Simple Railway mod in development. Kerbtown based.

[Olympic1]

Whoops, that'll make it a lot easier then. Onhandig

dat is niet onhandig maar onoplettend

[Tw1]

I see somebody's already modeling a terminal station on the Kerbin City thread...might be helpful to post a final track width there.

Yep. As said, that's me.

I have been quite sick the past few days, still recovering, so probably will be a few more days before I test the track shape.

It is sized to be usable with an assembly of stock wheels, so the same standard could be used for Kerbin City, without people needing to download train parts from this mod.

Something like this:

I may rearrange things a little, so the track will be less tall, but not until I can think clearly again.

[Grijze Pilion]

Actually you could make good use of the very broad gauge, have you ever heard of the Breitspurbahn, one of Hitler's megaprojects? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitspurbahn It totally would make sense within the KSP physics that wider means faster, better and stronger...why not make use of that? If the Nazis would have won World War 2, apparently there would have been a global network, with trains driving 250 km/h on 4m gauge.

[Grijze Pilion]

Sorry for the double post, but this project seems to be dying. *bump!*

[Pleborian]

as far as track goes, someone bundled a test track with the kerbin city mod. as for track shape I beleive this may be how yo want to go:

I do think its a bit big, in fact maybe too big, but something like this can work

[Tw1]

Sorry for the double post, but this project seems to be dying. *bump!*

Don't worry! I am determined to see railways in KSP sooner than later. But I also have a degree to work towards, etc..

Assuming the flu I had is leaving me, I might have some test parts to share in a week, give or take.

as far as track goes, someone bundled a test track with the kerbin city mod.-snip-

I do think its a bit big, in fact maybe too big, but something like this can work

Nothke's test track! Have a pic of it on the Mun.

The track I'm testing next will be a little thinner, but not too much to cope with low gravity.

Top will probably be 5 meters, (just a little wider than the tracks Hitler wanted.) bottom about 6, maybe more, as it would be useful to let kerbals walk about on the side.

Then I need to work out how to make wheels, with them wheel colliders, and all that.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Tw1

[TouhouTorpedo]

Neat. Never thought I'd see those wheels doing this kind of job. They've turned out really versatile them dual wheel pods.

[Smoovious]

if spline editing were possible, you could make track similar to what the tubular steel roller coasters use.

main advantage of that kind of track, is the vehicle is locked onto the track and can't fall off. (not without breaking something, anyways)

that would take care of the problem of too much thrust/torque making you fly up off the track.

that would be kind of nice. finally make it to Mun in one piece, and to celebrate, ride the Munar Coaster.

-- Smoov

Edited September 4, 2013 by Smoovious

[Tw1]

I just realised it will be possible to replicate Thomas the Tank Engine stories with an outer space twist once this is finished. And I have The Railways Series as a collection on my shelf!

+1 motivation.

[Tw1]

One Bogie! The model at least.

As you can see, still a WIP.

It's about 3.5 meters wide, and long. With a a few structural panels on the side, you could make platforms for transporting planes or rovers.

Track measurements!

There should be just enough space beside the wheels for kerbals to walk about.

May tweak a bit here and there, if there are problems when it comes time to test it on curves and inclines.

Kinda gave up on the idea that it must fit stock wheels, they made it necessary for track to be big and unwieldy, bogies were hard to make and used a lot of parts. But you probably could if you really wanted to.

Next time, I'm going to make the wheels work. Time to get some advice about wheel colliders, and suspension.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Tw1

[Scorpi15]

Lookin' good. Can't wait to see what people do with this when it's finished

[Tw1]

I pretty much worked out how to put the thing together in unity. This is the model currently, with wheel colliders.

Not sure if I should include other colliders with the wheel, it might mess up the wheel collider.

One small hitch, the outer, large wheels aren't quite lining up with the spot for them, even though they seemed fine in blender.

Colours are there to help me remember which face is which when it comes to making the textures.

If I followed the unity guides right, I should just be able to set up the wheel movements and everything.

Going to try imitating the set up shown in the pic of a rover wheel in unity.

http://i.imgur.com/XHZoV2G.png

I suspect I'm going to need at least two wheel modules in the CFG, as the outer wheels need some capability to steer at low speed, but the inside ones will have no steering.

