hmmm the HST still took 16 miles to reach 125mph leaving Paddington. I can tell the brakes have altered on the Eastcoastway DMU, gonna have to find new braking points
The trees are no longer flickering when far away, the level of detail seems increased, some roads that were floating have been fixed, the tunnel in Avignon now spawns earlier so it doesn't seem like you are about to enter a wormhole in the mountain, and the tunnels feel a bit more dark
See my thread on stuttering issues that I’ve noticed recently. Now I thought it was a TSW2 previous update from a few weeks ago or Nvidia Driver update, but I noticed far less stuttering on LGV, apart from the usual tile loading, was so much better.
16 miles is accurate acceleration. You're trying to move 413+ tonnes with 1770 horsepower to 125mph with a traction area the size of a 5 pence piece on 16 wheels of the power cars while climbing out of London.
I’ve noticed since the update there is a slight flickering on the bottom of the windscreen of the 377 on East Coastway. I’ve only run the one service - an early morning Brighton to Lewes service in Summer so not sure if it affects everything. The 377 definitely brakes more realistically and you don’t get the lurch forwards you did when applying the brakes, which is MUCH better.
Generally only 1 power car is providing tractive power at any one time. Reduces maintenance costs and fuel as well as the drivers hearing!
yes I noticed this too and had various real life drivers say 125 between West Drayton and Iver and it hits 125 bang on Iver so that’s good enough for me. Subtle but appreciated improvement. Also not overly fast so it feels fake either.
Fair enough, I have no idea having never driven one but if its accurate then why was DTG trying to fix it as its the same as it was before
It's been adjusted, not much, but you should be hitting 125mph at Iver or West Drayton. If you're hitting it after that, you haven't got the updated version.
That has never been the case, not even with the 2+4/5 sets. Both power cars provide traction power, and always have.
16 miles isn’t accurate. Leaving Paddington, you should be able to get to 125 with a good set by West Drayton which is about 13 miles. Leaving Reading heading East, you should be able to get to 125 by Maidenhead (11-12 miles). Similarly, leaving Slough, you should be able to get to 125 by the viaduct with the view of McDonalds on the Relief side (you can’t see Mcdonalds in the game but in real life) just before Hanwell which is again 11-12 miles. (The reason why leaving Paddington it takes longer is because obviously you’ve got 40/50 mph speed restriction up to Ladbroke Grove) If it took 16 miles, it would be an extremely sluggish set of power cars
There is no restriction with only one power car but it would take a hell of a long time to get to 125mph on one power car and ideally need a good downhill gradient too. For the benefit of the driver’s hearing, the ETS is on the rear power car. As well as the fact that if there’s a problem with ETS on the rear power, you can simply just press the ETS on leading power car (the one you’re sitting in). Otherwise let’s say normal procedures were that ETS was on the front power, if there was a problem you’d have to stop the train, walk to the other power, turn ETS on that power car and walk back which would obviously cause delays.
Just curious, if you went from notch 2 to 5 at the 100mph by the West Coast Railways yard would you get wheelslip in real life? i used gradual powering on, and got to 125mph bang on Iver....
By West Coast Railways yard, I take it you mean just after Ladbroke Grove (the turning towards North Pole/Old Oak Common) not the West Coast Railway depot at Southall. No, as long as it isn’t slippery, you should be fine. In fact, the ‘good old fashioned’ way of driving HSTs according to some is to whack it straight to notch 5 from standstill when leaving a station. This is frowned upon by management and I think at some depots there was a practice where they didn’t go into full power until the entirety of the train left the platform as to avoid discomfort (noise/pollution) to passengers on the platform. The MTU HSTs are quite good though because they self regulate power which is why you can whack it straight to notch 5 from standstill but you wouldn’t get away with it with the paxman valenta engines. From a stand still, this was the preferred method: (When at a station, train secured in Neutral, Brake Step 2, Power off) Guard to Driver BUZZ BUZZ Into Forward, Brake Step 1, Power Notch 1 Return BUZZ BUZZ to Guard and observe Amps increasing/brake cylinder decreasing Release Brakes fully, Power Notch 2/3 (depending on gradient) Perhaps at 5mph, Notch 3 10 mph, Notch 4 15 mph, Notch 5 Talking about the good old fashioned way, you could hit station platforms such as Swindon or Didcot at 50/60mph+ and braking in full service if you really wanted to (can’t do so at Reading due to coming up against a red). Again, this is frowned upon as defensive driving is heavily emphasised now as I’m sure it is on freight. So hitting stations at 35/40mph is a lot more sensible. If against a red, about 30mph at the start of the platform obviously reducing that to 20mph at the AWS magnet.
