Running a simulation
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Start Screen
The Start Screen is what you’ll normally see when you start the application. Here is where you can start a new simulation, load a saved simulation, or run a scenario.
The Settings menu is also available from this screen, and enables you to configure subsequent simulations.
Additionally, links to recent news items from www.signalSimulation.com are provided to keep you up‐todate with information about current and upcoming products. Clicking the ‘View in Browser’ button will open the selected news item using your computer’s default browser.
Selecting ‘Cancel’ will close the Start Screen. ‘Quit’ will close the entire application.
Load Simulation
When loading a saved simulation, you’ll be prompted to select the desired saved simulation file. Simulation files all have the .sim extension. The default folder for saving and loading simulations can be set from within the Settings dialog.
Run Scenario
Scenarios are templates for new simulations that define a very specific set of starting conditions. They are useful for a variety of purposes, including the instruction of movement orders.
Be advised that simulations started from a scenario cannot be saved.
The scenarios are constructed using XML, and have many features which are not used in this version. More scenarios will be made available at www.signalsimulation.com.
A scenario SDK may be released in the future, so you’ll be able to construct, test, and share your own scenarios!
Settings
The settings allow you to set personal preferences to change, among other things, the difficulty level of the simulation. For new players, it’s easier to use the default settings to learn the basics, but for advanced players, it’s more fun to add some complexity and unpredictability.
Start Date and Time
This is the day and time at which new simulations will begin. Setting the day to a Saturday, Sunday, or even a holiday will result in a different dispatching experience than if the simulation starts at 08:00 Monday morning!
Delays
In a perfect world, all trains would arrive precisely on time. You can add real‐world messiness by increasing the chance that any train is late, by increasing Chance of Delays. The second control determines the Severity of Delays or lateness of trains. Not all trains will be late by the same amount, but the simulation will create delays that are mostly light, mostly heavy, or somewhere in between. For a crazy day, set Chance of Delays to 100%, and Severity of Delays to Heavy.
Occurrences
Engineering Works: Maintenance workers routinely take possession of tracks. For the dispatcher, this means coordinating with the workers to avoid accidents.
Switch Greasing: Switch greasers are maintenance workers who follow a schedule around the yard. They will periodically call the dispatcher to request that a particular switch be thrown, so they can apply lubricant. Increasing the chance of switch greasing will make for a busier dispatching session.
Chance of Poor Weather: Poor weather includes rain, snow, and fog. When these occur, trains tend to slow down as drivers cannot see as far as they normally can. When this happens, dispatching becomes more difficult, as you must wait longer for trains to get to where they need to go. Increasing this slider value not only increases the chance of poor weather, but also the severity.
Chance of Extra Trains: Extra trains are unscheduled trains that may arrive at any time. These trains each have the prefix ‘66’ added to their train number, so any train with an ID 66000 through 66999 is an extra train. The neighbouring dispatcher will call to announce the train.
Longer Station Dwelling: Trains, when stopped at a station, normally depart on time. Sometimes, however, the driver spills coffee on his lap and so the train does not leave the station according to the schedule.
Irregularities and Failures: This slider increases the chance that a train will suffer a defect, or that a catenary group will lose power. These defects are random, and as a dispatcher, you must be prepared to work around them.
Saving and Loading
Here, the default directory is defined when saving and loading simulations. By default, this directory is the located within the application data folder. It would be rare and unusual to have to change this directory.
Sound
This is where the default sound volume can be changed. To fully mute the sound, check the Mute Sound checkbox. When pressing the Test button, you should here a bell sound. The sound volume can also be changed during the simulation by clicking the icon in the status bar. The simulation uses Microsoft DirectX to perform sound output. The associated sound assemblies (DLLs) are listed here for support purposes.
Expert Options
The expert options are options that allow the player to customise the simulation experience according to their own skill level. Ultimately, these options control the realism of the simulation.
