Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities

L2 version 0.3 is a long way from completion, but I decided to see if I could make a couple activities anyway driving on the completed sections.Required files from the train-sim.com file library:newroads.zip
cyktrck1.zip
cwcer03.zip
cta2400.zipIf you don't have Xtracks 3.7 or the standardized tsection.dat build 20, it's in the newroads.zip package so you can copy it from there.Once the CER (Chicago Elevated Railways L2 0.3) is installed;http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/User_files/3f331bd16582126e.zipDownload that, extract, copy or move to \Train Simulator\Routes\CER\.Not much of the route is completed, and there are no signals, but by some tricky fiddling with reverse points and starting times these two activities give a pretty good feel for what it's like to be a CTA motorman. For most of both 15 minute runs you're sandwiched between a leading train and a following train, which makes the schedule rather frantic.
A CTA motorman knows the commuters didn't pay a buck and a half for a smooth ride, they're in a hurry, so speed is the name of the game with blastoff acceleration and re-entry braking. An 8 car CTA train weighs 216 tons, but with every axle powered it comes out to 3520 horsepower worth of traction motors. that also makes the dynamic braking VERY effective, the modern CTA trains don't have air brakes.The route is very scenery intensive, so unless you have a screamin' demon machine;Go into options, advanced display, disable all shadows and specular lighting, turn the visibility slider all the way down to 500, and lower both the train object texture quality and world object texture quality sliders down to 2. That gives good eye candy combined with playable framerates on a decent system. For slower systems you may have to reduce those further, plus the world objects density settings, to get playable framerates with all the AI traffic.
You start in a 79mph zone so take advantage of it while it lasts, full tilt boogie to make up for the time you'll spend crawling thru restricted speed zones.Hmm, not too fast tho, good thing the brakes are so effective.He (or probably she, most CTA Motormen these days are actually Motorwomen) is coming up to a 15mph curve, so you need to slow down before the speed zone so you don't turn two 8 car trains into a 16 car train."You take the High Road...""And I'll take the Low Road...""And I'll be at Roosevelt before ye!"
These yellow signs with 2, 4, 6, and 8 numbers are for position info, you have an 8 car train in both activities so stop even with the number 8 and all your cars are in the correct place for the platform, with none overhanging the other end of the platform.
Running under the Loop the trains tend to bunch up with so many stops close together, so don't worry about following the other guy closely. If you hit the #5 key for the rear passenger view;You'll see that the guy behind you isn't worried about it! Anyone wants to drive the 2400s or 2600s with a Raildriver console, see this:http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/19478.html

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RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., ccyko, Aug-08-03, 01:09 AM, (1) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., Stooopid_person, Aug-08-03, 01:20 AM, (2) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., sniper297, Aug-08-03, 01:36 AM, (3) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., Stooopid_person, Aug-08-03, 01:54 AM, (4) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., ccyko, Aug-08-03, 02:13 AM, (5) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., sniper297, Aug-08-03, 02:48 AM, (6) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., Stooopid_person, Aug-08-03, 02:53 AM, (7) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., sniper297, Aug-08-03, 03:24 AM, (8) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., dhammerman2003, Aug-08-03, 09:05 AM, (9) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., sniper297, Aug-08-03, 11:11 AM, (10) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., Bing, Aug-08-03, 01:45 PM, (11) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., ccyko, Aug-08-03, 11:47 PM, (12) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., sniper297, Aug-09-03, 00:41 AM, (13) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., ccyko, Aug-09-03, 11:13 AM, (15) RE: Just for the EL of it - Chicago L2 activities., Franklin, Aug-09-03, 00:47 AM, (14)

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I see you've done a bit of research before this post. I'm impressed! Can't wait to try the activities!The 79mph zone is a fluke though, it's something that we'll have to live with till the route reaches completion. What I've done is set the maximum allowable track speed to 79mph to match the original track speeds of the Kennedy Line, however the CTA has a max 55mph speed limit. With MSTS, we have to cross the first Speed limit sign to get a correct reading of 55mph, or less.What's interesting, on a portion of the Kennedy line, the Cab signal will display a 70mph limit, though the posted limit is 55. I plan to implement this in the 2400, and 2600 series cab signals when I build the Kennedy line.-Chris

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i don't think in real life, trains are that close together!

--You are reading my signature now, don't waste your time reading it!--
Eh, where did my signature go?
Where has my favourite LUL train gone? Maybe it was sent for bolt checking again...

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"i don't think in real life, trains are that close together!"Hee-hee, whadya think, Chris, should we invite this guy to Chi-town and take him for a ride on the EL? "the Cab signal will display a 70mph limit, though the posted limit is 55. I plan to implement this in the 2400, and 2600 series cab signals when I build the Kennedy line."You can get the cab speed limit to display? I'm getting the left bar at 15mph no matter what the speed limit is, that's why I'm driving with the track monitor on.Already asked you this in the traction forum (I forgot there was one or I woulda posted this there), any chance we could see those 3 old construction pics you scanned at Pieritz brothers?!

