Mk2e DLC 'Tractor Tour' - HST on wrong track - Head-On

[USRailFan]

Has anyone been able to complete this scenario? For me, it ends somewhere after Reading, with a head-on collision with an HST on the wrong track...

[Makeone]

Has anyone been able to complete this scenario? For me, it ends somewhere after Reading, with a head-on collision with an HST on the wrong track...

Was this the scenario with 2x 37's? I remember looong wait just before Reading because atleast one HST makes strange maneuveres in the triangle and then a reversing act in (almost) front of the player service. But i think i managed to get in Oxford in time...until i am mixing it to another scenario?

There was another tractor tour that was supposed to end at Reading as the train was heading toward Westbury (what's that line called anyway?)

[Kromaatikse]

No such problem with my copy of it. There are some fun signal checks though, so keep an eye out for those.

[USRailFan]

Was this the scenario with 2x 37's? I remember looong wait just before Reading because atleast one HST makes strange maneuveres in the triangle and then a reversing act in (almost) front of the player service. But i think i managed to get in Oxford in time...until i am mixing it to another scenario?

That's the one.

[USRailFan]

No such problem with my copy of it. There are some fun signal checks though, so keep an eye out for those.

Was this on the most recent Railworks version? I was able to get to Slough just about on time (stuck behing a 166), but got to Reading with a couple of minutes to spare.

[1S811985]

Worked fine for me too, and more than once.

Not a bad scenario either, if memory serves, with some switching from fast to slow lines and both overtaking a unit then being overtaken in turn by it on the run into Didcot (I think). Beats a straightforward, pull back the throttle and sit at linespeed for an hour being bored job.

Cant recall any wait outside Reading, or for that matter an HST doing anything untoward on the triangle. It's always possible that things can go pear shaped in a scenario if you are running either a bit too late or a bit too early so maybe speed, or the lack of it, is the problem here.

1S81

[nigeltouatievans]

I had exactly this problem with a class 37 / Mk2e railtour scenario from the AP6 scenario pack ('1Z23 Paddington - Worcester Shrub Hill' scenario). Are you sure it's not this one you're running? There was an update to fix the issue in this pack, but I haven't had time to try it out yet.

[USRailFan]

I had exactly this problem with a class 37 / Mk2e railtour scenario from the AP6 scenario pack ('1Z23 Paddington - Worcester Shrub Hill' scenario). Are you sure it's not this one you're running?

Yes, quite sure Especially as I don't have that scenario pack.

[Makeone]

Worked fine for me too, and more than once.

Not a bad scenario either, if memory serves, with some switching from fast to slow lines and both overtaking a unit then being overtaken in turn by it on the run into Didcot (I think). Beats a straightforward, pull back the throttle and sit at linespeed for an hour being bored job.

Cant recall any wait outside Reading, or for that matter an HST doing anything untoward on the triangle. It's always possible that things can go pear shaped in a scenario if you are running either a bit too late or a bit too early so maybe speed, or the lack of it, is the problem here.

1S81

It is very nice scenario in general. There are few oddities in it, though. 1st is the stop at Slough at very short platform 4, i think that routing via platform 5 would been better, even that it blocks traffic to other way. There's a 166 waiting at signal when player train gets up to speed from Slough. After there, there are some yellow running so one can't speed too much until there are wishes to stop at reds on the way. Once player train is routed back to fast lines, its full throttle for few minutes until yellows comes again and then the red just before Reading. And what happens in Reading, well, the following:

An HST arrives from Didcot direction, heads down to triangle, reverses to Reading, on the wrong track, as there's another HST standing. Once the HST has completed it's stop at Reading, it then departs towards player, ON the same track, reverses on the junction (towards Guildford?), goes back to Reading, reverses again and heads to Paddington. At this stage, there's another HST behind players service (or two actually) and even slow 47 freight passes on slow lines.

