See summary below! Since I have seen some questions regarding the new shut down feature on the BR101 Expert, rather than answer each question repeatedly in different threads I thought I would make a thread here explaining everything. Firstly, to set the context I will explain how the shutdown function works and where to locate it. 1. Press the "St" soft key on top of the EBuLa screen (right screen on the BR101). This will take you to the Sim Control page. 2. From here you can press soft key "5" which gives you two options "Long Layover" and "Electrical Only". The former simulates that the locomotive has been shut down for an extended with air reserves low, while the electrical only option simulates a shorter shutdown. Electrical Only should allow you to raise the pantographs and close the main circuit breaker without having to start the auxiliary compressor, so this guide will focus on the "Long Layover" option. Both the pantograph and the main circuit breaker are pneumatically actuated on the BR101. Air pressure is used to raise the pantograph and to close the spring-loaded main circuit breaker. The air controlling both of these mechanisms is taken from a small auxiliary reservoir ("Vorratluftsbehälter SA/HS") that is fed air from the main reservoir via a check valve or the auxiliary compressor. There is a gauge located at the top of the brake equipment panel ("Bremsgerätetafel") inside the machine room which indicates the pressure of the auxiliary reservoir. To raise the pantograph the following conditions have to be satisfied: (i) The pantograph cutoff valve has to be closed, (ii) The battery has to be enabled and the LSS Pantograph/Main Circuit Breaker has to be closed. (iii) The reverser in one cab has to be in R, M or V ("Reverse", "Neutral" or "Forward") (iv) The pressure in the auxiliary reservoir has to be above 4.8 bar In the "Long Layover" preset, the fourth condition can sometimes be false. If this is the case the auxiliary compressor has to be started ("Hilfsluftpresser"). It is controlled by the big breaker on the breaker panel in the machine room "LSS Hilfsluftpresser"). Closing the breaker with the battery turned on will start the auxiliary compressor as long as the pressure is below 4.8 bar, if the pressure is above 4.8 bar the breaker will not latch closed. If the compressor starts it will automatically stop (the breaker opens) when the pressure exceeds 7.0 bar. Some of you might already suspect that these conditions could cause issues in certain situations I will get to that in a moment. Okay, so suppose you have raised the pantograph, now you want to close the main circuit breaker. The main circuit breaker has several conditions that need to be satisfied for it to close, I will go over the most important ones: (i) The voltage in the overhead line has to be above 10.5 kV and below 18.5 kV (you will not be able to close the MCB on 25 kV routes or 1.5 kV routes, except if you enable Off Rail which fakes the voltage to be what the locomotive requires) (ii) Both LSS HBU Lasten has to be closed (iii) At least 2 HBU have to be operational (working and LSS closed) (iv) No HBU or ASG regrouping program have to be active (can be seen on the MTD as a status message) (v) Battery voltage has to exceed 85 V (vi) Reverser has to be in R, V or M (vii) The throttle has to be in "0" (viii) the pressure in the auxiliary reservoir has to be 7 bar. For those that paid attention they will now see that we have a problem. If the auxiliary compressor will not start if the pressure is above 4.8 bar, but the main circuit breaker will not close if the pressure is below 7.0 bar there is a range between 4.8 bar and 7.0 bar where the locomotive can get soft locked What do you do if this happens? Well, you will have to drain the auxiliary reservoir. This is done by opening a small valve under the main compressor Drain the valve until the pressure on the gauge shown previously indicates less than 4.8 bar and then start the auxiliary compressor again. NOTE: Since the pantograph is raised by a piston-cylinder it will drain air from the auxiliary reservoir when raised, which could decrease the pressure below the 7.0 bar criteria for the main circuit breaker! Make sure to raise the pantograph while the auxiliary compressor is still compressing, unless the main reservoir is above 7.0 bar. Summary: 1. The pantograph requires the auxiliary reservoir pressure to be above 4.8 bar. 2. The main circuit breaker requires the auxiliary reservoir pressure to be equal to 7.0 bar. 3. The auxiliary compressor will only operate between 4.8 bar and 7.0 bar so the locomotive can get soft locked if the auxiliary reservoir is between these pressures and the main circuit breaker is open. 4. Use the auxiliary reservoir drain valve to drain the auxiliary reservoir to below 4.8 bar if you get soft-locked, and then make sure to raise the pantograph while the auxiliary compressor is still operating.
"Make sure to raise the pantograph while the auxiliary compressor is still compressing, unless the main reservoir is above 7.0 bar." That was the trick thanks! cwf.green No i can start the loco and activate the MCB with no issues
I'm raising this thread from the dead since I'm curious, now that there's been some time since the BR 101 Expert patch was pushed out and also the Kassel-Würzburg Expert gameplay pack has bee released, what is your opinion on the auto shutdown feature? Do you often or was once enough? Or perhaps you haven't tried yet? On the Kassel-Würzburg Gameplay pack there is a service (T 64255) where you have to start up the locomotive from "cold and dark" before departing. Would you be interested in more of such services (not necessarily just with a light loco but perhaps a whole train) in the future?
I don't have the new pack but I like to use that feature quite often when freeroaming. I would love if even non-expert locos had such button
Definitely yes. In my opinion we definitely have not enough opportunities to use all of the features this loco offers. It would also be interesting to start up the entire train, so im all for that too.
Just yesterday I played the ‘rescue’ scenario and I loved it. It was one of those few times in TSW where I felt like a real life train driver, with all those radio communications, it was spectacular! Yes, of course... I'd love to see more of this. Feeling like you start your working day and you have to prepare that amazing engine! There was just one thing that struck me as odd, and that is that a lot of the cold start instructions were being completed automatically because the buttons and switches were already in the correct position. I would have liked to have had to do absolutely everything myself. cwf.green Is there any chance of this being the case in other scenarios?
I'm very happy to hear you enjoyed the scenario, I'll let Fabian know Regarding the auto-completing steps these were intentional to show what switches would be moved during the V1 train preparation checklist, but since these are already in the default positions it auto completes. I'm sure in future scenarios we will situations where some of these switches need to be set to a different position
