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Great Britain simulation in Simutrans Experimental

Started by Carl, May 25, 2011, 03:43:48 PM

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Carl

#910
Thanks for looking into it further. I also had just spotted that one with the Liverpool train! That route had been given too little time to get from Coventry to Birmingham, so the timing point was vulnerable. It now has 5 minutes leeway at Birmingham which seems to be sufficient.

The Euston - Crewe via Birmingham was causing similar issues and has also had a timing point removed to help with this.

I've been investigating Manchester too. While I didn't see any blockages, I've fixed a few little niggles that could possibly have caused them in the future - tweaking a few timings that looked marginal. Let me know if you can pin down any trouble-makers in that area. It's made a bit more difficult by the fact that I can't access the 2014 Northern timetables anymore...the rework in this area can't come soon enough.

Here's an updated savegame - it runs for a while with no issues. No doubt further problems will arise but hopefully they'll take a little longer to appear now!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sf1pd5jdwugq3vg/UK-aug-19.rar?dl=0

Edit: fixed another silly issue at Reading.


ScotRail170434

Quote from: Carl on August 07, 2019, 08:47:18 PM
Thanks for looking into it further. I also had just spotted that one with the Liverpool train! That route had been given too little time to get from Coventry to Birmingham, so the timing point was vulnerable. It now has 5 minutes leeway at Birmingham which seems to be sufficient.

The Euston - Crewe via Birmingham was causing similar issues and has also had a timing point removed to help with this.

I've been investigating Manchester too. While I didn't see any blockages, I've fixed a few little niggles that could possibly have caused them in the future - tweaking a few timings that looked marginal. Let me know if you can pin down any trouble-makers in that area. It's made a bit more difficult by the fact that I can't access the 2014 Northern timetables anymore...the rework in this area can't come soon enough.

Here's an updated savegame - it runs for a while with no issues. No doubt further problems will arise but hopefully they'll take a little longer to appear now!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sf1pd5jdwugq3vg/UK-aug-19.rar?dl=0

Edit: fixed another silly issue at Reading.

What's the next area to be done?

NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 07, 2019, 08:47:18 PM
Thanks for looking into it further. I also had just spotted that one with the Liverpool train! That route had been given too little time to get from Coventry to Birmingham, so the timing point was vulnerable. It now has 5 minutes leeway at Birmingham which seems to be sufficient.

The Euston - Crewe via Birmingham was causing similar issues and has also had a timing point removed to help with this.

I've been investigating Manchester too. While I didn't see any blockages, I've fixed a few little niggles that could possibly have caused them in the future - tweaking a few timings that looked marginal. Let me know if you can pin down any trouble-makers in that area. It's made a bit more difficult by the fact that I can't access the 2014 Northern timetables anymore...the rework in this area can't come soon enough.

Here's an updated savegame - it runs for a while with no issues. No doubt further problems will arise but hopefully they'll take a little longer to appear now!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sf1pd5jdwugq3vg/UK-aug-19.rar?dl=0

Edit: fixed another silly issue at Reading.
There is actually a 2014 Network Rail Working Timetable here if you need it (scroll to the bottom for it), although I doubt you'll need it for much longer.  :P

Agreed about the rework! ;)

Carl

Fantastic! I knew there was a timetable archive hiding somewhere on the internet but couldn't remember where. Thanks.

Quote from: ScotRail170434 on August 07, 2019, 11:32:37 PM
What's the next area to be done?

Once West Midlands buses are complete, the current plan is to do South Wales next. Then I'll gradually fill in northwards in England: the remainder of Northants, then Leicestershire, then Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire & Shropshire (in some order).

Despite what I said above, I plan to hold off a bit before revising Northern-land because they seem to be in a transitional phase with both timetables and rolling stock. Once the December 2019 timetable has passed I think it'll be safe to update that area. Similarly, the GWR rolling stock and timetable situation will now wait until after the December 2019 recast to be updated.

NoMorePacers

I've also noticed that the slow lines between York and Thirsk have 2 unconnected pieces of track halfway between the two. Was this intentional?

Carl

Yes - although it was so long ago that the exact reason escapes me. Presumably to stop something from using the slow lines when it should be using the fast lines - although that's not usually a problem.

ScotRail170434

The flowing silk 390 Pendolinos don't show up in the depot - any reason why that could be?

