noirceur

When driving EN57 and needing to keep at 50-60 km/h, you need to juggle the power settings a lot, series is too little, parallel is too much. So I usually ride on series and only briefly move the power level to R to get the first notch there, and then I move it back S to prevent further notching up. What I believe should happen is that amps jump to the new level and Jazda na oporach light goes on, because it is not an economical notch. What happens now that there is one "invisible" notch between them that only lights the Jazda na oporach light, but does not actually increase the amps, and only a second notch increases the amps as well. The light alone without any power above full series does not make sense to me, I believe it should only light up after (together with) the jump in amps. Full series: Full series + 1 notch = only light turns on: Full series + 2 notches = amps go up:

Dąbrowa Górnicza got into a deadlock situation today and stopping train got blocked in platform by a pendo coming from DGZ, but what also happened was allowing another train into the occupied platform where the stopping train was standing, setting this signal should not be possible (other than Sz). EN1 around 19:00 cet, involved trains 1431, 40182, 4134

When AI asks for track 1, you can reply with the accepting answer but specifying that you want it on track 2, and it will just wait and send it on the right one.

It's discussed on wikipedia about nameplates of polish signals (the same code is written physically on the signals as well). And yes, sure!

I was wondering about the small superscript numbers by the signal names in Ząbkowice (like N43/2), turns out these encode what aspects will the signal show! Sadly it's not present in most other signal boxes.. 1: Vmax, 2: 40 km/h, 3: 100 km/h, 4: 60 km/h. If written in fractions, it shows straight/diverging speeds.

This one was weird, I was running 442033 today and I was standing in Zawierce on red for around 20 minutes, and roughly at the time I got cleared path, the sim abruptly lost all sound, complete silence. After around a minute sound of environment returned as suddenly as it disappeared, but about half of the soundmix of the loco was missing, for example there was brake squeel, but no other brake-related sounds like air etc. Same for throttle, the wheel was clicking (EU07), but you could hear that the ventilator sounds are not as they use to be, many of the sounds they are mixed from were clearly missing. I have been playing since very early playtest, but never encountered anything similar, sometimes a sound or two is skipped, but never fullblown silence. I don't have an exact timestamp, but probably around 18:48-18:51 in the log. There are some exceptions in the log around that time that you might want to investigate. Server was EN1. SimRail_log_2023-12-23_18-31-16.txt

You can just turn off the main switch, that is always an option, but it's not very healthy for the loco to do so under power. Steering wheel tap changers don't have a lot of resistance to them though, they do the clicking sound, but you can still turn them for full rotation within half a second. Since the last patch you can just hold Num- and it will rotate rather quickly, or (at least before the patch you could) use Shift Num- to get to the nearest important position immediately. There are some shortcuts built in as in reality, so if the tap changer is set suddenly to zero, it does not have to go through individual notches down, but from I believe 27 it can jump to 1 immediately, for example. That speeds up the response of the engine to the controller a lot as well. What Atoka220 describes is something different, that's an "oh sh*t" button that you press in case of imminent crash (in siemens loks it's the giant red mushroom at the end of the panel). When you see that you are about to have a crash that directly threatens your life, you slam the button and run into the engine room where surrounded by all the heavy equipment, your chance to survive is much higher. The button takes care of all the necessary steps to secure the loco for crash and rescue operations (mainly it ensures that you don't get killed by electricity right as you enter the engine room, turns off MCB, lowers pantograph, sounds horn, sets light into "stop by all means possible" signal, and applies all brakes; varying by the manufacturer). It is definitely not meant to be used in regular operation.

Your main indication are the amperemeters (in yellow) - as a general rule of thumb that seems to be applicable across manufacturers, you want to keep those at the lower half of the scale shown. Then you should be safe from tripping the protections. What affects it is the available voltage (in blue), but I don't think it's simulated at the moment. If that drops lower than around 2,75 kV, you may need to apply less power than usual. Train heating affects it as well, but that's not usually problem with freight trains. There are couple trains in the game that are super heavy, but so far I could get anything moving without problems just by applying throttle carefully, I don't use any of the overcurrent modes, as they tend to increase wear and tear of the loco significantly.

