Gazz292

Just a little thing... on the 14100 services (and possibly the 41100 services too?), there's a 'stop' at Olszamowice to let an ED250 past you, i think it should also have something after it's station / post name to show this is a timing stop and not a stop for passengers to get on and off. I 'think' it should be ;pn ? 'Non-trade stop - just for the needs of the railway undertaking'? From the 'zal_6.3_Reg22_23_v8_EN' on the PKP site it shows: PH – trade stop (->PH) only for getting on, (PH->) only for getting off; ZD – change of traction team; PN – non-trade stop; PM – manoeuvre works within station; ZP – stop for railway workers; So this is how i show it in my timetable for this service:

well, that's my little project of making timetables blown out of the water 😵😄 This is awesome work here, i wish i could have helped on your project but i don't know any programming stuff, For the past few weeks i've been trying to learn excel to make my version of the timetables, and my brain is overloaded with excel formulas for stuff like converting seconds to decimal minutes (with the hope that SimRails timetables will become more realistic and have departure times to the second as it is in real life, rather than whole minutes, So say a departure at 21:30:42, that would be displayed on a timetable as 21:307 (that 7 should be half way above the 0, but i can't do superscript on here, it's showing 0.7 decimal minutes, which is 6 seconds per decimal minute) I even struggle with nesting formulas in excel, but none of this comes close to making timetables up on the fly like you have done 👍 : I notice the station info in the screenshot above, nothing goes past 'H'? is this how it was in 2018? i.e. for Warszawa Wschodnia station, i have 'R2, R1, R6, R307, RT, H, SS' some stations have 'PP' instead of 'SS' some have 'L1' they all show things like track interlocking, is ETCS is present or not and so on, and someone told me that's how you tell things like if the signal you pass on a Sz aspect is a 40 or 20km/h limit.

I really don't think an early access title is right for you IKB, you can't seem to grasp the concept of early access meaning there will be bugs, issues, new problems that will be discovered, But they will be worked on, and when a fix is found bug fixes will be released, as well as more features added along the way, and if it takes longer than a single week to fix something, then that weeks update may be delayed. That's why you paid about what a single tsw DLC costs (that gets you ~20 miles of track and a single train) for Simrail. If SimRail was like dtg, then there would be an update on the day mentioned... would that keep you happy? No of course not, because that rushed release would be half assed and break more things than it fixes. Then all current issues would get ignored as they'd be too busy working on the next DLC that rewrites history, because they'd be more worried about offending someone with a 2022 mindset than showing what life really was like in the 1960's. Or they'd be claiming to be fixing issues with the core game that have been there for almost 2 years.... but really they are working on SimRail 2... along with a cringy faked 'leak' and then livestream's full of back slapping and bigging themselves up about their 'achievements', meanwhile in the real world people notice that SimRail 2 is pretty much the same as SimRail 1, it's just had a couple of 'features' added that people have been using all along with simple mod files (a drag and drop 'install' for the most part) and they are just charging us over again for the same content. Thankfully SimRail is not like tsw or that fishing simulator of theirs that has the same sales method: Release the same game every 2 years, release lots of DLC between the main game releases, ignore bug reports / feature requests and milk the customer for every penny they have. But you need to face facts, single player save is likely not coming, and the sim is in early access, Get over that and you might actually enjoy driving the trains or operating the signal boxes, on the multiplayer side no 2 runs are the same, last night i was held for 20 minutes at a stuck signal before being routed over the left hand track for ~10Km, then i had to wait whilst the trains from the other direction were routed around me before i could cross over back to the right hand track, As a result i was 20 minutes late after this, by the end of the run i was about 7 minutes late and i had a big smile on my face for an enjoyable totally unscripted drive.

