Moving diamonds and slips

[Guy Rixon]

I find myself wanting to move a slip diamond slightly from where I drew it.

When I move the slip it explodes into two half-diamonds while the slip roads and switches fly off like shell fragments. I can put them back together approximately, good enough for a "my railway looks like this" plan, but that presumably won't generate track I could actually build.

How could I move the entire slip diamond as a unit? Or if I do have to move the parts separately, how can I snap them back together in correct alignment?

Part of the problem of snapping together half-diamonds seems to be getting the peg in the right place. I don't understand all the peg-position codes and I haven't found an explanation of them.

BTW, it took me two hours to find the easy way to make the slip in the first place, i.e. placing a turnout to fix one of the common crossings and then invoking "make slip" to replace it with a slip diamond. There's a lot of false information-scent here. Perhaps a simple guide to this part could be put somewhere more prominent?

 

[Martin Wynne]

@Guy Rixon

Hi Guy,

The starting point when looking for up-to-date info is always the A-Z Index on the Templot Companion:

https://85a.uk/templot/companion

which leads to: https://85a.uk/templot/companion/slips.php

I'm sorry that after all these years there is a lot of old information on the web site and forum. but I don't understand how it could have taken 2 hours to find the above. if in doubt, just ask on here -- that's what we are here for.

if you have a slip in the wrong place and wish to move it, by far the easiest method is to delete it and re-create it in the right place.

however, if you have done some additional work on it, such as timber shoving, check rail adjustments, etc., you may prefer to move the first one to where you want it. the way to do that is explained in this video:

https://flashbackconnect.com/Movie.aspx?id=MTd0T1Pp4DIGd5QfbfBqQw2

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Guy Rixon]

The time lost came from conceptual problems and the several different ways of approaching this.

1. Draw plain line across where I wanted the slip diamond and inside half-diamond in plain line (I found this advice somewhere, can't remember whether a companion page or a Templot dialog-box). Then fail trying to add and align the other half-diamond, because I didn't know that make slip would add it for me; I assumed that I needed a full diamond before slipifying it.

2. Try to make a crossover with a slip in it using "make slip crossover". This "smells" right because what I wanted was a crossover between the outer two of three near-parallel tracks with a slip in the inner track. Fail, because (a) I need the opposite-handed single-slip from the common case that Templot supports here (and I couldn't immediately see where the slip road had gone in the mess of timbering) and (b) because the track with the slip and the track with the turnout diverge to pass either side of an island platform; I presume that "make slip crossover" can't deal with this automagically. (Also, starting from the turnout at the other end didn't work because it didn't have the crossing angle I needed for the diamond and I couldn't adjust the crossings in the diamond without breaking it.)

3. Make up a slip of the correct crossing-angle separately and move it into position. Fail, because I didn't know the spell in the video for grouping the partial templates.

4. Finally, two hours in, cast "make slip" accidentally on the wrong template that happens to contain a turnout. Become enlightened and complete the slip in the desired position in minutes.

I agree that the Companion does have a good page describing the preferred approach. I hadn't seen that. I didn't look for it, because I'd recently looked at many Companion how-to-do-x pages that are empty; I'd assumed that the words about slips were similarly missing, so I tried to work it out by experiment. Silly me, Templot punishes wrong approaches mercilessly and I should have read more or asked immediately.

 

[Phil O]

Hi Guy,

You could group all the double slip components and then use the group move function.

 

[Martin Wynne]

The time lost came from conceptual problems and the several different ways of approaching this.

1. Draw plain line across where I wanted the slip diamond and inside half-diamond in plain line (I found this advice somewhere, can't remember whether a companion page or a Templot dialog-box). Then fail trying to add and align the other half-diamond, because I didn't know that make slip would add it for me; I assumed that I needed a full diamond before slipifying it.

2. Try to make a crossover with a slip in it using "make slip crossover". This "smells" right because what I wanted was a crossover between the outer two of three near-parallel tracks with a slip in the inner track. Fail, because (a) I need the opposite-handed single-slip from the common case that Templot supports here (and I couldn't immediately see where the slip road had gone in the mess of timbering) and (b) because the track with the slip and the track with the turnout diverge to pass either side of an island platform; I presume that "make slip crossover" can't deal with this automagically. (Also, starting from the turnout at the other end didn't work because it didn't have the crossing angle I needed for the diamond and I couldn't adjust the crossings in the diamond without breaking it.)

3. Make up a slip of the correct crossing-angle separately and move it into position. Fail, because I didn't know the spell in the video for grouping the partial templates.

4. Finally, two hours in, cast "make slip" accidentally on the wrong template that happens to contain a turnout. Become enlightened and complete the slip in the desired position in minutes.

I agree that the Companion does have a good page describing the preferred approach. I hadn't seen that. I didn't look for it, because I'd recently looked at many Companion how-to-do-x pages that are empty; I'd assumed that the words about slips were similarly missing, so I tried to work it out by experiment. Silly me, Templot punishes wrong approaches mercilessly and I should have read more or asked immediately.

@Guy Rixon

Hi Guy,

Thanks for explaining. i'm sorry you found it difficult to get information.

The best solution when you get in a tangle is to post your BOX file on here, initially just say the plain tracks. We can then suggest the various options and methods available to get what you want.

How to tidy up all the old information is a problem to which i have yet to find a solution. it can't just be deleted, because it often contains valuable tips and tricks which are still valid. it needs a detailed edit and re-write, which would be a massive task taking hundreds of hours and wreck any chance of getting the current plug track developments progressed.

at present following my accident it is impossible anyway.

but asking here is always the best way when you get stuck.

cheers,

martin.