When player names containing CN/TW characters are displayed in dispatcher's F1 window, they make their line height slightly bigger than the other lines. This is not accounted for in the total window height, meaning the last line will be slightly cropped. I assume that with multiple such players present, the problem would stack up even more. EN1, English client

^ Basically anyone who will start selling anything similar to german standardized dashboard (now used almost everywhere in europe in new loks) will make a fortune.

If you don't have enough voltage for your usual level of power alongside heating, it's probably better idea to just use less power, than freezing your passengers.

Trains 73xxx usually need to exchange in DGZ with trains coming from DG on the main line before they can take a turn to DG Huta Katowice, and are for this reason stopped in the platform. However the signal sequence shown does not provide enough room to safely stop unless you know that you need to expect stop. Entrance signal shows expect 100 km/h, intermediary signal shows 100 km/h and expect stop on short distance, but the following signal showing stop is in distance that does not allow for comfortable stop even from 60 km/h, not speaking about higher speeds. From 100 km/h speed, even full emergency brake is only barely enough. I assume that as with other stations with similar sequencing it should signal 40 km/h and stop on short distance instead, which would make much more sense. Additionally, as these trains are not stopping in DGZ for passengers, it may be useful to direct them through the eastern (left) tracks when possible to avoid colliding paths altogether.

I see why it is asked, because many other countries have that as a part of safety protocol. Additionally, you will leave all passengers running late to be standing angrily at the platform, while the train is stopped twenty meters from them potentially even for minutes. Here, driver usually initiates departure upon checking: first, time of departure has passed, second, exit signal allows departure; by whistling "ready for departure" signal. Then, conductor checks if boarding is completed, closes all doors, whistles "caution" and waves at the train driver with green target/lantern. This is a cross-check implemented exactly to prevent train departing from platform before having consent to depart, potentially leaving on stop aspect.

In reality it's probably even 1-3 minutes, I suppose. Especially with Poland enforcing the 20 km/h limit, you really want to avoid doing so until absolutely necessary, because you will take like 3-4 minutes to go through the block instead of what, 40 seconds? The rule for passing red is there more for special occurrences that would otherwise require dispatcher to use Sz signal, as after autoblock cannot be any switch to cover or any train going across your path or against you. But for example railroad crossings connected to AB signals may stay open and unsecured. Passing it on red is not something you would do every day upon seeing one.

Yeah, I assume that at some point we will have an electrical infrastructure update that will bring detailed simulation of everything, neutral sections, varying voltage with draw effects and more, but this still felt like something that should be fixed on its own earlier. Cancelling the path on system level (or simply locking the switches in place for now, if there is only few places like that) should be a quick fix. I saw that I am entering an unpowered track so i quickly lowered the panto before destroying it, but with how detailed other things like these are simulated in simrail, I genuinely expected that nothing happens once I raise it again, and that I would be just standing there until next restart without power.

Today, the dispatcher in Sosnowiec Główny insisted on sending me to an unelectrified track 9 even against my warnings, but apparently (lack of) presence of overhead line is not simulated, and the train still indicates voltage and behaves normally. I don't know if there is any technical check in Poland that would prevent dispatchers from doing so (or if it just relies on the dispatcher's knowledge), but as far as the simulator goes, better solution would be refusing to process such path in similar way how paths into wrong directions are cancelled by system. Additionally, electrified and non-electrified tracks should be simulated properly with effect on trains.

Catenary on track 5 in Idzikowice is aligned outside of the pantograph's reach in the area in front of the signal T5.

