Which routes and locos can you use AWS? I believe the old fashioned UK routes like Trans Pennine don’t use it because AWS wasn’t used in the 1980s. So I was wondering which routes and locos in TSW2 have this option to use and if you can use it is it worth doing so and is it any good?
AWS has actually been used for a long time (I believe the 1960s is when what we now know as AWS popped up, but it took a long time for it to be fitted to all routes) - in fact, the GWR used a very similar system called ATC in the very early 1900s - the difference being ATC relied on physical contact, whereas AWS relies on magnets and provides a visual indicator. All other UK routes are fitted with AWS, as are all locomotives bar the Class 08 (they're typically confined to yards and short movements, and go slow enough that you can basically stop on sight). Strictly speaking you can't go more than 45mph (IIRC) but in game it doesn't really matter. It's a very basic system that's easy to get to grips with - one of, if not the, most simple & basic in the game that refers to signals (not sure on American systems) - but don't let that undermine it. When introduced, it made the British railway carriage one of the safest places on Earth (statistically).
So does DSD have to be used with AWS? I’ve watched a video and the guy was switching on DSD along with AWS. So AWS warns the driver about signals, what does DSD actually do?
It's a "deadman's pedal". IRL if the engineer takes his foot off the pedal for a certain period of time, an alarm sounds and if he doesn't acknowledge the alarm in a certain amount of time, there's an emergency brake application. In the game, it sounds an alarm if you "don't do anything" for a certain period (maybe 1 min?),and if you fail to ackowledge, you get an emergency brake application.
Not strictly true, DSD in the game is pretty much identical to how it is in reality - in some trains it goes off after 30 or 60 seconds no matter what, and others it goes off 30/60 seconds after you last moved a control. The bit that isn't in the game (from what I can tell) is lifting your foot up. The alarm sounds immediately after you lift your foot up and you have a few seconds to depress the pedal again. The alarm sounding requires the driver to lift their foot off and then depress the pedal, IIRC you have 2-3 seconds. Like you say, failure to acknowledge results in an emergency brake application. DSD is completely independent of AWS, but in reality, both are always used.
Apparently in older installations, it was a pure deadman's pedal without a timer, but drivers quickly found that if they "accidentally" left their lunch pail on the pedal........ In at least some in-game UK trains (haven't tested them all), getting out of the driver's seat sets off the alarm, simulating the DMP function.
Are there shortcuts on the PS4 dual shock controller that activates AWS & DSD and cancels them when they have been activated?
There are no shortcuts to activate or deactivate those systems on console. They have to be turned on manually in the cabs. Once they are activated though, the button to acknowledge both is the same (circle on PS and X on Xbox).
The timings for the DVD in actuality are quite generous to be fair - closer to 6 seconds - which comes in handy when it all goes off at once and you end up doing the 'octopus' to cancel all the alerts!
I should apologise for going a little off topic, but the typo in the thread title is amusing. I'd expect that the heating has to be switched on and off manually. XD
