DazT

Ah that makes sense then. The westbound TLK "test" trains ideally could do with 5 minutes, even 10 minutes added into their timetable then to reflect the infrastructure at the time. I'm yet to find anyone that's managed to get one in right time at Katowice! Earliest I've been is 8 late, my record for the most delayed is about 45 minutes late!

Only 5 hours, amateurs! 🤣🤣

One of the old boys taught me that before the days of GSM-R and out of the CSR area, where it was primarily Signal Post Telephone land. Most of our lines are 4 track, parallel running and I said one day "I can't get hold of this driver" and he said "Waggle the signal", with me looking rather confused at him. So he showed me, clear and replace to danger a couple of times on a signal next to the one I needed to speak to (with no train approaching that one of course!), low and behold the driver came on the SPT! "You after me?" When I say old, he's an ex-BR fireman before he come into boxes for a quiet life and is still working! Trick apparently with semaphores was to hang a fire bucket off the small end of the counterweight, when the signal cleared the bucket would fall off making a clang.

At the moment you've only got a small finite number of signal boxes to work with only a few busy boxes, as the sim develops more and more will come online and the days of 100 people trying to cover 16 positions will hopefully become the thing of the past. Hopefully within a few days 16 boxes will become 17. I did a few hours on Psary for a change yesterday as the usual ones were full and was sat next to someone on Knapówka who was my SimSig partner in crime many years ago, from long ago before I became an actual signalman. (It was my experience using SimSig that actually got me the job, well a few of us). I didn't know at the time he was there until he called me out on the box to box chat, by name! Small world, so we had a good chin wag, but didn't cause chaos like we used to on SimSig! Normally if I can't find a box I like working, then I'll have a blast driving instead, but even that can be fastest finger first with everyone (myself included!) all trying to grab the EC trains with the EP08's on when they spawn in, but even that's recently worked to help me out by being scuppered for an EP08 when I sat down and did some of the local stoppers with the EN76 units which I used to avoid like the plague only because I couldn't master the power/brake handle, but by not getting on the EC's I have actually grown to love them and now since I've grasped a driving technique that works and worked out how to drive it!

That's the problem with report systems, they're open to abuse.

Bridge located at approximately 19,5km between Juliusz and Dorota has the guard barriers installed to stop people dangling things onto the overheads, but there is no crash/guard barriers on the bridge itself, the two green barriers just appear to float on their own. Apologies for the poor lighting on it, I ventured out early hours when I knew it wouldn't matter to other players if I stopped in section with a train to get some photos! EDIT: Just gone to find this bridge on Google Street View and it's an abandoned railway, could do also with some well placed shrubs/trees to give the impression of neglect. (Early Access Build: 21/02/2023 - 00:04)

Had that yesterday at Dąbrowa Górnicza when I was driving a Pendolino with some idiot stood in the four foot, horn through the station and then I threw the anchor out the window.

That SG button is a godsend, especially with stuff running ahead of time or getting relief "Hit the SG when you're ready" or "Tell your relief to hit SG when you're ready to go", gone are the days of clearing a signal and waiting, and waiting, and waiting with no movement or of course you can ring them direct.

See if the game simulator had proper GSM-R you'd have an 'SG' button on it, well we have it in the UK and as it's a EU standard I guess that it's the same in all countries that have GSM-R and that sends a text message to a terminal in the controlling signal box. The signaller then has three options that come up when you select the train that contacted you, Send a preset 'Wait at signal' message, call the train concerned or to remove the message.

If it's a while away then no, I don't do nothing, I go and make a cuppa, have a wee etc. just like I do at work, in a real signal box. We don't sit and stare at a screen/panel of nothing!

Not sure if the difficulty levels are set in stone but I think the following dispatching posts need regrading. What currently decides what level or grade a particular location is? Anything that is a traditional panel as they are more complex to operate than a workstation I think should be Level 2 as the minimum lowest grading, and then get higher in level/grade for things like sidings, a junction or junctions (not necessarily number of point ends, but how many destinations you can get to, ie, Line 160, Line 154 etc), a station or stations, how many true single lines where slotting arrangements are in place (acceptance arrangements) etc, etc. Olszamowice - Currently a Level 1, I think this needs changing to 2 or 3 as there are some very important regulating (holding X train for Y train) decisions to be made. Opoczno Południe - Currently a Level 1, this needs changing to a 3 or a 4 at a push, as in the current test timetable it can get messy which trains requiring the platform, and it's no more difficult than Dąbrowa Górnicza Wschodnia which is a 3 Idzikowice - Currently a 4 which should probably stay a 4 on the account of the layout, it being a panel and having two single lines off to different destinations, but should be the precursor to upping the level of Opoczno Południe shown above which currently sees exactly the same number of trains (on this test timetable at least) Dąbrowa Górnicza - Raise from a 1 to 2 on the account of there being level crossings involved. Katowice Zawodzie - With the current timetable it can probably stay a 2, although it's probably more a 3 on the account of the number of train and operating a level crossing, if the full timetable comes along with trains to and from the currently closed line, then it should go up to a 4 or 5.

