Is there a setting or procedure to make sure the extra traction from banking engines is being used? I did a scenario with 4 engines (2 front and 2 rear) but the speed up toward the summit dropped to 10 mph and 2.5 miles from the summit started to get wheel slip and sanding didn't help, eventually coming to a halt and unable to start off again. I just wondered if I missed something and therefore the other 3 engines were just being pulled along instead of assisting
I'd also like some information about this. The recommended set up is the second leading loco has cut out brakes with trail 6/24 . Which is the default setup. The rear banking locos need a different setup I think with the radio fuse or something, someone else can shed light on it
Here’s the procedure I use to get helper units up and running in a train... others use this same procedure and it works for them as well: - First, set up the two engines up front at as a standard lead-trail pair, then set up the helper units further back in the train as another lead-trail pair - Make sure the circuit breakers for the radio in each of the lead units are turned on (they already should be turned on by default) - Finally, turn on the banking radio *only* in the lead unit at the front of the train (by pressing the DISP button on the radio), which will then enable DPU operation. The helper units should now throttle up and down in sync with your locos up front... you can verify this with an outboard camera. (Note the last step, turning on the banking radio in the lead unit up front, was left out of the Train Sim manuals in the past... the helper units will never come up without performing this last step)
I was just gonna post this exact thing. Ran into the exact same issue with this scenario- stack train with SD40-2 (x2) up front and GP38-2 (x2) in the rear, right?. I'm getting power from both my Sds, but looks like nothing coming from the Geeps. I was setting up both Geeps as "trail", so that might be the issue then. Stockton Rails to be clear, I should NOT turn on banking comms on the trailing SD? Also any chance of getting my train moving again if get the Geeps running? I'm stuck west of Hyndman on 1.5% grade. As it is, once i get up to notch 3 it's uncontrolled wheelslip even with sanding. Fwiw Sand Patch is now my fave TSW/TSW2 route by far- finally some real freight!!! Kudos to DTG on this one (i'm on Xbox, so never played the original).
...correct- only turn on the banking radio in the lead unit at the front of the train- leave all other radios off. And only turn on the radio *after* you’ve already configured the front pair and rear pair as lead-trail. As far as getting this beast rolling again- verify the helpers are working, get some sand on the track in the lead unit up front, apply some throttle before releasing the brakes (not too much), release the brakes, and see if she starts to creep forward. If not, bump up the throttle a bit more... use more sand if needed- try to get some forward momentum, then more throttle, then more momentum, etc.
Im guessing this is the Q353-Manifest-Cumberland to Willard route, that runs in the snow. Yeah i just put out a "nice" thread how this game is pissing me off with all these procedures not mentioned in the tutorials, I haven't read any of the manuals because I didn't know there were any until recently.
Thanks, done it at last! The option "Lead/Trail" doesn't show it comes up as "Lead/Dead". Found another glitch though, I just happened to sound the horn when another train was coming down and got a continuous blast from the other one untill it was out of sight, then kept getting a passing continuous blast even though there was nothing there right up to the end of the scenario
...that’s great- glad you got that beast up the grade! Was it hard to get going, did you have decent speed up the grade with the helpers? Sorry about the confusion with my reference to lead-trail btw... what I meant by that was- for each pair of locos, set one to ‘Lead or Dead’ and the other to ‘Trail 6 or 26‘.
This is really helpful. Thank you for your detailed explanation. I do have a question though; Is there a way to request helpers? For example on one of the timetable mode one of the routes is a loaded coal train (Over 6000 tonnes) from Rockwood to Cumberland yard. The game loads with only two units at the front and every time I get stuck near the summit of Sand Patch. I even tried speeding before to go up the mountain with as much momentum as possible but I always get stuck. So is there a way I can request some helpers to join the back and give me a push? Thank you
Your procedures worked perfectly and i was able to get rolling again and finish the scenario. Thanks!!!
Speed was that good I had to stop at a red signal on 1.4% gradient but managed to start off again, Phew! Your info was spot on, Thanks
...catching up on everyone’s good news today, and you’re very welcome. As far as calling up a helper service, that I’m pretty sure that is not possible. Are there any extra locos nearby at the start of that timetable run that you could use as helpers? I’m assuming not... but if there are, you could trying popping these onto the end to help you up the hill.
...you’re welcome as well, glad you made it up that hill. Curious- was it tricky getting that train started up the hill again after being stopped? Or was it easier than expected with the helpers in the train? Hey, if you can, share me some pics of that run sometime- I would like to check those out!
It was actually pretty simple once i got the helpers running. Started to move slowly in notch 2, then just kept easing upwards. Was hitting 25mph (which is the speed limit) in notch 7, and would have to drop down to 6 or 5 occasionally when the gradient moderated a little to not overspeed. Will take some more pics next time i run it. This was the only one i remembered to take lol. https://gamerdvr.com/gamer/disintegration7/screenshot/19068357
Another problem (they do seem to pop up too often in this new sim) I tried the scenario "Keeping America Fueled Pt1" I was unable to complete it as the message on screen after loading coal and coupling up to the rest of the train was "the brakes will take 5 minutes to release - and so on" but I sat there for 10 and nothing happened, the brakes were released and I was able to move but not to complete the scenario, this game is beginning to get on my nerves. Also on "Keeping America Fueled Pt2" I got a red signal with 200yds notice and no way to stop even from 20mph
For part 1 of that scenario I was able to complete it by proceeding down to the red signal on the left track after waiting the 5 minutes (despite it still telling me to wait), stop just before the signal, then reverse back up and onto the right track (the one that doesn’t go under the coal loading facility), the proceed forward again, but on the right track and shortly after passing that switch point it completed the scenario for me.
