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Current geeky distraction
SimSig, a British railway signaling (US: railroad dispatching) simulator. From what I can tell it started life as a free-demo-shareware product until Network Rail noticed it and contracted with its author to turn it into an internal training program, and the formerly-paid content got released as free-as-in-beer (so remember to note the registration codes from the download page). The two maps I've tried so far are the Liverpool Street map (not too exciting) and Didcot (actually pretty busy).
(This falls into a bizarre category of things that must be too geeky for anyone but me to appreciate, except that two or three people I've mentioned it to have come up surprisingly interested.)
The SimSig UI isn't the friendliest of things; playing with the LivSt route to figure out how things work can be useful. By default trains will attempt to claim their own route 2-3 blocks ahead of where they are, but you can explicitly assign things by left-clicking on a signal and then the immediately following signal. Right-clicking on a signal will attempt to cancel a route through it, but you get dinged if a train is near it and in motion. On LivSt to route a train into the station make the second click be on the arrow at the end of the platform. Left-clicking on a train will print the next three things in its schedule in the info window.
Number keys (and the corresponding "VW1", "VW2", ... buttons) will switch screens, LivSt has 2 screens and Didcot 3 (where page 3 is trains in adjacent signaling districts). F2 will bring up a list of active trains, but in that list you can right-click to get a submenu which in particular lets you list out its full timetable. The F4 dialog box will let you edit the current timetable, which is actually probably the easiest way to see what the next upcoming trains you haven't seen yet are. The game assigns you a percentage score, F5 will show you its point breakdown. If the phone rings F6 will answer it.
Didcot in particular has a tendency for uncoded trains ("****") to appear; "interpose" seems to be British for "give it a name", right-click on the train itself. You're supposed to call the yard (also F6) before routing trains in. I also had quite a few "****" codes appearing on track 5 at the Didcot Parkway station which I needed to cancel out, but I'm not sure why they appear.
Remember that in the UK trains run on the left-hand track. Four-aspect signals are red (stop, block occupied or signal not assigned by dispatcher), yellow (approach), double yellow (advance approach), green (clear). Flashing yellow is "approach diverging" in a couple of places on the Didcot map. Most of the track is only signaled on one direction.
Having played through it once or twice, reading through the help file start-to-end is probably a good idea.
The system also has the ability to have multiple networked players dispatching adjacent districts, if the maps are set up for it (the Swindon-Didcot-Oxford-Reading maps at least apparently are). LAN party, anyone?
(This falls into a bizarre category of things that must be too geeky for anyone but me to appreciate, except that two or three people I've mentioned it to have come up surprisingly interested.)
The SimSig UI isn't the friendliest of things; playing with the LivSt route to figure out how things work can be useful. By default trains will attempt to claim their own route 2-3 blocks ahead of where they are, but you can explicitly assign things by left-clicking on a signal and then the immediately following signal. Right-clicking on a signal will attempt to cancel a route through it, but you get dinged if a train is near it and in motion. On LivSt to route a train into the station make the second click be on the arrow at the end of the platform. Left-clicking on a train will print the next three things in its schedule in the info window.
Number keys (and the corresponding "VW1", "VW2", ... buttons) will switch screens, LivSt has 2 screens and Didcot 3 (where page 3 is trains in adjacent signaling districts). F2 will bring up a list of active trains, but in that list you can right-click to get a submenu which in particular lets you list out its full timetable. The F4 dialog box will let you edit the current timetable, which is actually probably the easiest way to see what the next upcoming trains you haven't seen yet are. The game assigns you a percentage score, F5 will show you its point breakdown. If the phone rings F6 will answer it.
Didcot in particular has a tendency for uncoded trains ("****") to appear; "interpose" seems to be British for "give it a name", right-click on the train itself. You're supposed to call the yard (also F6) before routing trains in. I also had quite a few "****" codes appearing on track 5 at the Didcot Parkway station which I needed to cancel out, but I'm not sure why they appear.
Remember that in the UK trains run on the left-hand track. Four-aspect signals are red (stop, block occupied or signal not assigned by dispatcher), yellow (approach), double yellow (advance approach), green (clear). Flashing yellow is "approach diverging" in a couple of places on the Didcot map. Most of the track is only signaled on one direction.
Having played through it once or twice, reading through the help file start-to-end is probably a good idea.
The system also has the ability to have multiple networked players dispatching adjacent districts, if the maps are set up for it (the Swindon-Didcot-Oxford-Reading maps at least apparently are). LAN party, anyone?