I'm not sure what the correct German term is for these, but I mean the dividers between different feed sections in the overhead catenary. The driver normally needs to shut off the throttle and any regenerative braking while passing through the neutral section to avoid damaging the locomotive.
I'm wondering if this has been implemented in Zusi and if so what the lineside marker is to warn of the approach to then commencement of the neutral section?
maybe you know, that you have can set the power for each track element. So when you have such a "neutral section" you type in 0.
You can find the signs which tell you that such a section will come up here: http://www.stellwerke.de/signal/deutsch/el.html
The "El 1v" one tells you that there's a neutral section coming up. "El 1" tells you that you have to shut off the throttle and "El 2" tells you that you can accelerate again.
I hope that's what you wanted to know.
So long,
Max Senft
Administrator, Programmierer, Ansprechpartner bei Problemen mit dem Board
We do have another form of "neutral sections" on cross border lines, but those also imply a change of voltage. Even Aachen is supposed to get one of those things as there are talks about feeding the incline from main station up to the tunnel with DB 15 kV~ instead of the current SNCB 3kV=
On the ÖBB-Klettretour, there is one neutral section (between Altingen Hbf and Altingen Stadt), where there is no voltage in the catenary, this can also be seen on the corresponding instrument in the cab.
Zusi's autopilot doesn't know neutral sections, so the engine will not be switched off while passing the neutral section.
If German railways don't have many neutral sections, how do they isolate particular sections (for example if there is an obstruction on the catenary or the wires are "down") without affecting a large area?
In Austria, there are neutral sections about every 60 to 70 km.
If the wires are down due to works on the line, the pantograph will have to be lowered. After passing the section, the engineer can raise the pantograph again. The engineer will be told about lowering pantographs by the "La" or by written commands ("Befehle").
I tried once to make such an isolated section in Zusi, but I could not see any difference in the voltmeter, when the locomotive passed the strecken element. Maybe it needs to be of a certain minimum length? Or maybe I used the wrong type of instrument (I used Spannung).
And what about the Fahrplan-editor. Can it find the way through a short piece of isolation with the "Bei ELoks nur elektrifizierte strecken erlauben" checked (I never tried that myself)?
"Bei ELoks nur elektrifizierte strecken erlauben" means that Streckenelemente that don't have electrification are ignored when Zusi seeks its way through the line.
this is only used when creating the timetable, not in the sim. It's a help for someone who doesn't know the route well. It prevents sending eletric trains on non-electric routes.
@ Thomas: I recommend to ask Arthur Pohl about building a neutral section (you can write him in German or Spanish ), because he built the neutral sections on the ÖBB-Klettertour. Arthur is on holidays this week, so please try it on monday.