If I want to make the back wheels turn in the opposite direction to the front ones, they might need to be separate in the CFG as well. But perhaps that can be achieved by the way they are placed in unity, or maybe I'll just have them non-steering. You only need to steer enough to get the train on the track, it's a train, not a rover. It's not going to have much of a turning circle.

Plan B is to power it with an existing wheels mod, should the built in wheel system prove to tricky to use, that way, I could get instructions from the mod's creator.

WIP textures in Blender.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Tw1

[Tw1]

It's working, it's working...

Here, is the bogie running in unity, rolling down a piece of track perfectly smoothly.

Glad I found that run button, great fun.

Yep, that is an inclined track. About 2° per turn. Wasn't working, then I realised some of my wheel colliders were upside down.

Tested what would happen with misaligned segments. Tended to stop the train, but not derail. Still, it will be best once/if kerbtown does get a better placement system.

Next time- getting it to work in KSP!

Edited September 25, 2013 by Tw1

[Smoovious]

hmm... I wonder, if you're making them modular, then maybe in a shape that would make it possible to stack them when not being used... like... off to the side of the track at the loading/unloading point... crane lifts the car off of the track area (where the T section is missing), moves it onto the stack of unused... and when you need one, crane takes off of the stack, places it in the groove where it would be loaded, before sending it on its way.

I have other thoughts too on how switches can be handled... not sure if occupancy detection would be possible...

I can forsee some people wanting to make a whole transit system on one of the moons to support their base operations. (like me )

-- Smoov

[Tw1]

I have other thoughts too on how switches can be handled... not sure if occupancy detection would be possible...

I'd be very interested to hear any ideas about how switches/points could work. Having them would make a lot more things possible.

Not sure about a system for lifting them of the track, as people could build pretty much anything on top of the bogies, so such a system would need to work for a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Interesting idea, but if working junctions could happen, a more practical system would be railyards.

You could have several sidings, and store the trains you've build there, then, when you need that one, set the points, and bring it out on to the main line.

Lately, I've been thinking about how train segments will join up. Lose connections like KAS pose possible problems with braking.

Instead, I'm planing a specialised train coupler part, shown in the middle in this concept diagram. (A.k.a, drawing I did in my field notes while waiting for a quiz to finish.)

Currently having a few problems with getting the part to scale right in KSP. Might be something to do with the file type I'm exporting from Blender. Messing around with RescaleFactor, I can get pretty close to the needed size with it set to 0.25.

Otherwise, the results can be a little amusing.

Got to get that sorted, or things might not run so smoothly when wheel finally meets track.

Edited October 1, 2013 by Tw1

[BlueSubstance]

Looks nice, are you planning a release?

[Mekan1k]

... For some reason I thought of this when I was reading the thread:

[kujuman]

I'd be very interested to hear any ideas about how switches/points could work. Having them would make a lot more things possible.

Toggle of the animation could be via right click like the ICBM silo mod http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47065-0-21-ICBM-Launch-Silo

[Railgunner2160]

Look at monorail track designs for Junctions/switches, there would be a good place to start...

[Tw1]

Toggle of the animation could be via right click like the ICBM silo mod

So it is possible to do that with kerbtown objects. Wasn't sure. That should make things simpler.

That's an interesting concept in that video. Originally, I was thinking a single path that swung between two others, which might need to bend in the middle to maintain a nice curve. But another option would be two paths which slide in and out of place. That could be simpler to animate, but need a more complex part.

Looks nice, are you planning a release?

Not for a while yet. There's still the scaling issue, which may mean things need to be resembled in unity.

I also need to play around to get the wheels working in KSP, and probably should complete that texture.

There are also a few improvements in kerbtown's placement system to wait for, that would make track placement simpler.

But, I might put out a test release, with just the bogie, and basic track parts in a few weeks, if things are working.

[Smoovious]

I'd be very interested to hear any ideas about how switches/points could work. Having them would make a lot more things possible.

Not sure about a system for lifting them of the track, as people could build pretty much anything on top of the bogies, so such a system would need to work for a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Interesting idea, but if working junctions could happen, a more practical system would be railyards.

You could have several sidings, and store the trains you've build there, then, when you need that one, set the points, and bring it out on to the main line.

Well, I dunno how effective it would be in a yarding situation, but for the kind of track you're using, basically having a type of conveyor below the track segment where you want a line to diverge, to slide the straight section out sideways, sliding in a curved section to fit in there, would suffice as a switch for that type of track. It isn't elegant, but effective.

