While driving a l-o-n-g freight run on HHL yesterday, I began wondering about a control I can't remember ever trying to use: AFB. Not surprisingly, searching the forums for "AFB" produced the usual "No results" message. I've also looked through the user manuals for all of the German TSW routes I own, but they also lack any mentions of AFB. {User manuals? Such nostalgia!} So, I'd appreciate some positive instruction regarding AFB, preferably without negative comments, if that's possible. Thanks!?
In case you're unaware, AFB is basically just cruise control. AFB is turned on by default using Ctrl+R (note on the BR143 and BR112 it's always on if you want to move) - make sure the throttle is off (it's best to activate it when stationary as part of the cab set up procedure). Use R and F (again, unless you've changed it) to increase/decrease it (I believe on some locos you have to be stationary for it to turn on?). Dependant on the loco, the AFB will increase in either 5km/h or 10km/h increments. The control lever is to the left of the throttle lever and the switch to turn it on depends on the loco, but it tends to be below the desk by the climate controls. Keep the throttle open and the train will try to keep you at the set AFB speed. To turn it off, close the throttle again and press Ctrl+R (ensure the AFB lever is set to 0), again it's best done when stationary. On the ICE trains, when running under LZB, put the AFB lever as far as it'll go and the train will literally just drive itself (although you'd have to stop for stations yourself). Note you are still in full control of the train, AFB is not an excuse to go for a nap - if you're going downhill, you may need to apply extra brake force to bring the speed down, and don't rely on it to slow you down for speed restrictions, and especially don't rely on it to slow you down for PZB restrictions.
Before releasing the brakes or applying any throttle (I'm not sure if you have to be in neutral, but it doesn't hurt), turn the AFB switch. On pretty much every loco (146, 185, 101, 182) it is situated under the desk to the left. (In the ICE it has to be done via a screen, I'll get back to that later). Once you've turned that on you should usually hear 'AFB, AFB' being shouted at you by the train, and a blue line on the speedo in the HUD when you sit down. You can now use the left most lever (or the R and F keys on keyboard by default), to set a desired speed, which will be shown in the HUD Speedo by the blue bar. Then release brakes and apply throttle, the train should accelerate to the set speed, or just under. When you move the AFB handle to a lower speed (or when going downhill), the train automatically uses electric brakes to slow down to the (new) selected speed, but this might not always be enough, requiring additional braking by the driver. On the ICE 3, AFB is turned on via the left screen. Click on the button under AFB in the screen, and select 'V-Soll', AFB is now activated, and you should see the same blue bar in the HUD speedo, it functions the same as on other locos. Also note: when you're not driving sith LZB on, AFB will not allow speeds higher than 160 km/h, no matter how far forward you push the handle. Hope this helps .
Thanks to both of you! You both mention having the throttle on, but do you mean just "on", or set at some notch number? Yes, I already knew that AFB = cruise control, but is increasing the throttle setting necessary for higher speeds or does AFB itself take care of that? I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about trying AFB, but at least TSW is a railroad simulation, not the real thing.
The AFB does not use more throttle than you set. If you set the throttle to 20%, AFB will only use 20% of power at most, if you use full throttle, AFB will use it all if it's neccesary to reach the set speed, and if the throttle is set to 0 AFB can only coast or brake, and can't apply power. In good weather conditions you can just go full throttle, but in bad weather, it's best to slowly increase throttle, so the train doesn't slip (the same as without AFB). All in all AFB is quite easy to use when you're familiar with it, and driver braking inputs will always override it (and AFB requires the throttle to be set to 0 first and then back to for example 50% before applying throttle after the driver manually used the brake levers), so you won't suddenly pass red signals (as long as you're keepin an eye on them) if you still have the AFB set to 40km/h. Remember AFB only exists to make the drivers job easier, so it should do the same for a you as a player once you learn to use it, it really isn't difficult and very intuitive .