Simulation
Enable stabled trains when starting a new simulation: Places trains on specific tracks when starting a new simulation. These trains are often useful when shunting around the yard.
Enable stopped trains when starting a new simulation: This causes the simulation to estimate where a train should be, when starting a new simulation. This option avoids the situation where the player starts a simulation and has a completely empty yard.
Show specific locations when viewing train data: When checked, more specific track locations are shown in the Train Overview window.
Pause the simulation when the player is not interacting for a long time: Some players complained that when they left their yard unattended for a long time, they found that dispatching was impossible upon their return. If you suspect you might be called away from the computer unexpectedly, ensure that this option is enabled.
Show dispatcher briefing when starting a new simulation: Normally, this option is on. If you don’t want or need the briefing shown, disable this option. The information contained in the briefing is still added to the Notebook window.
Timetable
Minimum number of upcoming trains shown in the Train Overview window: This number controls how far ahead into the future the Train Overview looks when showing upcoming trains.
Communication
Drivers are impatient when waiting for long periods of time: This option causes drivers to complain about being stopped for long periods, sooner than if the option is not checked.
Do not indicate when a communication is complete: The Conversation window shows the last transmitted sentence with a green background to indicate the communication was successfully completed. Ending a conversation prematurely sometimes causes the caller to phone in again.
Offered trains can be moving with a speed of 40km/h or less: When checked, this option allows offering of moving trains to freight yards. When not checked, offered trains must be stopped. Note: there is always the possibility that the train will be refused.
Automatically hide and show the Communications window: If the Communications window is hidden, it will be shown when there is an incoming call. Pressing 'C' will manually show and hide the window.
Automatically hide and show the Conversation window: If the Conversation window is hidden, it will be shown when there is an incoming call. Pressing 'X' will manually show and hide the window.
Dispatcher must choose correct wrong line written order when communicating with drivers: When NOT checked, issuing wrong line working written orders to drivers can only occur following approval from a neighbour. When checked, this option allows the dispatcher to issue an incorrect written order.
Neighbours call to announce delays and timetable deviations: Neighbours normally call to announce delayed or trains that are not arriving in the normal sequence, as defined in the timetable. For some players, this is undesirable, so unchecking this option disables the notifications.
Movement Orders
Do not confirm deletion of prepared movement orders: When deleting prepared orders, an "Are you sure?" dialog box appears. When checked, this option disables the confirmation.
Do not confirm staffing/unstaffing instructions: When staffing or unstaffing trains, an "Are you sure?" dialog appears. When checked, this option disables the confirmation.
Trains can decide to discard turnaround orders if it means they can execute a coupling order: In the simulation, movement orders are simple, ordered lists. In real life, drivers are able to discard some orders in situations where they are not needed. If a driver has several turnaround orders, followed by a coupling order, checking this option allows the driver to 'skip' the turnaround orders and couple immediately.
Driver can execute movement orders in areas with switches: When executing turnaround or uncoupling orders, drivers normally move to the end of a route, such that they are not occupying switches. When drivers do stop in switches, there may be side effects which must be handled by the dispatcher.
Dispatcher Assistant
Dispatcher Assistant is available to coordinate hand delivery of movement orders: A messenger is available to run orders out to trains.
Trains must be stopped when movement orders are delivered via yard master: By default, orders can be delivered to trains via messenger, regardless of the speed of the train. For more realism, this option can be enabled, forcing orders to be deliverable only when the train is stopped.
Dispatcher Assistant may not be prompt when getting movement orders out to drivers: When dispatcher assistant is responsible for getting movement orders to drivers, the orders may not arrive promptly or predictably if this option is checked.
Passengers Information Displays (PIDs)
PID units require management: The PID units are the machines at the platforms that display timetable information for passengers. When checked, this option requires that the information be updated. More fun, but also more work!
PID operating system can make sounds: The PID operating system makes a 'ticking' sound when operating. For some players this can be annoying, so it can be disabled by unchecking this option.
