BondedSidings

In this section:

Background

In territories that have single-track with sidings, it is very common that the sidings are "non-bonded", which essentially means that they are not connected to the signal system to display train occupancy. This will give the illusion in ATCSMonitor that the train "disappears" into the siding, and then "reappears" on the other side. The railroads CTC software at the dispatching center had enough other data on train movement that it can reflect the siding as occupied within software. These are usually displayed in a different color to reflect that a train is present, however, isn't "sensed" by the signal system.

Solution

In order to simmulate this behavior in ATCSMon, VBScripting is used. Below is an example from the Aurora Sub layout on how it works:

At Big Rock W (x):

x:LA=If RW AND T Then
  LA = True
ElseIf (RW AND EA) Or (vXRW AND vXWA) Then
  LA=False
End If

At Big Rock E (X):

X:LA=If RW AND T Then
  LA = True
ElseIf (RW AND WA) Or (vxRW AND vxEA) Then
  LA=False
End If

Then, here's the "glue" that makes it all work:

X:RA=If vxLA OR vXLA Then RA = True else RA = False

Sooooo... the "pseudo-bonded" siding is labeled X:RA in this case, it "guesses" that a train is there based on receiving a RW&WA, or a RW&EA from the stations at either end of the siding.

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-- BrianSwan - 06 Jun 2007