Here's a days worth of 14100 timetables, Just unzip, and inside the 14100 folder should be 24 timetables in pdf format, one for each of the services throughout the day from service / timetable 14101 to 14147. i like to simply transfer the whole 14100 folder to my kobo e-ink reader, then select that folder and open the individual .pdf that i need for the service i am driving (or search for the service number and it'll find the timetable for you) I haven't tested these on a kindle yet, but i have loaded them onto a couple of different sized android tablets, and they display just fine on the built in pdf readers. I like to set the 'read direction' to left to right pages and full screen, then just swipe right to left go to the next page as you reach the bottom of the timetable during your drive in SimRail. Of course, if you don't have time to drive the entire service (3 hours 42 minutes) you just pick one off the earlier services which are already part way through their trip (showing less time to completion) and find the correct place in the timetable by reading the hectometer boards when you spawn into the train) <added on 06/03/23 : 02:10> i've changed the position of one speed limit on line 4, the SimRail speed limit data says it's at 214.157, but it is actually right after the 214.9 hectometer board before the bridge. I've also made the temporary limits in this timetable italic to distinguish them from normal speed limits (included the 40km/h limit at Katowice station signed with a W9 board. So a new zip file has been uploaded containing a new set of the days timetables with these corrections, same name, so delete the old one then download this one (or re-name it) i'll make a simple 'how to read a Polish drivers timetable' chart up tomorrow, as it can look daunting at first, especially how it looks wrong in places where the speed limit change kilometres are shown with distances after a station / post kilometers... like: Strzałki is at 57.381Km, but the 160 speed reduction is at 78.487Km... you'd expect the speed reduction to be placed after this station / post entry, but real Polish drivers timetables are like this in many places, i believe it's to do with the room needed for the speed limit changes Vs the station / post entries, But you get used to scanning the timetable for things like this. 14100.zip

has anything been changed on how you 'earn' your grading to work the more complicated boxes? When early access was first released, you just needed to have run the sim for x amount of hours in dispatcher mode, so some people would go on an empty server and take control of a signal box, then ignore everything, They would be off playing another game or something, whilst the sim racked up their hours until they got enough hours recorded to operate the harder signal boxes. It could be amazing to have a kind of exam you take to earn your next higher grade / promotion and move to operate the harder signal boxes, I may be taking things too far into the realism thing now tho, but SimRail is way above the other train driving games because of its approach to realistic operations i think.

At least back with the old semaphore signals the signaller could shake the signal by moving the lever back and forth, that usually woke a dozing driver up... flashing a signal light on and off just doesn't have the same effect i imagine 😄

the extra features on the Passenger Information Screens is all planned for the future of SimRail, i've seen screen shots showing a next train screen at a station that i think Ai passengers will use, I don't think a free walk mode will be implemented... i hope it isnt, as i don't want people walking along the tracks in the middle of nowhere and jumping Infront of my train, plus that would mean extra slots on the servers taken up by people who just want to walk about the map, when this is a driving and signalling simulator... and the map really isnt designed to walk anywhere you want, it's designed to show nicely to you from the cab of your train / signal box, but try and use the underpasses when waiting at a station and you find most of them are dead ends. But this is a subject that splits people, i'm in the 'keep it as a driving and signalling sim' others want to turn it into a 'the sims' style game, and other want things found in other games brought in here, just because the other 'game' has it.

yep the SG button is what i was on about, But SimRail ATM is set in Poland in 2018, GSMR is available in a few places, but they still use the old analog radios, the ZEW1 and ZEW3 buttons send a tone when pressed, ZEW1's tone is to alert drivers, ZEW3 is to alert dispatchers, but afaik on SimRail these tones are not heard over other peoples radios... like the radio stop button only affects your own train (but thats deliberate as people could troll it by joining a server, pressing the radio stop to stop all trains in range, then move to the next server and do the same)

i think things like this have been suggested before, but the problem is the queue system would then become the 'who clicks first wins' part instead, And it would need something to stop people constantly clicking to take up all the spaces for their favourite dispatcher post. Maybe some form of limitation to how many times you can operate a particular dispatchers post per day per server thing needs to be thought about? Or timeouts, your first post of the day you get straight into the dispatcher post, second time you have a x second delay when the servers restart which allows someone else the chance to get that post for their first time, third time you try to get on the same post it's a longer delay or something. of course the rich kids will abuse this kind of system by having multiple steam accounts and copies of SimRail just to hog their favourite dispatchers post on their favourite server. I know that usually people want their favourite dispatchers post but only on their favourite server, so the popular servers are full all the time, but there's other servers with just one or 2 drivers in it during the day, and no one in the dispatchers posts, Right now: EN1 has 13/16 dispatchers. EN3 has 3/16 dispatchers. EN6 has 0/16 dispatchers. EN8 has 1/16 dispatchers. EN9 has 2/16 dispatchers. So for the english servers, everyone wants EN1 all the time, obviously because they want live drivers to interact with instead of AI trains?