Top tip: The DB BR 143 and 112 are quire different from other locos in that they use AFB as their default method of acceleration i.e. rather than a throttle, they just use the AFB speed selector. This can be problematic as the AFB is by default set to 100% tractive effort, so even in rain and ice it will apply max power to reach the selected speed, and without a throttle you can't simply reduce the power available to the AFB by throttling back, which means you might frequently encounter wheel spin. Fortunately in both locos there is a handle called Force Selector (BR 112) or Tractive effort selector (BR143), which you can set to a percentage of the max power available, so instead of the AFB applying 100% of available power, on a rainy day you can set it to 40% so the AFB accelerates more slowly using less power and you don't get wheel spin.
Luckily the tutorial for the 143 covers all that. The AFB on the 143 and 112 is quite different to that on other trains.
Is that DLC loco? Out of interest (and off topic sorry) what route does it add services to? Do you think it is worth the money?
Its for Ruhr Sieg Nord, but adds services to every route as far as I know (besides Rapid Transit). As it simply substitutes for other freight locos. The loco itself is extremely cool, old school electric loco
It's a loco add-on for RSN. It adds quite a few interesting services as far as I know, and I find it a really enjoyable loco to play, and well worth the money when on discount during the coming summer sale. It is older, and is a bit more mechanical and slow to react to driver inputs. It also offers substitution to many other routes, like MSB, where it is great fun on the steep gradients.
Yes, Ruhr Seig Nord (though will sub on most routes), Yes (it's very nice to drive once you get the hang of it, very different). IMO it's at its best in a blizzard on a freight train up the Spessartrampe on MSB. There's one service (I believe it leaves Aschaffenburg at around 9.29am) where you have to stop at the top, and perform a hill start - nice, challenging run.
It is one of the best German locos in the game for driving. Old and gold. Especially satisfying if you increase the tap changer (in the place of a throttle) one tap at a time when gaining speed, keeping the power where you want it on the meter. Or you can set the max tractive force and the train changes the taps for you to keep the power at the same maximum level. Even better if you use the up/down/hold positions on the wheel to override the max tractive force selected and go fully manual. There’s a million switches to play with before setting off, it’s great. Four headlight switches, three gauge light switches in different positions, two contrast buttons to darken the screens, the brake key, two windows to open, max tractive force selector, electric brake force selector, adjustable seat, Sifa and PZB controls in the corridor, reverser set, release the brakes, tap changer to position one and off you go, well worth the money.
One thing I haven't seen in this thread yet, I remember reading on this forum somewhere that you should brake yourself if you are trying to hold a speed while you are going downhill because AFB will just go brakes up/down instead of a continuous brake application (this applies to the Traxxes and the Taurus, the Talent2 and the BR101 seem smoother so maybe it's not an issue there), no idea about the procedures used in the BR143 and 112. Hopefully someone with better knowdlege can confirm/deny. Also if what's said in the MSB manual is true you should set AFB to maintain a speed 5 km/h below the speed limit, Matt said 10 km/h below the speed limit in the 143 during the release stream for RSN (so I guess if he's correct the same would apply for the 112). I personally use AFB to hold 5km/h below the speed limit, then if I approach a downhill gradient I move AFB 5km/h faster (so it makes sure I don't exceed the speed limit) and use the electric brakes to control the train speed myself, or let it accelerate a tiny bit in case of a very small gradient [not applicable for the 143/112 where I just use it to hold max speed - 10km/h all the time]
I should be giving AFB another try. I used to use it in Train Simulator, but after some initial problems in TSW and not being able to get it work, I kinda 'learned' to drive without it. It sound like the controls are easy enough, but I can't remember what problems I ran into before. I understand throttle needs to be off before enabling AFB. Anything else I should know? Which of the trains do have functional AFB? I read about the 146, 185, 101, 182 and ICE. How about any of the EMUs?
Most non-high speed EMU's (and those in game) don't have AFB if I recall correctly, the Talent 2 has a 'tempomat' which ia slightly different but also a form of cruise control.
