The following procedure prepares a convenient test base that will enable you to easily conduct investigative procedures.

I used Ernie Alston's Flushing Line route as an example, but you can perform similar steps with another route. The Flushing Line is very well annotated, which makes it easy to find things and understand what the author had in mind.

The idea of the test base is to reduce the early part of a route to a minimum configuration. An entire route must have two stations and three stops. Each station is accompanied by a stop. The third stop is placed beyond the last station and marks the end of the route. Because the block after the last station is always occupied by the preceding train, the signal at the last station is always red. Without the extra stop beyond the last station, you would not be able to leave the next-to-last station without running the red light. Most routes have many more than the minimum stations and stops, so you need not worry about commenting-out the early part of a route. (By commenting-out, I mean inserting a semi-colon at the start of a statement. BVE interprets everything following a semi-colon till the end of a line, or until a comma is encountered, as a comment. A comment is not processed when the program is run.)

1. Copy the FlushingLine.RW file to a new name in the same location. Let's call it TestBase.RW.
2. Using Notepad, open the new file and scroll down to till you come to the line [Railway].
3. Comment-out most of the statements (code lines) from here to the statements that begin with 900. Keep the following statements active:

   00@Height(0)

   00@Pitch(0)

   modify the following as shown (use your own annotation system):

   00@railtype(6,0) ; ab

   and keep the following active:

   75@Station(Times Square,10.5930,11.0000,1,ATS,Flushing\TSquare.wav)

   75@Stop(0)

   The Flushing Line begins with two tracks in a tunnel, but I wanted a single line on open ground, so I made some modifications.

   I modified the @railtype statement so the rail would be a ground-level type, again defined in the Object part of the route file. I kept the track texture (0). Each statement has its own set of parameters (the entries inside the parentheses, and separated by commas) and format to which you must adhere rigorously. Refer to the Reference 1 (BVE Route Construction Guide).

   Finally, I commented-out the 00@ground command. I found that the ground displayed as grass by default. I could have selected the parameter (0) defined in the route file as Flushing grass.
   
   

   Fire up BVE and give your new route, TestBase, a run through the section you just created.

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