User Guide

MICROSOFT TRAIN SIMULATOR ENGINEER’S HANDBOOK
OPERATIONS | 64
Activities, you pick up and drop off cars at industries along the Kalispell branch. In Yard Activities, you
sort and assemble individual cars into trains in the Whitefish Yard. In all three types of Activities, you
need to be familiar with the freight procedures explained in this section.
Following the work order
A work order is a list of tasks to perform during an Activity. Most Passenger Activities don’t have work
orders—all Freight Activities do. You’ll find the work order for your run on the Work Order page of the
Operations Notebook. There are four types of work order tasks in Train Simulator:
Pick-up: Couple your train to one or more cars or locomotives left at a specific location.
Drop-off: Leave one or more cars or locomotives (or your entire train) in a specific location.
Make a consist: Assemble a consist that contains only specific cars and/or locomotives.
Make a consist in a specific location: Assemble a consist that contains only specific cars and/or
locomotives and drop them off at a specific location.
You can refer to the work order at any time during an Activity. Just press F11 to bring up the
Operations Notebook, then click the Work Order tab. Your adherence to the work order is logged
and presented in your Activity Evaluation.
MANUAL SWITCHING
Switches on the Marias Pass Kalispell branch and in the Whitefish Yard are not under the dispatcher’s
control. You’ll have to move your cars to a siding—a section of track branching off of the main track
used for storing cars and locomotives. To get to the sidings specified in your work order, you’ll have
to manually throw switches.
Use the Switching driving aid (press F8) to see how the switch in front and behind you is set (left,
center, or right), then click the appropriate arrow to change it. For details, see the “Driving Aids”
section of Chapter 4, Tools for Driving. You can also toggle the next switch by pressing the G key.
To toggle the next switch behind the train, press SHIFT+G.
Note: In “Explore the Route” Activities, there is no dispatcher, so you must manually throw all
switches yourself.
IDENTIFYING LOCOMOTIVES, CARS, SIDINGS, AND STATION PLATFORMS
Each locomotive and car in Train Simulator has a unique number, and each siding and station plat-
form has a unique name. You can toggle the station/siding names on and off by pressing F6, and the
car numbers on and off by pressing F7. When turned on, numbers and names appear, floating above
their respective locomotives, cars, sidings, and station platforms. This makes these items and loca-
tions easier to identify. In Yard Activities, it’s also useful to see a top-down view of the entire yard. To
switch to Overhead view, press the 7 key.