Tsw2 - Clinchfield Railroad - Building The F7

Discussion in 'Dovetail Live Article Discussion' started by DTG JD, Mar 5, 2021.

  1. JustWentSouth

    JustWentSouth Well-Known Member

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    Great idea! And a good cure for the sometimes repetitive railroad chatter that comes with the locos.
     
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  2. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    It strikes me that players who want to prep for Clinchfield should drive not only SPG, but also NTP, TVL or DLGW: driving old-school diesels is a very different experience from SPG's relatively modern traction. (I wonder: in an F7 does one have to baby the engine on acceleration, or can one just yank the throttle to the stops and go like in an SD40-2?)
     
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  3. MetrolinkF125#916

    MetrolinkF125#916 Well-Known Member

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    The F7, as explained in the clinchfield preview, has automatic transitions, but they can be switched to manual. If u have them in auto, once you apply power and reach around 23mph, power will cut off, then the engine can regenerate power. This happens in the SD40-2 in SPG as well. U can just set up the train and just yank the throttle to get moving, but to decelerate you’ll need to watch the train and manually set some controls unlike in an AC4400 or SD40-2 where you just cut the power and move the dynamic brake lever, or push the throttle stick back, in this case the F7 and original SD40 in CRR require you to move a specific lever (depends on the model) to a specific position, one for acceleration and one for braking, and use the throttle to apply dynamic brakes. It’s an old loco, so there’s probably more functionality and attention from the engineer required (that most of us might not know yet) than in a modern diesel.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2021
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  4. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    I know we're all looking forward to the F7, and I'm no exception. But the CRR had a very diverse roster and I still wish we were getting at least a couple of other locos, ideally a GP7 and a GP38. These two did a lot of the grunt work on the railroad, short mine runs and pushing in particular. The F7 looks enormous and had a big engine, but it was still only a 1,500hp loco and even MU's needed a lot of help getting up the gradient from Elkhorn to Dante.
     
  5. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Oh, I know that; I was referring really to the fact that on the older UK diesels- still a decade newer than the F7! - while they do have automatic transitions, the engines redline very easily and you can't just slam the throttle; you have to ease it up in increments. By contrast, the newer SPG (PC, OSD) locos will allow you to bang it from 0 to 8 without complaining (although the wagons might object).

    As a practical matter, what this means for driving is that on those old BR diesels you have to plan well ahead and anticipate grade changes etc, because it takes a good long time to spin the engine up. I was wondering if the F7 was similar.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2021
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  6. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    I believe in the non-streaming stream, Matt pointed out that on one of the spurs (Moss?) CRR used five leading and two helpers.
     
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  7. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    It was the Freemont Branch for Moss Mine #1, with the trains being the Moss Turn, which I believe is what this photo is. But it looks like a run for only SD40s not the F7s
    Clinchfield_Article_18_03_21_10.jpg
     
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  8. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Good find. And what were the 2 pushers? In game, they would have to be SD's, I guess, but in reality, probably a couple of Geeps?
     
  9. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Yes, and, of course, the greater power was why CSX eventually switched to AC locos (AC4400CW and SD70 and 80MAC) almost exclusively, for coal hauling. The CRR diesel locos, while fun to drive, were woefully underpowered, especially when compared to their Challenger predecessors and their successors.
     
  10. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Depending on period. Since over the course of the 70's Clinchfield demoted their F7s from the main line to branch work en route to retirement, they might have performed helper duties.
     
  11. JGRudnick

    JGRudnick Well-Known Member

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    The CRR would usually use what ever was lying around Dante for use as helpers on the mine shifters
     
  12. JGRudnick

    JGRudnick Well-Known Member

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    The F7 may look big, but it is one of the smallest diesel-electric locomotives made in the US
     
  13. appledates#4945

    appledates#4945 Well-Known Member

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    7B5A6613-08FD-4924-AEB1-49F4D734729D.jpeg 4C492F89-D1E2-4E73-AA1A-D5F3E147D792.jpeg DE6233A8-59F9-4BC8-9D80-FD361E19BE40.jpeg
    Some cool pictures showing how “A diesel works”!
     
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  14. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Well, not all that small. Pretty much the same size as most of the Geep family.
     
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  15. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    appledates, where do you get all these books/magazines? I'm getting nervous and jealous... :)
     
  16. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    There is also a cutaway F7 at the CSRM in Sacramento (Too bad it costs a Southern Pacific F7....)
    SP-205-Rotary-Snow-Plow-2017-1-31-with-SP-6402-F7A-1-1024x768.jpg
     
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  17. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Well, it isn't really "cut away," they just removed the body panels.
     
  18. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    You can see the prime mover and other components, but it looks a bit skeletal. And I don't see any cab access. Don't want visitors trying to climb up?
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  19. BlaneTrain95

    BlaneTrain95 New Member

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    This may be the kick I finally need to try TSW 2 given the visuals for the route and equipment from the release (i.e. look more Clinchfield appropriate than the route in TS 2020/21). I'm still puzzled why they chose to end the mainline at Dante as opposed to say Kingsport or Erwin as the latter was the main yard and half-way point of the Clinchfield system (Kingsport was home to an Eastmann Kodak plant and the Southern line from Bristol to Knoxville also ran through there). I know in TS they did the entire Donner Pass, but not sure if the entire Clinchfield could be done in one route in TSW from Elkhorn City to Spartanburg as that would be awesome given the Clinchfield is pure iconic mountain railroading.

    If they're using F-units and wood cabooses in this release, it would backdate the Clinchfield to about the mid-60s as opposed to late 70s/early 80s as they did for the Train Simulator release (though equipment in the paint chosen for that better matched the early-mid 70s as by their chosen era Family Lines paint was much more prevalent and the F-units were limited to one consist stationed out of Dante). Aside from some GP-7s (with the first order having no dynamic brakes) and a handful of switchers, F-units made up the mainstay of Clinchfield road power until the mid-late 60s when GP-38s and SD-40s began to arrive. Clinchfield also leased and used foreign power many times to deal with traffic increases which could be from affiliate roads like Seaboard Coast Line or just lease power like PNC F-units or even Morrison-Knudsen C-636s back in 1971.

    Hopefully Dovetail gives this rendition of the route operational justice and builds upon it with other Clinchfield or compatible content (maybe some steam with a Challenger or some foreign road power)
     
  20. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    It takes a lot more man-hours (= money) to build routes in TSW than TS, so TSW routes are shorter. Actually, with 37 miles of main line plus spurs at another 20-odd, Clinchfield will be the longest route in TSW to date.
     
  21. Warspite

    Warspite Well-Known Member

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    Correct me If I'm wrong, but I think the caboose in the TSW2 version is the 'Santa Fe' style steel caboose.
     
  22. JGRudnick

    JGRudnick Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, they removed the ladders and you can see where they filled in the steps leading to the cab so people aren't tempted to climb on it.
     
  23. Pinguinie

    Pinguinie Active Member

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    let's just take Euro truck Simulator 2, one person tinkered around privately and created a multiplayer. Lo and behold, strange but also managed to deactivate certain functions for multiplayer. And this is a very small team, and you want to tell me that DTG with a huge team can't do the same thing?

    There is a difference between not being able to and not wanting.
     

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