Gazz292

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!)

now it makes perfect sense with those examples 🙂 If anything shouldn't the view from in the cab be darker, as windscreen glass cuts out most of the UV, and in modern trains are usually tinted slightly.

i too am not a fan of these camera effects, especially lens flare one... where it's simulating light bouncing between the multiple elements in a camera lens, We are supposed to be simulating driving a train as a human which has eyes to see with, not an Ai bot that has cameras to 'see with'

i was just thinking last night that the occasional arc flash would be nice, especially when driving at night. Tho i'm sure those in that video were made to happen deliberately, lowering the pantograph when stationary should be under almost zero load, it's like the driver notched up a few times before lowering the panto, that would account for the sound of 'notching down' once the pantograph is lowered but still drawing an arc?

i drive the EU07 almost exclusively, so no train length measuring 'roadrunner' device in that, Instead i either guess (with the help of the hectometer boards) that i've traveled the length of my train past the signal (it's length is given in the timetables right hand side panel... 'dł.Poc', so for the train in the timetable above thats 187 meters) Or i can 'cheat' and press '6' which shows me the last carriage camera, which is looking backwards, so when i see the signal / speed limit board pass the view of that camera, i am past it and can accelerate.

i'm wondering to myself about the above timetable now... it's showing there's about 3Km between Zawiercie and Łazy Ła, The speed limit is 120 Km/h, if doing that speed i should cover those 3Km in 1 minute 30 seconds, So, how come it shows 4 minutes allowed, and the lower time (for when running late) is 3 minutes 30 seconds, (3 minutes 6 seconds for the Łazy Ła to Łazy ~3 Km) Am i reading the timetables wrong here?

i know what MOSFET stands for. but i can guess it's just me and you who care about this stuff? i also have a 'problem' where i mix terms and names for things up at times.. hence why i use '...etc' a lot in my posts, trying to convey that other better explanations are available. I know a little bit about electronics but not a great deal, i'm more of a mechanical guy, but i like to learn how things work, i know roughly how the VFD works on my milling machine... it takes in 240 volts AC, turns it into DC at about 350 volts (RMS of 240 volts) Then it chops that DC up (PWM) using IGBT's to produce a pseudo 3 phase output that the 3 phase motor (wired in Delta) can handle. The motor needs to be rated for inverter use as it will run hotter on the less than perfect polyphase 'AC' and boy does it chuck out a lot of RFI... but this is a cheap chinese consumer level inverter rated at just 2.5 Kw, the systems in a locomotive are slightly better, and a lot bigger 🙂

yeah, but there's only so much detail you can go into before it just goes over people's heads, and i get mixed up with terms sometimes so that doesn't help. Some people thought there were 2 motors in the loco, a slow one and a fast one, and when you go past notch 28 the slow motor is disconnected and the faster one connected. But for the topic here, the OP thought the OLE was AC, at 15 or 25 Kv i presume, so was thinking the converter was changing that AC voltage into DC for the motors, and wondering why the loco would keep on running when the converter was turned off. I think converter is the name used for a transformer in some languages too? as it converts a higher voltage to a lower one (or vice versa) albeit it's AC, then in the older trains a mercury arc rectifier converted the AC to DC : The one onboard a train would be inside a big metal shield.. and it's no small item either. More modern trains use diodes (germanium, silicone etc) to do the AC to DC conversion, and even more modern trains use variable frequency drives with different types of transistor / mosfet to do the switching.

the one thing that i wonder about, i will often take over a EC 141xx train and it's running 10+ minutes early by the Ai before i took over( i once took one over that was almost half an hour early!) These are the trains that run the 350 Km length of the route but have only 4 or 5 stops, Where i am timetabled to run at 125 Km/h, should i run at line speed, or should i run at say 60 Km/h to try and lose time? I often run at 100 Km/h in this situation, but as i drive with the live map showing on a tablet, i will see other players trains behind me being held up if i run too slowly to try and bleed off early time, and sometime hear on the radio or see a text from the train behind me complaining that they are running against yellow signals due to a slow train in front. A real drivers timetable shows the times allowed to run between sections : The last column, (i believe) it's telling you that you have 4 minutes to run the 3 Km from Zawiercie to Łazy Ła, or 3 and a half minutes if running late. But we don't have that info available in SimRail yet, hopefully when the official drivers timetables are released they will have all this info to help us.

