PC Sand Patch Grade Powering America Part 1, Can't Progress Past "get Moving" Objective

I'm stuck on Sand Patch Grade scenario Powering America Part 1. After setting up Slow Speed control, the next objective is "Get Moving" and asks to "Release the Independent Brake and apply power."

Moving the power handle triggers the completion for apply power, as the objective point on screen disappears.

Moving the Independent Brake handle does nothing. I've tried moving it with keyboard, with mouse, moving it back to full application then back to release, moving it to Bail Off then back to release. I even checked the air brake set up in the cab's MFD: Cut In, Lead. Everything looks to be correct but nothing I do triggers the completion for this objective (objective point stays on Independent Brake handle and objective text remains on screen).

As I'm typing I have TSW2 running in the background. The train is now fully loaded but I can't even progress to be stuck on the infamous 5-minute wait step. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

That's a known issue and has been reported before. But nobody knows when a fix will be released by DTG. The latest "fix" kind of removed the "infamous 5-minute wait" (that part was simply cut off) and now the scenario ends when both trains are coupled.

 

This is one of the main issues that was reported and was supposed to be fixed. I have managed it (on PS4) but it was tricky to get the objective to complete. No position of the independent brake worked using the controller but I could grab it with the cursor and move it to the Bail Off position which finally triggered the objective.

It still isn’t working as it should. The other bugs with the scenario were ‘fixed’ by just ending the scenario before getting to them. So, now after you load and connect to the rest of the train (which has empty wagons - another bug) the scenario ends.

So basically nothing has actually been fixed on this scenario.

 

Ah well. That sucks. Guess I'll just play another route where I off load passengers onto a track instead of a platform.

 

In case someonne is still looking for an answer. Your FPS should be well over 30 for this to work. Either look up in the cabin to increase FPS or make sure you set your FPS limiter to like 60 under advanced settings. Then it will record your independent brake release. I know, it's the weirdest thing.

 

This issue still hasn't been fixed on xbox

 

Sand Patch Powering America - The Answer
Well, first of all, what a ******* Nightmare! Now to the answer, and please don't ask me to explain, because there IS no rhyme or reason to this, it just worked for me.
1) FIRST. Turn down all your graphics settings to low and restart the Sim. You should now have super high FPS - unless you had that before when on Ultra. Anyway let's not confuse the issue, just bear with me.
2) On the left screen, set brakes to Cut In and Lead.
3) Follow on screen instructions - You may have to slam the Independent brake up to max and back as I did once - but I tried it twice and it worked both times.

I know this is ridiculous guys and I spent hours - hours I'd rather have spent in the game - looking for answers and this is a blend of some of the top answers I found.
Let us know how you got on if you're also stuck here and let's hope this gets fixed so we don't have to do this dance (remember the F4 Falcon dance" anyone?) each time we want to finish the scenarios. If you're like me, the option of skipping this scenario cos it's buggy, is no option at all, as we want to progress to the pt2 of this scenario. Let me tell you n advance, if the pt2 requires any degree of Hokus Pokus to get working my American friends will be able to hear me - all the way from Mansfield, UK.
Good luck.