Maybe 5 minutes is too long? The uk had 'Rule 55' which was something like, if you are held at a red signal for more than 2 minutes, you are to contact the signaller to be sure (s)he knows about your train (before radios and signalpost telephones, you'd send usually your fireman or the guard to the signal box) Now this rule was more to prevent the signaller forgetting about your train and sending another one into the back of it, but there had been cases where the signaller was found asleep due to the signal box being a remote one with very little traffic. I read that the modern UK railway has a revised rule 55, now it's often enacted via a button on the in cab radio to press that sends a 'train standing at signal' message to the signal box. In SimRail, when i am held at a red signal, i'd press the ZEW3 button on the radio after about a minute, but i don't think this does anything to non Ai signal boxes (does it do anything in MP at all?) Then i may send a message asking if the dispatcher knows i'm waiting at a signal (last night was the first time ever i managed to use the SimRail radio for voice properly, i've always had issues with voice based coms in real life) Anyway, if this 'train standing at signal' text message was a pre-selected message, then it could maybe ring the dispatchers phone, or sound the ZEW3 tone on the radio, then pop up a message box on the dispatchers screens, to which they have to respond to within 30 - 45 seconds, if no response a 15 second countdown timer starts, which switches back to Ai control of the box?

I'm not the only person trying to go totally HUD'less when i drive in SimRail, and to do this we need to know the time to the second so we can know when to leave a station, or just to keep to the timetable between stations / posts etc, I have the time displayed on a digital clock widget (which shows seconds) on one of the tablets i have mounted next to my laptops screen for this purpose: You can probably see the other blue bar is a world clock widget i've set up to cycle through the server times, but that doesn't show seconds and it takes my brain a while to compute the actual server time with this method... plus waiting for the server i'm running on to show up as i have 8 server time zones, but it can only show them on 4 rows, so they cycle up by one every 5 seconds.... the digital clock widget on the left is a separate widget that does not show world times, it's hard to find a world time clock that shows seconds i found) But one of the 'issues' with using a clock on a tablet / phone is it will not be in sync with the SimRail server times, ok it will usually only be out by upto 5 seconds, but then you need to remember the time difference and leave ~5 seconds later than the timetable says to avoid getting a 'early departure' penalty thing. So i was thinking that it would be nice to have the time displayed as a widget on a phone / tablet that is synced to the SimRail server time that you are driving on, could possibly be used as a watch face thing for those who use those smart watches too? Sometimes when it's night time here and i want to drive a train during the day, i will go on the Australian server which is 11 hours ahead of UTC, so my clock widget is off by +11 hours (and 5 seconds 🙂 I know i could change the timezone, but that is a pain in the ass to keep doing, as it will also change reminders i have set throughout the day to take my medication etc. So i was wondering if someone who knows how to make an android widget had thought about making a 'SimRail server time clock' A digital clock with seconds that syncs to the SimRail server time you are driving on (a decimal minutes option would be awesome, but maybe pushing things?... but i mention this as drivers timetables don't show departure at say 21:52:42, they show: That 7 is 42 seconds in decimal minutes. I imagine you'd first need to tell the SimRail clock widget the server you are on, then it occasionally pings that server to sync the times up... or maybe it can ping your username like the live map does when you set it to track you, and automatically get the server time you are driving on but only when you are driving... so reducing the load on the servers when you are not driving (TBH i'd think a single ping when you start driving would get the server time and then it'd keep in sync normally?.. sorry if i'm using ping inappropriately, you can tell programming is not my thing) And i mention an android widget, as those can be placed where you like on a phone, tablet etc, like in my first picture i have a remote system monitor showing on that tablet most of the time, monitoring my laptops performance and temps, so i just added a clock widget that shows seconds to it's dashboard, but i could set it as a floating always on top widget if i wanted to.

