CNW Chicago Division Progress - 2021

[eric]

Quick update.... After my side-trip into Blender (well worth the time... great tool but the learning curve is gonna be steeeeeeep), it was time to start another TSRE sprint.

Turns out my four-headed monster wasn't as prototypical as it should have been for 1970, so I took a couple steps backward and had one of the UP managers I know who started with CNW give me a crash course on CNW signal aspects. That turned into a fun experience learning about how to implement negative states in signal scripts, and how you can't put a signal link into the negative side of a junction...

What drove that is interlockings... On the CNW, regardless of the number of diverging routes available in an interlocking, there's only one signal aspect shown for approach diverging or diverging clear.

A-------/2---------5\-------------10/----------------11
B-----1/----3\-------\6-----/8----9/-----12\---------13
C-------------\4----------7/--------------14\--------15

Using one head per path (1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 12-14) was the way I learned signaling ten years ago, and I had to unlearn it to follow prototype... to work with ORTS, I had to link the second head to the last possible node on a straight, non-diverging path, and apply a "not RouteSet()" condition in my script.

In this case, for Track B, the second head would be linked to 12-13. Simple, right? Not quite. MSTS signaling logic doesn't allow the back-side of a switch to be linked, so for track's A and C the links have to go inside two junctions i.e. A = 5 to 10 and C = 7 to 14.

Anyway.... Signal scripts seem to behave, signals have been placed and linked. For now. I'm sure I'll discover something just as soon as the next release goes out.

With a workaround in place, things are more or less signaled prototypically on both mainlines from Rochelle and Harvard to downtown.

I've also done a bit more track re-alignment along the New Line between Deval and Bryn Mawr, including the Des Plaines coach yard (used for MOW these days). Screen shots to come next week.

[ebnertra000]

CNW used signal rules that exactly match the CCOR set I uploaded a while back right into the 90s. It may be worth taking a look at that set, just to see what you think of it. The way it works allows flor linking of multiple routes to show diverging aspects with just a two-head signal. Of course, if you're trying to maintain MSTS-compatibility my modern systems won't work for you (the old originals still might).

I can cook up a test interlocking using your above arrangement to demonstrate how it works, once I make some much-needed tweaks to the syatem to bring it up to snuff

[eric]

OK, I did take a look, and you've done a lot of good work with your sets. It's up there with Jovet and Hank's work.

While I do appreciate and understand the madness behind the method of using control signals, what I'm doing with the negative RouteSet() condition works. Also, for copyright reasons, I really do want to stick with my own shapes and scripts.

[eric]

The New Line, Des Plaines Yard, and Deval have been completed...

Spent many a Saturday poking around this yard... and may or may not have climbed into a few cabs:


For now, the Soo is still on the Soo before it became the WC...:



...and a few miles south, the MILW is coming off the CNW and onto the MILW before it became the Soo:



I've only included the Soo for a mile on either side of Deval to allow for AI freights, and the New Line will stretch about two miles north and down to Proviso. The MILW tracks from from Bryn Mawr to Tower B-17 are there to stage AI as well, although I may get around to filling out the Bensenville Yard a bit one of these days.

Eventually, the New Line will be extended all the way up to Butler, but that's probably years in the distance. I've already built Packerland south to Fond Du Lac, and the grand scheme has me merging both routes via the New (PRO to MKE) and Air Line (MKE to FDL) as well as the line from FDL to Janesville via Clyman and Jefferson Junctions.

[qballbandit]

We used to ride our bikes to that yard; Weibolts Distribution Center, yes? And I will admit - I was in a few E's & F's there

[eric]

While my four-headed monster was a waste of time, it did give me enough of a jump-start on Blender to be able to brush up a couple of my older GMax created signals, starting with the gantry intermediates and absolutes:





Next up will be my searchlights, although it's just a matter of importing them. I had already exported to Sketchup years ago, so it should just be a matter of selecting parts and assigning a heirarchy.



Oh, and I did cheat... that ladder, the cabinet and the signal base are all separate pieces I made in Sketchup. While I'm liking Blender for what I need it for, I'm still not quite ready to commit 100% to it just yet...

[eric]

For those who have donated and downloaded the Work in Progress, thank you... some of the donation funds have already gone to the CNW Historical Society.

If you're interested in the WIP, it's available at https://DigitalRails.com (there's no hyphen -- including that goes to a piracy site).

If you've found any defects or oddities, please report them in this thread. I'm getting ready to do another sprint this month focusing on the Harvard to Janesville & beyond main, and will also address any defects from the first two releases. But I need to know about these if they're going to get fixed.

[jbtower]

Glad to see there is money trickling down to the CNWHS

[eric]

Small update... I've started working on the last couple stretches of track realignment, which is effectively the Madison Subdivision (Harvard to Madison, about 60 miles). No promised date for a new patch/release yet.

Having heard about no defects in months, I'll trust that people who have downloaded aren't finding too many issues, but if there are any flaws or issues, please let me know in the next couple weeks.

Once I've got some measurable progress, I'll start posting some screenshots.

[eric]

Yes, it's been quite a while since I've given an update.... Cleanup between Harvard and Madison continues. Slowly, but it continues.

Tonight a fair degree of Janesville was rebuilt, including the entire auto loading facility, and I've started on a rebuild of what was engine house and servicing side of the yard.


I'll repeat a request from last year --- if you've found any defects or oddities, please report them in this thread.

If you're interested in buying and downloading the beta, read back a page or two for the link or go to DigitalRails.com...