Time For Free Play

By Alfred Barten

This article was first published in the Holiday 2002 issue of Woodbridge's Train Simulation Crafstman magazine. - Ed.

The Timesaver route for MSTS by Ron Paludan (freeware from Railway Station Productions, LLC) is a nifty little switching route based on a plan by model railroad legend, John Allen. The route, placed in an urban setting, consists of a main track in the form of a U (it comes from someplace and goes to somewhere else) with a yard branching from the base of the U. The yard contains a runaround and drop-off points for six industries/loading areas. Ron calls his route the "Pocket route" because it fits on a single tile.

The route comes with two activities, and a third is now available for download. Generally, I prefer to operate in the Explore a Route mode, or what I call "free play," whenever I can. I like free play because of the lack of restrictions. Activities are scripted and require the user to do the same thing each time (of course, sometimes this is a good thing) whereas free play is variable according to whim or spontaneous agenda. Under free play I can drop off and pick up cars as I like.

Normally, the only reasonable way in MSTS to get cars onto a route's various sidings before the game begins is to create an activity that places cars on the sidings. In playing with the Timesaver route, I hit upon a manageable work-around that suits me just fine. The approach is technically feasible for any route, but is more readily implemented on small routes.

Here's how it works. For the Timesaver route, I begin by creating a consist of about 5 freight cars (these are US 40-50 foot cars – you could double the number if you were using British/European 4-wheel wagons) and a small switcher. Any of the EMD early switchers (SW-7, SW-800, SW-900, SW-1200, SW-1500) or the GP38 that comes with MSTS is perfect. Auran sells SW-7s as part of their MSTS Regional Add-on Pack: USA and Canada Volume 1. Train-Sim.com has most if not all of the others - and there are many - available for free download. I place the switcher at the end rather than the front of the consist so it is pushing cars into the yard.

Next I launch the MSTS game, select Drive a Route, and select the switcher and consist. For my initial operating session (or "day"), I spot 2 or 3 cars at the sidings as I see fit and park the remaining cars at the end of the main track, which is around the bend and generally out of sight. (I think of this end section of track as an interchange track.) Then I save the "activity." (I put activity in quotes because MSTS is a little inconsistent in its terminology here. We didn't create an activity nor did we select to run an activity, but our operating session is saved as an "activity" even though it's not an activity in the formal sense. It's something we just have to live with - sort of like the Windows Start button, which doubles as a Close button.)

The next operating day, when I load the saved activity, I have a route with 5 freight cars in various places, just as I left them. My task for this new day is to distribute the cars from the interchange track to the sidings and to pick up some or all of the other cars as I choose and place them on the interchange track for the next day. Then I save again.

Each time I load a saved activity, I consider it yet another operating day and repeat the daily process, though cars and destinations will be different and subject to my spontaneous agenda.

Since each Save with MSTS is recorded as a separate entry on the Load an Activity list for the associated route, you eventually build a substantial list of saved activities from which to choose. (Of course, you can always delete some from the list.) If you're like me you will quickly forget which is which. Thus every entry except the most recent ones will be a surprise when you open it - just another way of adding interest. When I tire of one consist, I create another. With a bunch of these saved you will really have variety, because MSTS lists all route explorations as EXPLORE ROUTE along with the date and game time last saved. You won't know which consist you are loading unless you fastidiously keep track (and why would you want to?). This is about as close as you can come to introducing randomness into your game play assignments.

For those new to MSTS, I've detailed the above in the following procedures.

Create a Consist

I've had so much difficulty with the MSTS Consist editor that I use ConBuilder by Carlos Gomes and Joe Smith, available free at Train-Sim.com. While you're at it, get Shape Viewer and Route Riter from the same place. These two additional utilities will help produce images of your rolling stock inside ConBuilder.

1. Open ConBuilder.
2. In the right pane, double-click a freight car (wagon). The selection appears in the graphic area below.
3. Repeat step 2 for each desired car. Each selection appears to the right of the previous selection.
4. In the left pane, double-click a locomotive. The selection appears at the right-hand end of the consist.
5. Enter a name in the File name and Description fields. I use the same for each to keep things simple.
6. Select Save from the File menu to save the consist.
7. Select Exit from the File menu to exit.

First Day Operation

1. Launch MSTS game.
2. Select Drive a Train. The ROUTE & ACTIVITY SELECTION window opens.
3. Select TimeSaver in the ROUTES panel and your train (locomotive) and consist in the ACTIVITIES panel.
4. You can select time of day, season, and weather condition or accept the default values.
5. Click START.
6. Drop off a few cars at the sidings and drop the remaining cars at the end of the line (i.e., the interchange track). Move the locomotive back to the vicinity of the yard (this is optional - it's just a way of positioning the locomotive for the next "day's" operation).
7. Press Esc key and select to SAVE ACTIVITY and click OK in the message that follows to save the activity.
8. Press Esc key again and select EXIT ACTIVITY to exit the session.

Daily Operation (Except First Day)

1. Launch MSTS game.
2. Select Load Saved Activity. The LOAD SAVED ACTIVITY window opens.
3. Select TimeSaver in the ROUTES field and EXPLORE ROUTE in the ACTIVITIES field.
4. Click START.
5. Pick up the cars from the interchange track and drop them off at the sidings. Pick up cars already at the sidings (you don't have to pick them all up) and move them to the interchange track. Move the locomotive back to the vicinity of the yard (optional).
6. Press Esc key and select to SAVE ACTIVITY and click OK in the message that follows to save the activity.
7. Press Esc key again and select EXIT ACTIVITY to exit the session.

More Advanced Shunting

Once you have become familiar with the basic scenario, you can go one step further. You can use the other leg of the U as a second interchange track. Doing this lets you have additional cars on the route and lets you include cars that are not necessarily serving one of the sidings, but rather are moving from one interchange track to the other. Now you can justify cars such as transfer cabooses, Schnabel flat cars, cattle cars, and hopper cars.

An Important Tip

In his Timesaver route documentation, Ron notes that MSTS has some front coupler problems. He offers some tips, including making sure you have the all the MSTS updates installed and that reducing the weight of heavier cars helps. Since I use mostly older freight cars, the weight has not been an issue. What I have found is that if I gently ease the loco away from the uncoupled cars, the chances of success are greatly enhanced.

Al

See also:

[Adding Realism to Free Play]

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