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>"i don't think in real life, trains are that close
>together!"
>
>Hee-hee, whadya think, Chris, should we invite this guy to
>Chi-town and take him for a ride on the EL? So what's the headway of the trains? If trains were that close together, then they would have to stop before every station, as the train a few metres in front has also stopped at the station!

--You are reading my signature now, don't waste your time reading it!--
Eh, where did my signature go?
Where has my favourite LUL train gone? Maybe it was sent for bolt checking again...

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They don't run QUITE that close together, the min headways are about 2 mins, though in places the signals will allow for less. I'd expect the closest they'd get together without overiding the cab signal would be about 100-150 feet. I've posted the construction pics over in the traction forum, as well as plenty of other eye candy for Sniper.The cab signals in the MSTS 2400, and 2600 srs cars are dependant on aspect display. Red, always shows 15mph, green 55mph. They are not all that dissimilar to the Cab signals in the actual cars, as they are controlled by the ATC signals, just tweaked for MSTS.-Chris
CYKWORKS

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Cool!Well, as for the distance, what Chris said, about 2 minutes apart during rush hour, and up to 20 minutes real slack times like Sunday night. However they do converge downtown, and the downtown platforms are built longer accordingly so you can have as many as 3 trains stopped at a single station. Obviously the first train has to move on before the others can follow.Here's a blowup of downtown Chicago, where it says "Tower 18" is one of the interlockings where a bunch of different lines converge.Here's that intersection looking out the back window of an EL that just crossed it.Blowup of the same shot, the EL on the right is waiting for the one circled in red to move far enough so he can clear the interlocking without blocking it with the back end, and/or possibly cross traffic from one of the other lines coming from the left or right. I think it's 15mph thru here, but since all the trains are so short you rarely sit for more than 2 or 3 minutes at one of these interlockings. Unless there's a problem, of course, them guys in that tower gotta be busy beavers!Now that I got this new camera I'll go downtown one of these days and see if I can get some better shots, especially of the traffic at the stations and boarding markers downtown.

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>However they do converge downtown,
>and the downtown platforms are built longer accordingly so
>you can have as many as 3 trains stopped at a single
>station. Obviously the first train has to move on before the
>others can follow. So let's assume all three trains are at the platform. So the first one leaves. Does the second train closes it's doors and move up to the first train's position? And then open it's doors again? If it didn't, then they wasted money on building the longer platforms as only the first two trains in the day would be able to get the first and second positions.

--You are reading my signature now, don't waste your time reading it!--
Eh, where did my signature go?
Where has my favourite LUL train gone? Maybe it was sent for bolt checking again...

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Rats, I keep wasting my time reading your signature. No, it don't work like that. I'll get downtown sometime this week and get some better pics, cuz it's a little hard trying to understand it without seeing it. Chris knows all the newfangled color names for these lines better than I do, and my memories of what used to be keep getting tangled up with the way it is now, so I'm just gonna go by the old names. These are gonna be wrong since the order and direction around the loop has changed a zillion times since I was a kid.East/Southbound Lake/Dan Ryan EL (yeah, Chris, I know the "Green Line" don't go there anymore, I forget where it does go tho) comes thru at 12:00, stops at Clark & Lake at 12:02 at the far end of the platform. Ravenswood comes in behind him at 12:02:15 and stops in the middle. Probably 5 or 10 seconds later the Lake/Dan Ryan pulls out, the Jackson Park EL pulls in behind the Ravenswood and stops. Ravenswood pulls out, few seconds later Jackson Park pulls out, a minute or so later the next Lake/Dan Ryan pulls in to the far end of the platform, then maybe Howard to the middle, whatever. All these diverge to different lines at some point after leaving the Loop, so they will space out further eventually, and some lines have alternate destinations, IE the Howard Street used to go to either Englewood or Jackson Park at the south end, currently the Congress/Douglas-Milwaukee line goes to Ohare going north and northwest out of the Dearborn Street subway, and alternates the other direction, one to 54th and Cermak in Cicero, the next to Desplaines & Harrison in Forest Park. Obviously coming the other way from Cicero or Forest Park to downtown, if each line is running 4 minutes apart, when they get to the converging point at Ashland & Congress the Congress train that came from Forest Park is still 4 minutes ahead and behind of the other Congress trains, but he'll have a Douglas train sandwiched in between two minutes ahead of and behind him for the rest of the run under the Loop and out the Kennedy to O'hare.