SimRail looks to be going great in the direction of realistic simulation in lot of areas ignored in most other sims and I think it's amazing idea. But train manuals in games don't always share much above what is needed for basic operation, so I thought I would compile a list of some advanced or non-trivial knowledge a train driver should be aware of, especially aimed towards EU07 loco, as that one leaves all the tidbits in driver's hands, modern locos solve lot of them electronically. I don't live in Poland, but most of the railways in former eastern bloc are mutually compatible in terms of operation, so if something is handled differently in Poland, or also if I use incorrect english terminology, feel free to correct me. Also, your knowledge is welcomed too to expand the list! Pantographs By default, you should drive on rear pantograph. This is for case something damages the pantograph, if the front one was up and collapsed, it would damage the rear one too. This way you still have the front one to drive off with. If you haul sensitive cargo, you use front pantograph instead. This is because sparks and graphite fall from the pantograph-catenary connection. Sensitive cargo is open wagons with flammable materials like coal or wood, tank wagons with flammable content, but also wagons with cars or anything valuable. You also use front pantograph if you pull second loco in multiple-unit operation, to ensure its windows don't get damaged and dirty. When standing for a long time, raise both pantographs. Especially when you have train heating on, this helps to divide the current draw. All passenger trains stand in same spot at the platform, so it could easily "burn a hole" into the catenary. You can use both pantos also when starting to move with a heavy train, but do not use both pantographs above 20 km/h or when going through switches. Electricity Low voltage systems like 3 kV DC in Poland are simpler technology, but it comes with a lot of disadvantages. At the moment however, most of them are not simulated and it stays on 3.3 kV all the time, effectively solving a lot of them. 3 kV DC system is very unstable and can oscilate between 2-4 kV easily, based on total draw of trains in same section. In simple words, if there is a heavy freight starting to move in the same section, the "remaining" voltage for you can be much lower and may limit how much power you can apply. On resistor-based locos with no electronic control, you need to watch out for your current draw. Rule of thumb is to stay at the half of the ampermeter in most situations (400A in EU07). You can go higher for a faster acceleration, but you risk overload and tripping the main circuit breaker. Low available voltage limits how high you can go. Resistor-based locos come with a very fine-grained power control, which is a great for handling freights. But vast majority of the power levels are inefficient (the train is trying to use maximum power, but you add resist to limit this power to only a tiny portion) and you should get to the efficient level as soon as possible. Efficient levels are marked S and P (max series and max parallel) on the power wheel. All other levels will light up the warning light Jazda na oporach (Driving on resist) and you will hear the loud ventilators. Resistor-based locos also come with shunting power levels, these can be used in both S and P power levels and are efficient. For long rides not requiring full power, it is better to stay on series and use shunts than go into inefficient parallel. Passenger coaches don't have own source of power aside of small dynamos. To have power for things like heating, lighting or air condition, you need to turn on train heating, in EU07 this is a switch called Ogrzewanie pociągu (Train heating), in modern locos it's a switch or button with lowercase "e" letter. This increases current draw significantly, so it may limit how much power you can apply to get the train moving. Lower voltage systems have a lot of neutral sections, to limit the amount of trains sharing the section. As devs pointed out in other threads, in Poland neutral section means simply returning power level to zero. You don't need to turn off main circuit breaker and you can still use electrodynamic brake. Some neutral sections are difficult to spot, but you can use Shift + Num- to quickly run power down to zero in a second. There is a couple of low pantograph sections, as well. You want to avoid the spike in current, so when raising pantograph again, make sure that power level is set to zero and train heating and compressors are off before you raise pantograph and turn on the main circuit breaker again, or it may get instantly tripped. Similarly to avoid spikes in current, turn power level to zero also when changing from one track to another. Brakes Train air brake is the most powerful brake you have. Its default state is full brakes, and you use air to force it into release. This is a fail-safe system, but it takes a long time to propagate through train and using it recklessly can spend all the air you have for release and you may be unable to get moving until compressors fill the system again. Braking for a long time when going down a slope can warm the brakes up to level of destroying them. It is better to overbrake for a minute and then give them a minute to cool down, then repeat in "saw" pattern. Electrodynamic brake delivers almost instant, but weak effect. It is great for going down a slope, because it does not warm up the brakes. It's usually not efficient in low speeds and cannot bring train to halt. Loco brake works in similar way as brakes in a car. It is instant and fine-grained, but not nearly strong enough to brake the whole train. It is used when shunting