Tony and I have had another busy operating and development weekend 30 Sept - 2 October 2016. Here's what we got through.

Some topics we've looked at are:

  1. We added the interlocks to the control panels at Portsmouth and Clanfield, so the manual operators there have the ability to reserve track and request schedules. The one in Clanfield is done using routes, rather that reserving blocks.
  2. We looked into why we'd created "cycle" schedules last time. More here!
  3. We've develop more schedule sequences so trains can go for a run. There's more detail in a separate article about that.
  4. We've added trees to the backscene on the run up to Portsmouth. Previously there was an abrupt change in brightness of the backscenes where a rural one joined an industrial one. More to do, but it's a start.
  5. We've added voice announcements to the end of some schedules, where manual intervention needed. It is done as a scheule operation, so it can't be specific about the train type (ideally you'd say "driver required" only for a passenger or goods train requiring a shunting operation). We haven't yet looked at using a different voice: essentially can the Windows script specify the voice to be used.
  6. I'd wired up a batch of signals near Petersfield in the last few weeks. We programmed them up using Locoanalyse, and spent quite a while getting the logic right. It does appear that board 4 had the most recent SIGM20 software, but board 5 had older software: it did not properly set when "next signal is red" was programmed. With a chip change it was fine.
  7. We've found a way to delay a train leaving Petersfield to the left, so that the level crossing barrier has time to come down. It needed operations on each route through the crossing with the required time delays; having the delays in a flagman triggered by the route didn't make the route wait until the operation was completed. Read more.
  8. We found that trains were still sometimes getting shown a red signal while running through Portsmouth reversing loop. The problem is because the point into the diamond crossing needs to be set back straight, and that should be done by an operation on the release of a route through the crossing. It was on some routes but not others. 
  9. I've added more photos (particularly of Portsmouth) for the website front page. Also Tony has taken a video using a 360 degree video camera: so there could be more views to come.
  10. I modified a wagon in the small goods train to have a magnetic coupling. That should now be fully usable.
  11. Petersfield platform 5 had trains stopping instantly when the hit the start sensor. It was as if the stop sensor wasn't there. We deleted the sensors and markers and re-created them - which solved the problem.