Indeed. In fact, you should always brake manually when going downhill to avoid excessive saw-tooting. A continuous, manual application of the electric brake (if strong enough) is smoother and preferable. It's not so bad if the hill isn't that steep, but if you drive a Br 182 down the Spessartrampe on MSB, you'll see what I mean. While we're on the topic of manual braking: A lot of people on the forums seem to use AFB to brake a train. This is not prototypical. In real life, AFB is never used for braking (setting AFB to a lower speed than you're currently going) since it slams on the brakes extremely hard when you do that. If you want to be prototypical, you'll always brake manually for a speed restriction / restrictive signal aspect.
BR 112 is ultra rewarding in this area. You have to go to 0% with the Force Selector lever, then to ON with the AFB lever to control Dynamic Braking with the Force Selector lever hehe Super-cool locomotive for AFB & braking fun \o/
I never drove the Br 143 much (and don't own the 112) and just now looked at how you drive a real one in the real manual (page 36 for what you mentioned). You're spot on! It sounds like loads of fun, I'll have to try the 143 again I noticed, though, that the TSW 143 is a lot less complicated than the real one. There are lots of systems you can use to assist using the "AFB" that aren't modelled in TSW
Thank you very much, I am guilty of doing that as well, I will try to improve. Thank you very much for the clarification and the information.
Well, I might have guessed that AFB is somewhat more complicated than the first two replies to my OP suggested; I'll make some notes before trying it! Please don't think that I'm not grateful for the on-topic information -- every "bittle-it" helps, as we used to sing in scouting. ["Every bittle-it added to got-you-what makes just a bittle-it more!"] To quote another favorite song, "Those were the days, my friend, We thought they'd never end, We'd sing and dance for ever and a day: We'd live the life we choose; We'd fight and never lose; Those were the days, my friend, Those were the days." -- Sorry: just in the mood ...
Please, don‘t let us discourage you from trying it AFB is a fantastic tool (both in real life and in TSW), it‘s just that the more prototypical you‘re trying to drive in TSW, the more complicated it gets.
Do you mistake AFB with PZB as you have to learn PZB. AFB is just speed control so I don't get the hassle. Is this a trolling thread?
If you examine the cab, you'll see that there are switches on either side of the driver's legs under the desk. The AFB switch is located on the left-hand side under the desk. Source If you're using immersion controls, you may have to activate it by standing up and using the switch. If you're using an external keyboard, [CTRL][R] also does the trick.
What?? Nonsense: I specifically requested help for using AFB, not anything else and I seriously resent being accused of trolling. The "hassle" is that I had never used AFB before and, as clearly stated in my OP, it is not covered in any of the available route manuals. Furthermore, I do not "have to learn PZB", whatever that is.
AFB is just cruise control. The hardest part really is finding the "on" switch in each locomotive (although you can also use Ctrl-R to toggle it on). This is best done with the train stationary; if you decide to engage it once you're rolling shove the handle all the way to max and then turn it on. Once on, use either the in-cab lever or the R and F keys to increase or decrease the set speed (represented by a little blue bracket-line on the speedometer). Remember, though, that using the auto brake, as with all German trains, disables the throttle, so you have to reset the throttle handle to off and increase it again in order for AFB to accelerate back up to set speed. (note that the 143 and 112 are a bit weird; they're controlled via AFB rather than directly changing the taps yourself), so AFB is always on).
This thread is hilarious because AFB is so simple to use. You have to learn PZB to use PZB. Both have 3 letter acronyms so the op could have mistake it Facepalm back to you
Yes, both are three letter acronyms, but they also both sound completely different. It's very clear that OP knows which one they're talking about because they haven't said "I'm not talking about the cruise control." Not quite sure why you're being so negative and condescending towards someone asking a valid question. Edit: And I do believe that there's absolutely nothing wrong with asking how AFB works. But, maybe I'm just biased considering I asked if a Class 166 express service using 125mph track was a bug, which I consider a similar kind of question with a "simple" answer.