SAR Caltowie TrackMarks

SAR Enhanced Interlocking Towers and AI Driving Tutorial

A part of the SAR Peterborough Base Session

Enhanced Interlocking Towers (EITs) are included in the SAR Peterborough Base Session (they are not part of the route or layout) to provide easier navigation in some of the more complex yards in the layout. The EITs provide paths into and out of the yards. In some cases they also provide direct paths through the yards. EITs are optional, they do not have to be used EITs are setup at the following locations:- Gladstone Down - to provide paths out of Gladstone in the directions of Jamestown and the Wilmington Line. Gladstone Up - to provide paths into Gladstone from the directions of Jamestown and the Wilmington Line. Caltowie - to provide paths into, out of and through Caltowie from the directions of Gladstone and Peterborough. Jamestown - to provide paths into, out of and through Jamestown from the directions of Gladstone and Peterborough. Peterborough West - to provide paths into and out of Peterborough from the directions of Gladstone and Quorn. Peterborough East - to provide paths into and out of Peterborough from the directions of Terowie and Paratoo. Paratoo - to provide paths into and out of Paratoo from the direction of Peterborough. Terowie - to provide paths into and out of Terowie from the direction of Peterborough. Orroroo - to provide paths into, out of and through Orroroo from the directions of Peterborough and Quorn. Carrieton - to provide paths into, out of and through Carrieton from the directions of Peterborough and Quorn. Quorn - to provide paths into and out of Quorn from the direction of Peterborough. Gladstone and Peterborough have each been split into two EITs because of the large number of paths at each location.

Driver Commands are available for use in the session.

Driver Commands are optional, they do not have to be used

Apart from the standard commands (Drive To, Load, Unload, Couple, Wait For, etc), additional commands have been added. Specifically:-

• IT SetPath (TANE SP4 and later) - to allow EIT paths to be set in the Driver Command Bar
• IT CancelEnhancedPath (TANE SP4 and later) - to cancel any set EIT path
• Instant Load Command - to instantly load all wagons (except locos) with the first item in their product queues
• InstantLoadLocos - to instantly load all locos (or their tenders) with water and either coal or bunker c oil
• InstantUnload - to instantly unload all wagons (except locos)

 The Tutorial Scenario 

The scenario used in this tutorial is  Gladstone-Peterborough Depot Fuel which has the consist already fully assembled with its locomotive (T 258) at the starting signal of the Gladstone EIT  Goods Loop to Broken Hill  path. This tutorial will follow the scenario until after the consist arrives at Jamestown.

From the Gladstone-Peterborough Depot Fuel instructions page:-

Getting Started: Find your loco. Either:- Open the Finder Tool (press CTRL-F) and type, in the name field, the name of the loco, SAR T 258 (or just T 258 should be enough). Click the tick icon, OR Open the Driver List (bottom left of the screen) and select the loco from there - click the drivers Eye icon to jump to the loco.

The Driver Command Bar
Make sure that the Driver Command Bar is visible on the screen. In Driver Mode the interactive driver controls are at the bottom right of the screen.
		Cycle Through the Command States Click the 3 dots on the extreme bottom right of the screen to cycle the control display through to the Driver Command Bar - stop when the last of the 3 dots is highlighted.			Open the Driver Command Menu Click on the chevron icon to open the command menu.