or to hold the train when not in slope. Brake early and sensitively. Minimum brake settings is still pretty good, and more comfortable for passengers and cargo than full brake force. Release early too. If you stop with high brake setting, it will feel like hitting a wall. The most comfortable stop is to use train brake to slow down and then gradually release it to reach full release at the exact point the train stops. As you come to a halt, hold the train with loco brake. Loco brake releases very quickly when you need to move again. Mastering this process is the key to be a good and reputable train driver. Train drivers are taught to, and in lot of countries required to, keep their hand at the emergency brake at all times. Do not be afraid to use it, if you see anything that could intrude the loading gauge of your train, a car on a crossing or person in tracks. Emergency brake vents immediately all air from braking system causing full brake effect faster than setting max brake the usual way. Modern trains will also add electromagnetic brake, which is very uncomfortable, but very efficient braking system. Conveniently you can use emergency brake directly by simply pressing Num 1. Similarly if you see something odd in the catenary, lower the pantograph immediately. Hopefully the pantos don't get damaged, or in case of accident, at least most of the high-voltage systems will be disconnected. Consist In EU, we mostly use screwlink to connect wagons. A relatively simple device consisting of hook and a tightening screw holds the whole weight of the train, so you need to treat it carefully. When starting to move or when changing from acceleration to deceleration or vice versa, allow the screwlinks to shrink or extend slowly, rather than pulling them with full force. Start with very little power until all screwlinks extend and the end of the train also starts moving, and only then floor it. In case the screwlink fails, the train may get torn and split. For this, end-of-train markers are crucial to visually ensure the train arrived whole. Always make sure that your train has rear red lights or the white-and-red signs at the end, and only end, never anywhere in the middle. Train air brake is a fail-safe system, if the train gets torn, the valves torn open in both parts will vent the air and both parts will stop as with emergency brake. For this reason, whenever the train stops by itself or brakes start to behave oddly, you must ensure the consist is whole. You can ask next dispatcher to visually check the end-of-train markers as you pass as well. Train air brake has one weak scenario: when the valves between loco and train, or between two wagons remain closed. In that case, you would be only controlling brakes in the connected part of the train, which might not be enough to slow or stop the train. For this reason yard masters do full and partial brake test, in short setting train air brake to max in the loco and observing what the end of the train is doing. This is done off-screen in the simulator. Yet, you should still always check by yourself if the brakes are working: when leaving the first station, get to some speed (usually around 30 km/h) and apply brake to observe the result. If the train starts decelerating, you are good to go, if not, you still have clear path in front of you to brake with dynamic or loco brakes, much better than finding out when approaching a red signal at full speed. Front of the train is marked by three white lights in a triangle. But when driving on opposite track in Poland, left light (the "outer" one) must be lit red, top and right ones stay white. Stops If a freight train is stopping in station, make your way up to the stop signal unless you would block an access path to platform or so. Your train may fit just enough to the length of the track. If a passenger train is stopping in station, only depart from platform when you have a signal clear to leave the station. Unless it's not visible, then you would be signalled by the station master in reality when you can leave. If a passenger train is being halted in unscheduled station, you want to avoid stopping in platform, so your train does not get swarmed by confused waiting passengers. Usually you slow down to 5-10 km/h and crawl through the station hoping the signal will change in time. If you have to stop eventually, you must be conducted by conductor as if it was scheduled stop, to ensure everyone's safety. When any train, other than passenger train in scheduled stop is starting to move, sound a horn to warn everybody nearby, be it in station or on open track. Signals Automatic blocks have advantage, even if stopped on red, you can pass it on sight. This helps the flow of traffic as you don't have to wait for the whole next block to be clear. You stop in front of it, then you can pass at max 20 km/h until next signal, autoblock signals with "T" board may be passed by freight trains without prior stopping. Autoblock signals always have white mast to ensure that you can pass it in this way. Signals with red-and-white masts must not be passed on red. Autoblock signals go in this sequence: green (three or more blocks clear), flashing green (next two blocks clear), yellow (next block clear), red (train in next block in same direction as you). If you see autoblock signal turned off, stop immediately and inform dispatcher, it means that the autoblock is set into opposite direction. Light bulbs in signals may fail. In that case, the signal should either fall back to most restrictive signal, or goes off completely. Dark signals are valid and still have meaning! Main signals are on red-white-red mast, which is equal to Stop. Distant signals have the X board, which is equal to Expect stop.

