The latest update is in and it appears to be a winner for fans of the Boston Sprinter. I've run a couple of services now with the F40PH (yes, the speedometer issue is fixed) and they've come off without a hitch. While there are still some issues that need some love, overall I'm quite pleased with the progress thus far. The decision to deliver smaller, more frequent updates was a long time in coming, but one that I think is already showing signs of paying off. Well done, DTG.
Haven't played it in a while because of timetable, signal and safety system issues. I note the rather cryptic note about " various performance issues ". Are any of the major problems addressed in the update?
Well, so far I haven't run into any major timetable issues. That is to say that I haven't had trains stuck on red up and down the line. Approach speeds still seem to be a bit slow in places, but not game breaking. Not sure to what extent ATC/ACSES has been worked on. I was held up on red for a couple of minutes coming out of Canton towards Boston and thought I might have run into the same problem, but as I was scanning down line for issues, another MBTA train came up the mainline from behind and passed ahead of me, after which I was cleared out of Canton. So signaling "seems" to be working as one would expect. "On time" seems to be more like "on time +5" which is pretty much a DOT standard. The catenary system is fixed and I haven't run into any mystery braking issues as of yet. I haven't taken the ACS-64 out yet so there's still more to check out. So far, so good though.
UPDATE: So I've taken the ACS-64 out for a spin and I can say I'm impressed with the work DTG has done on the route. Driving Amtrak #93 from Boston to Providence, I found that, while there are still some minor issues, there are some definite improvements. There is still some slight stuttering coming out of Boston, but it's minor. Once past Rt 128, I experienced only the occasional, nearly imperceptible micro-stutter all the way into Providence. Don't know what they've done to optimize the route, but it certainly feels much smoother. It would seem that ATC/ACSES has been worked on as well. I was full speed until just south of South Attleboro where the system dropped me down to 60 mph. At about 5 miles out I was at 45 mph, 30 mph at 3 miles, and then back up to 45 mph at 2 miles out. The rest of the approach into PVD went without issue. The safety systems are working as they should as I experienced a couple of penalty brakes when I didn't react to speed reductions as quickly as I should have, but those were cleared and I was back under normal control well before being stopped. As for issues that still persist, there are a couple of places where the Cab Signal Aspect system displays the correct aspect but no corresponding text and the crossing gates at Canton Jct. are still broken. There may well be more, but this is what I've noticed on just a few services today. Overall, I'd give this update a 9/10. Hope this helps.
I was 4 minutes late. Partly due to my leaving South Station about a minute late, but certainly within the accepted standard of “on time +5.”
This route is still unplayable with the safety systems on, tried two services, get slowed down to 30mph miles outside a station, no chance to even remotely stick to the timetable, apart from it being annoying to crawl along for minutes for no reason
I've never played this route due to its bugs. What impresses me the most is that there are completely opposite opinions about driving with safety system on. The thread starts with "now it's perfectly fine" while the message right above mine says the complete opposite. So, who is right?
Not sure the OP was running with safety systems on I think if you play without the safety systems and ignore the things it tells you, the route is decent. But as soon as you turn them on, it becomes a nightmare (at least for me personally). And turning safety systems on is essential for me.
W You probably had traffic in front of you. Crawling along slowly and being a few minutes late is not unusual in real life either on american railways. Go watch LIRR rush hour traffic videos and you will see. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing would happen regularly on MBTA as well, considering the dense traffic and same safety systems. That being said, there are a few issues still, but it's far from unplayable. Being late because of other traffic does not count as unplayable.
To me the Boston ATC is behaving even more strange than the initial release! See the ATC/ACSES panel in the image: 1. Broken yellow digital bargraph speedometer - This worked when the route was first released but now is dead. 2. ATC signal speed around the speedometer disappear completely and the ATC signal speed shows where the speed limit is instead.
i would definitely appreciate an explanation why the F40 will suddenly apply suppression braking on its own unprompted until stopped, seemingly unrelated to speed or signaling. it always seems to be because of nearby traffic and usually happens between Ruggles and 128 where its fast and busy so i presume its the positive train stop feature of ACSES kicking in rather than a bug but the only indication the train gives is permanent suppression lit up on the display as it comes to a halt. just wanna make sure im not doing anything wrong in terms of operation but this seems like the way it really is on the route.
What I said was, and I’m paraphrasing, that so far, I hadn’t run into the issues as I had before. I never said they didn’t still exist somewhere on the route. In fact I specifically said, “As for issues that still persist, there are a couple of places where the Cab Signal Aspect system displays the correct aspect but no corresponding text and the crossing gates at Canton Jct. are still broken. There may well be more, but this is what I've noticed on just a few services today.” I was running with all of the safety systems on with exception of the first run through where only one was turned on as I missed a circuit breaker on that one. Look folks, I was just sharing my observations on a few runs. It wasn’t meant to be a comprehensive, end all be all review. Many of the issues that were reported occur randomly and will be subject to how each individual operates. No two people are going to operate exactly the same in all conditions and situations. These were just from my experience yesterday. YMMV!!
No need to get bent out of shape. I and am sure other readers found your assessment of the update very cogent and helpful. You have to expect that other players will raise issues that they have found after the update that maybe you didn't.
Bent out of shape? Nah. Couldn’t be further from the truth. If it came off that way, then I offer my apologies. I was merely clarifying that at no time in my original post did I say or otherwise infer that "now it's perfectly fine.” Nor did I want to minimize the fact that others are still having issues.