i've been having a go at making drivers timetables, and the one i worked on first is the 14100 services, those nearly 4 hour long drives from one end of the line to the other in an EU07 / EP08, I have a real driver's timetable from 2020 covering the route used in SimRail (but with an ED250, so it runs a bit faster than the EU07 service does) but there are stations where you have ~20 seconds dwell time, and others where you have many minutes of dwell time... and of course if you arrive early, you'll be waiting a lot longer for your scheduled departure time. There's even a bit in the EU07's timetable at Olszamowice, which is not a station but a place you can be parked in the sidings to let a faster train past you, if you arrive there on time you have a 4 minute 'layover'... i'm often a couple of minutes early there, so i'm held for 6+ minutes there, this is normal and realistic, i'm a 5 digit service, and the 4 digit services take priority over me... the 6 digit freights can be held for almost half an hour at places (with Polish railway services, the shorter the service number the higher priority you have) Notice below, the station after that 'timing point' at Olszamowice.... a 7 minute dwell time, again from what i can find out that's realistic,

maybe it doesn't happen nowadays, but i like to read books about the 1940's to 80's uk railways, and the signallers back then would be on the shared phone line between boxes pretty much all the time, When it was quiet / no trains due, they'd just chat, tell stories, one was an opera singer in his spare time so he would sing to everyone, basically making their own entertainment, As soon as the bells started ringing for train movements, the signallers stopped chatting and did their job, but they didn't just sit there staring into space waiting for the next train to be passed to them. But i've seen that some drivers complain when they hear the dispatchers over the radio in SimRail talking to each other about things not related to the sim, so you can't win it seems.

Driving the 14139 service on EN1 right now to test the timetable out:

if anyone's wondering the 14133.pdf contains 6 pages, shown below:

i imagine a lot of people who play train driving games only do so because they chose a different route and train every time, that's why people were demanding a new route and new trains in SimRail within a week of early access, they treat it like a platform type game, once you've reached the end of the line you need a new level. I've driven pretty much the same train over and over in SimRail (EU07 on the 14100 services) each time i drive something different happens due to the multiplayer bit, but i don't get bored as i am treating it as a simulator not a game, so the goal is to learn the route, drive to the schedule, stop at the right place on the platforms in a gentle manner and so on. but at the end of the day, train driving and dispatching is very very repetitive, that's how a timetabled service is supposed to be. however we get to chose the train service / signal box we use in the sim, in real life you drive what you are told, and dispatch on the shift you are due to work. It's similar working on road transport, truckers often drive the same route every day / week, i used to drive recovery trucks, so the destination was always different, but after a few years i new pretty much every bump and pothole of the main trunk roads.

i waffle on a lot in my posts (i'm one of those who tells a story rather than getting to the point i'm afraid) i often use the different text size feature To indicate i may be going off topic, or something is 'optional' to read, So i'll do this... the smaller the text i use, to less important it is, I think of it as small print stuff most people skim read or ignore completely And whilst the text size is indeed reduced and the spacing is too so you can fit more text on a line, i've noticed the line spacing stays the same as for '(Default) size text' Is there a setting for the forum that makes smaller text have smaller line spacing to suit when using carriage breaks or whatever they are called, i press 'SHIFT + ENTER' to keep a paragraph, and 'ENTER' only to make a new paragraph) Above is a shift + enter used to make a paragraph, and this line is the normal enter used to create a new paragraph, And all the smaller text near the top is 'shift + enter' to keep to a paragraph, but as you can see, the spacing is still as set for the larger size text and makes it look like seperate lines.