In Dąbrowa Górnicza Wschodnia when driving from Dorota, sometimes a car flies vertically up somewhere from the city scenery to your left.

Minor scenery bug, there is a W8 sign announcing 120 km/h between Pilichowice and Opoczno Południe at ca. 95.km CMK. There is no such speed restriction anywhere nearby, nearest 120 km/h section is 12 km down the line at Idzikowice.

Being able to use the windshield washer to remove the flies on the glass is something that I would have never expected to be simulated until somebody mentioned it on the forums. I spent the playtests being angry at devs that they made loco window textures with a black spot in the middle just to screw up my OCD.

I get your point, but for one I am on the opposite side regarding the layovers - I dislike that almost all dispatchers don't give an F about scheduled stops for operational reasons. Yes, you look at the map and all seems good at the moment, but the schedule is created in this way for a good reason, nobody creates it for "haha let's make this freight go two hours more than needed". If you ignore the stop, it may happen that 30 km later faster trains will catch up and there will be no good overtaking point anywhere for next twenty minutes. Pendolino goes three times as fast as freight, that is something that is very difficult to gauge from the map. Regarding the rest, in the beginning we had EN1 marked as for beginners, but it sort of became the only server with living community, and the label disappeared over time. Perhaps we should aim to get an "expert" labelled server instead with number other than 1, ideally with a softlock on played time (even a low one, people can come with good experience from elsewhere and just need to learn the controls), where people enjoying high realism could actively gather, while newcomers get pointed elsewhere. It pleases me when I see a fellow driver running on front panto with coal trains (even AI doesn't do that yet!), but at the next station I get a suicidal dispatcher running under the train. Yes, I will trip that emergency brake and let them eat the five minute refill of the heavy freight, but it is fun only once in a while, not in three stations in a row. It would be great if these communities could exist on their own, because currently it can ruin the fun on both sides, people (who can be even kids) who just want to drive a nice train don't care about the lengthy realistic procedures.

Given that server restarts are something that is going to stay with us long-term (I assume that even the release version will have to restart from time to time to ensure everything is in consistent state), it would be nice if we got a broadcast announcement that the server is going to restart, similar to other online games. Some broadcast system is already in place, blaming dispatchers for incorrectly set paths, so as long as the server restarts are graceful and not caused by pulling a plug from outside, it should be fairly easy to implement. A message should appear in the chat 15, 10, 5, 3 and 1 minute before the server restart. This gives players some time to finish whatever they are doing, instead of just dropping them out of session. As a little extra, server could inform the player upon loading that the countdown sequence is in progress with current time remaining (so they don't have to wait for five minutes to see whether the global broadcast appears or not and have the information immediately), but I understand that direct messaging might not be implemented yet, as I don't recall seeing anything using it in the game.

It varies between locos, but in lot of older engines you can turn off compressors and ventilators during standing, which reduces lot of the loud noises of the engine. The annoying part of noises can be sometimes limited by deselecting direction, as on some machines it physically disconnects part of the electrical circuits. Opening main breaker is not very common for the reasons said above, it cuts off train power line, effectively turning off coaches. It probably also massively increases wear and tear on batteries. Wait until comes some thyristor powered loco (if PL has any), then you will find out what it really means loud and annoying sounds 😁

Trains departing from Idzikowice to Radzice are showing incorrect information in the train overview panel in dispatcher HUD, probably because they are out of the logical traffic simulation. Train 223024 leaving via track 2/573 showed next signal yellow on entrance to Radzice, then "-" instead of next signal until it despawned. Train 423450 leaving via track 1/574 showed next signal red on entrance to Radzice, passed it in 90 km/h speed and then showed "-" instead of next signal until it despawned. It is more a graphical glitch than a bug as it's probably intended behavior at the edge of the simulation to some degree, but at least the red signal pass got my attention. EN9, today at ~ 12:45. SimRail_log_2023-02-24_12-35-46.txt