SRTD - SimRail Train Describer

[Angelo]

Hi everyone!

A while ago, I started making a vintage-looking train describer for SimRail. I still have to work on the track diagram and on placing the trains where they belong in the Łazy area, but for now, here's what it looks like:

https://tplmilano.altervista.org/E/SRTD/

The code can be easily found at https://tplmilano.altervista.org/E/SRTD/c.js , in case you want to mess around with it 🙂

Will write here as soon as I update the track diagram. For now it works from KO to most of DG and part of DGZ.

Edited January 26 by Angelo
fixed broken link

[Angelo]

Updated - now the train describer should work on the whole line from Katowice to Zawiercie. I'm sure there are many mistakes, though, especially on left SBL signals.

You may need to hit Ctrl+F5 to force a cacheupdate.

[JarkPomsky]

I like this vibe of old computers with green fonts  😄

[Angelo]

Updated - you may need to refresh the page with Ctrl+F5.

It is now possible to press S to change some settings, including the game server.

The settings are saved in the URL, so if you're used to play on, e.g., the DE1 server and prefer a black and white style with no scanlines, just save the following URL:
https://tplmilano.altervista.org/E/SRTD/#de1_1_1

For now there's only one map, which you can select by pressing 1. More will come.

[Angelo]

Fixed a bug in Łazy (thanks Pan Kura for noticing!) and started drawing line 62.

[Angelo]

Introduced the possibility to flip the layout, so that it can be aligned with how you see your own station.

[Ensifer]

Howdy. What a great project! BTW can you fix issues with Firefox? I can't use "2" to see other stations...

[Angelo]

Hey there 🙂

For now, it only works with the keyboard. I could also make it work with the mouse, though, so it could be used from a phone or tablet. Btw you're not missing anything for now, as line 62 doesn't show trains at the moment.

[Angelo]

Updated:

• included line 62;
• if a train is at >5km from the next signal, SimRail won't tell me the name of that signal, and the train describer won't be able to know where that train is; however, if SRTD sees that a train has departed and gone nowhere, and there's a long block ahead, it will assume that it has departed on the right track;
• minor fixes here and there;
• this should be the last time that you need to use Ctrl+F5 to load the new version. I'm sorry, I'm still learning HTML 😅

[Angelo]

Quote

if a train is at >5km from the next signal, SimRail won't tell me the name of that signal, and the train describer won't be able to know where that train is; however, if SRTD sees that a train has departed and gone nowhere, and there's a long block ahead, it will assume that it has departed on the right track;

Since sometimes the SimRail API loses track of the next signal not only if it is at >5km, but also just randomly, I made the system more reliable: when it receives no info of what the next signal will be, it will assume that the last signal has been passed and also assume that we're running on the right track, BUT ALSO, it will do so only if the last time it checked the signal was, at most, within 500m from the train, otherwise it will assume that the train did not pass that signal and the API is just being funny.

Quote

this should be the last time that you need to use Ctrl+F5 to load the new version.

It was not.

This time, though, it is! 🙃

Also, I drew the CMK; no train will show up, for now - work in progress! Besides, I fixed some details here and there.

P.s.: I also managed the case where more than one train stands within the same block section - now SRTD will always show the one train closer to the signal, instead of randomly picking one. Or, at least, it should: I haven't tested it yet. I could simulate the input data from the API to do a proper test, but it'd be more fun to just wait for the next time Sosnowiec is stuck 😋

Edited January 29 by Angelo
Added p.s.

[Angelo]

Quote

Also, I drew the CMK; no train will show up, for now - work in progress!

Added (working) CMK.

Also, fixed Gajówka - thanks to @Moooritz for noticing I had the signals backwards.

Please do let me know if you find anything that doesn't look right.

[Vince_Ours]

 

Many thanks for this project which offers additional help when working as a dispatcher. Do you plan to add the section between Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Warsawa ?

 

[Angelo]

Thank you! I'd like to; but it will be more useful when we'll have other stations in the area, so I'm going to take my time 🙂

Edited February 5 by Angelo

[jeroezie]

Hello Angelo, your website is a very useful tool and it also looks very cool.

I noticed a small mistake when playing at Lazy La signal box, track 224 between Lazy Lc and La is mislabelled as track 324.

