Clinchfield Railroad Journey (Service 1 of Chapter 2) You start with three SD40-2 but they don't have enough power to drive faster than 0.6 mph. The whole train weighs about 4.772,3 tons. Right now, the service is not possible without getting wheel slip and rolling backwards. How to replicate: Start CRR journeys and select the first service of chapter two. Set up locos as usual. Try going uphill. Result: Speed caps at 0.6 mph. Desired outcome: Driving faster than 0.6 mph. Please fix this! Thanks!
Exactly what I did, but not working after about 10 minutes patiences after the brake pipe pressure is back at 90.
Oh, no. You have plenty of horsepower: three SD40s have 9000 ponies between them,* and this service runs perfectly OK in dry weather. The problem is adhesion: the tracks are slippery, and if you go above notch 3 the wheels break free and spin. More power wouldn't help that. Now, another loco or two might, but not because they add more power, but instead because they each add another 12 driving wheels in contact with the rails, which means more traction (this is why RR use road slugs, ex-locomotives with no engines but all their traction motors). Currently the best workaround is a controlled reverse all the way to the end of the yard, where the grade is less severe. Then you can get a decent start before reaching the 1.5% section. *In mountains, the target power ratio is 1.5 horsepower per ton (hppt). In this case, the ratio is nearly 2:1, so it's fine.
That's right, there are lots of photos of coal trains being hauled by 3 SD40's, though sometimes there were a couple of Geeps pushing at the rear. And there could be as many as 5 lead locos, depending on train weight. In this particular case I'd be checking my MU setup.
It's not the MU setup, nor lack of power. It's traction in the snow: throttle above Notch 3 just induces wheelslip.
Thanks for the advice lads! I'll definitely try that backwards tip. However, it's still a bit strange that you can't beat that service the "normal" way. ;D
Error in gameplay design. If I had to guess, the service was designed in nice weather, but then somebody had the bright idea of setting it in winter, without thinking what the effect of slippery conditions would be.
Limited power is not lacking power. There is one really hard point and that is coupling to a set of loaded wagons at a 2.5% slope (I may get the percentage wrong). Otherwise it is not that hard once you find out how to control speed properly by using a mix of train brake and dynamic brake.