Hi. Ive been trying to brake smoothly thru speed reductions and stopping at stations. Very difficult using drivers brake. Takes a very long time for the air pressure to bleed off to go that extra 10m. I started to use the drivers brake for initial slow down then straight brake, the bleed off time is much faster, to slow into the station. But this has problems because some platforms are down grades. Very hard to stop. I tried a few alternatives and found, to me, a very good, smooth way of stopping or slowing down to speed and maintaining the new speed thru the change. Whilst the brake is in "initial" there is some pressure in the brakes slowing the train and used concert with the throttle, more or less throttle, it was possible to come to a very smooth stop at platform or speed slow down. IE leave brake at "initial" and only use throttle to adjust speed. I only hope my brake pads last. ;-) Hope Ive been helpful.
Stopping accurately is one of the skills that needs to be practiced and mastered. You have to apply a small amount of brake force and then apply more if you need to.
Thank you but I am finding that it is the application that is the easy part but trying to judge the release of the brakes if the train is short on speed so difficult. Some locos are slow to release, some are quick and then some are slow to release the throttle. Thank you.
This is where route learning comes in. If you take the train to a certain speed (say 25 MPH) and then you know if you apply a certain brake force on no incline that you will stop in say 100 meters then you can use this anywhere, so always come into a platform doing approx 25. Changing it for gradients up or down then adds to the skill but it is all part of driving various locos and units.
The straight brake can be handy for situations like the one you describe. The automatic/train brake will apply the brakes throughout the whole train and therefore take time to apply and release. The straight brake is a Locomotive brake and will work immediately, but have a much reduced braking force. I find slowing down with the automatic brakes useful, then release them and use the straight brake to fine tune stopping in the correct place. It is also handy for speed control on heavy gradients.