Carl

It would need to be an electrified depot with the year 1996 or later (I know that's not the real intro date but it's what's in the dat file). It shows up next to the original 390 on my depot window.

If not then check that BR-390-new.pak is in your pak folder.


fam621

Quote from: thegamer7893 on August 02, 2019, 06:31:16 PM
Again I have forgotten that this isn't my project. But then again, I'm giving people hope for a eventual update.



In the picture above, you can see that at Barnshore Junction station, I have simulated it having a short platform as per real life (if this station was really to exist). This directly means that HST's and any trains longer than 2 cars have to overhang the platform, therefore making the guard use the SDO system when opening (unlocking in a HST) doors at this station. An example of a service which overhangs this station is the hourly VWC (Virgin West Country) service from Stepford Central or Worcester Forgate Hill. The HST's have to stop at the signal (not on the platform but at the furthest HST stop marker (2+9 marker)) and the guard has to inform passengers of the short platform at this station and unlock the rear doors (the rear 6 coaches of the set irl (1 and a half coaches as simulated ingame)) to allow people to alight at Barnshore Junction station. This is however automatically carried out GPS as the class 170's (operated by Midlands Trains) have GPS controlled SDO fitted to the train and the PIS (Passenger Information System) system will announce that this station has a short platform and passengers would alight from the rear 2 coaches (would fit onto the platform irl) of the train. This is one of the many changes that people should look forward to in the next update. ;)

Picture taken: March 1999.

Note to viewer: This is not a feature in the forthcoming update and this was written for entertainment and for boredom satisfying purposes. xD

For anyone who took up interest in this post, would you ever like to see this map released as I can tell you, its a very good one. ;)

NoMorePacers

The rolling stock graveyard - designed to commemorate those trains in pak.ngb who gave their lives to build this map to what it is today.

We will remember them.


ScotRail170434

Quote from: thegamer7893 on August 09, 2019, 01:38:55 PM
For anyone who took up interest in this post, would you ever like to see this map released as I can tell you, its a very good one. ;)

Would be nice to have it as a release.

fam621

Quote from: ScotRail170434 on August 12, 2019, 12:22:47 AM
Would be nice to have it as a release.

Maybe I will start a new topic and possibly might release the map

Carl

Quote from: NoMorePacers on August 09, 2019, 03:54:29 PM
The rolling stock graveyard - designed to commemorate those trains in pak.ngb who gave their lives to build this map to what it is today.

We will remember them.


This is great :D

Those Class 442s might be making an appearance again after a repaint! And before long we'll get 319s in the north...

NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 14, 2019, 11:00:11 AM
This is great :D

Those Class 442s might be making an appearance again after a repaint! And before long we'll get 319s in the north...
Of course. But those liveries are now gone forever... :P

Carl

Indeed! It's nice to look at these and see some progression in quality over the years, at least.

There will soon be some ATW units to add to this graveyard, too...

NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 14, 2019, 01:50:33 PM
Indeed! It's nice to look at these and see some progression in quality over the years, at least.

There will soon be some ATW units to add to this graveyard, too...
Although some, like the RHTT trains, are actually quite new, relatively speaking at least - they just haven't been used recently.

I find the current contrast between a modern 2018/19 setting in the South and a 2014 setting in the North an interesting abstract take on the North/South divide personally.  :D

passengerpigeon

Hi Carl,
Thanks for sending me the elevated railway image and data files earlier. Since I am now working on my addon pack again, I was wondering whether you had any platforms with footbridges in 64x64 scale that you could send me the source files to, so that I could use them as an alignment template.
Thank you,
Passengerpigeon.


passengerpigeon

Quote from: Carl on August 18, 2019, 03:05:38 PM
Sure - the one I use is from the wa_platform set which you can find about 3/4 of the way down this page:

http://japanese.simutrans.com/index.php?%A5%A2%A5%C9%A5%AA%A5%F3%2Frailtool

Thanks; I never realised those Japanese addons came with the sources. That's good to know.

Carl

Here's another large update, covering Cardiff & the South Wales valleys. It includes new & updated trains and renovation of a large chunk of the map. You can download it here.

New trains

All of the Arriva Trains Wales/Transport for Wales trains have been updated, with several new liveries added. The collage below shows the updates (from top left): ATW Class 150 (dark green) - new; ATW Class 150 (turquoise) - improved; TfW Class 175 - new; TfW Class 158 - new; ATW Class 142 (turquoise) - improved; ATW Class 143 (dark green) - new; ATW Class 175 - improved; TfW Class 153 - new; ATW Class 153 (turquoise) - new.