the over head lines are energised at 3 Kv DC in most of Poland (NOT at 15 or 25 Kv AC as in most of Germany, uk / france etc) So the 3Kv DC comes into the loco, a feed is taken off to feed the converter.... this is a motor generator, a 3Kv DC motor turns a 110 volt DC motor, so that's where you get the output to charge the batteries and run the main air compressor etc. The 3Kv then goes to the tap changer, and as you rotate the power wheel, it connects the 3Kv DC to the motors via the resistor bank on the roof of the loco, as you go faster you switch out resistances until notch 28, where the motors are running in series... this is the 3Kv from the overhead line goes straight to one traction motor (via some circuit breakers, overload relays and the tap changer contacts etc) and that 3Kv DC comes out of the first motor and feeds into the second motor (series connection) then the power comes out of the 2nd motor and to earth via the rails. This means the motors are running on 1.5 Kv each, so they will spin at about half maximum speed. Then when you turn the power wheel past notch 28, the motors are connected in parallel, and the resistors switched back into the circuit... this means 3Kv DC goes to both motors, and out of the motors to earth via the rails, so both motors now see 3Kv, and can spin upto their maximum speed once you are in notch 43. Then you have the field weakening / shunt lever, which reduces the magnetism of the motors field coils, allowing the motors to spin faster still. It's a very basic system, but one that has proven to be very reliable. The rest of the items on the loco, lights, gauges, control circuits etc run on 110 volts DC, and are connected to the batteries, so they will run if the converter is turned off... until the batteries run down. There is an emergency / starting air compressor that runs off the batteries, used to get enough air pressure up to raise the pantograph, where the converter can then be powered up and the main air compressor will run, but this isnt modeled in SimRail yet. There is also a big knife switch under the flap to the left of the one with the main battery switch in it, this is to connect the battery charging circuit to external, from the converter feed, used in the shed / depot when you need to recharge the batteries but don't have overhead wires to put the pantograph up to (and other reasons)

If the human dispatchers want everything to run at it's allotted time, in the stock sequence, then why bother with human dispatchers, they are acting like bot's then, running a set program that can't be varied... that's very much like how most single player train driving games work, I thought the fun of dispatching was assessing the situations that occur and figuring out how to make things work, so a train arriving early changes the paths of other trains around it, but that's where the fun starts, same with a late train. The dispatcher that holds a passenger train because it's early, do they take into account that if they release the train dead on time, it will now be running late, as it needs to build up speed again. Surely the place to hold an early train is a scheduled station stop, no passengers are going to complain about arriving in a station early.

Apologies to RWag78, who's username i keep getting the first 2 letters backwards in my posts.

I think i'm figuring some things out (at last) Below is my consolidation of the data that will be used to make the drivers timetables for the 14100 services. Column F is RWag78's distances, and column G is the distances to 3 decimal points, where i've got their data from the speed limit on the post by uetam, station location data from DeadlyKungFuNinja's EDR, and 2 real drivers timetables that cover part of the route in 2014 and 2020 i found on google. The lines in yellow where i put 'Temp Limit?... that'll be .. well temporary speed limits, which show on the SimRail HUD... hence they are listed in RWag78's data obtained from driving the routes. And that's partly where i was confusing myself, the info was there, i just didn't realise what it was telling me, especially on the post by uetam with the post 'Track speeds in SimRail', and the text saying "The list does NOT include permanent and temporary speed limits (W9 and W14 signs)." I didn't realise that the white signs W8 and W9 are different to the track limits, i now know why it tells you to slow down for the limit, but at the end of it you go back to line speed. https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/forum.simrail.eu/monthly_2023_02/image.png.30455a8fa0fcb1e43256e025184cf47f.png The D6 and W14 signs made more sense as they are temporary limits, i guess the white ones above were temporary ones originally, but now made permanent? https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/forum.simrail.eu/monthly_2023_02/image.png.9b04edee42ae9df5476dca57ee69a4e0.png Now, in Poland, the drivers timetable only shows the permanent track speed limits. In the Uk, when a driver books on duty, they have 5 minutes allotted to them to read the 'weekly notices' for the routes they are driving that day, this lists all the temporary speed limits and other stuff (track work, signal changes, routing changes etc) In Poland there are 'attachments to the timetables' which every driver has to have with them when driving, i've found some lists of permanent warnings on Semaforek But it's information overload big time, plus having to know which track you are on in each area. I imagine there's another version for temporary warnings (the orange W14 signs)?? So, i'll need to include the W9 and W14 speed limits in my timetables as the goal is to use the timetable to drive HUD'less, and as much as i want realism, i don't want to have to read the 'weekly notices' before every run and try and memorise that there are 4 temporary limits at '79.9, 207.6, 223.0 and 307.9 Km' and bod knows how many permanent W9 limits over the nearly 4 hour drive (other lines likely have a lot more) : : Likewise, at the beginning and end of the SimRail run, there's 40 Km/h limits, these are signal limits i believe, i.e. a S13 aspect telling you to do 40 Km/h now, and stop at the next signal, which is the one at the end of the platform where our duty ends (the ';zd,ph' at Katowice means it's a 'Team Change' and passenger stop.. it's the same at the beginning of the run) Signal limits are not put in a timetable, because... well the signals change, but i'm not sure here, as we would always be routed over the pointwork before Katowice station and into the same platform. : : Finally, the last bits of data i don't have are where we are routed onto the opposite line (the P track, shown as VL on the timetables) like when we are routed to the single platform at Opoczno Południe (i may have that station name wrong) : And the very last bit of data i am missing is when the track is double of single, shown on a drivers timetable like : The thick black line means single track, the double lines top and bottom of that mean double track.