Hmmm. I don't see how that could work leaving Paddington; you have to hold it under 40 for quite a ways. (Pulling out of Slough, though, it could be "Warp 8, engage.") Rather unkind to all those passengers who have stood up and are taking their bags down from the overhead racks......
I was speaking more generically not Paddington specifically which is why I said ‘Perhaps’. In other words, it will depend on location, conditions, gradient, etc... Paddington is a big station so if there’s any driver managers walking around the station, I suspect they won’t be too impressed if they see a HST roaring out of the station. But still, there’s no reason why you can’t do it at Paddington. If speed was 15 or 20mph? Sure. But 40mph is considerable. You’re going to need to use up to at least notch 4. Remember you still have to do a running brake test as well so it’s not just a matter of taking it to 40mph and leaving it at that speed. Regarding braking, yes I agree. I’m not saying I do that myself but there’s always a few that do. And likewise, on the other end of the bell shaped curve, there are drivers that will strictly hit stations at say, 20/25mph. Majority of the drivers would be 35/40mph. (Slough a bit less- 30ish mph due to being an area of low adhesion as well as a short platform and also a station where you don’t stop at too often)
Running brake test: all right, I'll bite (for immersion purposes) Not something any tutorial or manual mentions.
Nope because it's a game and not a true simulator. It's a rule book instruction in the United Kingdom to test the brakes after departing a Location where the train has been brought into service. This needs to be performed before your first braking point or downhill gradient. To make sure everything is in working order. Edit - massively simplified.
As per rulebook, you must test the brakes at the first opportunity in the driver’s journey (not train’s journey). So let’s say you’re leaving Paddington, you need to test the brakes at the first convenient opportunity. Getting up to 40mph, then putting the train into step 3 to bring it down to 30mph and then you’re on a way again. There are many ways of doing it and different companies having different working instructions but the principles are the same: The braking you use when you’re testing the brakes needs to be serviceable. E.g. on a HST, step 3. On a Class 166. Step 1 or 2. On a Class 800 or any other variable brake, 30-50% brake is serviceable Some companies will say, you need to see a reduction in speed by 10mph. Other companies may specify a time such as apply brakes for 5 seconds. Some companies may want you to do two running brake tests- one at low speed and one at high speed. E.g. On a Class 166, as soon as you get to 25mph, put it into step 1 to take you down to 15mph. And then a few mins later when you get to 50mph, do the same. The purpose isn’t really to ‘test’ the brakes but more for the driver to get a feel for it. This is why even if you’re relieving a driver, you still need to do a running brake test yourself (this is why I put driver’s journey in bold at the start). E.g. At Reading, you takeover from the driver that has brought it in. You still have to do a RBT. You need to get a feel for the brakes because brakes will differ from unit to unit due to amount of passengers, brake pad wear, etc.,, Other times when you need to do a RBT: after coupling, after uncoupling, switching ends Doing a RBT is essential and one of the first things a driver manager will look for when doing a download of your train in the case of post incident or part of regular assessments. In fact, the data recorder can automatically detect if you have done a RBT and if you haven’t, it will flag up. There isn’t a set place to do a RBT apart from doing near the start of the journey. So at the start, I gave an example of doing it at 40mph. You could wait and do it a couple of minutes later when you get to 50mph. Equally, you could do it before and do it at 30mph. There are some nice, optimum positions to do it because if you time the RBT right, by the time you accelerate again and reach 40mph, you’ll be clear of the 40mph speed restriction (and into the 50mph zone). Whereas if you don’t time it right, you may get back upto 40mph after doing a RBT, have to shut off or at least reduce power again and then re-accelerate once you’re clear of the 50.
Just to clarify I'm often the first driver on the trains I drive and have brought the train into service hence my comments.
Drag Line scenario for GWE is also fixed. In last update you got stuck on a red signal forever (whole line traffic was stuck in a queue indeed). Cheers