I really wonder if actually had too much speed from start, i was doing full throttle, maybe the train is supposed to be restricted to 75mph? Also, when running on slow lines, the players service could had stayed there untill Reading, but it still routed to platform 4 in Reading which is also bit short for the train. I am also wondering if the HST 'dance' in Reading is meant to slow down other traffic for a while? Hmm, i might need to run the scenario again, but trying to stick at 75mph as much as possible (even tho its much easier to just flat out the tractors and do the 90...)

[Kromaatikse]

I had no trouble running at maximum speed, except of course where traffic interfered. I saw no sign of the HST behaviour described...

[1S811985]

I ran the scenario again earlier today and it worked fine.

The only HST I encountered at Reading went straight through the station and headed for Paddington. I dont recall seeing a second HST in the vicinity of Reading at all, and I was keeping an eye on the 2D map too.

All I can think of to explain the HST behaviour you describe is that the AI HST which is positioned at Reading at the start of the scenario has "stuck", as AI is occassionally prone to do, and that the subsequent HST arriving from Didcot has an irregular path provided to it by the AI in order to get around the obstruction. This is, of course, sheer speculation on my part.

It appears that the player train has been timed for 80mph, this being the maximum permitted speed of the RW version of the class37 as per the manual (of course, the as built 37's were 90mph and the refurbished ones 80mph but hey, ho). Certainly I had no trouble keeping to the schedule running at a maximum of 80mph.

IS81

[Makeone]

I ran the scenario again earlier today and it worked fine.

The only HST I encountered at Reading went straight through the station and headed for Paddington. I dont recall seeing a second HST in the vicinity of Reading at all, and I was keeping an eye on the 2D map too.

All I can think of to explain the HST behaviour you describe is that the AI HST which is positioned at Reading at the start of the scenario has "stuck", as AI is occassionally prone to do, and that the subsequent HST arriving from Didcot has an irregular path provided to it by the AI in order to get around the obstruction. This is, of course, sheer speculation on my part.

It appears that the player train has been timed for 80mph, this being the maximum permitted speed of the RW version of the class37 as per the manual (of course, the as built 37's were 90mph and the refurbished ones 80mph but hey, ho). Certainly I had no trouble keeping to the schedule running at a maximum of 80mph.

IS81

That could explain it, however, can AI services reverse heading whitout it being 'scripted' to do so? Also the whole routing seemed bit...odd, to be honest, for a dispatcher's work. Off course, i could underestimate RW's dispatcher capabilities...

[1S811985]

Well, I've certainly seen the AI attempt some odd things, route wise, while scripting scenario's of my own but as I said, it was speculation on my part.

What's not speculation though is that myself and others have ran the scenario both successfully and without observing anything untoward by way of HST behaviour. You mentioned a second, stationary HST at Reading. I didn't observe one in my run-through earlier today so I'd suggest that any further investigation you undertake begins there.

Oh, just for the record, the unit I mentioned in an earlier post, that you first overtake then get overtaken by, wasn't on the approach to Didcot. It starts at Langley and runs in front of you all the way from Slough to Twyford, causing the amber running along the slow line. You almost, but not quite, catch up with it on the approach to Reading where it terminates in the east end bay platform.

Using interacting AI in this manner, to control the progress and timing of a player train, is a trick well worth mastering and is, so far as I am concerned, a sure sign that some thought and care went into the scripting of a scenario. Its use here, in Tractor Tour, added considerable value, playwise, to what would otherwise have been a straightforward and probably rather dull A-B run.

1S81

[USRailFan]

Well I'm sorry but on a second play-through, I _still_ got an AI collision - the same AI HST, 1A32, still running on the wrong track, this time resulting in an AI collision with 1B21, an HST going the opposite way.

[1S811985]

Well it _still_ works fine for me.

1B21 is off Paddington 09:40, passes you on the Dn fast around Taplow and stops at Reading 4 at 10:05. 1A32 isn't away from its starting point west of Didcot untill well after you're due to leave Reading at 10:15 and I dont really see from their respective routing how it and 1B21 could end up colliding head on. Weird.

Looks like you've got a broken scenario. Happens. Shame, as its one of the better ones, especially if you have the AP soundpack for the 37's.

1S81