Little update* *a Gazz292 size 'Little update' = a bloody massive and long winded update to most people Excel can be confusing at times, but i think i'm taming the beast now, i'm likely doing things in the most inefficient ways possible, and getting the data in is being done mostly manually.... but then i remember i'm a mechanical type guy, and not a maths / coding type of guy, so i'm amazed i've got as far as i have with this. I've also had a few 'distractions' in my life lately, splitting with my GF, then the very next day my amazon account gets 'hacked' and 'someone' keeps ordering ~£150's worth of women's 'beauty' products.. My bank were right on it with their fraud team, and i've had the refunds already.. amazon however... they are still farting about trying to claim it was me accidently clicking the one step buy button using 'my' iphone... which was registered on my account for the first time the very day this started! 🤔 BTW, i've never owned an apple product in my life, however i do / did know someone who has an iphone, but amazon won't listen. I have changed passwords for all financial, email and forum type websites.. but if you suddenly see posts 'from me' telling everyone i'm a twat and a massive arsehole, whilst 100% true, they would not be from me 😜 Back to timetables: I've been concentrating on the timetables for the route i drive the most first, the EC 14100 services, which is the EU07/EP08 hauled passenger trains from Warszawa Wschodnia to Katowice, an almost 4 hour run from one end of the SimRail map to the other. Below is a screen shot of the latest version of the main 'data' part of my excel workbook, this is where i have taken the raw data from the getAllTimetables API as well as Track Speeds In SimRail which are both Json files, then i bumbled about getting them into tables in excel, as well as some other data needed to make up all the info seen on a timetable: This is referenced with WRag78's timetable data (the 'Orig Data' tab in excel) and a big long list of all PKP train operators, Then there's the data i had to get from looking at real drivers timetables, which is the station info... the 'R1, RT, H, SS' stuff, this tells you the radio channel and valuable info about the station once you learn the codes. BUT my real timetable of this route is from November 2020, so these codes will have changed to what they are in 2018 when SimRail is set, If anyone knows where i can find a list of these codes for the SimRail era stations, please let me know. So, having most of the data needed for a timetable, a shit ton large amount of excel formulas pull the relevant data from the individual cells in the sheets to make the actual timetable. Below is my main timetable 'generator' : Now don't get excited and think i just press a button and it can make any timetable in SimRail, at the moment i am manually making up the actual timetable seen on the left hand side of the above screenshot, I do have a basic 'template' that is copied and pasted through the timetable, adjusted for height as needed by adding or deleting rows to make room for the speed limit change info on the left hand side, and also to fit everything between the the page size, which is a custom 'print size' for my Kobo clara HD's e-ink screen (90 x 121mm), which i hope is close enough to an e-ink kindles screen too, i'll test that when i can safely access amazon again to send the files as email to my kindle, and make adjustments as needed. But i am basically manually setting up the cell references in the timetable to the relevant parts of the data sheet. What i do have automated is being able to select the service number from the dropdown list, this updates all the times in the timetable by the hours or minutes needed, so my base timetable is the 41401 midnight service, and excel simply offsets the times by the figure in the box next to the drop down for the service number, hence here it's showing the correct times for the 14133 service that starts at ~16:34. There's also the timetables front cover generator, i've mentioned this before (i've mentioned everything before of course, but i'm trying to show the updates here) The front page generator is a few random date and number generators, and it also pulls the service number and train operator name from the data sheets as needed. What is different from my last post, i've decided not to have the trains info panel by the side of every timetable page, whilst that is realistic it meant either showing the timetable with that panel all the time on each page, this made the timetable too small to read on a 6 inch screen of a typical kindle / kobo reader. I tried having the panel as an extra page, so to change from timetable page 2 to page 3 meant flipping / clicking past the info panel each time, But i figured the data on that panel is needed to be read once, to set the train up from cold mostly. This info panel shows train type, weight, length, max speed, brake percentage and brake setting, so the same 8 boxes are repeated over and over down the timetable: I figure that the average SimRail train driver just wants to know the train length, so i show this info panel as the 2nd page after the front cover, so hopefully we can see the panel once and remember 'my train is 149 meters long' freight drivers may want to remember their trains weight, and max speed allowed. But i figure if we forget that info and suddenly need it during a trip, we can just turn back to page 2, then back to the relevant page on the timetable for where we are on the route 🙂 I've already departed from making 100% realistic timetables by including temporary speed limits on them, i figured no one wants' to read through the amendment to the timetables before each SimRail run and remember the changes that apply to their route, so my timetables are more like 98% realistic. I've also ventured into the dark world of VBA code and macros in excel, the 'Create PDF' button on my main timetable sheet selects the front cover and the main timetable sheets and saves them as a PDF file to a folder on my computer, reading the timetables service number and using that as the save name. My next step it to find and add code that will do the above but also advance through the service numbers automatically, as right now i have to select the next timetable manually and press the 'Create PDF' button... 24 times to make a days worth of timetables for this service (some other services are ever half hour, so 48 services, and i imagine the new timetables due out soon will be even more complicated) The one issue i have with the 'Create PDF' button / vba code thing, it uses 'ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF' this bypasses the PDF 'printer' normally used if i manually select the 2 pages and go to the print dialogue in excel... where i select my PDF printer (ClawPDF) and it 'prints it to file. When i do it the long way, and having to manually enter the file name to save as, i get .pdf files averaging 55Kb in size, but using the 'ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF' method, i get ~225Kb sized files. i can add 'xlQualityMinimum' in the VBA code, this 'prints' them at 300 DPI instead of 600DPI, but that messes my formatting up as i designed the sheets to be 600DPI... whats the point of me having a HD e-ink screen if i use lower DPI i thought... tho' i will likely need to switch to 300DPI for kindles, but still, that results in a ~120Kb file size, still more than double what the print dialogue method produces, as i imagine my PDF printer applies some compression. So i'm still looking at ways to apply compression with the VBA method (or use the print to PDF dialogue and name the files with the service number automatically) i could run the files through a PDF compressor, but the free ones are all online and limit you to about 3 pages per day, are very slow or add watermarks, metadata and crap i don't want, the ones i tried could only make the 120 Kb files 97Kb tho, I'm just worried that a folder of all SimRail timetables could end up being nearly 250Mb in size, and i know some kindles only have 2 Gb total memory likely already mostly filled with books, and that not many people have a spare kindle (or buy a kobo reader) just for displaying SimRail timetables on. You'll be glad to know this is where i shut up, Just one last thing.... I've attached timetable 14133 to this post for people to test if they wish, there are likely still some mistakes i haven't spotted yet, but i've driven the whole route and was able to use my timetable all the way instead of the HUD.... you do need to read the signals properly tho, as timetables do not show the signalled speed restrictions, even tho a route to a station may always be via a signalled 40Km/h limit. On my Kobo reader i set all PDF's to show full screen, and view mode as 'page' rather than 'continuous' this allows flipping through the pages as a book, which is what i intend. i did try converting to EPUB and MOBI formats, but it totally messes everything up, as they expect pages of words not tables.. so they just disregard the lines that make up the whole format of a timetable... but if someone finds a way to convert this .pdf timetable to a format better suited for kindles that keeps the formatting, please let me know. And i will work on the 41100 services next (Katowice to Warszawa Wschodnia) then attempt the other ones that i have not really driven much. 14133.pdf

