Joining Track - Little Silver Junction Boxes?

[RudiJaeger]

RW Track Weld Box Objects.jpg

I'm hoping someone can offer some help: During the past month or so, I've been building my first route (NP Tacoma Division, Longview to Centralia) using Penn Coal track rules and double-track mainline with super-elevated curves. Occasionally, I run into a situation where the track will get out of sync length-wise on one side or the other, resulting in two bumpers that refuse to connect or weld together. The first thing I do is check that each opposing bumper-end is aligned and exactly the same elevation. When welding and joining tools fail, I end up splitting the track resulting in a wide gap, then connect the two ends together with a new section of track. This usally allows the weld tool to connect the sections together. Although many times, I get this lttle "bonus object" or "junction box" that I've highlighted in the screenshot. They always pop-up between the rails, and I have to drag them to the outer-side of the track. Sometimes two of them pop-up almost on top of each other, and I have to align them together so they appear as one object.

In an effort to educate myself, I've used the search terms "Railworks TS201* track join little silver junction boxes" and watched some how-to videos, but no success.

It appears that I'm successfully welding the track together, but I'd like to eliminate the resulting "junction box objects. As an experiment, I've moved them away from the trackside into an adjacent field and nothing seems to break, but I fear I'll mess something up that may not become apparent until I've invested several more hours of work. So for now I've been leaving them imbedded in the roadbed.

Does anyone know if I can delete these little boxes without causing any damage to the mechanics of the route?

[901meister]

Are the switch motors located at a turnout or are they in the middle of stretch of track?
I am not an expert by any means, but I have found that switchstands and auto turnout motors in the middle of straight track indicate a track laying error.
Usually there is small length of track lying on top of another piece of track. The game thinks there is a turnout and places a motor or switchstand.
Run your cursor over that area and see if a small length of track is highlighted in yellow. If so, just delete that short piece of track. If the deletion is successful you will get the silver weld symbol. If you just get 2 bumpers facing one another with no weld symbol then you still have a problem in that location.
Trying to connect 2 lengths of straight track that are not exactly aligned can be really frustrating.

As for deleting the motors, never delete them from a turnout. The game does not care where they are located, but it's best to keep them close to their turnout to avoid confusion.

If you are new to route building I suggest watching Youtube videos by Matt Peddlesden. He is a producer for Dovetail Games and his channel is called MattPlaysTV and has many instructional videos on track laying, signaling, etc..

[BoostedFridge]

901 is correct. If there is a switch stand or power switch appearing on a joint between straight track, then the track has overlaid itself. You can confirm this by going to your 2d map view and seeing the 'blue circle' indicating a junction.

If moving your cursor overtop of the track does not bring up the overlaid section, then fly under the track, and move your cursor over the underside of the track to find it

[BoostedFridge]

It may not seem like a big deal now, but when it comes time to signal the route, having complete and proper track joints is pretty crucial.

[RudiJaeger]

Thanks for your responses friends, I'll take your advice and see if I can fix the issues. There are no turnouts involved yet, just straight track, usually where it transitions out of a super-elevated curve. I took another look, and some of the faulty joints do have the little over-lapped sections, while others do not. I managed to repair one of the faulty sections through trial and error, but when I moved onto the next one it became a game of whack-a-mole; when I repaired a faulty joint, another break would appear a little farther down the line. Every time I repaired a new fault, another would appear. So now I'm in the process of replacing entire sections of track (as in miles).

Of course when I first started, I knew nothing of how to apply super-elevation or proper spacing between dual tracks, and ended up relaying every mile of track between Longview WA and Bucoda, about 55 miles or so, because the initial default track spacing was too close together. I've come to the conclusion that the learning-curve for this sim is super-elevated as well.

The potential signaling issues make sense, so now I have a legitimate reason to pursue making corrections. Thanks again for your responses; much appreciated.

[minerman146]

Rudi!

I hope this finds you well.
This comment is a concern and I want to help you out: "There are no turnouts involved yet, just straight track, usually where it transitions out of a super-elevated curve." Having little switch machines out of an easement is no Bueno!
Here is what ya need to know … since you have been doing some easements. A complete eased curve has the following parts from start to finish:

Uneased Straight (easement tool off)
1.Straight
2.Short length of curve that establishes the curve of the main segment
3.Long length of curve
4.Short length of curve the ends the curve and eases into the straight
5.Straight.
Uneased Straight (easement tool off)

* You always start with a straight and end with one. Note also there are only 5 sections to a correctly installed eased curve. Or 7 if you count the regular straight before and after your eased curve

But wait its COLOR coded! using my list above:

White
Yellow
Magenta
Light Gray ( a transparent white )
Magenta
Yellow
White

* don't forget to select the track when your done with the selector tool and then click the easement button.

That's it … same way every time

* one more tip: remember where the Light Gray Stops is where you begin the final easement before your last yellow straight.
* ok, just one more: DO NOT CUT any of the eased track if you make a boo-boo - Go back to the first YELLOW and start over.

[RudiJaeger]

Thanks Minerman,

That's good to know information, and I think I've violated every one of those rules on several occasions. Looks like I'll be relaying the entire route once again, and realigning all the bridges, but I learned along time ago that there are only two ways to do things.. "the right way", and "again". The good thing is, I've learned a lot, and like they say, "third times the charm"; so hopefully I get it right this time. So glad I didn't do the whole route from Tacoma to Portland.