SAR Scenarios Tutorial

SAR Peterborough Scenarios EIT, AI and Manual Driving Tutorial

A part of the SAR Peterborough Base Session

Enhanced Interlocking Towers (EITs) are included in the SAR Peterborough Base Session (they are not part of the route or layout) to provide easier navigation in some of the more complex yards in the layout. The EITs provide paths into and out of the yards. In some cases they also provide direct paths through the yards.

EITs are optional, they do not have to be used

EITs are setup at the following locations:-

Gladstone Down - to provide paths out of Gladstone in the directions of Jamestown and the Wilmington Line.
Gladstone Up - to provide paths into Gladstone from the directions of Jamestown and the Wilmington Line.
Caltowie - to provide paths into, out of and through Caltowie from the directions of Gladstone and Peterborough.
Jamestown - to provide paths into, out of and through Jamestown from the directions of Gladstone and Peterborough.
Peterborough West - to provide paths into and out of Peterborough from the directions of Gladstone and Quorn.
Peterborough East - to provide paths into and out of Peterborough from the directions of Terowie and Paratoo.
Paratoo - to provide paths into and out of Paratoo from the direction of Peterborough.
Terowie - to provide paths into and out of Terowie from the direction of Peterborough.
Orroroo - to provide paths into, out of and through Orroroo from the directions of Peterborough and Quorn.
Carrieton - to provide paths into, out of and through Carrieton from the directions of Peterborough and Quorn.
Quorn - to provide paths into and out of Quorn from the direction of Peterborough.

Gladstone and Peterborough have each been split into two EITs because of the large number of paths at each location.

Driver Commands are available for use in the session.

Driver Commands are optional, they do not have to be used

Apart from the standard commands (Drive To, Load, Unload, Couple, Wait For, etc), additional commands have been added. Specifically:-

IT SetPath (TANE SP4 and later) - to allow EIT paths to be set in the Driver Command Bar
IT CancelEnhancedPath (TANE SP4 and later) - to cancel any set EIT path
Instant Load Command - to instantly load all wagons (except locos) with the first item in their product queues
InstantLoadLocos - to instantly load all locos (or their tenders) with water and either coal or bunker c oil
InstantUnload - to instantly unload all wagons (except locos)

The Tutorial Scenario

The scenario used in this tutorial is Gladstone-Peterborough Depot Fuel which has the consist already fully assembled with its locomotive (T 258) at the starting signal of the Gladstone EIT Goods Loop to Broken Hill path. This tutorial will follow the scenario until after the consist arrives at Jamestown.

From the Gladstone-Peterborough Depot Fuel instructions page:-

Getting Started:

After starting the Gladstone-Peterborough Depot Fuel session, find the loco and its consist. Either:-

Open the Finder Tool (press CTRL-F) and type, in the name field, the name of the loco, SAR T 258 (or just T 258 should be enough). Click the tick icon, OR
Open the Driver List (bottom left of the screen) and select the loco from there - click the drivers Eye icon to jump to the loco.

The Driver Command Bar
Make sure that the Driver Command Bar is visible on the screen. In Driver Mode the interactive driver controls are at the bottom right of the screen.

	Cycle Through the Command States Click the 3 dots on the extreme bottom right of the screen to cycle the control display through to the Driver Command Bar - stop when the last of the 3 dots is highlighted.	Open the Driver Command Menu Click on the chevron icon to open the command menu.

If you don't want to use EITs then skip steps 1 , 3 and 5

Step

Setting an EIT Path from a Starting Signal

The first path to be set in this tutorial is from the Gladstone Goods Loop to Broken Hill . On the Gladstone page (link via - link will open in this window) this is identified on that page as:-

From the open Driver Command Menu, select the IT SetPath (TANE SP4 and later) option. This will open a list of all the EITs that have been placed in the Session. Because an EIT Starting Signal, in this case invisible signal GSX G27D, is directly in front of the loco, the signal will be included in the EIT list.

Select the starting signal GSX G27D . This will reveal that two different paths out of Gladstone start from this signal.

Goods Loop to Broken Hill , and
Goods Loop to Wilmington

Select the path Goods Loop to Broken Hill .

Selecting a path to or from an outside location will NOT set the entire path to/from that location (e.g. all the way to Broken Hill). It will only set the path between the Starting Signal and the Exit Signal. Either both signals will be just outside the yard or one will be within the yard and the other just outside

Every path is named according to its starting point (one of five locations or a track in the local yard) and its destination (one of five locations or a track in the local yard). The five locations are Port Pirie, Broken Hill, Terowie, Quorn and Wilmington even if that location is not the destination or starting point of the consist. This is intended to indicate the direction of travel only.

