Jones the Steam Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) I have used Trax3 for several years specifically to design signal box diagrams, and over the years, I'm fairly familiar with it. However, like anything else in life, sometimes you come to the end of your understanding. I wondered if any one knew of a Trax 3 user forum or could help with this issue below specifically. FPL levers can be designed to work in one of two ways: Lock a point when the FPL lever is normal; Or lock a point when the FPL lever is reversed. The lever frame properties dialogue box below shows the properties of levers Nos. 13 and 14. No. 14 is the point lever and No. 13 the FPL. You can see in the properties box, No. 13 lever locks No. 14 when it is pulled. That is straight forward, what I would like to know is how to present the properties when lever No. 13 locks Nos. 14BWs when 13 is normal, and releases 14 when it is pulled. It means that the signalman would pull 13 before pulling/pushing 14 before pushing 13 back in place to lock 14 in it's new position. Edited March 28, 2021 by Jones the Steam Delete duplicate images Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Hi, You could try asking on the Handbuilt and Templot section as there was some provision on Templot club. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Sorry I have no knowledge of Trax3. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how these locking tables require FPL 13 to be locked before clearing the signals, only that points 14 themselves are set for the right route. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones the Steam Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 Hi Michael, one of the six rules laid down by the Ministry of Transport for interlocking states: "The signalman shall be unable to clear a fixed signal for a movement of a train until after he has set the points in the proper position for it to pass, and blot them as necessary." The signals Nos. 5 and 8 have multiple locks applied to them, each lock has to be cleared before either one or the other of them can be released. So yes, the point level No. 14 has the be reversed to release signal lever No. 8, but FPL 13 also has to be in place to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones the Steam Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 Hi Stephen, I've checked out the Handbuilt and Templot pages, but no luck. The focus is on the track work, whereas Trax3 focus is on signalling. There used to be a Yahoo! group site, but is appears to be closed. There was a Trax forum on the old Templot2 web site, but since the new one has opened, the Trax support group has gone. It's a shame, I there is a lot of value in Trax 3. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknich2003 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Possibly the attached may be of help, in this case 9 is the FPL, which stands reverse to lock 10 points, the signals are 11,12,14 and 15. If I can help further please ask. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff geary Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Hi Jones the Steam, I wrote most of the code for Trax around 20 years ago using a development tool called Delphi from Borland Corporation (who no longer exist!) using Windows 98 (no longer supported by Microsoft!). The final version (Trax 3) was updated around 10 years ago using Delphi XE (I think) from Embarcadero under Windows XP (also no longer supported!). I'm pleased that it still seems to work under Windows 10, but for how long I don't know. I still use it for my own layout designs and will sorely miss it when it's finally defunct! So, I'm afraid that if the facility you require isn't in Trax 3 it can't be done. Sorry! Jeff Geary 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted April 1, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 1, 2021 On 30/03/2021 at 15:09, jeff geary said: Hi Jones the Steam, I wrote most of the code for Trax around 20 years ago using a development tool called Delphi from Borland Corporation (who no longer exist!) using Windows 98 (no longer supported by Microsoft!). The final version (Trax 3) was updated around 10 years ago using Delphi XE (I think) from Embarcadero under Windows XP (also no longer supported!). I'm pleased that it still seems to work under Windows 10, but for how long I don't know. I still use it for my own layout designs and will sorely miss it when it's finally defunct! So, I'm afraid that if the facility you require isn't in Trax 3 it can't be done. Sorry! Jeff Geary It may well be possible to run it in an emulator even after it's no longer supported by Windows - I shall be trying that myself as I've just bought a copy and only currently have a Linux laptop available. Having tried to update old software to build on Windows 10 I can confirm that it's not easy, especially if older commercial tools are no longer available, and is often simpler to start again from scratch... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones the Steam Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 Hi Nick, I hope you are keeping well. Thanks very much for posting all three elements of the signalling scheme at Eppleworth. It's great to see each one and then see how each element helps to interpret the others. It seems fairly straight forward to reverse the locking in the locking chart so that the FPL lever in in the normal position when it is locking the associated point. I know you'll understand. I've developed my own signalling planning and interlocking chart. What is really useful with the Trax 3 software is the testing facilities. So helpful. Thanks Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones the Steam Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 Hi Jeff, great to hear from the actual author of the books and software. It's a cracking piece of programming. The year 2000 was a very sad time for quite a few popular lexicons and compliers. My favourite at the time as Pascal and I missed out on Delphi. I was forced into C++ and wasn't impressed at all. Pascal was very tight on type casting and variable assignments, C+ and C++ didn't give a dam which could gave some very peculiar results. I'm using Windows 10, which provides it's own support environment for legacy software, and I suspect, Windows will do it for a while yet. I wondered if lock both ways in the normal position it might not work, because in the book you say "The 'BW' suffix does not apply to releases.". Where I am, that's the very thing I needed. The application is still very useful and still make good use of it yet. Was there/is there a help forum anywhere? The Templot2 site has frozen the only Trax forum I've found. It would be nice to have somebody check over what I've done and it's along the right lines. Thanks for now, Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted April 2, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 2, 2021 (edited) Hello Steve, As you appreciate, it’s physically easy to change a FPL from Normally Out to Normally In (on a tappet frame at least) - it’s just a case of changing the position of the notch on the tappet. The classic case for Normally In is with a ground frame so that all levers are normal when it is not in use. What I can’t remember (or work out) is how that would be shown on a locking table. Unfortunately I retired from the industry one month ago so I no longer have access to any real examples to assist. I’ll see if I can lean on any of my colleagues for assistance. Paul. Edited April 2, 2021 by 5BarVT To put right my glaring mistake! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted April 2, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 2, 2021 @jeff geary - Embarcadero are still going strong and still produce Delphi, it's now at version 10.4. I use it for my own software develiopment, writing utilities and a front end to a SQLite database to store my photograph information amongst other bits and bobs. They have a facility to download a free version which, if you have the desire, the source code and some time, might be worth investigating to see how much of the code would need conversion to use the latest and greatest. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 55 minutes ago, 5BarVT said: ..... The classic case for Normally Out is with a ground frame so that all levers are normal when it is not in use. .... Err....surely that is the classic case for Normally 'IN' ? The difference with GFs is that usually, once the FPL has been pulled out, it can only be put back IN once the point is normal. However there have been examples where the GF can be locked with the point in either position when the FPL is IN - eg Bere Alston. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 RMWeb seems as though it could be a better home given that most users of Templot club are of course users of Templot. As Martin pointed out to me there were 4 posts by 2 users in 9 years. This topic has exceeded that by some margin in only a few days. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted April 2, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 2, 2021 4 hours ago, RailWest said: Err....surely that is the classic case for Normally 'IN' ? The difference with GFs is that usually, once the FPL has been pulled out, it can only be put back IN once the point is normal. However there have been examples where the GF can be locked with the point in either position when the FPL is IN - eg Bere Alston. Oops! Must do better . . . Must do better . . . Thanks Railwest. Paul. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now