This includes the first ever Class 153 to be added to the map! You can find them operating on the Cardiff Bay line, the City line, the Heart of Wales line and the Crewe-Shrewsbury line.

Some other trains have been improved too: FGW and GWR Class 150; GWR Class 143; and CrossCountry Voyager.


Map updates

The whole towns & cities covering Cardiff, Newport and the Valleys have been rebuilt from scratch. The image below shows how it looks now (larger version here)



And the image below shows how it looked before the update - where little had changed since 2013 (larger version here). This difference should hopefully show what I'm trying to achieve by revisiting every area of the map. Towns and cities are now built to their proper proportions, and towns that don't have a rail service are added. Forests have been added too. It's a much more ambitious project than simply 'built a town next to the train line' which was essentially what I did first time round.



Here's an image zoomed in on Cardiff (larger version here). I moved Cardiff Central to elevated rail in order to allow for the bridge over the River Taff. I also moved Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay. Often when I revisit large cities I fix the rail alignments to make them a bit more accurate. You can also see this with the curve at Carleon (north of Newport) - compare the before/after images above.



Other changes

The Kidderminster area received an update, with the towns of Stourport and Bewdley added including bus routes.

I updated the Filton Bank (Bristol) to have 4 tracks, in preparation for something exciting that you'll see soon.

Bus routes added:

- Kidderminster: routes to Bewdley and Stourport
- Walsall: routes to Sutton Coldfield and Wolverhampton
- Wolverhampton to Bloxwich
- Lydney to Coleford (Gloucstershire)
- Chewpstow to Monmouth
- Newport: routes to Blaenavon, Monmouth, Chepstow, Brynmawr, Caerphilly, Abergavenny, Blackwood, Tredegar
- Merthyr Tydfil to Abergavenny
- Some other local Welsh valley routes. There's still more to do here.

NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 20, 2019, 04:57:57 PMI updated the Filton Bank (Bristol) to have 4 tracks, in preparation for something exciting that you'll see soon.
I think I've spotted it. :D


NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 20, 2019, 07:49:03 PM
Haha, oops - I didn't mean to leave that clue, but very well spotted  :D
Don't worry, I won't spoil it for anyone else. ;)

Carl

Here's a new video for you to enjoy - travelling from Birmingham to Paignton in Devon - the 'English riviera'.

But this being the British railway, not everything goes to plan on the journey...

https://youtu.be/Eb_mkzuWkFo


NoMorePacers

Knew it. :P

Nice video, although I'll admit to slightly preferring your voice-overs, since I personally find your voice quite pleasant to listen to.

Carl

Glad you liked it!

I agree voiceovers can work well, but I find them quite stressful to do, and I don't like watching back over the videos with voiceovers.

NoMorePacers

Quote from: Carl on August 25, 2019, 07:48:08 PM
Glad you liked it!

I agree voiceovers can work well, but I find them quite stressful to do, and I don't like watching back over the videos with voiceovers.
I have the same issue really, I can't watch anything with my voice in it. I don't like it either. So I understand. :D

Vladki

Quote from: Carl on August 20, 2019, 04:57:57 PMHere's another large update, covering Cardiff & the South Wales valleys. It includes new & updated trains and renovation of a large chunk of the map.
Oh, very nice screenshots. I've just returned from vacation in UK, and part of it I spent traveling in the South Wales (of course by train where possible).

Carl

Today's update brings another big chunk of progress in Wales, plus more new and updated train graphics. You can download it here (as ever you'll need a legacy Simutrans Experimental exe to run this map).

First, those new and updated trains. The collage below shows most of them, and a list follows (larger here)



New trains added: Class 717; 710; 345; 195; 331
New liveries added: Class 222 (EMR), Class 319 (Northern), Class 159 (SWR), Class 442 (SWR), Class 378 (TFL black)
Trains improved: Class 700

As well as updating some London area trains & liveries, I added a couple of new & updated Northern trains. The Class 331s are running on Leeds to Doncaster locals. Both the 195 and 319 will have to wait until I update the timetable to be added fully, but for now you can find one of each running on the Liverpool to Manchester Airport route.

The Class 442s make a return in a new livery, working Portsmouth Direct Line services for SWR.

