What Exactly Is Wrong With The Current Steam Physics?

agreed there is a lot wrong with it

 

It's much, MUCH more granular than that. What you're describing is arcade physics.

 

Yes with steam traction there’s an almost infinite relationship between cut off, regulator, steam chest and boiler pressure, gradient and rail conditions plus train load not to mention if implemented properly fire mass and temperature, boiler water level and rate of topping up with the injectors. On the New Zealand advanced steamers in TSC you even had to regulate the lube oil flow to the cylinders or they might seize up. That was too much like hard work!

 

Which is why I think a seriously realistic steam simulation would have to demark a firm division of labor between engineer and fireman; if everything is modeled in detail one player cannot do both simultaneously (although there should be some form of communication between the two halves. Perhaps even have a playable Fireman Mode with an AI engineer?)

 

This ist the one feature I always wanted in a Train Sim, Fireman Mode without beeing the driver at the same time.
Could be fun in multiplayer. One Player as Fireman, the other as Driver, the only place, where a multiplayer could make any sense.

 

Can already get that, the "Big Three" of the FEF, Challenger, and Big Boy from Smokebox do that as they have a auto-engineer you can enable, think Bossman might've done the same thing a bit later on too, but don't quote me on it. They're not perfect, you have to take manual control of the train for stops, but it works surprisingly well considering the game never had native functionality for such a mode.

Also I don't know about anyone else, but I've kind of always assumed fireman mode would have such a option if it ever came to TSW in a completed form.

 

Decided UP bias there...
I wonder why nobody has ever done a N&W Y6 or a C&O H-8

 

Far as I understand it, because UP both preserved the documents well and they're dead easy to get a hold of. His source for blueprints for the Challenger & Big Boy I believe is the DVD's of them made by UPHS that were avaliable for the longest time. Also, I remember reading that 611 was looked into by someone, but the J Class would've needed to share revenue with Roanoke to do the project, making it undesirable.

 

I assumed that aswell, for some reason but since DTG never gave us a proper fireman, it´s impossible to know. Maybe TSG can get it right, if the teasers are true and they are really working on german steam right now.

 

Yes, 611 and by extension the J class has been registered as a trademark by the VMT, so no dice there. The problem with both the Y6 and H-8 classes is rather that the sole survivors haven't been run in years; static-display condition only.

However, A-class No 1218 (a 2-6-6-4 Mallet compound) runs railtours

 

Corrections.

1: There's two H-8's, but to be fair both are static so it doesn't change your point.
2: 1218 hasn't ran since 1991, I think you might be confusing it with 1309.

Also, I would add that just it running isn't necessarily a point for or against it. If things like blueprints and performance metrics aren't easily available then that makes things tricky. And from what I understand UP were abnormally great at preserving their documentations. While great for them it comes with the implication most other railroads were much worse at it.