This really wierd, I did as you did but running on the right hand track I got to the red light and another message popped up " you do not have permission to proceed etc etc" so I reversed all the way back and went down the left hand track and joy of joys it worked. This program is so screwed I think it will take months to fix it, if ever! Another thing that didn't work too well was the training on the turntable, Told to line up with the waiting loco, I did 2 complete revolutions lining up at each track in sequence and told this in not the track we want eventually getting the correct one although I had already lined up with it. Found out it will not line up if you look at the wrong end of the turntable, and couldn't get out of the shed untill lined up
Yeah I got that notice for a few seconds as well... it was weird lol. I luckily didn’t have issues with this, but that’s sounds like a pain for sure!
Cheers found it I've got the throttles syncing now between the gp38s at the front and the ac4400s at the rear, but is there any reverser, brake or throttle configuration I need to do before I can get the providing power? Ive set the auto brake to release in the leading AC at the back with lead cutin (trailing AC set to default cutout dead), with the reverser in neutral Then the trailing front gp38 I've got cutout trailing 6/24 as per the article above (radio enabled, disp disabled as the article states only enable disp on the front loco) Perhaps I need to put the reverser in forward on both leading locos (front leading and banker leading?) As the train was still slipping
You only want the additional power from the rear pair, you don’t want the brakes controlled from there. So both ac4400’s at the rear should be set to cut-out. It sounds like because you cut-in the rear lead, it’s applying it’s own brake pressure causing you to drag it along and slowing you down causing your wheel slip issue. You can also look towards the top of this thread at Stockton Rails post explaining how to set up a lead and helper pair. As well as this manual (page 37-39) here on what configuration to set each loco to. Just note that it’s not said in the manual, but only turn the banking comm on in the lead loco you are physically controlling once you’ve set everything up. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/ste...im_World_2020_User_Manual_EN.pdf?t=1597944109
Thanks it's all good now. I set the reverser to forward on the lead loco of the back pair and it seems to be pushing well
Well glad you got it to work, but you shouldn’t have to manually set the reverser on the lead in the rear. If setup right, any change to reverser/throttle on the front lead will automatically do the same in the rear lead. You can also test the setup using the external camera and looking at the controls of the rear lead through the window while making adjustments to the throttle and seeing if it responds.
...Well thanks and appreciate a lot for this Procedure Tutorial, Buddy that's really helped me a lot...it was really frustrating and can't really understand what I've done to settings and went wrong and having always,, Wheel Slip'' after reaching the 13 mi. at 1.5 Elevation ... I tried so many different settings and repeated many times for almost 3 days...but still the same and can't reach the destination. ***I wonder how or why this kind of tutorial trick is not included or mention to the game before the ,, Sand Patch Summit Scenario'' started??? ***
...hey- glad you’re good to go, and thanks for the post! And now that you and others know how to do this, you can help other players get up to speed on this too. I really wish DTG would clean up their act and make players aware of *any* critical steps like this that need to be performed in order to complete scenarios/journeys, etc. Like you said, why isn’t there a tutorial on something like this? After all, setting up helper-units is a little involved. And without this info, players are clearly struggling on their own and wasting a fair amount of time trying to figure out what *they* are doing wrong- when they just didn’t have the right info in the first place. (Anyone from DTG care to comment on any of this? This is only one out of probably 5-6 threads opened up on this same issue over the last week)
Is there a way to change out the helper that is a SD40-2 to a AC4400CW in your consist or do you have to go with what you have in service mode?
The game selects what locos you get. In service mode you get to choose your lead loco only. In Journey mode the game selects the lead loco as well. There’s no way to change it I’m afraid.
DTG definitely needs to build a tutorial about this in the game. Having no clue what I was doing, it took me ages to figure out what I was doing and even then I’m still not 100% certain I’ve done things right. Can anyone do a step by step video tutorial explaining what needs to be done. I’ve looked on YouTube but canny find anything.
Thanks for the help. Once I had the helpers setup correctly I got to restart and continued to the top. Then I hit a different problem in that I can't uncouple. Having unlocked the coupling I got in the cab and applied reverse power but the couplings were still together. When I got back down to trackside the lock and wagon were now locked in a loving embrace with no access to the coupling as it was under the loco platform. TSW2 really does need a proper manual or much better guidance in the scenarios!
The uncoupling handles on the loco are those two big yellow loops, easy to grab. To avoid rolling backwards into the cars and re-coupling, you need to do a hill start: -set indy brake to full -release auto brake -Put on one notch of power (Check your reverser first!) -wait until your ammeter shows at least 200 amps -release indy brake This should ensure your loco only goes uphill, away from the cut
Perfect thank you. Having released the independent brake it took a while for the loco to start moving but once it did it came away from the wagons.
I've literally had an easier time of figuring stuff out by downloading pdfs of old EMD engineers' manuals than from reading DTG's documentation.
