Route oddness

[ccomley]

I have a four-platform station with the same entry/exit design I usually use to minimise the times when trains have to wait for each other.

Except on this occasion, trains are NOT using Platform 1 - see screenshot you can see the train entering at the bottom is crossing to the next platform despite the one in front being vacant. They won't use P1 even if the other three are in use.

I've stared and stared and can't see what I'm missing. Gwan, spot what I can't and de-misery me!

plat1.PNG (1.18 MiB) Viewed 397 times

[Quast65]

I am guessing here, but is this the case?

Example490.png (479.95 KiB) Viewed 2196 times

Are the two bottom tracks one-way, so that trains can only enter from those (green arrows) and the two top ones one-way exit-only (red arrows)?
If that is the case then I think you are missing some extra tracks that I have drawn in orange.
Looking at the tracks of your picture I can only see tracks going from platform-1 to both lower tracks, but there is no possibility to get to the two upper tracks, thus maybe the pathfinder wont direct trains to platform-1 as they cant get out from that anymore…

But again, I am guessing here

[ccomley]

I see what you mean but no. Lines 1 and 3 are "in", 2 and 4 are "out". Here's what it looks like outside the station. It's the layout I always use. Adapts to six-plat stations easily, bit cumbersome on anything bigger...

plar2.PNG (307.74 KiB) Viewed 2185 times

The idea is that trains can come in to any platform even if a train is leaving any other platform. And every other station I used it on has worked. And then I suddenly noticed a train waiting at the path signal here and yet P1 was empty and subsequent playing has not managed to persuade anything to go in there.

I checked the signal - it's correct for allowing trains in and then "path" for out.
Track is there, and runs to the end of the station (how could it not? But I checked anyway) and is Maglev track!
The cross-over in front of the signals is all there, i.e. there IS a "straight on" path in to that platform. (and out, though past experience has shown that a train WILL enter a platform and only later find out it can't exit again if that were wrong!)

Most odd!!

[ccomley]

OK that's weird.

I eventually decided to remove the platform. I used teh Station tool with "erase" and removed JUST that one platform. Left the track. Then immediately re-created the platform. The graphics can't cope with this so I now have the bizzare effect of the next platform having half a canopy! Anyway, a train went RIGHT into the newly (re)created platform. So there must've been something it didn't like, GOK what. Note the station was originally created as a 4 track 9 square in one click, not bits at a time.

[ccomley]

informative post

Here's how you do it for six plats.

plat3.PNG (699.22 KiB) Viewed 397 times

You can also use tunnels instead of bridges but it's a bit more fiddly to set out.

[ccomley]

And here adapted for twin tracks in and out. This isn't quite as smiple in practice, you either need to make sure trains from the south "in" track only use the south three platforms, and north to north, or else you still get the occasional "crossing" train holding up others.

plat4.PNG (708.75 KiB) Viewed 397 times

[SquireJames]

Alternatively, we're in 2018. Path based signals are your friends.

[ccomley]

Alternatively, we're in 2018. Path based signals are your friends.

It utterly depends on path signals to work. But it also provides *paths* for the signals to signal access to!

[Eddi]

OK that's weird.

I eventually decided to remove the platform. I used teh Station tool with "erase" and removed JUST that one platform. Left the track. Then immediately re-created the platform. The graphics can't cope with this so I now have the bizzare effect of the next platform having half a canopy! Anyway, a train went RIGHT into the newly (re)created platform. So there must've been something it didn't like, GOK what. Note the station was originally created as a 4 track 9 square in one click, not bits at a time.

sounds like you most likely had a stale reservation. the reasons how they appear are unclear and a bit hard to debug, so there may be some rare conditions left in the code. the track is considered "reserved" for a path, and thus new trains trying to find a path will not go there. other than removing and rebuilding, it can be fixed by forcing a train through the track, by removing all alternative paths and then pressing the "ignore signal" button (sometimes needs pressing twice with path signals)

[ccomley]

OK that's weird.

I eventually decided to remove the platform. I used teh Station tool with "erase" and removed JUST that one platform. Left the track. Then immediately re-created the platform. The graphics can't cope with this so I now have the bizzare effect of the next platform having half a canopy! Anyway, a train went RIGHT into the newly (re)created platform. So there must've been something it didn't like, GOK what. Note the station was originally created as a 4 track 9 square in one click, not bits at a time.

sounds like you most likely had a stale reservation. the reasons how they appear are unclear and a bit hard to debug, so there may be some rare conditions left in the code. the track is considered "reserved" for a path, and thus new trains trying to find a path will not go there. other than removing and rebuilding, it can be fixed by forcing a train through the track, by removing all alternative paths and then pressing the "ignore signal" button (sometimes needs pressing twice with path signals)

Makes sense! Cheers, had not thought of that.

[Eddi]

on the side note of half a roof graphics, you can just overbuild the station to change the graphics

[ccomley]

on the side note of half a roof graphics, you can just overbuild the station to change the graphics

Yeah, I was not losing sleep over that.

Interesting though, if you use dragon drop to make a second track next to an existing single track station, sometimes it draws a second no-canopy track, and sometimes it works out it's now two tracks wide and adds a canopy to both, but it didn't keep up with me removing a track!

[Eddi]

i don't think there is any automatic checking to complete a roof when you combine two separate stations. at least not in the default station, some NewGRF stations can do that, though.