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Question: I noticed the map in the screenshot where can I get it/pick one up? I will be starting college on Oct. 6 at the Illinois Institue of Art in downtown and I am looking at the schreenshot and I am saying to myself hey my college is on that map!Dave H.
"Off at college doing nothing but chat"

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I got that one from http://www.chicago-l.org (Elvis ain't the only one enamored with the CTA, they actually have a historical society and fanclub!). Most of the jpegs are way too big so I cropped that one.

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Now I feel at home!!! The El you say? CTA Chrismas Carol: No El, No El, I'll take the bus.Ah, those were the days ...... sweltering in summtertime on the north side runs, when the south side had all air conditioned cars. Gosh, it was fun. The most fun was when the El wooden structure caught fire. Somne fool flipped a lit cigarette off a platformk, it landed in the countersink hole for a bolthead, you can figure outthe rest yourself. Creosote treated wood makes for a nasty fire, too.There were times when an El crash would produce more accident "victims" filing personal injury claims than the total capacity of the cars, including standing room. The guys would climb up the El structure, sneak into the car through the back door, then present themselves as "injured" riders. "Next stop Wrigley Field! All cars, A and B stop at Wrigley starting 30 minutes before the game and continuing for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game!!""Don't forget your monthly tickets!!!" Oh ... no, that was the Burlington Metra Union Station - Aurora run. "Hollywood, Hollywood. Don't forget your monthly tickets." Yes, Virginia, there IS a Hollywood, Illinois. Back home again, on Wabash Avenue - where the light it never shines. Miller's Pub still there? Bing

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The elevated platforms on the loop can only hold 1 eight car train at a time. The only way that more than one train may berth at a station theoreticly would be if they were all 2 car trains. Even then, cab signals would not allow it, therefore it is not a CTA standard practice. Minimum scheduled headways for each line...
Red Line (Howard - Dan Ryan/95th via State Street Subway): 3 mins (8 car)
Blue Line (O'Hare - UIC Halsted): 3 1/2 mins (8 car)
(UIC Halsted - Forest Park): 7 mins (8 car)
(54th/Cermak - UIC Halsted): 7 mins (8 car)
Brown Line (Outer Loop - Ravenswood): 3 mins (6 car)
Orange Line (Inner Loop - Midway): 5 mins (8 car)
Green Line (Lake/Harlem - Lake/Wabash legs of loop - 59th): 7 mins (6/8 car)
(59th - Ashland/63rd): 14 mins (6/8 car)
(59th - Cottage Grove/63rd): 15 mins (6 car)
Purple Line (Linden - Inner Loop): 5 mins (6 car)
Yellow Line (Howard - Dempster St.): 7 mins (2 car)-Chris

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NOW he tells me! Well, they used to do it that way, back when I was commuting it was common to see two or three trains stopped in sequence at the long platforms in the Loop. I know I'm getting senile, but I could have sworn they even ran 12 car trains at one time, late 50s?

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When I was in Chicago in March I conferred with Graham Garfield about the train length issue, b/c I know the some of the Loop platforms themselves could only handle 6 cars until the late 80s/early 90s. He was saying that when the CRT, and CTA were running wooden cars that you would sometimes see non-standard car lengths (course these were not mated in pairs), and it would have been possible to see 9-10 cars. I know for a time when the CRT was running 4-8 car trains, before the platforms were lengthened, they would just not open the doors on the cars that were not in a berthing area. This of course before MU door control, when there was a conductor in each car (circa 1900-1910). All these things of course happened before 1954, by then the CTA was taking delivery of the 6000s, and by 1957 the wooden cars ceased to exist. THEORETICALLY, this would have been possible sometime during the mid-1950s with the 4000s. In 1954, some of the units were being taken off the subway routes, and dispatched in other places. If they were given to a looping route, before mated in married pairs, and given MU door control (which began to happen in the mid 1950s) the CTA could have trained them in longer than platform length trains.Hope this helps answer some questions about CRT/CTA practices.-Chris

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>Minimum scheduled headways for each line...
>Red Line (Howard - Dan Ryan/95th via State Street Subway): 3
>mins (8 car)
>Blue Line (O'Hare - UIC Halsted): 3 1/2 mins (8 car)
> (UIC Halsted - Forest Park): 7 mins (8 car)
> (54th/Cermak - UIC Halsted): 7 mins (8 car)
>Brown Line (Outer Loop - Ravenswood): 3 mins (6 car)
>Orange Line (Inner Loop - Midway): 5 mins (8 car)
>Green Line (Lake/Harlem - Lake/Wabash legs of loop - 59th):
>7 mins (6/8 car)
> (59th - Ashland/63rd): 14 mins (6/8 car)
> (59th - Cottage Grove/63rd): 15 mins (6 car)
>Purple Line (Linden - Inner Loop): 5 mins (6 car)
>Yellow Line (Howard - Dempster St.): 7 mins (2 car)Interesting! I'll keep this in mind when I make activities for a later version of the 'L' with signals.

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