Setting Up Industries

The Dynamic Industries function was introduced in TRS2004 and continued in TRS2006. It gives you the ability to load and unload commodities and other cargo. For example, a coal mine can produce coal at a rate determined by you and load it into empty hopper and gondola cars. An industry such as a power plant can unload coal from the cars and consume it at a rate determined by you.

Dynamic industries are placed and set up via the Objects menu in Surveyor. To set up a dynamic industry:

1. Select the question mark (Edit properties ‘N’) icon and select the industry to display the Properties dialog
2. Enter a meaningful name and make your selections
3. Select the check mark to seal the deal

In the case of the Coal Tipple, you have two parameters you can set: Rate and Start Amount. Determining the most suitable values may take some experimentation. I found that if the rate (of production) is set higher than my ability to use the coal, excess piles begin to appear near the building. I found the Coal Unloader (the grated track in front of the power plant) worked fine as is.

Setting Up Stations

The Passenger Enabled function was introduced in a Service Pack for TRS2004 and continued in TRS2006. It is similar to the Dynamic Industries function except that it loads and unloads people instead of goods.

Passenger enabled stations are placed and set up via the Objects menu in Surveyor. To set up a passenger enabled station:

1. Select the question mark (Edit properties ‘N’) icon and select the station to display the Properties dialog
2. Enter a meaningful name and make your selections
3. Select the check mark to seal the deal

The tram stations let you provide or select the following parameters:

Platform importance

Passenger behavior

Departing passengers per hour at peak time

Initial number of passengers

The Mattapan Outbound and Ashmont Inbound stations are special cases for me in that they are not intended for loading (though it can’t be helped to some degree) since their counterparts in the opposite direction are intended to provide the loading. For this reason I set the Departing passengers … to the minimum (1) and the Initial number … to zero. I also set the Platform importance to Terminal, thinking that it would send a message that no one is to get on. This is not the case, as this selection merely controls the stopping position of the car.

There are two additional parameters:

Passenger Height (cm)

Passenger Shape

It’s best to set both of these while having a good view of the platform. The first adjusts the vertical positioning of the passengers and the second adjusts the horizontal positioning (selections 0-20).

The Ashmont Commuter station displays a dialog for both platforms, but is otherwise similar to the tram stops.



Setting Up a Session

This function lets you set a number of parameters and game conditions, such as starting time of day, weather conditions, clock speed and AI (artificial intelligence) trains.

To set up a session:

1. Place the cursor along the upper left portion of the screen to display the Surveyor menu
2. Select Edit Session to display the Edit Session window
3. Edit the Name, Session Description and Rules as required (see Driver Setup)
4. Select the check mark to seal the deal

The name and description you provide will display in the Surveyor and Driver opening windows.

Driver Setup.

1. Select Driver Setup and select Edit to display the Properties dialog
2. Choose a driver (the ones listed have been placed on the track) and select the little green arrow to display a list of driver instructions
3. Give the driver instructions. Do this by selecting the little green arrow and selecting a driver command from the list. To remove a command, drag it off the display. When you are done, select the check mark to seal the deal.

Setting up a driver can be tricky when a lot of other things are going on. Most notably, you should be aware that the driver is designed to take the shortest route to a destination. If the shortest route is blocked by another train, for example, the driver may choose an alternate route. For this reason it is often useful to place trackmarks along the way and include the Drive via trackmark instruction to make sure the driver follows the intended path.

You may also want to consider the order in which you place rolling stock on your layout. If you want the GT6 tram at Mattapan Yard to be the first car available for running when you launch Driver, place it before you place any other cars. Self-powered items like locos and powered rail cars are listed in the order in which they are placed. Like items are numbered in accordingly, so when you go to program a driver, you will see each loco or car listed in order of placement, and identical units provided with an additional suffix (1, 2, 3 and so forth) to keep them separate.

Certain signals may prevent a driver from moving. Be ready to experiment and always keep your signaling as simple as you can get away with.

Once you’ve tried setting up the automatic functions in Trainz you’ll find it easy to go back and experiment and make changes. These functions can add immeasurably to the realism of your simulation while introducing additional challenges for operations, such as avoiding other trains.

The complete M-Line PE package available at my Downloads page includes the following files:

M-Line PE (KUID 68330:1025)

Explore M-Line PE Route (KUID 68330:1053)

M-Line SW7 27 (KUID 68330:1009)

M-Line Gon 761 (KUID 68330:1014)

You will also need from the DLS:

AJS Station 1x50sQ (KUID2 122285:3335:5)

A Word (or Two) About Rolling Stock

I've used only rolling stock that comes with TRS2006. There are, however, many items available at the DLS, some perhaps more appropriate (according to your needs) than the ones I've chosen. For example, there are a number of suitable Boston trolley cars available. The real M-Line was using PCC cars until it was closed recently for a complete renovation. None of these Boston cars support the passenger enabled feature, so you have something to consider.

I also had to compromise on the commuter trains. The proper cars are third rail electric subway cars (Boston's Red Line), but these are not available. I was further limited by the Budd RDC cars I used in the original M-Line not being passenger enabled. I settled for the NSWGR (New South Wales Government Railway) diesel locos and coaches. If you want a British theme, you could use the EPB third rail cars available at the DLS. These are not very suitable for American usage since they have side doors at every window, something that was never done in America (at least to my knowledge). The MARTA subway car by Jaleel, available at the DLS and at Trainz Luvr, is perfect for the job, though it may a bit demanding for underpowered PCs.

When searching for passenger enabled cars, look for the green check mark that displays in the lower left corner of the window in the Trains menu. Unfortunately, not all passenger enabled rolling stock has this signature, the GT6 tram being a prime example.

Cheers,

Al

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Article and screen shots ©2007 Alfred Barten. All rights reserved.