Interlocking

Signal locks and holding trains

Lock signals at stop from the signal box, hold trains at their next stop, and let one train past a locked signal with the substitute signal (Zs 1, Zs 7, Zs 8).

Locking a signal

A click on a signal in the track map, or a right click exactly on it on a panel, locks it at stop. A second click releases it.

For Create a locked signal is the same as a signal forced to red by redstone. Trains stop in front of it.
Trains with CRN's "Avoid red signals" route around it by themselves.
A Light Signal connected to it shows red.
ETCS ends a movement authority in front of a locked signal, and PZB magnets act there, see Train protection.
While any signal is locked, the warning lamp of the Railway Control Desk burns.

Several signals that you always lock together, for example "Track 3 closed", are best saved as a route. Then one click or one lever switches them all.

A click on a train holds it: it still runs to its next stop and stays there until you release it with another click. Use this to keep a train back for a connection, or to stop a line while you rebuild something.

Substitute signal

The substitute signal (after Zs 1 in the German signal book) lets one train pass a signal locked by the signal box, without lifting the lock.

Press "Substitute signal"

In the Map tab press Substitute signal. The status line asks for the signal.

Click the locked signal

Click the signal locked by the signal box that one train may pass.

One train passes

The lock does not apply to the next train, for at most 30 seconds. Once a train has passed, or the time is up, the lock applies again.

The substitute signal only lifts the lock of the signal box. Against a signal that Create itself keeps at stop because the section behind it is occupied, it does not help.

Cancel substitute signal leaves the selection without giving one.

Zs 1, Zs 7 and Zs 8 at the signal

The switching signal signs Zs 1, Zs 7 and Zs 8 light up while the signal box gives a substitute signal; the main signal itself stays at stop, as on the real railway. They belong to the light signal on the same mast, or else to a Create signal up to 3 blocks from their foot. How to place them is described under Signals.

Instead of a substitute signal, the dispatcher can also give a train an order over the train radio to pass a signal at stop. That works for one particular train and also lets it past ETCS and the PZB magnet, see Train radio.

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Track map displays and desks

Track Map Display on the wall, Track Diagram Desk and Track Diagram Console on the table, and the push buttons on them.

Routes and route levers

Save signal locks and shunting signals as routes, let the mod work out an entry-exit route, and switch routes with a Route Lever.