I can set that up easily enough in MSTS, and have it work well enough, although sometimes I might find the train I'm supposed to be crossing, actually waiting in front of the passing siding, instead of having entered it and waiting for me in front of the starter signal, as it should have happened. I'd be required to reverse slightly, in order to get the AI train to start moving, actually, rather to get the switch or points in front of the AI train to change, and allow it entry to the passing siding, but it does work. Are RSDL able to confidentally say that KRS is able to do this, or even better ? I wonder. This is just the sort of thing that many of us, interested in creating our own routes and scenarios, want to be able to do, and archieve, to make KRS really worth playing, and getting engrossed in totally.
What I think I'd actually be prepared to pay extra for, would be if KRS had the ability to popup a screen while you're driving, showing your entire route in truncated fashion, but with sufficient allowance for at least two or more white lights to pinpoint yours, and other trains' positions along the route, and giving you the ability to just click once with the mouse, on a point or switch's circle, to change it quickly, rather thn using the SHIFT/CLICK which requires both hands, unless you can have Caps Lock on all the time you're using KRS - and then setup your routes and exit back to the screen you were previously in.
How difficult would this be to implement, for RSDL ? If they're clever enough to produce a rail sim like KRS, then they certainly do have the ability to add stuff to it like "Be your own dispatcher" screen(s) and allow you to be immersed deeply into KRS in a way you have hours of fun ahead of you. True, everyone had different expectancies, but the ability to control where your player train and AI trains go as passing each other goes, would be a bonus. But would it be cheaper to do it this way, than to have RSDL try to sort out the whole mess to get several trains recognise each other, and calculate the most convenient passing location without a train (AI) having to stop several stations back and wait for you, or the other way round, thus wasting time. Trains in KRS should, as in reality, approach each other, and the closer train to the passing location, depending on whether or not it'll fit inside the starter signals, take the siding and wait for the other train to pass through, before proceeding. Now, THAT is what many of us with KRS would like to see happening before too much longer, but if it's too difficult, then the dispatcher/track diagram implementation might be more interactive. RSDL's opinion on these ideas would be interesting to hear, and for them to know how much many of us out there, want to seriously interact with our trains and routes, not just drive trains around and around in circles like a Hornby set
Unlike in the various American pictures of guys playing with model railroads, and wearing engineer's hats, I don't quite think I'm that much of a fanatic, but I do want to really interact with KRS much more than currently, and am willing to pay for it if it's not gonna break the bank ! Regards
Jim McDermott