[Friedjof]

Very nice and helpfull tool you´ve build there.

A nice to have feature would be the ability to change the colour with hex codes, so you can pick an individual color. That´s mostly for accessibility reasons.

Edited February 19 by Friedjof

[Moooritz]

Am 17.2.2024 um 17:23 schrieb jeroezie:

I noticed a small mistake when playing at Lazy La signal box, track 224 between Lazy Lc and La is mislabelled as track 324.

Technically track 324 is correct, you also see it on the signal name H324. But currently there are issues with such high track numbers, that's why it is track 224 instead of track 324.

[Angelo]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:23 PM, jeroezie said:

Hello Angelo, your website is a very useful tool and it also looks very cool.

I noticed a small mistake when playing at Lazy La signal box, track 224 between Lazy Lc and La is mislabelled as track 324.

Thank you very much!

Is it 224, though? Or perhaps it's like in some boxes here in Italy, where the first digit is related to which box the track belongs to? (track circuits 1xx for box A, 2xx for B, etc.)

Maybe it could be 324 inside Ła and 224 in Łb? Does that make any sense? I don't know, please do tell me.

18 hours ago, Friedjof said:

Very nice and helpfull tool you´ve build there.

A nice to have feature would be the ability to change the colour with hex codes, so you can pick an individual color. That´s mostly for accessibility reasons.

Thanks! I could try to see what I can do, but in the meantime, do you have any suggestions for some hex codes I could add as premade combinations? I can easily change the main colour and the background.

18 hours ago, Moooritz said:

Technically track 324 is correct, you also see it on the signal name H324. But currently there are issues with such high track numbers, that's why it is track 224 instead of track 324.

Never heard of these issues: is it just a minor mistake in how Łazy has been made for SimRail or is it something about SR itself?

[Moooritz]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb Angelo:

Never heard of these issues: is it just a minor mistake in how Łazy has been made for SimRail or is it something about SR itself?

Yeah, that was a thing which was not really told in public. The server currently does not support numbers bigger than 255, because it's only 1 byte 😄

It has to be track 324

[Friedjof]

vor 20 Stunden schrieb Angelo:

Thanks! I could try to see what I can do, but in the meantime, do you have any suggestions for some hex codes I could add as premade combinations? I can easily change the main colour and the background.

I have made up these three combinations.

[Angelo]

9 hours ago, Moooritz said:

The server currently does not support numbers bigger than 255, because it's only 1 byte 😄

How quaint! Reminds me of the Swiss railways rule that doesn't allow trains with more than 255 axles 🙃

2 hours ago, Friedjof said:

I have made up these three combinations.

Done!

[jeroezie]

Very interesting how this numbering works. Although I don't think the dev's will switch to a numberi g system that allows largdger numbers than 255 for those couple of tracks where it is a problem.

[Fdl_wo]

Great program and very useful!
Is there by any chance a possibility to mirror the screen? For example: If you are dispatcher in Pilichowice, trains running from left to right ont the signalbox are shown right to left on the SRTD and vice versa. A mirroring function would be appreciated, so that I don`t have to turn my second screen "upside down" 🙂

By the way, I am a train dispatcher in real life - we do have some kind of SRTD also, and there is the possibility to mirror each page seperately.

Manfred

[Deadlost]

It is available, S for settings and yes to flipped.

[Fdl_wo]

vor 50 Minuten schrieb Deadlost:

It is available, S for settings and yes to flipped.

Thanks for the hint - I think I'll need new glasses......😂

Manfred

[Angelo]

@Fdl_wo Thanks! I'm glad you like it!

So, we are colleagues 🙂 We also have something like this, although it's way more modern looking, of course (here on the right); my design is inspired by the 1980s ATN system, which was used in Italy until the 2000s, (later in some places). It only showed one station at a time, but it had some other informations - don't know which exactly, unfortunately, as it's hard to find documentation on this and I never had the chance to use it.

You can see one in this video at 1:20. Since I couldn't make it exactly like the original (for lack of infos), I decided to just go for that look and make something up that looks (I hope) nice. If one day I find some precise information on how this system used to look, I'd love to remake it for SimRail.