.Here is some data for comparison:
RouteRE HeightActual from Top of RailMSTS Tokyo-Hakone Route 5.4m 5.075m ( 16' 8" )MSTS NEC Route 7.2m 6.875m ( 22' 6" )My L&PS Route 7.325m 7.0m ( 23' 0" )Proposal for light traction 6.4m 6.075m ( 19' 11" )BTW, I think I will drop my wire to 7.2m to make my route match the NEC route.I'll use your feedback to consolidate and clarify the standard proposal. It'l make life easier for the model builders.Thanks in advance.
I wish that all electric lines in MSTS had one height standard regardless of what real-world lines have. We are all playing with a model, a recreation, there seems little reason to staunchly set wire height to that of France,Italy, Japan, USA, just because they set there wire at a certain height. To me the NEC 7.2 would be the logical choice to standardize ALL overhead MSTS lines. Rich
Yes, we all are playing with a model. But we all have our own ideas how we play, don't we. Some of us like to make it as close to the prototype as possible. Some of us get our kicks re-creating scenes as close to an old photo, or scene as possible. I know Wayne's this way, as I am.Unfortunately, Rich, the structures like carbarns, depots, some low bridges and more on the routes we are developing, are made with standard interurban wire hieghts set for the particular Railroad. I could not have my carbarns with wire set at 7.2 meters or there'd be this glaring problem: Either the carbarn opening would be too high, or the wires would plummet through the walls. I'll continue to keep the wires at 6.4 on the route I'm working on. And all the traction equipment I make has the option of having the trolley pole adjustable, for special wire requests, via email. Also, I've made models available in the library with two choices of height, 19-1/2' for the Mesaba route and 20' for the accepted standard interurban wire. Cheers!Tim
You tell him, Tim.There is now way in you know where that one wire height would work for city/suburban/interurban streetcars/trolleys/interurbans/LRVs and still work for a heavy electricl line with enough with height to allow tall doublestacks.This is another place where KUJU's total lack of knowledge of what they were modeling shows through. There is likely to be no real world electric line which has a (as in only one) wire height. Portland's MAX light rail system has a standard wire height, and that covers the vast majority of the system, but there are places where the wire is down a couple of feet below that level and the pans are practically fully down. So those locations can't be modeled as it is without either running the wire through the roadway above, raising the roadway unrealistically, or pushing the track down unrealistically. Then there are the draw spans on the NEC between NYC and Boston that don't have any wire - on both approaches to the draw span the contact wire is gradually raised to above maximum pan extension, the train coasts across the gap, and then the pan makes contact with the decending wire on the other side and gets gradually pushed back down to normal running height.Sniper had the right response to this in a response to a different "poll" in a different forum - how big should I build my dog house? The only right answer is to build it the right size.David Beach.David Beach.Palouse & Lewiston
David, okay I submit! But you pointed out something, maybe its not the height of the wires that is the problem but the fact that the MSTS models don't have automatic adjustable poles or pantographs that will accomodate high or low wire situations as they do in real life. Regards, Rich
With this I agree. Put it on the long list of "It'd be nice if...."It'd be nice if the poles and pans moved with the wire, the cars rocked back and forth with the uneven track, if there was uneven track! . Sure things move rather stiffley, but it's early days - maybe someone will come up with a more fluid program in a couple years. Look how far this sim has come from last year! Personally I think it's one of the best hobbies I've ever experienced, and it's getting better!Thanks to all who make this sim 100% better than Kuju or MS ever dreamed of.Cheers!Tim
