What is the best way to place siding names?

This is the first time I have tried this feature. If I place a siding marker at one end of a siding and drag the opposite marker to the other end of the siding (yellow line extends full length of siding), in the sim, the siding name anchors at the mid-point of the siding. This is ok for short sidings. However I have some rather long sidings on my route. One in particular is about four miles long. Apparently the limit for siding markers is the same as carspawners--2 km.I am thinking of placing two default length siding markers on this siding, one near each end and use the same name. How would you do it?Another thing I have observed is that apparently a siding marker cannot pass through a switch. There is a siding in Lyle, WA on my route which has another (stub) siding branching off at about the mid point. How do you handle that?Cal Rasmussen
Beaverton, OR
(My email is in my profile)Columbia Gorge Route (Phase 2-- Started)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, GT Dan, May-02-04, 11:29 PM, (1) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, Brinch, May-02-04, 11:45 PM, (2) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, calr, May-02-04, 11:55 PM, (3) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, Brinch, May-03-04, 00:24 AM, (4) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, Swissie, May-03-04, 04:26 AM, (5) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, shawnbecher, May-03-04, 10:01 AM, (6) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, robertreedy, May-03-04, 10:42 AM, (7) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, calr, May-03-04, 11:11 AM, (9) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, mdeming, May-03-04, 11:03 AM, (8) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, landnrailroader, May-03-04, 02:33 PM, (10) RE: What is the best way to place siding names?, davidbeach, May-04-04, 00:45 AM, (11)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Cal,You have described the way I place my siding markers - one near each end. I find this much easier to use while in TS itself and needing to switch from one track to the other.Also 2 km seems to be the max length. I remember reading somewhere that you cannot place any type of interactive object so it passes through a switch. This is what caused me to originally place my marker at each end - it also give the engineer a "parking spot" for ending an activity.

Daniel Ward
The Good Track Railroad is coming!

http://gtw.railfan.net/index.html

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I'm not a routebuilder, so this a "users view". I prefer if all passing sidings and sidings placed to show name etc are very short, and sidings for setting out stuff are the correct length of the actual siding. It makes it alot easier in the activity editor, as you allways know which sidings are ok for putting loose consists and setting out.Peter

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

What you say makes sense. However, this is a prototype route. That 4-mile siding is on a busy section of single track with a lot of traffic moving both directions. Trains on this (BNSF) side of the Columbia river are typically over a mile long and need to be able to pass each other.Cal Rasmussen
Beaverton, OR
(My email is in my profile)Columbia Gorge Route (Phase 2-- Started)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Sorry, I can see now what I wrote isn't the same as I thought I wrote (It's early morning here, and I haven't had my coffee yet, one should never attempt to write anything before the morning coffee ) What I was trying to write is:Sidings like industrial tracks and teamtracks (all sidings for setting out and picking up), here the siding markers or whatever they are called should always match the original track.Short passing sidings: put the siding markers close together near the middle of the siding with the "correct" siding name like "MyPassing Siding"Medium to long passing sidings: Here you should put a short set of markers in each end named like this "MyPassing Siding - North" in the one end and "MyPassing Siding - South" in the other end. You can also put a short set of markers in the middle of the siding with the actual name, just take care it doesn't get to cluttered when you press F6 in the sim.This is what my idea was when I wrote the first message, I think thats the nicest way to do it, and it can still be made prototypical.Peter

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-03-04 AT 04:33 AM (EDT)

