@Frank
Hi Frank,
Welcome to Templot Club.
Screenshots showing the TS (turnout-side) centre-line as a straight line are from older versions of Templot. In later versions of Templot the TS centre-line follows the centre path of the TS rails.
I changed it so that the dummy vehicle tool can roll along the TS side of a template when checking running clearance.
In all the years I have been using Templot I never found any use for the straight line, so I'm a bit puzzled why you need it? It was only ever intended as a means to identify the position of the
deflection point (DP).
It's very rare that you need the deflection point (it's not meaningful for
curviform V-crossings, and for
regular and
generic V-crossings it is only of much use if the template is straight).
But you can still use the deflection point if you wish -- click this menu item to put the peg on it:
If you click that menu item repeatedly, the peg will toggle between alignment with the main road (MS) and alignment with the turnout road (TS):
With the peg aligned to the TS, it takes only a couple of clicks to put the
notch under it, and then peg on a length of straight track:
(Or more usually, a couple of dabs on the keyboard -- the
Divide and
Multiply keys are on the keyboard
number-pad, / and *.)
With this result:
The angle matches the current angle set for the V-crossing -- it is shown on your screenshot:
It is 1:4.7 RAM. For those Peco templates that is 12 degrees exactly.
To find the length, simply shorten the plain track template (
F4 mouse action) until it aligns with the end of the rails, and read off the length (this is not a Peco template, the angle here is 1:6 RAM):
I hope this answers your question, although it's many years since I have had any reason to do this. Such a straight track can be more easily pegged onto any of the other TS peg positions through the V-crossing with a single click:
Or using the
SHIFT & JOIN button a template can be quickly aligned to the TS exit without needing any other clicks.
Perhaps you can say a bit more about why you need to use the deflection point?
cheers,
Martin.