This applies especially to the cab car, but also to the 110, the 103, to a lesser extent the 111, and the E94 when it arrives (it isn't an issue on the Mittenwaldbahn): AIUI, with one of these old-school locos, you cant' touch the brakes until the transformer has wound down through the taps to zero. The problem arises when you get any sort of PZB caution and have to drop speed in a hurry, often from 160 to 85. Since in the cab car you can't even spin the wheel, just wait for the system to run itself down, how do you do it without getting a ZB?
While I can't say for the IRL procedure there is the schnell aus button should it come to it, and you can always disconnect the electric brake from the air brake and still apply the air brake to slow down even if you were waiting for it to run back. Not entirely sure but it probably wouldn't harm it even moving the electric brake handle, the locos are probably smart enough not to actually apply electric braking until its actually ready to do so. That being said, probably best not waiting for a PZB to give you a demand before taking action! If you see an adverse signal, start running down on sighting it and get ready on the brake handle
Oh, yes; I do. But the cab car in particular takes an absolute eternity to wind down (and AFAICT the Schnell Aus is not modelled), so even from first sighting the signal up ahead that by the time you can get on the brakes it's too late. If you just set the throttle straight to Off, will that do horrible things, or just pop the MCB?
Going from full power to nothing will likely lead to a big arc *somewhere*, but thats going to happen anyway if PZB trips an emergency brake application! I mean it could trip the MCB, but probably not, its generally not great but the locomotive I suspect would survive. Ideally you could reduce power until the amps have dropped to a reasonable level then schnell aus, on the E94/1020 its actually highly recommended to always use the schnell aus button instead of simply moving the power handle to off as it can fuse contacts in the tap changer not using the schnell aus. The cab car does actually have the schnell aus button just to the right of the main controller, its a very slow button mind to press!
Not sure the schnell aus is mapped on any of the older German stuff like the 103/110. Probably one to have a look at some point...
It's not really unique to old locos, just the new ones are faster and smarter, but you should still wait in the minimal position until the loco correspondingly goes off throttle, and only then move it to zero. There is always some way how to kill the throttle immediately, just using the brake should do that right away even if throttle remains set, it will do so with a big bump and the components will cry a little whenever you do it, but you can, it's a safety feature. One thing to keep in mind is, you are not supposed to be in throttle all the time, automatic speed controls taught drivers (in game and irl) to just slap 50% throttle there and let the machine control it, but older components weren't often built with such usage in mind. You are supposed to reach your speed limit, then coast for a bit so everything cools down and gets a break, and when your speed falls off, go into throttle for short time again. If we get more old stock in game, you may actually start seeing small signs with instructions for how long you can use each power level before you have to put it back to zero, it tends to be varying around 2-4 minutes. The knowledge of track where to be in throttle (uphill slope, stretch with no or only block signals) and where to be coasting and prepared for brake (downward slope changes, distant signals for stations) used to be the core of driver's individual mastery. Don't forget that in 1960s, having the tap changer step down for 20-30 seconds was a premium speed, steam locos required you to think 5+ minutes ahead with loading the firebox and steam generation. But speeds were also not usually so high, having tap changer on 160 km/h locos is kinda extreme. Track speeds around 70-100 km/h were much more common sight when those locos were designed. I believe Reichsbahn didn't even have any route over 120 km/h whatsoever until the reunification.
The wider issue here and obviously a prototype feature is how little warning German drivers get of an adverse signal ahead. 1km (maybe a bit more with sighting) after encountering the two yellows on the distant signal to come to a stand from up to 160 km/h seems at best challenging if not a little dangerous. Compare that to the UK where on a line with 4 aspect signalling you will probably have at least 2000 yards from sighting a double yellow signal to stopping at the red. Plenty of time to get power off and run down, plus get the brakes in. There must be an awful lot of coffee spillage on German trains, or standing passengers thrown off their feet with the severe brake applications this method of working necessitates!
It is fiiiine. Your train is able to stop in that distance and time. If not, its speed is limited so that it can. That's not generally reflected in TSW though, if you stick to speeds shown in HUD, you may be in fact overspeeding.
Yes I generally stick to around 90 km/h on a freight run, unless it’s containers when I might do 110.
I must say, on the subject of the 110, it's a very enjoyable loco. Playing MSB with it this morning (yes, maybe not that realistic) but with the constant gradients and speed changes, it's a fun challenge keeping to the timetable. Plus, at higher speeds, the suspension means it can be very bouncy, but adds to the overall enjoyment.
This is why, as currently being suggested in the, erm, Suggestion forum, we need an option to customise the consist when starting a Timetable run. Kick out the dreary 143, 187 or 182 and replace with a 103, 110 or 111 instead for a much more interesting drive.
Out of interest, how are you finding loco substitution nowadays in timetable mode? For me it seems to be much better overall ; I ask because when playing MSB this morning I actually saw the 111 as AI which was nice (well, along with the 187, 143 etc). Btw, in my opinion, I do like the 143 (and 112/114) because these can also be quite challenging to drive unlike the 146.
1000 m (or actually, 950 m is the minimum!) from 160 km/h would be pretty dangerous if you tried to do it with UK trains - but of course German trains are designed for these operations. To name just two things, PZB90 supervises the driver's actions and the train's speed much more comprehensively than UK safety systems, and emergency or penalty brake applications on fast trains use magnetic track brakes which will stop the train on even the slippiest of rails.
One observation from watching cab videos, which is also apparent in this one, is how much faster you're able to things with real, physicall, controls, as opposed to what we're able to do in game, even when using keyboard schortcuts. Within second he goes from power to full brake application. Too bad that the third party controller market is so non-existent for train sims. TSW not having any proper support for generic controllers isn't also helping much.
German passenger trains have significantly better brake performance than UK passenger trains, and to run at 160 km/h without LZB invariable requires magnetic track brakes as well which means that even in slipping conditions you can rely on a very high deceleration. For example the HST has about 9%g as max deceleration (iirc) while the DB IC can reach 1.2 m/s^2 (12%g) easily, without Mg brakes. For freight it's a different story but it is worth keeping in mind that many of the German freight services in TSW have unrealistically high max speeds. In real life brake performance will be taken into account for the final max allowed speed so for example a heavy tank train with low "brh" (braked weight percentage) will be limited to 90 km/h (sometimes even lower if the line has steep gradients). Stopping distance, as I'm sure you know, scales with the square of the velocity so trying to stop a train meant for 90 km/h, going 120 km/h will lead to tragic consequences (in the game I mean...)