Hi Cal,as Peter has said: It makes sense to differentiate between naming passing sidings and spurs/sidings where loose cuts are set-out to or picked-up from.If it is a passing siding where no loose cars will ever sit because the track serves as passing track for AI or player trains, then a siding marker either end makes sense (why not name it "Whatever Siding East" and "Whatever Siding West"?). I have the gut feeling that extending the yellow line from the 5 metre default length to about 1-2 car lengths is a good advice - or doesn't hurt at all (at least with interactive platforms, leaving the markers at just the orignal default length makes them pretty useless - they show in the sim, but don't work unless you hit them exactly with the center of your car/engines).On the other hand, if you name a spur or siding where cuts will go in activities, then make the markers as long as the spur is. Not only as visual help for the AE, but also with the creation of switching activities in mind. The work orders in your activity briefing are based on the siding markers, and if the marker is only 5 metres long and sitting at the very beginning of the spur, then it is virtually impossible to set out your cars in the proper location and get the work orders function of the sim to accept your placment properly.If the spur was to long for one marker (+2 kilometres), then I tend to name the spur with "subsections", e.g: -------------------------------------------------------------->
\-----------------------------------------------|
"My Town Industries 1a" "My Town Industries 1b" or
-------------------------------------\
"Switching Yard 11" "Switching Yard 12" \
----------------------------------------\-->
"Switching Yard 21" "Switching Yard 22" /
-------------------------------------/
"Switching Yard 31" "Switching Yard 32"etc. For me this solution is also congruent with what I know as prototypical from my corner of the world: Long sidings, yards, spurs are split up into segments to avoid misunderstandings on where exactly a train / car / engine has to go.With regards to MSTS: The most important thing for activity creators is that basically any industrial spur/siding is named (because of the work orders, as mentioned above). Names on passing sidings are nice to have, but do not have any influence on the proper working of an activity. Lukas a.k.a Swissie

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I agree with What Lukas said. On the CP in Wisconsin, we refer to their sidings by three names. For example (my favorite railfanning spot) Nashotah West, Nashotah, Nashotah East. If I ever get around to doing the CP in Wisconsin for MSTS, I will be placing two short markers at the ends of the sidings (for West and East) and then stretch one out in the middle of the siding for the main name.Shawn

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Cal, can't say for being prototypical, but I've done what Shawn was saying above. Have a "North" (South, etc) marker with a corresponding and opposite marker on the other end. I think it makes sense, especially within the confines of what we have to do in the RE.RobertR .. ADF-M&RM at http://www.adfrr.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-03-04 AT 11:13 AM (EDT)

Thanks, everyone. Shawn, Lucas, Robert I like your ideas and think I will follow them.I have found a sneaky way to use siding markers to identify points of interest. Many people are not familiar with the region I am modeling so it would be nice to answer the question "What bridge is that? etc.". What I did was to sink a 10 meter section directly under the bridge near the end and place a a siding marker with the name of the bridge. As you drive a train past the bridge (highway bridge), the name appears near the end of the bridge like a floating sign. My initial attempt works great so I am going to use it in several locations. I just hope it will not screw up a tdb rebuild.Cal Rasmussen
Beaverton, OR
(My email is in my profile)Columbia Gorge Route (Phase 2-- Started)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-03-04 AT 11:04 AM (EDT)

The trouble with that approach is evidant when you use Switch List Generator. It looks for sidings and a passing siding is the same as an industrial siding as far as the program can tell. I would suppose that there are several ways to make a distinction between the two, I wound up removing all passing sidings on my route because for activity planning it makes it easier, at least for me. It would be nice to have Platforms, Passing and Sidings all as interactive objects with different functions, until then naming those sidings in such a way so that passing sidings are obvious is the best answer, such as St Charles Passing East & St Charles Passing West, would indicate what the purpose of those sidings are.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Cal,Since you are simming the lines along the Columbia, all of which I believe are TCS controlled, the sidings probably have a name, and then each end has it's own name.For example a siding called Tunnel, might have the name Tunnel, and the east & west ends would be called East Tunnel, and West Tunnel, or sometimes CSX says East End Tunnel etc.I use two markers if it is fairly short siding, and three or more if it is long.J. H. Sullivan

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON May-04-04 AT 01:00 AM (EDT)

Jerry,Both lines are far too busy for TCS. They are CTC from end to end, and the UP (south side of the river) is cab signaled.-EDIT-Actually, the UP does have a stretch of about 22 miles of double track ABS between about The Dalles and Biggs.David Beach.Palouse & Lewiston

Standardized \global\tsection.dat file now at build00023.

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2004 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.