Trains - Passenger and/or Freight

[SnowTiger]

While I am not knew to DCS, I am new to Mission Creation.

I have made only a couple very simple/basic missions to learn to fly different aircraft/mods only.

 

I am currently trying to work on a mission who's Plot is all in the air right now because it in part, relies on the ability to get a Train to show up on a specific rail line in a general vicinity of where I want my mission to take place.

 

I have selected a specific region because there is a fairly lengthy stretch of railway which is unique in that it is windy and crosses many bridges etc. But I have flown the whole stretch a few times and have not seen a single train on the line (only at rail yards and sidings).

 

My question is specifically regarding Trains.

Can I somehow get a train to be on a specific stretch of track at a specific time ?

Are trains even something we have ANY control over .... for example like civilian traffic ?

 

What if any control might we have with regards to trains ?

 

Thanks in Advance.

[VincentLaw]

What if any control might we have with regards to trains ?

I have not really looked into it before, but I believe trains in DCS follow a predictable schedule. If you know what time a train is on a certain portion of track, you should be able to get the train there at the beginning of the mission by changing the mission start time. If you give me the coordinates of the location you are interested in, I will take a look.

[Blooze]

As I recall from having similar mission ideas, if you take off from Nalchick and follow the tracks from the airfield towards the city of Nartkala you will see a train in motion. Just make note of where it is a s specific time on the clock and it will always be there at the same time from mission start time regardless of what the mission start time is. I doubt that there is any way to control trains. You can however stop a train by setting explosives on a bridge ahead or having artillery attack it on route.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Blooze

[Grimes]

Trains are enabled with civilian traffic and that is about all the control you have over them. They do have set schedules that they follow but I don't know if its based on the start of the mission or the actual time of the mission.

[dooom]

You sure grimes?

. I used to have a schedule from fc3 days whereby I could locate trains with my ka50 and practice landing on them....

[Rangi]

Yeah, I remember someone did a timetable that was accurate, but it was a long time ago so no idea if DCSRail has changed their timetable since.

 

Try this, it's very old but might still work

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=19057&page=5

[Blooze]

Here's one example that I believe will be the same each time. If you look at the tracks at the Nalchick city limits (38T/LP9312718562) at 9 minutes past the hour you should see a freight train heading NE towards Nartkala. It arrives at the Nartkala city limits at about 21 minutes past the hour. (Too much time on my hands)

[SnowTiger]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

It would be nice if there were a way to just sit over the map and FF the time to be able to watch for a train (without having to wait too long).

Maybe there is (F11 ?). I'll figure that out.

 

I just might have to do as suggested, find trains that I have seen and move my mission area to that region instead of hoping for one where I chose.

 

Thanks again y'all.

[HiJack]

Create mission with civil traffic on and set the time to 12:00. Run the mission and use F11 to locate all trains and their direction and closest station. Quit mission and change time to 13:00 and do the job over again and see where the trains is now. Use F11 and follow all the train lines. I suppose there is a table in the code somewhere that would be the real source of where and when the trains start and whether they are locked to the mission start time.