I just came across this very good video on YouTube from the Watercress Line which demystified some of the aspects of Steam locomotion. I wondered if anyone else had any good footage or tips to help utter steam nincompoops like me.. if so feel free to post. I've been following the steam, a realistic challenge thread with interest, and it's inspired me to give steam a go when I get back to my pc in a few days time.. Things like knowing when to 'change gear', what that is based on etc etc would be most useful.
Our experimentation in the ‘steam: a realistic challenge’ thread indicates that once the steam chest is at the maximum (indicated by the red mark on the dial in the bottom left on the HUD) opening the regulator further provides no more power, but does use more steam. To make the best use of your boiler pressure, therefore, push the regulator open until the needle reaches the red mark, and no further. As boiler pressure drops you’ll see that the needle drops off the red mark, and at that point opening the regulator a little further will give you a bit more power, but you’re then getting yourself into a cycle of using more and more regulator to compensate for ever falling boiler pressure, and in the process causing pressure to drop still faster. It’s better to lower the cut-off to the point where, with the regulator at the position at which the steam chest is close to the maximum, boiler pressure stabilises. Establish this balanced position quickly after starting, and you won’t lose too much pressure in the process. At the start try to keep pressure as close to the maximum as you can, and certainly over 200 psi. From there, there are three situations in which you might choose to open the regulator and cut-off and sacrifice boiler pressure for a short lived burst of power: 1. When you are not too far from the next station, so you know boiler pressure will recover there 2. When you know there is a steeply descending gradient not far off, so you won’t need much power on the descent, so can use that to allow boiler pressure to recover 3. When there’s a significant speed restriction coming up, so you’re going to be doing some braking, during which boiler pressure will recover somewhat How far in advance of the above features you start to use up the reserve of boiler pressure and at what rate, is a matter of judgement and experience. Do it too early and too fast, and you’ll find pressure, and therefore available power will drop off a cliff and you’ll lose a load of time. Do it too late and you’ll give yourself no more than a brief spike of speed before having to hit the brakes and dissipate all your hard-earned speed as heat. The sweet spot is in between, and the key is reading the road well in advance to convert your reserve of pressure into speed and journey time savings. If you want to speed up the learning curve, the above-mentioned thread provides suggested cut-off and regulator combinations which have worked well for others, and suggests where, on multiple routes, it’s proved most advantageous to open up and use up the boiler pressure, and where it’s better to be conservative and save the pressure for later. There’s no definitive best answer, though, so do your own experimentation and you may discover something we haven’t tried or hadn’t made work before. If you do, please tell us about it!
I think James has covered all bases, but I just want to pipe in and say when you get that combination and that run right it feels very rewarding. After being attached to the 45 & 47 in BPO for the last couple of months, I really am getting an appetite to try one of the PFR runs again!
It’d be great to hear how you get on, on the other thread, Matt. I must admit, though, I’ve also been spending a lot of time on 45s and 47s - and 31s - on BPO. It’s the first route I’ve owned where I’ve actually run out of schedules to drive!
Yes, I took my car to the garage the other day, as the aircon went, and they gave me a free notebook, so that's where I'll be recording all my runs and notes for these now. So I'll certainly be back in that thread with a report of the run. BPO is brilliant route, that service you put in the great services thread is one I have on my mental list to have a crack at, with the 31 of course!
Going to the garage every time you want to record your runs might get a bit tedious Maybe you could use the free notebook they gave you instead
Yes, thinking about it a bit more probably not my best idea, not only the hour or so round trip to get there and back, but the garage being in Peterborough really would put me off any more SoS challenge runs! I think I'll go with your suggestion.
Please don’t spend time trying to realistically drive steam in TSW, the physics engine is too broken for it right now. Sure it’s a good way to learn the basics but don’t get stuck into a habit of driving the trains as per the sim’s logic
Ive just taken an interest in steam in Derail Valley. This video is what piqued my interest.. no idea if its fairly true to how a real locomotive is run but from what Ive seen just on a little steam garden railway, it looks ok, and certainly a lot of fun with all the little engagement points. Anyone got any experience with that product?
Unsurprising probably to anyone aware of the other thread and the usual suspects but I too want to reiterate this! Getting the Jubilee chuffing along just right is one of the best feelings in the sim to me. Same for the 8F. There's a feeling of accomplishment that you just don't get with diesel/electric traction. sunscreen#8305, I knew of that video you shared. If you'd like more, be sure to have a go at the ones I shared here. They are both informative of techniques but also of how it was like to work on a steam loco in their heyday. How come that we always end up thinking about the same runs? After the book recommendation I shared over in the other thread of an LMS fireman, I have also been feeling the need to return to PFR
Derail valley simulator update has made a lot of the game to the levels tsw players would like stock to be. cold starts, suspension, finite fuel resources, realistic dynamic weather and a dev team constantly updating, fixing and adding to the existing content they have. Whilst not entirely realistic due to not many people wanting to wait for 5h to heat up a cold steam engine or any safety systems (yet?). They have added realistic traction motor and steam behavior. including the ability to realistically explode if handled incorrectly. now having 6 different loco's ingame from battery electric to diesel hydraulic and steam. a 256 km2 map with 15 different industries and about 50 different cargoes I think. with planned free updates doubling the industries and quadrupling the cargo types. adding electrification. timetabled passenger services. AI trains. MOW equipment. there's honeslty so much to mention, just read http://www.derailvalley.com/future/ (in october B99 will release which is expected to be a big update) and all that exists is made even better with a modding community so integrated in the development they are actively hiring the best modders I think. TL/DR: a realistic rail operation? the rolling stock yes definetely. from powertrain and suspension to weather effects and manual coupling. the railscene is to be updated, so is the existing track in the valley. it is very fun to keep the trains in control driving through what feels like eastern european mountainside. feeling like after a couple hundred hours the game gets repetitive? the game has a 3 year plan of updates nearly quadrupling the existing content. you can play realistic or more arcade. change every aspect of the game to your liking. and if all fails. Hail the cube!
Another quick question on Royal Scot. It seems all the scenarios are based on air-braked rolling stock, but the loco can certainly operate vacuum braking - the large and small ejectors, for example, work correctly. So can anyone tell me which DLCs have vacuum passenger stock. Oh and a comment on realism - it is not just steam locos requiring an extended time to raise steam. An AC4400 takes at least 45 minutes from cold start and then there is the brake system tests and the hand-setting of brakes on wagons before starting down a grade. How much leisure time do you have?
Spirit of Steam has exclusively vacuum-braked stock. Not sure where the vacuum brake applyer is on the Flying Scotsman, however. I have found the ejectors, though.
There is no "vacuum brake applyer"; you use the same brake handle as the air brakes to apply the vacuum brakes.
And they are standard vacuum brakes not automatic standard brakes? If automatic standard vacuum the ejector needs to run continuously which I guess explains the two ejector valves?
Keep the small ejector running to maintain the vacuum which keeps the brakes off. Just use the large ejector if you want the brakes to come off quickly, when you're ready to leave a station for example. Turn it off once you're running as it wastes steam.