this is simulating you being a train driver, you have the training and permission to be on the tracks, so 'workplace health and safety' is being adhered to here, how else are you supposed to do your job if you are not allowed on the parts of the railway the general public aren't? you need to spawn in somewhere close to your train, and as this one is not at a passenger platform, this is the quickest way to get you to your objective, which is to drive the train, not walk about on the lines like a certain train game teaches you. The reason you don't spawn into the cab is that with other trains you need to operate switches in compartments that are accessed from the outside of the train... but don't worry, once you get onto multiplayer, you spawn into your train whilst it's moving... how many 'health and safety' "rules" are being broken doing that? if we're trying to make out train driving simulators are teaching people dangerous things, wait till you are doing 200 kph and press the '2' key, as this lets you climb out the cab window on a pole, so you can use your phone camera to look back on your own train! you can even move this pole about until you go under the wheels and watch the axles going around... i can't wait to try that next time i take a train journey 🤠 At least sim rail has the sense to prevent you jumping out the cab door at speed, unlike some other train driving games that let you jump out and leave your train to carry on driverless whilst you stand on the tracks to take a photo.

the stuff for operating the couplers is already present in SimRail... get out your train and stand by the buffers, when you get close enough you can see the coupler and hoses / electrical jumpers are highlighted and an option box pops up... i believe in SP you can actually uncouple waggons already, in MP this is turned off for now so your only options is 'cancel' Shunting and other things are planned for SimRail, automatic coupling has existed for decades (if not a centaury) thats the common thing for EMU's, DMU's etc, the scharfenberg coupler being just one type of automatic coupling that connects the air and electrical connections when it's pushed together to couple (hence the buttons in the cabs of these trains to 'un-couple' As for manual tasks, if the train driver does something in reality, then yes it should be simulated, as SimRail is a simulator as opposed to a game, but if the real life Polish train driver of say an ECE train does not couple or de-couple his loco, then it shouldn't be added just to 'compete with another train game'

