A quick question about the function of long block signals.
Are long block signals designed to reserve a path not just to the next halt of the train, but also as far as the next signal on the line? (This was how I had assumed they worked.)
If yes, then they do not currently appear to be behaving like this in 10.13 (or 10.12 before it).
If no, then how are long block signals different from ordinary signals? I cannot currently discern a difference between their behaviour.
The long block signal checks if there is a train until the next signal or the end of route. It reserves only the next section, like any normal convoi. Thus a single track must be protected by long block signals from both ends.
Thanks prissi. So I take it that the signal will not allow any other trains onto a route protected by long block signals, even if only part of the route is actually reserved.
You need long block signals at both ends of a single track section with multiple stations. If you only have the long block at one end then trains will still enter at the other (there might be occasions when track layout needs this behaviour).