Prototype operations?

[kevman479]

Don't know where this question should go so please move it if need be.

I have a large yard (20 tracks) at the south end of my route, about 30 miles north is a small yard (2 actually, 3 tracks on one leg, 6 on the other) at this point the mainline turns north west, a branch to the north, a branch to the west. I have several Industries between the large south yard and the small north yard. My question is which yards serve which industries for the local drop off and pick ups?

I think it is obvious that the large yard would service the industries closest to it but what about the ones between the yards that are closest to the small yard? Do they just go by the half way point? Or does the large yard service all of them and the small yard service the branches?

I just don't know how to set up the Ai's

Kevin

[Chacal]

Often it's not a question of where the cars are, but where they are going.
Your industries are shipping to some distant destination, which is likely to be served by a different railroad.
Cars are brought to a yard near a connection to the other railroad.

But it is also possible that this process will be done in steps:
1- local train gathers up cars from local industries into local yard (small road switcher);
2- cars going in the same direction are assembled into a consist (yard switcher);
3- consist is brought to distant yard close to other railroad (road engines).

Lots of possibilities for interesting multi-part scenarios.

[kevman479]

Oh Okay, that makes sense thank you.

So that is why the bigger yard is in the south because it connect so another larger railroad that share a couple of tracks with my railroad.

I like that you mention multipart scenarios. That is my plan. Several scenarios that are based on the one before it with different times. I want to set up AI's to do the passenger trains and through freights dropping off and picking up cars while the player does the locals and some of the yard work.

Kevin

[Chacal]

Good idea.
Remember that you can't have AI pick up a consist that is not there at the start of the scenario.

That is, your scenario can't have the player drop a consist to be picked up by AI.
But your scenario can have the player pick up a consist that was dropped by AI.