The path has now been set.

All junction switches and signals along that path from the Start Signal (GSX G27D) to the Exit Signal (Gladstone Home Up) are set to give loco T 258 the road out of Gladstone towards Broken Hill.

Note: not all signals will automatically show Proceed once the path has been set. Some signals, semaphore signals for example, will only show Proceed when a train starts moving towards the signal.

Cancelling a Set EIT Path

Paths that have been set can be cancelled so that their signals and junction switches will be returned to their previous states. They will be returned automatically after the consist has cleared the Exit Signal for a path but if you change your mind and decide to take a different path or not use the EITs then a set path can be cancelled.

From the Driver Command Menu select the IT CancelEnhancedPath command.

You will have the option of cancelling ALL PATHS or selecting a particular EIT and path to cancel.

Step

Driving to the Next EIT Location

There is a minor location, Yangya, between Gladstone and Caltowie but it has no EIT, minimal yard infrastructure, no signals and its switches are set for the main line through to Caltowie

You have two options for driving to Caltowie, the next EIT location. Manual and AI control.

Manual Control

You can manually drive the train through to Caltowie without using the EIT (as described in Step 1 above). This would require that all the switches along the path be correctly set first. You can do this by manually setting all the switches yourself using the information on the Gladstone page (link via - link will open in this window).

Gladstone Switches

Part of this page is shown left with only those switches relevant to this tutorial scenario. The red dots indicate the yard Start and Exit positions for the train path.

Also shown left below is the Switch Set data, taken from the same page, for the path Gladstone Goods Loop to Broken Hill . The switch directions, L or R are the directions when facing the junction fork i.e. the L and R that determine which direction a train will take when passing over the junction.

Switch 20 does not need to be set as the consist is beyond the switch.

You can now use the Driver Control Dial or the keyboard controls to drive the train out of Gladstone Yard to Caltowie. Alternatively, for those with advanced steam loco driving skills, you can take control of the throttle, brake and other various devices in the loco cab.

AI Control

You can also drive by adding Driver Commands directly into the Driver Command Bar on the bottom right of the screen. The Drive To, Drive to Trackmark, Drive via commands that will automatically set all the path switches are available in all scenarios for your use. A large number of Track Marks and some industies have been added to provide destinations for these commands.

The approach to every location in the route has Track Marks added to allow you to use this method to let the AI do most of the driving work. These track marks are placed a short distance ahead of the approach home signal, a semaphore signal, at those locations that have visible signals. Where the location has no visible signals (the majority of locations in the division were unsignalled) then a visible Caution track sign has been placed alongside the track mark.

The Track Marks are shown on the Caltowie page (link via - link will open in this window).

Caltowie Approach

Part of this page is shown left. The approach track mark on the Port Pirie side is Caltowie Main Approach Dn. This is also identified in the data table, also copied from the same page, shown below.

From the Driver Command Menu select the command Drive To Trackmark then find and select the track mark Caltowie Main Approach Dn .

Using the Drive commands in yards with many switches, such as Gladstone, will work but the consist will display a "stop-start" motion as it slowly navigates its way through the switches. If you use the EIT to set the path first then use the Drive commands, the consist will move without any delays.

Step

Setting the Next EIT

You can set an EIT path without having to be directly in front of a Starting Signal. For example, you can set all the EIT paths for the train through Caltowie and into Jamestown before you even leave Gladstone.

To set a path for a distant EIT, from the open Driver Command Menu, select the IT SetPath (TANE SP4 and later) option. Then select the EIT from the list.

Select the Caltowie EIT Interlocking Tower . This will open a list of ALL the EIT paths controlled by the Caltowie EIT, including any paths that will not be directly accessable to your consist.

Select the path Port Pirie to Broken Hill . On the Caltowie page (link via - link will open in this window) this is identified as:-

A to B Path

This will set a direct path, via the Main Line, through Caltowie Yard towards Broken Hill.

Caltowie AB

You could also select any of the Port Pirie to ... paths. The only other through path is Port Pirie to Station to Broken Hill which will take you through the yard via the Station. The other Port Pirie to ... paths will take you into the yard but will not provide a set path out. You will need to select and set one of the ... to Broken Hill paths to exit the yard.

If you have manually driven to the Caltowie Home Dn signal (or used the AI Drive To Trackmark Caltowie Main Approach Dn command) then open the Driver Command Menu. The name of the Start Signal Caltowie Home Dn will appear in the EIT list.