PC Class 465/9 Driver Review

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by kieranharvey95, May 30, 2021.

  1. kieranharvey95

    kieranharvey95 Member

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    Hello,


    Thought I would post my thoughts on the Class 465/9 for TSW 2. I have done so by breaking it down into Visual/Audio/Physics. I drive the Class 465/9, so these are my thoughts on the Add-on with that in mind.


    Visual

    Exterior

    The exterior model of the Class 465/9 is in my opinion very well done. The front looks brilliant; I especially love that the blue and white indicators have been modelled and the blue one lights up when a safety system is isolated, this is realistic great. The small BR symbols in the headlight are really nice touch! Another noticeable feature is the forward-facing camera which is fitted to Class 465/9's, looks very good.


    The cab doors are nicely modelled. A very small detail with how the cab door works in regard to the red handle is worth a mention. The door itself is held shut with air and when you operate the exterior ingress with a T key, the red handle flicks completely up into the 90° position, taking the air off of the door and allowing you to slide it open by hand. If the red handle is not reset into its downward position, the door cannot be closed using the close door buttons and more crucially you cannot gain interlock. You can from the inside use the 'open cab door' button to open the door without using the red handle. That being said I can see why it is modelled the way it is; after all it needs to be easy to use across all gaming platforms and most people would be very annoyed at having to walk back because they forgot to reset the red handle.


    The Shoe Gear and Bogie detail appears to be really good with all the exterior parts you can normally see visible. The only thing I noticed in this respect was there was no Cartridge type shoe use visible. A very small detail in all fairness; but without one that collector shoe would not be supplying electricity to the power unit line.


    I liked seeing that the Isolation LOVE Cut-out is in the correct location on the DMOC's. You would be able to see isolation cocks inside there with a torch in reality but I can see no major point in modelling something that wouldn't be seen by most or used. Isolation cocks in the cut-out of a DMOC on the MetCam 465's: Brake Cylinder Isolation LOVE/Brake Supply Isolation LOVE/Door Supply Isolation LOVE/Traction Equipment Isolation LOVE. The same goes for the TOS and TOSL carriages, the cut-out is there but no isolation cocks. In these cut-outs would be the Brake Cylinder Isolation LOVE/Brake Supply Isolation LOVE/Door Supply Isolation LOVE/ Main Reservoir Isolation LOVE/Compressor Governor Isolation LOVE. Again, these are extremely small details but worth a mention.


    Another really good find was that the Battery Isolation Switches were correctly pointed toward the nearest driving cab, nice touch.


    Overall, visually a brilliant model, nicely done and nothing glaringly inaccurate.


    Cab

    Like the exterior the driving cab is modelled beautifully. It is a really great model of a MetCam cab. I don't think I've ever seen one as clean and new looking and, in my opinion, I would have loved to see some worn out areas, they are over 20 years old after all; but still a brilliant model. The yellow door control stickers are a really nice touch in the cab, in reality the right-hand release buttons at the driver’s desk are not used as you have to get out of your seat, walk to the platform side and release using the right-hand release buttons on the wall.


    There are a few things I noticed that were a little inaccurate, not the end of the world and in all fairness, I'm talking small details here.


    Firstly, I found the head light prover lights only light up if the key is on; in the real thing they come on when headlights are selected regardless of if you have a key on or not. In the real thing the fault light dimmer/brighter buttons make those headlight proving lights get brighter or dimmer.


    Another thing I found while pressing some buttons. When you operate the 'Train Lighting Off' button this will only turn off passenger saloon lighting, nothing else. In the simulator the headlights turn off when this button is pressed, this is not correct. The Aux On/Aux Off process was nice to see simulated I will add while in that region of the cab. It takes roughly 2 minutes for a MetCam to Aux On and do its self-checks.


    Another little thing I found was the OTMR healthy light turns off in the simulator when you key off. This is not right, the blue OTMR healthy light will be on regardless of whether the cab is active or not.


    I'll mention fault light logic too, this is in regard to the Train Fault and Unit Fault lights near the air gauges.


    When the key is not in and the DDS in the OFF position, the fault lights show non-urgent faults. In this state the Unit Fault Light is lit and the Train one is not lit at all, and will only show a light if pressed in. Normally both lights should be blue. One you put in a key and move the DDS away from the OFF position the lights then only show information on URGENT faults and the lights both come on (train doesn't need to be pressed.) In the simulator this basically means that when you get in the cab the Unit Fault light should be blue and Train Fault light blank then when you key on and move the DDS, they should both light up blue.


    The one other thing worth a mention is the head position, which appears to feel a bit too high, then again, I have my seat very low by preference, but even then the head position could be lowered a little.


    One more thing I'll mention in the cab is the door close buttons. Only the interlock light comes on blue when you have interlock not the door close button. I cannot remember if the door close button has a light in it, if it does it would illuminate when the doors are released but extinguish when you have interlock, leaving only the interlock light lit with the doors shut.


    Overall, a brilliant rendition of the MetCam cab environment, really does bring it to life in the simulator!


    Interior (Saloon)

    The saloon area looks really good. Modelling is fantastic and there are only a few things I have to comment on in this area.


    When a door release is put up, it seems all doors regardless of which side light up their Open-Door buttons and are active, this is not correct; only the side which has been released would have these buttons lit for the passenger to press; I'd be bringing it out of service immediately if that happened IRL.