Crossrail's Class 345 trains are added - currently working both Liverpool Street to Shenfield and Paddington to Hayes & Harlington services.


Map updates
Another big part of the map has been updated, with the following towns & cities added or rebuilt: Swansea, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath, Llanelli, Porthcawl, Maesteg, Ystradgynlais, Pontarddulais, and Brecon.

This screenshot shows the dense Swansea area, including the Swansea District Line which diverges from the main line just south of Neath. Larger version here.



Here's the area around Ammanford, a town north of Swansea. You can see newly-added IND graphics for solar parks, as well as the new Mynydd y Betws wind farm. South of Ammanford, a freight-only line for coal trains to Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen diverges. Larger version here.



Finally, here's the area around Bridgend. If you squint you'll see the other new city building I added this week - the caravan park in Porthcawl. Both this and the solar park have been added in a few places across the map. Larger version here.




Other changes

The North London Line timetable was updated to include 4tph from Stratford to Clapham Junction.

A few IND graphics were tweaked.

Buses routes added:
Cardiff locals
Cardiff-Caerphilly, Tonypandy, Beddau, Bridgend
Bridgend-Aberdare, Barry, Cymmer, Blaengarw, Nant-y-Moel, Porthcawl, Neath
Aberdare-Glynneath, Merthyr Tydfil
Port Talbot-Cymmer
Swansea-Glynneath, Mumbles, Dulais Valley, Ystradgynlais, Pontarddulais, Llanelli, Brecon
Hereford-Brecon
Abergavenny-Brecon

NoMorePacers

Just a little one here.

Kings Cross - Ely services are portrayed as being Class 365-operated in the map, but as is shown here, they only run at peak times now, and 387s are running on that service now I believe.

Carl

Good call - I hadn't realised there were so few GN 365s in service now.

I also note that the SWR 442s have been withdrawn today, just days after I added them to the map...
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/swr-class-442-diagrams.182639/#post-4184869

Carl

Evening all - time for another map update. This one covers Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys - including some of the sparsest and most rural areas of Wales. Part of Shropshire is also rebuilt and improved.

You can download the pak folder and savegame at the following link. As ever, you'll need a legacy Simutrans Experimental .exe to run this.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8pm6wcsrt99i43/UK-sep19.rar?dl=0

The screenshot below shows towns and rail lines in Pembrokeshire (see the area on Google maps here). I added trains to the Fishguard branch in this update. In real life it only has a very sparse service so I've had to engage in a bit of fiction to make it work - here it has two-hourly services connecting with the eastbound Milford Haven service at Clarbeston Road. The coastal area around Pembroke has several power stations and refineries that I've tried to represent as best as possible, but it wasn't easy.


The screenshot below shows Builth Wells in Powys. it is served by Builth Road station - you can see a Class 153 making its way eastbound in the shot. This is on the Heart of Wales line which receives only 4-5 trains per day (3-hourly frequency in-game). The town is served by buses between Newtown and Cardiff (which run only as far as Merthyr Tydfil on this map as I usually try to avoid bus routes that duplicate rail routes). North of the River Wye here is the Royal Welsh Showground.


Finally, here's Shrewsbury town centre which I've rebuilt this week. I've moved the station to one level above ground in order to manage the complex pattern of the River Severn here. It wasn't really possible to represent the junction south of the station in its full detail. In the station are two WMR Class 170 trains and a TFW Class 153 waiting to run on the Heart of Wales Line. By coincidence I visited Shrewsbury a couple of weeks ago - it';s quite a nice little place, and there are good value flexible tickets from London if you go via Chiltern or London Northwestern. The station is unusual in that the lowest-numbered platform is 3.


Towns rebuilt this time include: Carmarthen, Aberystwyth, Pembroke, Milford Haven, Haverfordwest, Tenby, Cardigan, Lampeter, Newtown, Llandrindod, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Oswestry.

Bus routes were added around all of these places too - as well as a couple from Kidderminster, Swansea and Hereford to places that were added.

Carl

I've published a new video today titled 'Pembroke Coast Express'. It follows a Class 800 IET train on its journey from Newport to Pembroke Dock in West Wales.

This service runs on summer Saturdays only. Before 2019 it was operated by HSTs - I believe that this summer's specials were the first IETs to visit the Pembroke line in passenger service.

