Need help understanding the use of Waiting Points ...

[aniceguy]

Hi all,

As some of you know I've just started to create my first activity. I am doing well now as have tested all my traffic from York to Peterborough and everything is running really great except I've looked into the use of waiting points.

I have a 158 class (x4 cars) arrive into Peterborough (P2) and stop no problem (arrives around 7.37). However my player train arrives at the platform to the right (P3) at around 7.37 also.

I am finding that the 158 class disappears before my player train departs Peterborough (departs at 7.40am). Is there a way to use the waiting points to allow for the 158 class to stay where it is until after 7.40 (i.e. disappear at say 7.41).

I realise that they work in seconds so was thinking that using the waiting point set at 360 seconds placed just after the platform would solve this issue but it hasn't as the 158 keeps disappearing.

Any ideas as to what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance, and please be specific about where to place these points as I'm a little new to it all

Hoping to have this finished by end of this week as I have already spent an entire week on doing it. So my final leg from Peterborough to Londons Kings Cross will hopefully not be too hard as I don't plan on using my player trains line with AI traffic as I have up to Peterborough.

PS: I thought about increasing the passenger number but after increasing it to the max passenger count of the train it still disappeared before my player train departed so hence why I looked into waiting points.

[Lad491]

The AI train must have actually reached the wait point for it to take effect, so if you place it beyond the trains normal stopping position it never reaches it. If the train is shorter than the whole platform length, you can place it at a midpoint somewhere between the two blue platform markers. Remember that wait points for AI traffic only work with the Msts Bin patch installed. Before Bin they never worked.

[aniceguy]

I don't have MSTS Bin, so that might help. What exactly is this; I've heard of it. Could you provide some details or a link where can I learn about it.

The 158 ends at Peterborough. I want it to stay there until my player train has departed around the corner from Peterborough. The class 158's route ends (i.e. the end point) just before the signal at the end of the platform ... have the class 158 disappear at 7.42 instead of the time it is doing so.

How do I go about placing the waiting point / points? That's a thing according to other posts I have read you need to have 6 waiting points?

i.e. place 5 x 1 second wait points before the 6th point which is to be set as your waiting time that you wish (in my case around 180 seconds for 3 minutes waiting time).

[gswindale]

mstsbin.uktrainsim.com

A single wait point will simply hold the train for the length of time specified. You only need to use multiple (ie 6) waiting points if you wish to disrupt the path - for example you've been following an AI train along a stretch of line, it pulls into a passing loop and you wish to overtake.

[aniceguy]

Right ok, cheers. Will see how I get on, Will install MSBin as well before I forget that. Thanks for the link.

[scottm]

could you not just increase the the amount of time that the 158 spends loading/unloading passengers?

[aniceguy]

PS: I thought about increasing the passenger number but after increasing it to the max passenger count of the train it still disappeared before my player train departed so hence why I looked into waiting points.

[scottm]

PS: I thought about increasing the passenger number but after increasing it to the max passenger count of the train it still disappeared before my player train departed so hence why I looked into waiting points.

what i meant was to increase the actual time the train spends at the station by editing its timetable rather than just increasing passenger numbers.

[gswindale]

AI trains pay no attention to timetables. They start at a specific time, stop at stations for as long as the loading time is (as defined by passenger numbers) and then carry on their merry way.

[mendes]

To expand on the above, the AI timetables are irrelevant , they don't do anything, in fact it's best just to ignore them. If you want a specific time for an AI service at a station then the best thing to do is remove the station from the service and put a waiting point in (something I actually did today!!).

[scottm]

fair enough, only trying to help.

[mendes]

fair enough, only trying to help.

That's OK, I didn't mean to offend!!

[scottm]

fair enough, only trying to help.

That's OK, I didn't mean to offend!!

Its ok, I'm not offended

[aniceguy]

mstsbin.uktrainsim.com

A single wait point will simply hold the train for the length of time specified. You only need to use multiple (ie 6) waiting points if you wish to disrupt the path - for example you've been following an AI train along a stretch of line, it pulls into a passing loop and you wish to overtake.

Sorry for being a pain but what do you mean by a "passing loop". Is this like a siding kind of thing? An example of this could be great using a default MSTS route or ECE if you can Only a short one that is.

[ianmacmillan]

One way to hold an AI forever is to put a reversing point immediately before a signal.

The signal will stay red but the AI will stop a short distance before it and never trip the reversing point.