    A very small nit-picky detail is the missing fault lights in the top corner of the end of the carriage. There are in reality small fault lights at the ends of the carriages. The DMOS has lights for WSP, Interference Monitor, Traction and Heating. The TOS/TOSL's have lights for Heating, Batteries, Converter, WSP. If there is a fault in that carriage, they will light up Red (with the exception of WSP, which you can only see a fault on if you open the panel). All faults are non-urgent. The only urgent fault in a MetCam networker is both converters failing.


    Sounds

    Not much to say about sounds. They are really nicely done and accurate. The only things I can say other than good are:


    · Door sounds a tad loud in the cab.

    · Rheostatic Brake Fan sounds audible even if the Rheostatic/Regenerative brake is disabled, you wouldn't hear them if the Regen/Rheo was off.

    But they are small points and other than that found all the sounds to be really good!


    Driving (Systems/Physics/Experience)

    Setting Up

    Going back to the cab door, I noticed if you open the cab door whilst driving the train continues to drive on. In reality this would break interlock and you would have a 4-bar brake application bringing the train to a stand.


    With all the safety systems engaged, opening up the cab felt and sounded pretty realistic. Keeping with the theme of realism I began doing what is called a personal brake test. I couldn't seem to use the hill start button or release the brake. In the real thing you can fully release the brakes even with the doors open and verifying the brakes do release is part of that test as well as verifying the hill start button is functioning correctly. I liked that both in cab plungers work, nice touch! The final part of a PBT is testing that the DSD will apply the brakes if left to sound for more than approx. 6 seconds. I have found in all TSW trains you cannot set off the DSD by lifting the pedal as it is tied in with the AWS reset. This is not realistic, but I can see why it is done, coming back to it needing to be cross platform compatible.


    It would be nice to see GSM-R working and to be able to set it up for the journey and the Passenger Information System which uses a four-digit code to set up for the journey.


    The Drive

    Acceleration - For me personally it felt a tad too strong. They are very powerful units and from a stand the acceleration looks pretty spot on but after 10-20mph the acceleration in my experience will start dropping. It can take a fair amount of time to get these units up to 75mph. I would say Power Notch 3 felt more like power notch 4 in reality for example. In game I use notch 3 maximum as it feels realistic to me.


    Braking - MetCams are notorious for their poor braking. We like it when we get a BREL/MetCam mix up, because the MetCam boosts the Acceleration and the BREL assists with braking. It's hard to say definitively what brake cylinder pressure you get for each brake step as every unit is different and reads different pressures. But in my opinion, you rarely get a MetCam unit braking as well as this rendition in TSW 2. If the brakes were made a little weaker it would in my opinion, make it feel a lot more realistic. As stated, you can on the rare occasion get a unit braking this well but it is pretty rare in my experience so far driving them.


    I personally would not be able to give an opinion with the Rheo/Regen brake on, as I have not driven a MetCam unit with it enabled.


    So, in summary, acceleration could be lowered a little and braking force lowered a little.


    The last thing I did was perform an emergency stop on the move. I placed the CPBC into Emergency and the train correct applied 4 bar brake cylinder pressure. The only thing that didn't work realistically was that when I moved the CPBC back to Step 3, the emergency brake setting released too. In reality, once the emergency brake is applied, it will force you to a complete stop regardless of whether you move the CPBC back to a lower brake step.


    Summery

    In summary, it has a few little things not quite correct, that I can see; but this is from the perspective of someone who drives them, and it would be fair to say some of the points raised are very nit-picky!


    Overall, it is a solid product and really nice to drive in the simulator. I would give it a solid 9/10 easily and would highly recommend purchasing it if you haven't!
     
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  2. Coastway trainspotter

    Coastway trainspotter Well-Known Member

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    Hi Kieran , I completely agree with everything you have said . Also I use the regen brake and would recommend using it as it doesn’t affect the braking power but makes a much nicer sound
     
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  3. kieranharvey95

    kieranharvey95 Member

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    Hi :)

    I meant that I have not yet driven a real one with Regen turned on, sadly they are all but a very few turned off at this time, but in the simulator I do indeed drive with it on :love:

    Thanks :D
     
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  4. Coastway trainspotter

    Coastway trainspotter Well-Known Member

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    Just to add why is this a technical report?
     
  5. Olaf the Snowman

    Olaf the Snowman Well-Known Member

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    Because it is just that (and a very good, I will add!)

    You’re probably so used to seeing people post this kind of stuff in the PC section when it should really go here. A lot of people prefer the PC section because that’s where you’ll get more views.
     
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  6. synthetic.angel

    synthetic.angel Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for this review. I have been quite liberally telling people that the Class 465 is fabulous enough to justify a purchase of SHS (which is what I did). Now I am even more convinced.... ;-)

    NB: You might want to edit your post to decapitalise references to certain tap like devices used for isolation purposes...... because they have almost all been replaced with the word "L.O.V.E."...... Amazingly, the Forum software will also do the same if you write something similar in French, say, to describe the shell like build of the vehicles.....
     
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  7. kieranharvey95

    kieranharvey95 Member

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    I did notice this after I posted it, but I gathered most would understand what it is meant to say. I found it quite funny too :D
     
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