Next stop DeKalb Ave

Needs "hold phone horizontal" version

---PCJ

Ben how cool I like that you had two oncoming trains staged. I am assuming your train left Manhattan headed for Brooklyn.

Enjoy the ride

Steve

Looks to me as the train coming out of Canal street station and heading onto the South Trackways on the Bridge. About 20 seconds into the clip if you look carefully and its dark, you can make out the former trackways on the right for BMT route that went into the Chambers street station as part of the Nassau st loop route into downtown Manhattan. When this service existed, the South trackways on the Bridge served the NAssau loop route and the North Trackways served the Broadway subway. Today, the North Trackways route to the Christie street extension in Manhattan and then onto to 6th avenue subway.

Nice video Ben Thanks for posting

Very nice Ben, what is the blue lights indicate? 

John

John the blue lights are the location of the  Emergency Telephones and fire extinguishers

All

That is correct  This was taken while operating the Q after CAnal toward Brooklyn  Both parts of the Chrystie street cut are now being used as the M was rerouted up sixth ave now  After Essex street 

I traveled over the Manhattan Bridge many times (late 1940s though 1973) on the 6000 series D-types, BMT Standards, R-1-9s R-27, R-30s, R-32s, R-44s. I always stood by either the front or rear window except for the R-44s which had full width cabs. I was always aware of the timed signal lights on the down grades that keeped the operator within the 20 mph speed limit otherwise the next signal would stay red until the train was almost at that next signal. Last month I was on a bus that was traveling over the Ben Franklin Bridge that connects Philadelphia with Camden, NJ. I was sitting behind the bus driver when we started to catch up to a PATCO Train that operates over that bridge. The speed of the bus was 45mph going upgrade on the bridge. The train was going a little slower than the bus but as we started going downgrade on the bridge the bus slowed to 40mph but the train now as going a little faster than the bus. I was surprised that the train was operating at that speed going downgrade when comparing it to the New York City Subway Trains operating on both the Manhattan and Williamsbugh Bridges which at keep to 20mph.

Ed

The grade times on the bridges are actually 25 MPH.  The tubes are 35 MPH  Not sure if SEPTA uses grade time signals as the NYC subway does.  It might also have a higher grade speed due to the fact that the bridge is much newer than the Manhattan bridge.

ben,

whats with the signal lights, green then yellow, back to green, then back to yellow. in some I saw yellow change to green just before you went by it.

need better headlights in those tunnels, not very bright....

Here's a view from the roadway, pacing a 'Q' train:

And a head-end view, this time using the Open BVE train simulator: (skip to 12:20 and end at 18:30)

---PCJ

Pete

None of the signals went from green to yellow  Think you mixed up the tunnel running lights with signals.  The ones that change from yellow to green as you pass them are called grade time signals.  They are identified by the illuminated S under the yellow signal.  They time you to keep under a certain speed  The bridge is 25 MPH.  You know how close to the speed you are as to when they change  If they change in front of you you are well under the 25  If they change right next to you then you are right at the posted speed.  If you pass a yellow and the next red doesn't change you are going too fast and there will be a 10 second delay before the red changes.  One thing about the subways is that you can not pass a red signal at speed.  There is an arm that comes up that will trip your train into emergency stop

The sealed beam headlights are plenty bright to see obstructions  You really don't want them too bright as they will distort the vision of the signals

Patrick

Nice simulator  System safety would have a field day with 34 street   There is a 15 MPH speed limit coming in and whoever was operating missed the stop with a station overrun.  Problem with the signals too   A signal will never ever go green if the next signal is red

ben,

speed sensors.....

Yah, well, it's freeware--ya gets what ya pays for

OpenBVE has an autopilot mode, and according to a comment below, the person making the video was using that mode while recording the screen. It's known to be imprecise (and I was wondering why the system messages--like the ones telling you of over/underruns-- weren't displaying--that explains why).

The footage is from 2012, so the route might have been updated since then (there are a bunch of buffs at bvestation.com upgrading a bunch of old routes left and right) and , but I haven't yet downloaded the route yet to try it. As for the signal, where did it display green before a red?

BTW, someone figured out a way to put functioning stop arms (meaning you'll BIE if you SPAD) in the sim, but older routes have to be re-written to take advantage of it.

---PCJ

Patrick

Coming into Canal street there are one shot grade times with an illuminated lunar white  They all go green even though the next ones are red

They really aren't speed sensors  They are timers that should equal the distance a train would travel at a certain speed.  The TA does have sensors that are called wheel detectors that they use in certain spots where extra slow speeds are necessary

While digging through the update forums on BVEStation.com I ran across this nugget from 2011.

Quote: TJay1724 (BVEstation forum Moderator)
"Basically they work on a delay in conjunction with the length before it.  For example, the timers in the file by default is five seconds and the timer will start when the train reaches 40 meters before the signal. I have it set at 40 meters. So when your train gets to the 40 meter mark before the signal, your trains speed should be around 14-20 mph. Once the timer expires, the signal will turn from red to yellow, then to green. If you time it right and have your speed adjusted accordingly, the timer will clear to green just before you pass it. There is no penalty for passing at red as openBVE only sees this as an animated object and does not recognize it as a signal, though it is placed with a signal command and functions as a signal."

Quote: MrEven (BVEStation.com forum)
Question. Could you have it setup for different speeds? Also, there is a way, but the train also has to have a plugin, which the R38 has, to trip the train if it passes a red.

Quote: TJay1724 (BVEstation forum Moderator)
I've attempted to do different speeds, but anything over 5 seconds and for some reason the signal will not display properly and by default, it can't be anything lower than 5 seconds. The timers are still a work in progress so I'll see what I can come up with. As for the trips, as you said the R38 has the plugin, if the train does not have the plugin and the route file does not have the correct beacon coded into the file, it won't matter. The train has to have the plugin, and the route has to have the correct beacon command for that to work.

It sounds like the routes and trains need to be coded to allow fully prototypical signalling, since BVE itself wasn't designed with NYCTA in mind. OpenBVE has provisions for plugins for additional functions, where the stop-arm function described above came from.

By the way, most BVE routes and trains are comprised of text files for the route code and 3D objects, oftentimes written with Notepad, of all things. Photorealistic objects simply have appropriately-trimmed bitmaps assigned to them in the code.

---PCJ

I see what they say but they are incorrect.  There are two types of grade time signals  One is the red with lunar white and the other is the yellow with the ulluminated S.  The red with lunar white will never go to green if there is another one following it.  Doesn't matter the speed  NEVER.  The yellows with the s will change to green

Ben,

You act you see this stuff all the time or something!

Oh, but then I guess you see it everyday that you are the Motorman! LOL

Hopefully will see you Saturday!

Far as I can tell, OpenBVE itself doesn't allow proper reproduction of NYCTA signalling.

Up to fairly recently these routes didn't even attempt to simulate time-signal zones. The only thing you could do as a route builder is to assign the effective speed limit for the track segment under time-signal control. Any signals you placed in the area would still behave like automatic block signals no matter what you, as the programmer tried.

Anything that actually tries to function like a timer right now is still a work-in-progress or some kind of stopgap till a separate plugin is developed. I don't have an account on bvestation yet. If I do make one I'll be sure to ask if any of the programmers know the timers aren't correct.

---PCJ