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Traincontroller 10 Gold 19 Level Crossing TC has a “crossing gate” function. The gate closes when the route on which the crossing is placed is reserved, it opens again when the route is free. In case this route triggering for the gate is too soon or too late we can build our own level crossing, where we can use physical sensors or action markers coupled to already existing block sensors. This also has the benefit that the crossing also works if we manually control trains, in which case routes are not reserved. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 19 Level Crossing

Traincontroller 10 Gold 18 Send Trains to Specific Tracks If a schedule has multiple destination blocks, like say a multi-track station or yard, a block gets chosen randomly. There are a few ways to change this randomness and send trains to specific blocks: - Use train lengths and allow trains only into blocks in which they fit (Schedule Rules) - Allow only specific trains in a block (Block Properties, Trains tab) - Send the first train to block 1, the next to block 2, and so on. (Block Properties, Condition tab) Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 18 Send Trains to Specific Tracks

Traincontroller 10 Gold 17 Signals. The easiest way to control signals is to give the signal inside the block a DCC address. These signals now follow the block signal colors. If you desire different switching logic for your signals, you will have to place separate signals on the switch panel (they can be placed on the track), give them a DCC address and specify a logic function for each aspect of the signal. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 17 Signals.

Twinwoods & Bedford - 13 - Test Driving 11 Trains Track laying, DCC wiring and sensor wiring are all finished. It’s time to test drive the layout with 11 trains. The layout is computer controlled with Traincontroller 10. A separate series of videos on TC is available here. The DCC Command Station is a Digikeijs DR5000, combined with a DR5033 booster. The turnouts are switched with SG90 servo motors, connected to DCCNEXT decoders, that can be acquired at about €10,- via arcomora.. The software, called MARDEC, is free. Train detection is performed with reed switches on the track and a small Neodymium magnet under the train. The reeds are connected to Arduino Loconet shields that can be acquired at about €6,- via arcomora.. The software, called ARLOCO, is free. This is the link to video Twinwoods & Bedford - 13 - Test Driving 11 Trains --

Traincontroller 10 Gold 16 How to Stop Trains. Trains that drive on a cycle- or shuttle schedule with repeat count 0, as well as trains on schedules with successors, will keep driving indefinitely. There are multiple options to stop the trains. Immediate stops: The Freeze button (Esc on the keyboard) stops the trains, but keeps the schedules in the list. Power On (Ctrl Shift P) will start the trains again, exactly where you left off. Perfect for a coffee break, or as an emergency stop when something unexpected happened. Stop Layout (Ctrl Shift O) stops the trains, removes the schedules from the list and switches the track power off. Terminate all Schedules stops the trains, removes the schedules from the list. Track power stays on. Terminate Schedule stops the selected train / schedule and removes it from the list. All the above methods stop the trains immediately. They may have come to a halt on a turnout, which makes these methods not preferred for neatly ending a driving session. If the next session TC decides to start a train on another schedule, a turnout may switch while a train is on it, which will lead to problems. The following methods lead to a controlled stop: Lock all Blocks makes the trains stop at the stop marker of the block that has last been reserved by the train. The schedules stay in the list. To start driving again, toggle Lock all Blocks off again. Lock all Schedules makes the trains stop at the stop marker of the end block of the schedule and it takes the schedules out of the list. These controlled stops are the safe ways to end a session. To use the on/off switch that we created to start the schedules we place the ‘on’ state of the switch in the Condition tab of the schedule. If the switch is off, this condition is not met, which means the schedule will not be restarted once the train reaches the end block of the schedule. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 16 How to Stop Trains.

Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 08 Curved Station Platforms TF2 by default only supports straight station platforms. Luckily mods are available that let us create curved platforms. For instance the mod Freestyle Station allows platforms to be laid as curved tracks, alongside the rails. Once the platforms are laid we use markers to tell TF2 which platform belongs to which track and a station is then automatically created. Via the station properties we can add buildings and other items to the station. Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 08 Curved Station Platforms

Traincontroller 10 Gold 15 Pushbuttons and Switches. Pushbuttons and switches can be added to a Switchboard to control many different kinds of operations. This video shows how a Schedule can be started such that trains start to drive when a switch is flipped. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 15 Pushbuttons and Switches

Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway 07 Drive backwards out of Dead Ends By default TF2 flips trains around at dead ends to always leave head first. For a model railway we don't want this behavior. Luckily there is a mod that we can install that lets the trains drive in reverse, driving backwards out of dead ends. Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 07 Drive Backwards out of Dead Ends

HO layout 'Clara', 7x3m, 24 trains This HO Layout is built by a fellow member of the Eindhoven Modeling Club, Peter Koppelman. Link to the video His explanation: Seven years I have been building my layout and I ban all again making major changes. The layout is in a room of 7 x 2.65 meters and is built against the wall in a u-shape. The basic shape is a simple one, a "dog bone" with a shadow station at each end and in the middle a station where a branch line branches off. There are 24 trains on the layout, up to five can run simultaneously. The control program is Koploper and the hardware consists of a DR 5000 from Digikeijs and a booster. The feedback is done by current detection over the 88N cable. About 150 meters of track have been used and 61 turnouts have been processed.

Traincontroller 10 Gold 14 Request Yellow. Instead of limiting the max speed in a block, which influences all trains that drive through the block, 'Request Yellow' is an alternative method to slow down trains in the block before a scheduled stop. If we place this request yellow in blocks that belong to the schedule, it won't influence trains on other schedules; these can drive through the block at a higher speed. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 14 Request Yellow

Traincontroller 10 Gold 13 Simplified Speed Profile. We want our trains to have accurate stop positions in the blocks, and to drive around with visually pleasing accelerations and decelerations. To accomplish this we have to calibrate the loc in Traincontroller. In many cases the Simplified Speed Profile works fine. It uses three sliders, min speed, max speed and 40 km/hr. To work well with TC first we have to program the DCC decoder in the loc. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 13 Simplified Speed Profile

Traincontroller 10 Gold 12 Schedule Rules part 2 Schedules have a set of Rules that prescribe if the Schedule starts, how the trains behave and if and when routes and blocks ahead are reserved. This video is about the second half of the set of Rules. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 12 Schedule Rules part 2

Traincontroller 10 Gold 11 Schedule Rules Schedules have a set of Rules that prescribe if the Schedule starts, how the trains behave and if and when routes and blocks ahead are reserved. This video is about the first half of the set of Rules. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 11 Schedule Rules

Traincontroller 10 Gold 10 Schedule Types and -Successors Once a train has reached the destination block of a Schedule, it will be taken out of the list and the trains will come to a stop. If we want the train to repeat the Schedule, or to start a different Schedule, we have to change the Schedule Type, or add Schedule Successors. The video shows how. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 10 Schedule Types and _Successors

Traincontroller 10 Gold 09 Schedules Trains can be allocated to a specific trajectory, called a Schedule. To create a Schedule we have to select the blocks and the routes between the blocks that we want to be part of the Schedule. We also define the Departure and the Destination blocks and we can add planned waiting times at specific blocks, like at a station. Trains might stop at other blocks too, but that only happens if the route or block ahead is reserved by another train. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 09 Schedules

Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway 05 Buy Trains Train lines have been created in video 4 … it’s time now to buy some trains and allocate them to their lines. To buy trains we first have to place a Train Depot. Once it’s placed, click it and a window opens where we can buy locomotives and wagons. By default TC2 already has some available, but many more can be downloaded from the Steam TC2 Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1066780/workshop/ Link to video Transport Fever 2 als Modelspoor Sim 05 Treinen Aanschaffen

