New CTC user

[plpazodo]

Hi,

I would like to introduce myself mi name is Pedro. I am a new user here.

I am testing CTC and so far very good simulation. Had some previous experience with simulators like SimSig and Tran Director.

Question:
Regarding the licensing what is included with the Standard? I understand that includes more than the free but what features are actually included in addition to the save option?

Thanks.

[DPump]

Thanks for your interest and the kind words.

The standard license applies for your installed copy of CTC, and therefore all territories will run in standard mode. Since it applies to all and any territory that can run in CTC, the set of features is indeed rather limited to the save option for continuing the game another day. Most territories have a less complex schedule the lower the license is. For instance, a free territory may contain only mainline schedule, while the same territory in standard mode may contain schedules for branch lines. "Lower" versions may not have schedules that involve merge and split trains (by scheduling).

You may have more features for the premium licenses, which go by territory. One example currently included in the premium versions is the stop-and-proceed feature. Future features may include train crew time management and the helper function, both are currently in development.

The standard license also gives you access to a sneak preview of the CTC editor. There is a separate license for the full editor (which applies to your installed copy of CTC, much like the standard license). The editor license not only allows you to create your own territory, but also to modify other territories for which you have the premium license.

With a standard license you can also promote new users for CTC. If you get a new user, and you give that user your promo code, you'll get promo points, if the new user uses your code to buy a license. You can get a discount for your own purchases for any promo points you've earned.

Your WebRailRoader Team

[plpazodo]

Thanks for your reply DPump.

The editor is a nice feature however the big issue is to find good enough information to build real territories otherwise one is only limited to build fictitious territories.

Rgds.

[DPump]

This is probably the biggest issue - to find source data on which to build territories. Any simulator has that problem.

One way to overcome this is to build CTC territories based on ones already built for similar platforms. Train Director is basically open book, so it would not be too difficult to transform TD territories for CTC, though I haven't done it yet.  We have a little bit more experience with Train Dispatcher/Track Builder territories. I don't know SimSig enough to use that as a base.

The editor makes it fairly easy to put the tracks together, but the problem starts with placing signals and assigning block lengths. Another issue are schedules, which are sometimes hard to come by. As for those, I built a tool to take information of a PDF file, transformed into a text file in a particular format that can be imported. As you can imagine, this is error prone, not to speak of all the different formats you may encounter. But is saves a lot of typing. As for block lengths, if you have a table with that kind of information... Signal placing is actually not a big deal, if you know where the blocks are separated. There are tools in CTC that place signals at exits of all or some selected blocks.

So it all depends where you get that information. Once you have some, it is a matter of tooling how to feed that into the simulator. This can get complicated, to be honest. But if you have any idea, you're welcome to make suggestions, for this or any other area.

Your WebRailRoader Team

[plpazodo]

Hi DPump,

Please let me know if one can start from something similar to what you see int the attached picture.

This picture belongs to an small part of Cardiff in europe. At least the signals are there but don't know the block lengths.

Thanks

[DPump]

The drawing of tracks and the placement of signals are the easiest part. See the video at  http://usnam.com/ctc02, video ctc01.
That layout in the video was done in 2 minutes - yes, a very simple one, and with default block lengths, no schedule yet (a simple one was done there in the 3rd minute), but with signals and connectors to the outside world.

Now, this video was done to show how quick it is to get a working simulator from scratch, so even without a tool that for instance looks at the schematics in an image file and puts something together that can be used as an input, it is not too difficult to get it started.

As for the block lengths - if you don't have any other source material, you can use Google Earth and measure the distance between certain points of the rail line. Videos showing cab rides on the line can help also - if you can spot and read the mile stones along the tracks, or get a sense what distance is traveled in a certain time. A (passenger train) schedule that shows the distance between stations can help, even it is an old one.

Your WebRailRoader Team

[westdetroit]

I don't know about other countries but here in the States timetable and maintenance of way charts are my best friend and many are available online. Just from my experience.

[plpazodo]

I don't know about other countries but here in the States timetable and maintenance of way charts are my best friend and many are available online. Just from my experience.

Thanks can you provide some examples?

[westdetroit]

My routes are based off of Conrail 1997 Dearborn Division and this is my primary source of information. The areas that I've clicked on are of particular use and I believe this site has all kinds of info on other U.S. railroads as well. Hope this helps you get started. 😊

Well, I tried sending screenshots but the file size were too big I guess so here is the link to that site.
http://www.multimodalways.org/archives/rrs/CR/CR.html

[westdetroit]

P.S. The interlocking charts, track charts, timetables and maintenance of way charts has all the info I need.

[plpazodo]

P.S. The interlocking charts, track charts, timetables and maintenance of way charts has all the info I need.

Thanks for your input westdetroit.

Very good source of information.

[westdetroit]

You are very welcome.