I’ve run up against an annoying problem with the AU SA Adelaide, Hills & SE route. For anyone who doesn’t know it, it’s an enormous network radiating from Adelaide, South Australia, and I’m truly in awe of its builder(s), having spent many hours building a few much smaller routes. That said, I’ve already posted a query about trains running in Open Rails autopilot mode stopping abruptly just after leaving Mount Barker Junction, en route to Victor Harbour, needing to be switched to player control for a short distance before continuing in autopilot. No-one has been able to offer me a solution to that one.

My current problem is similar, though not identical. I have created a new activity in which, travelling on autopilot from Adelaide to Kaniva, stopping at only a few stations on the way, my (diesel) train reaches Wolseley successfully, but sees a red signal ahead, immediately reports passenger boarding complete and refuses to go further. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I can release it by switching to player control, changing to neutral gear, brakes off, back to forward, then drive away normally, the signal having obligingly changed to green in the meantime (if I don’t do all that, it remains red). After a short distance, autopilot can be used again, but a similar performance happens at Kaniva. (I have removed the requirement to stop at the final station, as I wish to park the train on a siding afterwards.)

I have repeated the activity with different trains, and both with and without other traffic – it makes no difference. I have been unable to determine what might sometimes make it possible to drive on while not doing so at other times. When I can’t persuade the train to continue, it is because emergency brakes have been applied, which prove impossible to release.

I realise that autopilot is supposed to be an experimental feature, but I have used it with success on many occasions on other routes. As my activity involves a journey of about four hours, I am reluctant to drive manually for such a long time – I have a life to live!

So that’s my tale of woe. Any offers of help would be most welcome.