Played this Service yesterday Power was 2 SD40-2 no helpers train is over 4,000 tons Started up grade - speed gradually reduced to 9.8 mph about 3.5 miles below Mance when amps finally exceeded 1075 and engine failed in notch 8. Backed off throttle but to no avail train stopped on 1.2% grade. No matter what I tried I could not restart the train up the grade So I was determined to try again. This time my power was 1 SD40-2 and a AC-4400W. Needless to say I had no problems getting the train over the grade and on to Rockwood. If you try this service and get 2 SD40-2's you may just be wasting your 2 hours. Close it and try again you may get a 4400 (or a C40-8 if you have that DLC) to go with your SD 40.
There is no solution. SD40s are too weak. You need at least 1 C40 and 1 AC44 and or 2 AC44s to pull 50 wagons. -> https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/c40-8w-brake-issue.37580/
To get up Sand Patch from the east, you need a minimum of 1.5 horsepower per ton. 2 SD40s are 6000; that's a 4000 ton train max.
Yeah some of the power setups on SPG are too weak to actually get up the hill. Especially if the weather is rain or winter. You will get stuck if you are primarily using SD40s. The reason I heard explained for this is that when the route was first made and the consists were built it was on TSW2020 which had a different physics setup. When the route was ported over to TSW2+ a new physics/Simugraph was used which is more realistic but also meant some of the consists that worked before don't work anymore. This only is an issue for player controlled trains, AI uses simplified physics so their trains never get stuck but if you are driving one you want at least one AC44.