A way to control it would have to be worked out, with perhaps some stops set up in the track to prevent a car from trying to go through the switch while the switch is moving (not locked in place), or if the switch isn't lined for that track... some way for the car to detect it has to stop up ahead, so it can come to a controlled stop, and a way to know it is safe to proceed again...

I don't know what kind of scripting is capable, but might be doable... and if it is, then track occupancy and signalling can be dealt with too.

As for a yard, that is why I was thinking of some kind of stackable system in place instead, just removing the unused cars from the track entirely. It would save on square footage, and in a space/vacuum situation where the building serves as a biosphere, the larger a construction is, the more danger you have for structural failure. If the cars are just going to be flatbeds with cargo strapped to the top, being stackable (like skids with wheels) would/should work.

Lately, I've been thinking about how train segments will join up. Lose connections like KAS pose possible problems with braking.

Instead, I'm planing a specialised train coupler part, shown in the middle in this concept diagram. (A.k.a, drawing I did in my field notes while waiting for a quiz to finish.)

What the guys who have programmed Run8 have done for couplers, for the physics, was used a _very_ stiff spring between cars. Don't know how that would work out in KSP, but since I see our creations flex in different situations, that might be possible as well.

-- Smoov

[nothke]

Toggle of the animation could be via right click like the ICBM silo mod http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47065-0-21-ICBM-Launch-Silo

it's much simpler to just make a "substituting switch", where an entire section moves linearly replacing the entire track section like here:

Here is an example of this switch in Wuppertal's schwbebahn:

It's usually used on roller coasters or monorails and generally on systems where you don't put wheels over the rails, but have them from all sides like in this experiment =)

The main advantage of this type of switch is that it's guaranteed to work cause there are no gaps between switch and rail in both positions. All the other switch types like the one previously proposed by me or TW1 have gaps which will probably force trains to slow down drastically before entering the switch (unless you want explosions).

The disadvantage is that it's bulky, if you have 2 tracks side by side you would need to separate them first to make room for the switch.

Edited October 3, 2013 by nothke

[Tw1]

it's much simpler to just make a "substituting switch", where an entire section moves linearly replacing the entire track section like here:

The disadvantage is that it's bulky, if you have 2 tracks side by side you would need to separate them first to make room for the switch.

but for the kind of track you're using, basically having a type of conveyor below the track segment where you want a line to diverge, to slide the straight section out sideways, sliding in a curved section to fit in there, would suffice as a switch for that type of track. It isn't elegant, but effective.

I think this sounds like the way to go. Much simpler to animate, I expect. Perhaps something like this:

Spaced so you can fit them together for sidings at the end of the yard. Of course, this will need more detailed design later, and working points are still quite some way of.

Edit:. While trying to sleep, I had a much better idea. Similar principle, but more compact. Will reveal in time.

I think railyards will be the best solution to storing trains, it's not like we're pressed for space on other planets. (Or even on Kerbin). Like with most things in the game, you'll have to be clever to make a practical design.

I don't know what kind of scripting is capable, but might be doable... and if it is, then track occupancy and signalling can be dealt with too.

I think a full signalling system might be outside the scope of this mod. Signalling is another thing the computer must store and process, and the only traffic this system will experience is the player driven train.

At most, it'd be some sort of warning that the junction up ahead is set against you. But, if someone comes up with signalling system, no reason why it couldn't be included as an optional extra.

I resolved the scaling issue! There were two buttons I needed to press in Blender before exporting.

Everything looks rightly sized.

Just a few things to sort with the colliders.

But, uni stuff is creeping up on me, so I'd better go do that instead for a while.

Edited October 3, 2013 by Tw1

[Tw1]

As I mentioned in the edit to my last post, I came up with a better idea for points. This is my current plan:

A lot more compact.

The 'h' shape means it will be easy to swap for a regular straight piece (I'm hoping to make it the same length as one of them), and means setting up yards will be more convenient.

[Tw1]

Wheels!... They don't work yet. Not quite sure why.

Something wasn't right there. Some things needed to be tweaked in unity- much better.

So far, it's only useful if you stick other wheels on it...

If this doesn't work with the stock wheel module, I may need to move to an alternate plan. Using someone's plugin. Cleverbobcat plugin did a pretty decent job of running multiple wheeled carts, last time I used it. I wonder how it's going?

Edited October 7, 2013 by Tw1