Toning and Calling The Dispatcher

[westdetroit]

I was wondering if this could be a possibility in the future if the trains can just "tone" the dispatcher instead of phoning them as they would in real life and keep the phone for adjacent dispatchers? Normally it's just one short to medium long sounding tone. If I can get a hold of a clip I will send it if you're not sure what I'm talking about. It would reduce the amount of phone rings (which would drive a real dispatcher more bonkers than they already are lol). Of course keep the same amount of rings for the adjacent dispatchers/yardmasters. Great original concept though.

[DPump]

We were thinking about introducing radio communication to and from trains. However, we haven't done this (yet) as it would not make that much of a difference in terms of the mechanics and the flow of the messaging.

Of course, with radio you can send out emergency broadcasts ("all trains stop!"), and you can listen to communications between other participants, both of which seem to be not so important.

Is that what you're talking about? If not, please enlighten me!

Please be aware, that if we open a separate channel (like radio) for communication, you have a chance to get more than one message at a time. I don't know if that would prevent to drive a "dispatcher more bonkers", so be careful what you wish for ...

[westdetroit]

lol Yes, there would be a good possibility of both the phone ringing and a tone but I think you would have more "single" tones than at least three (or more rings of the phone not sure because usually if it's ringing at least three times I'm busy with a mess elsewhere lol  ) rings of a phone. The mechanics would be the same of course as a dispatcher would still need to respond. I was just thinking about how often one would hear a single tone versus multiple rings. And it would still be realistic. Again, great concept. I really love the realistic interaction. Keep up the great work!

[westdetroit]

Now that I am more awake. Yes, maybe a radio form would be best and it would give the dispatcher more of a choice of who they choose to answer as well. In my own experience I pretty much have a clue who will be calling but with the phone a dispatcher has no choice of the order of trains he wants to respond to which may be more important or even if he wants to contact a higher priority train. I think the phone is still a great option as a real dispatcher will have both going at the same time at times(unfortunately  ). And, maybe have a train "tone" the dispatcher if he doesn't answer within a certain amount of tries or something.

[westdetroit]

Maybe the entrance can be linked to a specified area/territory when a caller calls/radios? For instance, a yard with an entrance at each end (or multiple entrance locations) would say "Phone/Radio Conversation with 'Yardmaster Burns Harbor'" instead of "Phone Conversation with Dispatcher District 'Burns Harbor Yard (East End)'", regardless which end of the yard a train arrives. During the conversation is where the caller would state the exact entrance the train is arriving ie 'I have train "*" at Burns Harbor East End'. This is just a minor thing. Hopefully I made sense. Some things are easier shown than explained.