Progress at Bicester

[ianm42]

I finally found time to do a bit more track-laying by having a day off work with a stinking cold. This is an expensive solution as I am self employed. However it does mean that the Arncott loop is 3/4 completed, with the extensive MT sidings and the triangle junction in place. Once I have completed the loop, and laid the Piddington Branch, I will be ready to send the track-only route to interested persons for testing.

This is how the Graven Hill loop looks, showing the exchange sidings and connection to the LMS line at the top:

[snowcrashandy]

Looks the part Ian, can't have been easy laying all that accurately.......

Cheers,

Andy.

[Timcourt1]

Ian,

I bet you got frustrated at times getting all that lot joined at the end

[spinemaligna]

I thought loops were strictly a no no in MSTS. Is there a clever way around the problem?

Ross

[alan2]

to use loop's in Msts, you have to make it so the Sim alway's try's to make you exit.

for example, you build a perfect circle, the sim crashes.
You build a circle but have two set's of point's which default to exit the circle, the sim let's it work.!?

You can make a line which will loop back on it's self if the track will not be absolutely continuous. Eg. two loop's accessible from a junction at each end of the route, you just change the point's and you can loop around.

[ianm42]

As for joining up the ends, it took a while to get used to all the different bits of track available, then it took some trial and error. I put a long 200m straight on one loose end, then played with different straights and curves added to the other loose end until it ended up on the 200m straight at the right angle. I then deleted the 200m straight and added shorter straights to fill the gap.

The Graven Hill loop is all on the level, so I did not have any height difference to sort out. The Arncott Loop is not level, so I am not looking forward to linking up the loose ends this afternoon.

It will be interesting to find out just how many points and how much track there is in such a small area. More than I imagined when I started he project.

As for loops, yes, the trick is to not let any paths try to run in a continuous loop by placing points with the straight road leaving the loop. This is tricky here as most of the points come off the loops in a clockwise direction and very few leave anti-clockwise without rejoining the loop further up.

If, during testing, it is found to cause too many problems, I will have to break the loops and put in some track relaying equipment as scenic items.

[saddletank]

As a tip when routebuilding, I have created a test version of my latest route (just copy the whole folder to a backup area, add 'test' to the root folder name, and all the main files in the main folder. Then copy this back to the MSTS ROUTES folder).

Now when I need to sort out a tricky track laying puzzle I do all the messing about in the test version until I have it exactly right, then make a sketch on a bit of paper noting what track pieces and gradients are used, and then build it again in the 'final' version.

This way I keep down the object count in the final route (adding an object adds a count of 2 to the world tile but deleting one only lowers the count by 1), risk fewer route corruptions, send/don't send mesages, etc.

Periodically I overwrite the test route with the final route to keep the two in synch.

[ianm42]

OK, here is the Arncott Loop and Piddington Branch. The line down from Graven Hill comes in from the top, and the GWR main line can be seen passing on the right.



All the track is laid now, but it will take some care in creating activities. I have tried an ambitious path that comes off the Bletchley line, past Graven Hill, down to Arncott, around the loop and back up to Graven Hill, then around that loop and ending up in the MPD behind the sorting sidings. Unfortunately, it seems that some of the points do not get set properly (they are not manual ones either) and it takes me around the Arncott Loop anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. Then, because I am off route, on the way back from the Arncott Loop, it takes me back out to the main line to Bletchley instead of around the Graven Hill Loop.

Also, some of the curves are very tight, so bogie stock might cause problems.

So, if any of you are brave enough to give it a try for me, email me your snail mail address, and I will send you a CD.


Click the image to zoom in

Click the image to zoom in

[sp762]

I had something intelligent to say, but it's gone now, so I'll content myself by saying:

I don't think a lot of bogie stock was used on the loopy bits - the regular passenger train ran from Piddington to Arncott then out, without using the loop lines. A bolster here or there wouldn't be a big issue.

I already have an idea for an activity - apparently one time a driver thought he'd save everyone some work, and put all the empties out of Piddington into one long train, which he then spanked soundly all the way to the yard - which had just filled up with inbound traffic!

The intelligent question: What time period are you using... wartime? That probably allows the most scope for activity - but you'd miss out on all the cute little diseasels.

Mike

[qzdcg8]

This way I keep down the object count in the final route (adding an object adds a count of 2 to the world tile but deleting one only lowers the count by 1), risk fewer route corruptions, send/don't send mesages, etc.
.

That comment rang a bell for me! I have noticed that when tile object counts get up to the 1000 mark I start watching the count very closely, and after an RE exiut and reload the counts were often lower than I last saw them. This confused me no end but I bet it's related to your issue of adding=2/deleting=-1 above!

[ianm42]

I have been trying not to pin down the period too much yet. I have left out most of the wartime sidings, but left in all the platforms, and the tank park sidings. I have also put in the full goods yard at Bicester (LMR) station. I will be building some Army diesels, and expect some of Decapods austerities will be used. Hopefully most of the buildings will be pretty timeless too. Last night I had a 3H on an enthusiast special visiting the site

I have a few willing volunteers to test the trackwork for me, so CDs will be flying out this week. Now I can start making models to populate the route with.

[ianm42]

Last night I finished labelling all the sidings and platforms ready for the beta testers, otherwise it would be easy to get lost in this maze. Spotted three missing sidings I had somehow overlooked. I should be able to wrap it up tonight ready to post to the testers.

As I was cruising around, I spotted a broken bit of main line route at Bicester LMR station. Looking closer, a short 0.3m length of track had somehow rotated about 45 degrees. I have no idea how that happened. Could it be a foible of the Route Editor? So far, it has not played me up at all, none of the horror stories, black screen, rebuilds, etc, that seem to plague everyone else. I have not laid any roads yet though, and the only scenic items are churches, planted as per the OS map so that I could work out what villages are visible from the tracks (not many actually).

[JohnEyres]

Only seem to to get the black screens when I have been route building for a while as this problem is a memory issue. I supose the more memory your PC has the more time it will take the RE to start flashing black.

Don't know how a piece of track had rotated 45 degrees though. Always used to find gaps here and there when I was building the track for my route.

Let me just say one thing, I don't believe anybody needs to bend dynamic track into a mess at all. A have made 3 triangle on my route and not once did I have to bend dynamic track. You can usually join up bits of track using the curves then just using straight bit of dynamic track to finish.

Thats right about performing complex track situations on a test route or blank tile first before you do it in the right place.
There are several places where the object count it sky high because of the trackwork I did earlier.

[saddletank]

a short 0.3m length of track had somehow rotated about 45 degrees.

I find this happens at the time of placing it in RE when you are closing what looks like a gap but it is in fact less than 0.3m wide and if you were to click away you'd see there were no blue 'broken path' lines there. If I try and drop a 0.3m piece into a gap this small the RE drops it at 45deg across the track. This is what may have happened to you.

[dforrest]

ianm42, you referred to this in another thread so I feel justified in asking how it is coming along!