Dogbone Traction, Part 3 (MSTS), Continued

By Sanford Mace

Placing Signals

We are done with the track work. Now we need to add the signals. Choose Track Object from the More menu and chose Japan 3 Light Signal Left. We will need to place three signals to make this work, two for counter-clockwise and one for clockwise. This is the minimum for testing a signal. The pair of signals goes on the Western line between the two switches. The other goes some where on the south loop between the switches. The location I chose gives the greatest size section. You could run one of the long Japanese electrics on this loop, they will take the curves. To learn more about switches read "Setting up Signals in MSTS - A Primer" by Russell Beer at steam4me.

This is the minimum for one car in a counter-clockwise direction. You have a two-block route. Create an activity with one car running in a counter-clockwise direction. Also, add an AI component that runs 30 seconds later using the same path. Choose take other exit on the Freight House loop and the car will go on and on and on. But the AI train stays put. If you need help here, see "An Idiot's Guide to Creating A New Activity" by Jim Ward at steam4me.

This is fun but boring. Lets add some more signals. Add one signal halfway through the South loop for counter-clockwise running. The second car runs now and both cars chase each other around. Now add a 2nd AI car 40 seconds after the first. The route locks up - no empty block. Add some more signals. We will add signals before and after the Station Spur switch, halfway around the North loop and one at the end of the North loop even with the North Station Spur signal. You could place an opposing signal at each location and then you could run activities and explore in the opposite directions, but I will leave that to you.

Adding Scenery

We are now done with the basic track. It works and is pretty much like Al�s route and the BVE route, To complete this route we need scenery. If you wish to use the same things I did, look at the Credits and Stuff section below.

First let's lay a road. Go to the MORE in the mode, go to road sections and choose Road2LStrt10m. Place the road section south of the Station Spur and north of the end of the reverse switch. You will have to turn the road. Make sure it is flat when done. Lay a 1 to 200 meters of road to either side of the road. Then get a Road2L45deg section and make 2 90-degree turns on either end. The direction is up to you. Then add another 100 meters of straight road. We will use this later.

Let's make a house and station. For this we will use the wood house (mentioned below) because it is changeable with add-ons. Put a house on one side of the road and two houses on the station side. Turn the two houses so that the porch faces the main track, and join them together. Use the Wood House B and C to change the character of the houses so they are different. Adjust the Station Spur to fit. Get a Road2LaneT to make driveways for the station and house. Get a DirtRoad4LStrt and use it to make a parking lot and loading platform for the station. Add the Wait House in the north loop. Get the Charma Warehouse and place it in the south loop. The basic elements are done.

Now all we need to do is add trees and poles and cars. For trees I used a Gantry function described in "Using The Auto-Placement Function in Route Editor" at steam4me where you go from this



to this



in one step.

Now for the poles. I am using Tim Muir�s poles. By the time this appears they should be in the www.Train-Sim.com Library.

Now, if you want, add a car spawner and crossing to the route, and forest to bound the route. I will not do so for this one, but I did for my released version. See "Carspawners - their care and feeding" at steam4me and "Understanding and Exploiting the FOREST.DAT file" by Jim Ward, also at steam4me.

Al added a small hill at the north end. If you want to try, back up the route and look at "Making Mountains from Molehills" and "The Truth About Embankments and Cuttings" by Jim Ward here and here and the Help in Route Editor.

Construction is Done!

Well, we are done! If you followed along you should have a functioning Dogbone route similar to Al's Trainz and my BVE routes. This version is, according to the MSTS Mileage meter, 0.59 miles, or just under 1 Km long. Longer than our target, but not bad. There is much you could add or do with this. Make it longer - mine is 0.8 miles long because I liked the look of this length. The genius of the original is that it was built to be a modular set. You can add real, or virtual sections to create what you want. Move from forest to city or desert, you pick. Make an activity where you shuffle cars from the station to the freight house.

For now, compare the screen shots of what we built to Al�s original article. There are a few more trees here and the turn back loop we need to make this work, but all in all, very similar.






MSTS Version of Al's screen shots.

If you download my version of the MSTS route (see the VR Downloads page), please read the Readme file in the zip to install.

Operation

Start driving or watching. None of this is very exciting; I did this to learn about MSTS routes and loops. Each group of activities, default or traction, has a train ride, a drive and a watch. These are exactly the same activity seen from different vantage points. In the route you will find picnic tables scattered around. These are locations I put my yard view camera to watch the trains. If you have a hacked yard view you can do the same. See this presentation at msts-trains for an explanation of this. I sometimes set this up just as eye candy while I do other things.

One minor point, before you ask. The activities with series 2000 are silly. I used them to proof my signal logic. They are fun(ny) though.

There is an activity called Loop Test. This runs a small loop to the west of the main Dogbone. This is what I found to be the minimum configuration for an all-direction all-switch use route. Loop at the route configuration in the Activity Editor. The activity is a drive. Put the KIHA (or what ever you want to drive) to the lowest speed and just watch. The car will take all routes, all switches, all directions. This can be expanded to a loop route for a city route, for example.

Credits and Stuff

AGNEW station

agnew.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library

New Original Model by Rick Lamp

Repainted by Rick Lamp from photos on the net.

 

Waiting Shed

wait.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library

 

Chama Warehouse

chamastr.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library

By Andy Miller

 

Trolley Poles

By Tim Muir

 

Vegetation Objects

pvclump.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library and UKTrainSim Library

By Phil Voxland

 

Picnic Bench with Canopy

UKTS_5951_BarBench.zip

By Fred Carter

 

Wood House

wdhous.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library

By tark1054

 

Truck - DGT8K

DGT8K.zip at www.zugsimulator.de/ library

 

Truck - DKC

DKC.zip www.zugsimulator.de/ library

Didi2004 from Graphics15

 

USPS Truck

40f02b654a126e22.zip

Get here

By funnelfan

 

CF Truck

40f07a6b24c48587.zip

Get here

By funnelfan

 

Truck - Dodge Ram

40f1a5317018052a.zip

40f07a6b24c48587.zip

Get here

By funnelfan

 

Sp Hi rail

sp_hirail.zip at www.Train-Sim.com Library and UKTrainSim Library