Those longer layovers are well timed to go and make a cup of tea/coffee (whatever your poison!), vitally important on those EC's if you do them end-to-end for 4 hours!

When approaching Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice from the Dąbrowa Górnicza direction about 700m before the station just before you get to the diamond crossover, you receive a warning that you didn't sound the horn (I don't as I know where it is now!), unless I'm going blind, I don't recall actually seeing a sign to tell you to sound the horn. (Server EN1 0800 05/03/2023 - Early Access Build: 21/02/2023 - 00:04)

I still partially disagree, some panels are already full on without more additional gumpf being flashed up on the screen, it's bad enough having to send "Train X departed" every 30 seconds to AI boxes that get their knickers in a twist if you don't tell them within 2.2 seconds! There are occasions where trains must be shown a legitimate red signal, for example if a train is running early, another train is booked first into a platform and the train being held at the red is required to follow the first for the purposes of the timetable, I don't want some silly message coming up. If the devs go down that road then it'll be the end of me manning dispatching posts and I'll stick to driving only. However I do agree that there needs to be some mechanism for lazy people that bring trains to a grinding halt, but without penalising the players that have the ability to stay awake. Personally I'd do some sort of three strikes rule, so if you constantly mess up on Zw (a level 5 panel), then you get demoted and can only work Level 1 to 4 boxes, mess up on level 4 three times and that drops to Level 1 to 3 boxes being available, etc, etc. To get back up the ranking you'd have to do X hours without major incidents to regain your competency to work the higher level boxes.

Even in an overall busy box it can be boring too, especially if everything is on time. Most railway workers will tell you they prefer it when the job is up the wall, I know I do.

I use the new EDR trains screen a bit now, would it be possible to add "ph" for station stops and if possible the radio channel change points (unless the later is a manual thing!)

That's a bit naughty of them. "Hit the wrong button", you don't just move the mouse to the button, right click and hold it by accident. I could understand if it were an older UK installation where "dead routes" are a thing after trains have passed, but none of the panels in the Sim have that, so a right click is a very conscious decision. I've only had to take a signal back once and that was with the driver's permission after and only after I contacted them and confirmed they were at a stand and that I was going to replace the signal to danger. I've also had a signal go back on me as a driver once or twice, luckily I was quick enough on one occasion to quickly hit Escape and activate bot which brought the train to a stand in an instant.

I'm still in two minds, not sure the majority should suffer for the minority who fall asleep! 🤣

My only gripe to the idea is when you're on a panel where there's a half hour gap in the timetable (even Zawiercie has a 10 minute gap of nothing if you know where to look!) I shouldn't be expected to be alerted every 5 minutes to see if I'm still awake, even if I haven't got any trains.

The real skill is watching a train spawn in on simrail.app map and trying to be fastest finger first when it finally appears on the multiplayer list on the Sim and just hoping you get the train you're after before anyone else does, I've only been burnt a few times where someone has just managed to steal it first, literally by seconds!

I just use simrail.app for that 🤣

That's a shame, we get a very satisfying clunk/thud over here running through neutral sections! But duly noted, run/notch down to 0

Also, interesting to see there's no advanced warning for the neutral sections in Poland like there is in the UK, usually placed (don't quote me!) around 1 mile 1/4 in rear (on approach to) the neutral section that it applies to give older locos in the Class 81 to 87 (although none are no longer in front line duty) range enough time to run down the tap changer to 0

I see sign We8a says 'traction motors off', should this not also be 'and main switch open' and We9a ...... "and main switch closed"?? I know here in the UK we have APC magnets, two just on approach to and and two just beyond neutral sections which do exactly that, the first set of magnets automatically opens the VCB (Vacuum Circuit Breaker) disconnecting the train from the overhead supply, and the second set closes the VCB again. If your train hasn't got any stock on that's also drawing current (ie, carriage lights on, air con, etc) then just knocking it into Notch 0 I guess would be sufficient, but if you've got something still drawing a load whilst not using any traction power then I'd of thought the main switch should also be pressed so you're not dragging voltage from a 3kV section into a dead section and causing an arc. In reality, the important one is not drawing current going from a dead section into a live section, unless you like flashes off the overheads! 😁

When a new box comes online I usually go and hide on EN9 out of the way so I'm not messing up people's enjoyment on EN1! I love the ranking system though, learn the quieter boxes first etc.