Traincontroller 10 Gold 08 Classic User Interface By default the User Interface is ribbon style. The ribbon menu was introduced years ago by Microsoft, in their Office suite. While it offers a multitude of clickable links per ribbon, I find the drawback to be that things are harder to find and a change to another ribbon is needed more frequently, rendering more mouse clicks instead of less. Luckily tho ‘old style’ UI still is available. This has the classic toolbars with clickable icons. The big plus is that icons out of different menus / ribbons can be combined in one toolbar, which leads to less mouse clicks overall. It is My preferred way of working. The video shows how to enable the Classic UI and how it can be modified. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 08 Classic User Interface

Transport Fever 2 As Model Railway Sim 04 Train Lines Trains don’t just randomly drive around, they drive on so-called Lines, which we first have to set up. A Line is a list of stations, waypoints and signals that a train must pass in sequence. Lines are created in the Line Manager. Once one or more Lines are set up, trains can be bought and can be assigned to a Line (this will be the subject of the next video). Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 04 Train Lines

Traincontroller 10 Gold 07 Customize the Train Window The Train Window can be customized. Colors can be changed and sliders and buttons can be sized or hidden. The gauge can be made ‘sensitive’, which means it can be clicked and the train will accelerate or decelerate to the speed that was clicked. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 07 Customize the Train Window

Transport Fever 2 As Model Railway Sim 03 Stations Trains can only make scheduled stops at a station. More specifically, cargo trains can only stop at dedicated cargo platforms and passenger trains only at passenger platforms. Placing a station is super easy, just a mouse click. Use the n,m keys to rotate. After a station has been placed it can be modified, the station can be named and tracks, platforms and buildings can be added or deleted until it has the desired configuration. Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 02 Stations

Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 02 Use an Image as Underlay Track can of course be laid by eye. However, if one likes to re-create a layout from a drawing or an image, it would be of great help if the image can be used as an underlay. This is possible, via a mod that turns a 4096x4096 px image into a 1km terrain brush. Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 02 Use an image as Underlay

Transport Fever 2 As Model Railway Sim - 01 - Settings and Scaling While Transport Fever 2 actually is a game of economics, to set up a transport network and make your economy thrive, its game engine can equally well be used as a simulator for (model) railways. We can tame its AI to keep villages and industries static and we can give ourselves unlimited money to build and rebuild as much as we want to make our (model) railway look good. The Steam Workshop has a vast collection of mods available, all free of charge. They comprise collections of rolling stock from different countries, trees, houses, industries and more, as well as system mods of which some are very useful for the purpose of model rail sim. This video series intends to cover most of the topics that can help to enhance the experience of using TF2 as a model railway sim. The first episode shows the game settings for model rail simulation and details how to scale your (originally probably HO or N scale) model layout to work with TF2. Link to video Transport Fever 2 as Model Railway Sim 01 Settings and Scale

Twinwoods & Bedford - 12 - Simulation in Transport Fever 2 While Transport Fever 2 in fact is a logistics management game with the focus on setting up road- and rail transport between industries and towns, earning money and seeing the population and the economy grow and prosper, it can also very well be used to simulate a (model) railroad. That’s thanks to the graphics, which are very nice. The user interface is OK too, creating a layout with automatic train and road traffic is not very hard to do. The bonus is that it’s not just fun to do and results in something nice to watch, but to see in advance how a model railway layout is going to look once built can save hours of work and maybe material waste if changes are to be made. Once the building has started changes probably have far more impact. This is the link to video Twinwoods & Bedford - 12 - Simulation in Transport Fever 2

Traincontroller 10 Gold 06 Customize the Switchboard The switchboard can be customized to our personal preferences by modifying background- and track colors, track widths, grid, highlighting of turnouts and reserved routes and more. Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 06 Customize the Switchboard

Traincontroller 10 Gold 05 User Interface The TC user interface can be modified to your personal preferences in many ways: - Overall color scheme - Menu and toolbars - Window sizes and floating / docking / tabbed behavior - Use multiple monitors Link to video Traincontroller 10 Gold 05 User Interface