Mirror the location changes when managing PID: The PID system is managed using the PID operating system window, and is viewed using the PID window. When a location is selected in either of the two windows, the other window will automatically change so both screens match. When not checked the two windows are independent of each other.
CTA Units window is available during a simulation: The CTA Units window sometimes uses a significant amount of system resources. For people with less powerful machines, it is sometimes advantageous to disable the CTA Units window.
Language
From the Current Language drop down list, select one of three languages. The language change takes effect when you exit the Settings dialog.
When the application starts for the very first time, you’ll be asked to confirm which language you wish to use.
Briefing
When starting a new simulation, you are presented with a briefing screen:
This is analogous to what you would receive from a dispatching colleague during a shift change. It outlines the important things you need to know to continue on dispatching, now that the previous dispatcher has gone home.
The above briefing gives a lot of information. The first three lines indicate that
- track 311 has two trains: loc 1700, at 5m; loc 1600 is at 30m
- track 505 is occupied by train Rs at 5m
- train 431734 is 430m on track 407
For tracks that have more than one train on them, we’re told where the trains are: the distance in metres is from the left edge of the track.
We’re reminded of what the date is, and when the sun rise/set times. This information is useful when we need to change the signal dimmer switch. The visibility is also good, as it is more than 1000m.
When ready, press I’m Ready!
The Notebook
The notebook has the same information from the briefing. You can add your own text to the notebook by right‐clicking on text items in the Conversation window. To remove a note, simple click on it using the right mouse button. The notebook is very handy for remembering important things like how late a certain train is, or the order of trains that are out of sequence, as reported by your neighbouring dispatchers.
You can also write yourself messages – simply type in the text box and click the pencil icon to add to the list.
When you right‐click on a note to remove it, it gets sent to the ‘trash bin’ with a strikethrough. Your trash bin is not that large, so only delete things when you’re sure you won’t need them any longer.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Function |
| P | Pause/Resume simulation |
| + / - (Key Pad) | Increase / Decrease simulation speed (4x max, 0x = Pause) |
| Spacebar | Brings Number Entry to front (i.e., makes it active) |
| F3 | Toggles route aid (purple/yellow rings around panel buttons) |
| F5 | Gets a red collar for panel buttons |
| F6 | Removes a red collar |
| F7 | Gets a glass collar for a panel button |
| F8 | Removes a glass collar |
| Esc(ape) | Cancel collar placement |
| Spacebar | Brings Number Entry to front (i.e., makes it active) |
| G | Show / Hide Group Buttons |
| H | Show / Hide Number Entry |
| J | Show / Hide ZNP801 |
| T | Show / Hide Train Overview |
| M | Show / Hide Movement Orders |
| C | Show / Hide Communications panel |
| X | Show / Hide Conversations panel |
| E | Show / Hide Engineering Works |
| N | Show / Hide Notebook |
| 1, 2, 3, ... 8, 9, 0 | Navigate to different areas of the panel |
| Enter/Return | Number Entry: Execute (ATK) |
| Left Arrow / Right Arrow | Number Entry: Train route (Shift + Arrow for shunt routes) |
| * (Keypad) | Number Entry: Move number from memory |
| / (Keypad) | Number Entry: Move number to memory |
| . (Keypad) | Number Entry: Clear numbers |
| Backspace | Number Entry: Clear numbers |
| Del(ete) | Number Entry: Clear numbers |
| 1,2,3, … 8, 9, 0 (Keypad) | Number Entry: panel box numbers |
| 1,2,3, … 8, 9, 0 (Keypad) | ZNP801: train numbers |
| F | ZNP801: used when typing error numbers |
| N | ZNP801: Accept Train (ANN) |
| L | ZNP801: Clear commands (LOE) |
| B | ZNP801: Offer Train (ANB) |
| O | ZNP801: Refuse / Delete Train (ZNL) |
| F1-F12 | ZNP801: Station buttons |
| Enter/Return | ZNP801: Send (ZNS) |