From what i've learnt, when the overhead wires were single, a heavy freight train starting up, or when a long passenger train with a high heating load from the carriages was stood in a station for a while, a single pantograph could create a hotspot where it's pulling a lot of current, and potentially weld the pantograph to the wires, which will cause damage when the train moves off. Nowadays most over head wires are double, especially in stations, so this isn't as much a problem as it used to be (gotta remember it's 'only' 3Kv DC we're talking about here, and not 15 - 25 Kv AC as used in some other countries, so the current draw is much higher on the lower voltage systems) But most drivers were taught to raise both pantographs when stopped, and still do so today even if they may not officially have to (it could still be in the rules to do this with a heavy freight, even if on a section with double overhead wires?) As for when driving the EU07/EP08, just turn the power wheel to zero, no need to move the reversing lever / switch to neutral as there's no power going to the motors when the power wheel is at zero/off. I've seen in i think the pendolino that it has a 'neutral section' button, but that's a computer controlled train, the EU07 is pretty much all manual... which is why i love it so much.

I originally had 'power off' then another phrase for the We8a sign, but some people said that was confusing... someone driving a diesel one day will shut the engines down at these signs etc 🙂 I only have a max of 6 short words that can fit in most boxes to describe what the signs and signals mean and not need a magnifying glass to read, so it's just a basic description... you see a sign or signal you're not sure about when driving in SimRail, look on the sheet and know at least the basics of what it's telling you, without having to read the Polish railway signalling regulations. I do have a bit more info for some things like passing an A-B-S on red etc, but that's in separate panels on the sheet. But for the EU07, i know about the 'open line contactors' button, but figured that's a kind of 'emergency button' pressing it whilst the motors are pulling any decent amount of current will not do the contacts any good i imagine (but i'm always happy to be corrected if i've got something wrong here)

i react to the We8a and We9a signs, and shut off power as i go through a neutral section.... i'm getting good at spotting the signs up on the wires that are for trains running the opposite way on my line, so the sign is backwards for me, but it tells the EMU's they can put their panto back up if running on the left line... and gives me a little warning for the We8a sign that is for me. then i have just enough time to get the power wheels round to zero and the ammeter showing zero before the 2 sections of overhead wire are present ('m mostly an EU07 / EP08 driver) The pantograph lowering signs, i think i;ve spotted one maybe on another track, but havent seen any on my usual route (141XX timetables) I can hope this kind of thing will be activated in SimRail later, but as an optional thing, as some people don't even like having the SHP/Cuzwak on when driving.

I've noticed for the past few weeks that no passengers seem to get on my trains. I drive the EC141XX / 411XX services with the EU07/EP08, and noticed i wasn't hearing the carriage door opening and closing sounds, and each time i stop at a station, no one moves towards the train... before when people did board the train, i noticed that if i pressed the key to 'open doors' they would turn around and walk away from the carriages... but even pressing 'door open / close' keys does not change the passengers standing on the platform as if my train isn't there.

yeah, i'm kinda rubbish at explaining things, i sort of treated the 2 motors in each bogie as one as they are permanently connected in series (i think... i learn new stuff every day) i didn't mean to imply the actual voltage at the motors when in a notch with the resistances in circuit would be 1.5 or 3Kv (or so), but i see now that i implied that there will be that voltage at all times, which isn't true for a DC motor... a simple AC motor maybe, as the speed for an AC motor is dependant on the frequency of the alternating current (i notice my mill and lathes VFD's change both the frequency and the voltage output when i measure it with a simple multimeter, but the lower voltage at slow speeds could be the back EMF thing i'm seeing? i've always chickened out of connecting the oscilloscope to my cheap VFD's (by cheap, the xyz brand 2.5Kw VFD sold for £27.50 on aliexpress when i got my milling machine 3 years ago!)