Step	Setting an EIT Path from a Starting Signal  The first path to be set in this tutorial is from the Gladstone  Goods Loop  to  Broken Hill . On the Gladstone Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/convert: No such file or directory Error code: 127 page (link via - link will open in this window) this is identified on that page as:- From the open Driver Command Menu, select the  IT SetPath (TANE SP4 and later)  option. This will open a list of all the EITs that have been placed in the Session. Because an EIT Starting Signal, in this case invisible signal GSX G27D, is directly in front of the loco, the signal will be included in the EIT list. Select the starting signal  GSX G27D . This will reveal that two different paths out of Gladstone start from this signal.  Goods Loop to Broken Hill , and  Goods Loop to Wilmington  Select the path  Goods Loop to Broken Hill . Selecting this path will NOT set the entire path from Gladstone to Broken Hill. It will only set the path from the Starting Signal (in this case GSX G27D) to the End Signal (Gladstone Home Up on the Broken Hill side of the yard). Every path is named according to its starting point (one of five locations or a track in the local yard) and its destination (one of five locations or a track in the local yard). The five locations are Port Pirie, Broken Hill, Terowie, Quorn and Wilmington even if that location is not the destination or starting point of the consist. This is intended to indicate the direction of travel only. The path has now been set. All junction switches and signals along that path from the Start Signal (GSX G27D) to the End Signal (Gladstone Home Up) are set to give loco T 258 the road out of Gladstone towards Broken Hill. Note: not all signals will automatically show Proceed once the path has been set. Some signals, semaphore signals for example, will only show Proceed when a train starts moving towards the signal.  Cancelling a Set EIT Path  Paths that have been set can be cancelled so that their signals and junction switches will be returned to their previous states. They will be returned automatically after the consist has cleared the Exit Signal for a path but if you change your mind and decide to take a different path or not use the EITs then a set path can be cancelled. From the Driver Command Menu select the IT CancelEnhancedPath command. You will have the option of cancelling ALL PATHS or selecting a particular EIT and path to cancel.
Step	Driving to the Next EIT Location  You have several options for driving to Caltowie, the next EIT location. There is a minor location, Yangya, between Gladstone and Caltowie but it has no EIT, minimal yard infrastructure, no signals and its switches are set for the main line through to Caltowie.   Manual Control  You can manually drive the train through to Caltowie without using the EIT as described in Step  1  above. This would require that all the switches along the path be correctly set first. You can do this by manually setting all the switches yourself using the information on the Gladstone Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/convert: No such file or directory Error code: 127 page (link via - link will open in this window). Part of this page is shown left with only those switches relevant to this tutorial scenario. The red dots indicate the yard Start and Exit positions for the train path. Also shown left below is the Switch Set data, taken from the same page, for the path Gladstone  Goods Loop  to  Broken Hill . The switch directions, L or R are the directions when facing the junction fork i.e. the L and R that determine which direction a train will take when passing over the junction. Switch  20  does not need to be set as it is already correctly set and occupied by the train. You can now use the Driver Control Dial or the keyboard controls to drive the train out of Gladstone Yard to Caltowie. Alternatively, for those with advanced steam loco driving skills, you can take control of the throttle, brake and various valves wheels in the loco cab.   AI Control  You can also drive by adding Driver Commands directly into the Driver Command Bar on the bottom right of the screen. The Drive To, Drive to Trackmark, Drive via and other commands are available for use. The approach to every location in the route has Trackmarks added to allow you to use this method to let the AI do most of the driving work. The Trackmarks are shown on the Caltowie Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/convert: No such file or directory Error code: 127 page (link via - link will open in this window). The approach trackmarks are placed a short distance ahead of the approach home signal, a semaphore signal, at those locations that have visible signals. Where the location has no visible signals (the majority of locations in the division were unsignalled) then a visible Caution track sign has been placed alongside the trackmark. Part of this page is shown left. The approach trackmark on the Port Pirie side is Caltowie Main Approach Dn. This is also identified in the data table, also copied from the same page, shown below. From the Driver Command Menu select the command  Drive To Trackmark  then select the trackmark  Caltowie Main Approach Dn . Using the Drive commands in yards with many switches, such as Gladstone, will work but the consist will display a "stop-start" motion as it slowly navigates its way through the switches. If you use the EIT to set the path first then use the Drive commands, the consist will move without any delays.
Step	Setting the Next EIT  You can set an EIT path without having to be directly in front of a Starting Signal. For example, you can set all the EIT paths for the train through Caltowie and into Jamestown (the first stop in the scenario) before you leave Gladstone.