Sector tables

[JamesLit]

Hi all,

My latest audacious idea that will probably come to nothing and be forgotten like 99.9% of the stuff I post...

Do you think it would be possible to build a SECTOR table? If you don't know what these are...


Basically, rather than taking up as much room as a turntable and allowing engines to be rotated, they are simply devices that rotate on a REAR rather than CENTRAL pivot to allow a locomotive to be changed onto a different track without being rotated. Handy for tight spaces where neither turntables or points aren't feasible. We have one at the miniature railway where I volunteer, the Faversham Miniature Railway.

Do you think the TS would allow for such things? I'm quite interested in building one. Would it be as simple as making it like a transfer table but animating it differently?

[DPSimulation]

Given that both turntables and traversers are possible, I don't see no reason why (in theory) this isn't possible as well.

It just shows up my knowledge of operations in this era though. If I had seen that picture elsewhere without your explanation, I'd have assumed that the picture was a bad attempt to join two different photographs.

[VictoryWorks]

Is the appearance of 3 tracks on the "table" a photo edit? Seems odd that you'd have a single track going onto the table splitting into 3 tracks that then run onto 2 tracks?

Whether it's viable depends on how the traverser works in TS - I've never looked at them I must admit.
If it expects a lateral movement of the track which is hard coded then it's no dice. If you can dictate the animation of the model track and the "actual" track that the loco runs on copies that animation then it should be possible.
Definitely worth checking out I would say, it would be unique.

[Carinthia]

Is the appearance of 3 tracks on the "table" a photo edit? Seems odd that you'd have a single track going onto the table splitting into 3 tracks that then run onto 2 tracks?

Certainly looks odd to me. All of those I have come across on plans have just one track, pivoted at the bufferstops end. In this view we seem to be looking towards the country end?

Ahhh, found another picture, with description. It is Birmingham Snow Hill, a through station:
http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh70.htm

Seems very little on Google on the subject.

John

[VictoryWorks]

Ok. I think the point of having 3 is that you never have an "empty"track end from the 2 feeding tracks which would be perilous. You just need to make sure that when the loco runs in that it is set so you are not already on the far edge of the 3 which would stop you moving sideways.
I'm going to have a poke about and see what I can discover - this has intrigued me

[JamesLit]

Great to see I've sparked some interest!

Do you think perhaps there might be a way other than the standard traverser/turntable asset type thing to do this?

All I'd really like is for a turntable style sector table i.e. there is just one single track that is rotated on a pivot at one end to change a locomotive between tracks. Nothing fancy with multiple tracks etc.

[Rockdoc2174]

Couldn't you effectively use part of a turntable. burying the bits you don't need, and only allow it to move reciprocally between two points?

Keith

[JamesLit]

But remember that that'd make the pivot in the centre of the table, which is not what I want.

[VictoryWorks]

Ok, the verdict is.. hmm!

Neither traverser nor turntable care about the animation. They just play the animation in time (more on this timing later) as a theoretical track moves/rotates with the loco on it.
So the next avenue was to to investigate using them as they are. The sector table is basically half a turntable, so the thought is that you could build half a turntable, pivoted at the centre but with only 1 half of it modelled. The other side would need to either have fake track that didn't move - fine as long as the user only drove that part of it when the turntable was "straight" - or some buffers/platform etc - which once again wouldn't be enforced, you'd just have to trust the user to not run through them.

So how to have 2 tracks into it? It appears that entry to the turntable is via equally spaced entry points, the number of which are dictated in the blueprint. Settings this at 32 gives tracks that are pretty close next to each other and could replicate the 2 entry tracks in the picture.
Next challenge - how do you stop it doing a full 360 turn and putting the loco through the platforms either side? Answer, you can't
The good news is that assuming the user is educated, you can use G and Shift G to tell the "turntable" which way to turn so you can toggle it back and forth between the 2 entry tracks.

So with those limitations it would be possible to create something to do the job. I wouldn't call it idiot proof - you need to know which side requires G and Shift G to stop it turning the wrong way (it does go slowly so you can quickly change your mind if it starts the wrong way) and players could also run off the second half of it through buffers (or into mid air!) that are only visual and not track network.

What I did discover in doing this is how utterly awful turntables are in TS! They don't align properly when they rotate and they frequently jump at the start/end of the animation. It looks awful!
I thought it might be because I started testing with the Bath-Temp and "default" German versions, so I switched to an up to date install of TS (I have many!) that has WSR and used the shiny new turntable from that - to discover that it is equally as horribly animated! I doubt very much it's down to the model animation - just rotate through 360 degrees, simple - so I guess it's the good old core code that's at fault.

So that's my investigation report
Not possible exactly. Quite possible to fake and have it look ok as long as the player uses it as instructed. Potentially spoiled by core code that can't seem to run a 360 degree animation with any kind of finesse.

[Chris89]

Would be something interesting to see in TS.

Although not a Sector plate, just through the tunnel from Snow Hill, Moor Street did have a transverser as well, up to 1967.

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrms1223.htm

Because the station was built on a confined site, it was equipped with two electrically operated traversers as a space saving measure, in order to allow locomotives to move sideways between tracks, instead of having to reverse through crossovers. The traversers were removed from service in 1967, and a crossover was installed.

From Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moor_Stree ... ly_history