So lately I've been playing around with the class 31 on Tees Valley Line. One thing I have noticed with this particular locomotive is just how slow the brakes are to release. Take the scenario "Cement Circle" for example, it takes the brakes a full 30 seconds to fully release before I can begin moving. Is this realistic? I know it's a big heavy train, but none of the other British diesels exhibit this.
Change your air brakes to passenger mode if you don't want goods braking. The brakes release slowly to stop jolting of wagons.
All the BR Diesels can good at Goods timing which slows the release and application of the brakes to around 18-30s to fully apply and 30-45s to fully release. Virtually all the BR wagons also run with Goods timing as well. The reason for goods timing is quite simple, normally the brake will apply fully within about 3-5 seconds however on long trains (such as on freight trains) the brake pipe can take considerably more time to fall at the rear of the train. You may have a situation where the brake is fully applied at the front of the train but only actually starting to apply at the rear of the train. This is especially bad with loose coupled wagons as the wagons will surge forward into those which have started braking which can be quite dangerous. The same is true for release, the brakes at the front can be fully released while those at the back are only just starting to which can cause considerable strain on the couplers, especially if power is applied and may even cause on of them to snap. So the purpose of goods timing is make the brake system effectively be limited by the brake timings instead of the rate at which the brake pipe falls. By doing so although the brake pipe may take say 10s to fall fully at the back of the train, both the front and the back can only reach maximum pressure within 20-30s thereby allowing the brake to apply more evenly across the entire train and hopefully preventing run out and run in shocks.
The Class 31 made me start to use loco brakes more obvs not the total solution but massively increased my enjoyment of playing loco brake fitted stock
The brakes on the Class 31 seem very different to other diesels in the game. They do take forever to apply and release. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but it seems odd nonetheless.
I also think there´s something wrong with them as they also sometimes get applied without any reason a while after being fully released. For the time being I just try work with first application position only. It takes shorter to release than any lever position above it and allows better controlled braking. Cheers
