I expected a commuter service when I saw the cab was the Class 166, but definitely not a (attempted) max line speed run! Is this just a bug?
well, the maximum allowed speed for the BR lass 166 is 90 mph ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_166
The HUD and graph only show the line speed, not the VMAX of the train. The VMAX of the class 166 is 90MPH so you should have driven to this the whole trip. Unfortunately the program isn't written in such a way as to recognise this
That particular service runs non-stop between London and Reading, as per real-life, therefore it makes use of the fast lines for much of its journey. It is correctly using the class 166 again as per real life in the period this route is set. The red line represents the maximum speed limit of the track, because the way the scoring works is you are penalised only for exceeding the track speed limit, not the train's max speed, therefore it can be useful to see where/how you exceeded the speed limit when you are looking at how much AP you received. In this case, the middle part of the graph is relatively meaningless as it would be fairly impossible to break the speed limit on the GWML fast lines in a 166. EDIT: But that doesn't mean you can't try xD
Hopefully our resident Turbo driver will confirm, but I would imagine there is an overspeed sensor on a 166 which would kick in and kill the power once more than a few MPH above the Vmax of the stock.
I don’t think any stock has that (unless you count the TASS system) but I’m curious to be proven wrong
It's simply a nonstop service between the two ends, why would it be a bug? As others have said, the 166 cannot reach 125mph, but that's the track speed limit anyway. But there is nothing wrogn with that.
Ah, I see! Thanks for clearing that up for me I just didn't expect a non-stop service to Reading with the 166. Then again, I've barely had the pleasure of experiencing rail travel over 30mph haha!
You actually got pretty lucky picking this exact service, there are very few non-stop fast services in the 166, most of them are slow or semi-fast stoppers as you'd expect for a small multiple unit. It handles itself well at 90mph though I think, and it is definitely one of the best sounding trains in the game.
When the class 165/166 was introduced, the 166 was the "posh" or express version and was to replace the loco hauled stock on the express services from Paddington to Oxford/Bedwyn/Newbury, the class 165 was the commuter/local/branch line version, many of the class 165's were two carriage units. Certainly many of the Oxford services ran non stop to Reading back in the day, I assume they still do. I think eventually the 165/166 became merged so you could see a class 165 on an Oxford fast service and a class 166 on a stopping service. This is another decision of DTG's I cannot comprehend. Out of the two the class 165 would have been a better choice to model as there were far more of them, both two and three coach trains. There were only about 21 class 166's which wouldn't be enough to cover all the stopping services and Oxford services on the timetable, I have seen unit numbers duplicated on the same journey!
Lots of UK stock does, it will cut traction at set speeds on things like 323s, the Turbostar family (had to be retrofitted to 170/1s) and probably a lot more besides. And of course Class 165 and 166 on their respective routes were fitted with ATP as a trial which can also supervise speed as well as signal aspects. I don't know about Class 166s, but the Chiltern fleet still have fully functional ATP on all units except the former TPX 168/3 units.
I'm no more knowledgeable on this than you, but I think you might be confusing ATP with tripcock signalling (which the Chiltern 172s don't have). I might be wrong though...
Chiltern does use ATP, but GWR 165/166s do not have it fitted. The GWR units (can't speak for Chiltern's) don't have any form of speed limiter so will just keep going until they run out of puff, not that it'll be far beyond 90...
In real life (since the 2018 timetable changes) the ‘1Kxx’ services run with class 80x stock non stop between reading and London at a max speed of 125 mph and then down to Bedwyn at a max of 90 mph. Before the introduction of the current stock, 166s were used, just to focus the HSTs on more key routes down to Wales and the West Country. I believe there is either a limiter on the units or the train itself just won’t go faster anyway.
Right now the 166s are again being used on fast services to Paddington after somebody forgot to weld the IETs together...
Were you on a route other than GWE? I found that it limited me to 90, but that was in TSW1 so it might have changed.
I got 102 (only just) out of the class 166 on GWE. I don't think it's got much more in it (like a car in the highest gear it won't accelerate after a certain point).
I am not getting confused on this, the time setting up ATP on Chiltern units is the bane of my life as I'm a depot driver at Banbury LMD. You're correct that Class 172s don't have Tripcocks, but that's no longer an issue for Chiltern as they've been sub-leased to West Midlands Railway now so we have a more consistent fleet in operation that can all use all areas of coverage.
In real life the wheel and bogey design is one of the reasons for the units maximum rated speed (also shown in the cab or outside of the train). The wheel profile and the bogey are designed according to the rated speed of each train (that's why 166 does not have same wheel assembly like a HST or 101). Thus the 90 MPH limit shows the maximum speed the unit wheel and bogeys are designed to handle safely. Going much faster might be possible if enough power is provided but it will result in derailment. Edit. Also to be clear the game shows the maximum line speed not the maximum speed allowed for each train (Exception being trains with LZB enabled. Ex: BR 101 on Munich Augsburg shows a max speed of 200 even where 230 is possible). In order to drive correctly you must see what is the maximum speed for each loco / multiple unit and obey it yourself. Just like driving the German class 143 for example, the routes you drive on might have a maximum indicated line speed of 140-160 but the loco is limited to 120 so that is the speed you need to keep to even if the HUD does not show that.
It was on GWE (TSW2). I believe the service I was playing was 1K64 Paddington to Bedwyn under Chapter 1 "Commuter Driver".
I did a full run from Paddington to Reading last night in a 166 and just left it on full throttle the whole way. Never topped 100 for me
