In TrainController™ 8 Gold turntables can be set up as segment turntables. In this case the first and the last of those tracks are specified, which cannot be reached by the bridge.
A segment turntable always turns with the house to all active tracks. Forward and re- verse tracks, as well as turning to a certain track with a certain orientation of the bridge are not possible.
Diagram 8: Small Segment Turntable with three Tracks
Small segment turntables with few sidings and a small angle between the two outermost tracks are displayed as shown in Diagram 8. The house is not displayed in this variant for reasons of space.
If the segment turntable has many tracks or if the angle between the two outermost tracks is large, then the turntable is displayed as shown below:
As you can see in both diagrams, the bridge of a segment turntable can only be accessed from one side. TrainController™ Gold automatically takes this into account in the calculation and control of paths across the bridge.
The arrangement of a segment turntable and in particular the synchronization with a switchboard symbols works, apart from identifying the two tracks, which mark the non- covered area of the turntable, in the same way as for other turntables.
Appendix
Migrating Existing Data Files from TrainController™ 7
Files generated with TrainController™ 7 or TrainController™ 8 Silver are automat- ically converted into the format of the new version when opened in TrainController™ 8 Gold. The following things should be noted, however.
Vehicle Groups and Train Descriptions
Train groups are now called vehicle groups, because they are just collections of vehi- cles. These groups gain an impact on the control of trains only when they are used in Train Descriptions (see page 31).
In TrainController™ 7 Gold there was a convention, that a list of approved trains, which contains only engines but no cars, is automatically valid for all cars. This con- vention has been dropped because of the related misunderstandings. In TrainController™ 8, all vehicles to be included in a group or train description must be explicitly mentioned. For this purpose, the predefined vehicle groups were introduced. If you want to enter all vehicles into a vehicle group or train description, for example, then this can be done very easily, clearly and comprehensible, by using the predefined group of all vehicles for this purpose.
Likewise exclusive train groups were abolished, too, because it was not always clear at once, from which base set the contained vehicles and trains were actually excluded. In- stead, there is now the possibility to exclude certain vehicles or vehicle groups from any vehicle group or train description. So if you want to create e.g. a vehicle group of the non electric locomotives, no group of all electric engines is to be created, which is marked as exclusive. Instead a vehicle group is created, which contains the predefined group of all engines and the predefined group of all electric engines, where the entry for the electric engines is marked as excluded. This makes it clear to understand that the electric locomotives are excluded from the set of all locomotives.
During conversion of a file to the new format train groups are converted to vehicle groups according to the above description. If an existing train group contains only en- gines but no cars, then the predefined group of all cars is automatically added to the re- sulting vehicle group. The same applies if existing train groups contain only cars but no
The procedure is similar for the previous exclusive train groups. Here, with the help of the predefined vehicle groups additional entries are created that define the base set from which the entries contained in the previous train group are excluded.
The lists of approved trains previously assigned to blocks, routes, schedules and turnta- bles are now replaced by simple train descriptions with the setting that all
31
vehicles of the train must be included in the train description (see page ). This type of simple train description matches exactly the policy for approved trains of TrainController™ 7.
All vehicles contained in COMBI groups are removed from these groups. Instead each COMBI group is linked to a train description, which describes the matching trains ac- cordingly (see also page 41).
Control of Trains with LocoNet and Digitrax Central Units
When selecting Digitrax or LocoNet as digital system in previous versions of TrainController™ a non-linear mapping of internal speed steps (0 to 1000) to LocoNet speed steps (0 to 126) was applied.
Digitrax/LocoNet represented the only exception in this regard. For all other digital sys- tems a linear mapping has proven. This linear mapping is now also used for Digitrax/LocoNet.
Unfortunately, this change cannot be done fully compatible. The advanced speed pro- files of all locomotives captured with the setting Digitrax/LocoNet as digital system be- come invalid due to this change.
If you do not want to perform the re-profiling of all speed profiles, you can activate the previous, non-linear mapping method again with the following setting in the file RAILROAD.INI:
[Connections]
LNUseSpeedMappingV7=1
Turntables
When querying the position of turntable bridges in triggers and conditions of other ob- jects, the position of the house was not taken into account in previous versions. The query for a specific track position was always satisfied when the house or when the op- posite track was located at this position.
In TrainController™ 8 this is a distinction now for turntables. The query for a track position is now satisfied only when the house is exactly at this track position. In this way it is for example possible to control signals, which are located at a certain side of the bridge, selectively, without touching the opposite signal.
To accomplish the policy of the previous version, both the regarding and the opposite track position are to be included in an Or group. This group is then entered in the trig- ger or the condition of the other object.
Just in this way existing files are converted, that were created in earlier versions. Indi- vidual entries with a single track position in triggers and conditions of other objects are automatically replaced by Or groups that include this and the opposite track position. For transfer tables the behavior remains as before. For these objects no conversion of data is performed.
List of Examples
Index
accessory extended 47 address programming, of DCC locomotives 18 approved train 28 AutoTrain as train operation 45 COMBI group 41 condition and blocks 53 within schedules 53 control car 28control flow operation 43 Counter 46
decommissioning of objects 47
description of an extended accessory 48
detection of lost cars 53 extended accessory 47 description 48 symbol 48 home block 45 lost car detection 53 operation
control flow operation 43 protective position 42 system operation 43 train operation 45 operations of routes 42 programming track 19 programming, of addresses of DCC locomotives 18 protective position 42 segment turntable 64, 65 spontaneous run 7 start value of a counter 46 switch-off value of a counter 46 switch-on value of a counter 46 symbol of an extended accessory 48 system operation 43 train description 31 train identification 20 train operation 45 AutoTrain 45 train tracking 20 vehicle group 29 waiting time 25