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIQTb6qndIw




Carl

Today's update adds a bunch of new trains, updates some old liveries, and overhauls another large section of the map. You can download the savegame and pak folder here. As ever you will need a legacy Simutrans Experimental exe to run this.

I sometimes post updates on twitter too so feel free to follow there.

New trains: the following vehicles have been newly added: Class 800 for LNER (5/9 car) and for GWR (9 car); TPE class 350; TPE class 185 (new livery); Northern classes 170 and 158 (new livery), and Scotrail class 158 (new livery). There are also graphic updates for a few old vehicles: TPE class 185 (old livery), and Northern classes 323, 142 and 158 (old livery)

Class 800 LNER


Map updates: the West Midlands has seen more progress. Shropshire has been completed. The Trent Valley and Cannock Chase areas of Staffordshire & Warwickshire were also updated - including Stafford, Tamworth & Nuneaton - meaning that the built-up 'ring' around Birmingham is now finished. Next up: eastern Northamptonshire, then Leicestershire.

Nuneaton & Bedworth: the West Coast Main Line crosses the Birmingham to Leicester line here. We can also see the branch line heading into Coventry (which is in the bottom left) and the M69 motorway. (larger)


Tamworth: here the WCML crosses the Crosscountry route from Birmingham to Derby. We can see two Voyagers and a Pendolino passing. (larger)


Telford: this sprawling New Town has a lot of areas away from rail stations so has a few bus services too. We can see a TFW class 158 and a LM class 170 passing through. (larger)


List of towns added: Telford, Stafford, Tamworth, Cannock, Lichfield, Nuneaton, Rugeley, Burntwood, Bedworth, Wellingborough, Rushden, Bridgnorth, Wombourne, Newport (Shropshire), Whitchurch, Market Drayton

Bus routes added include: Wolverhampton-Bridgnorth, Wolverhampton-Wombourne, Kidderminster-Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury-Market Drayton, Shrewsbury-Whitchurch, Telford-Stafford, Wolverhampton-Cannock, Stafford-Cannock, Lichfield-Cannock, Lichfield-Rugeley-Stafford, Walsall-Lichfield, Tamworth-Sutton Coldfield, Nuneaton-Coventry.


ScotRail170434

Quote from: Carl on November 09, 2019, 11:56:43 AM
Today's update adds a bunch of new trains, updates some old liveries, and overhauls another large section of the map. You can download the savegame and pak folder here. As ever you will need a legacy Simutrans Experimental exe to run this.

I sometimes post updates on twitter too so feel free to follow there.

New trains: the following vehicles have been newly added: Class 800 for LNER (5/9 car) and for GWR (9 car); TPE class 350; TPE class 185 (new livery); Northern classes 170 and 158 (new livery), and Scotrail class 158 (new livery). There are also graphic updates for a few old vehicles: TPE class 185 (old livery), and Northern classes 323, 142 and 158 (old livery)

Class 800 LNER


Map updates: the West Midlands has seen more progress. Shropshire has been completed. The Trent Valley and Cannock Chase areas of Staffordshire & Warwickshire were also updated - including Stafford, Tamworth & Nuneaton - meaning that the built-up 'ring' around Birmingham is now finished. Next up: eastern Northamptonshire, then Leicestershire.

Nuneaton & Bedworth: the West Coast Main Line crosses the Birmingham to Leicester line here. We can also see the branch line heading into Coventry (which is in the bottom left) and the M69 motorway. (larger)


Tamworth: here the WCML crosses the Crosscountry route from Birmingham to Derby. We can see two Voyagers and a Pendolino passing. (larger)


Telford: this sprawling New Town has a lot of areas away from rail stations so has a few bus services too. We can see a TFW class 158 and a LM class 170 passing through. (larger)


List of towns added: Telford, Stafford, Tamworth, Cannock, Lichfield, Nuneaton, Rugeley, Burntwood, Bedworth, Wellingborough, Rushden, Bridgnorth, Wombourne, Newport (Shropshire), Whitchurch, Market Drayton

Bus routes added include: Wolverhampton-Bridgnorth, Wolverhampton-Wombourne, Kidderminster-Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury-Market Drayton, Shrewsbury-Whitchurch, Telford-Stafford, Wolverhampton-Cannock, Stafford-Cannock, Lichfield-Cannock, Lichfield-Rugeley-Stafford, Walsall-Lichfield, Tamworth-Sutton Coldfield, Nuneaton-Coventry.


What's next to be done?