I just attempted this scenario. You've got 2 x EMD F7As & a ton of hoppers. The first part is to go uphill to Blue Diamond tipple. It's up to 3.5% grade in a few places so I dared not to slow down, don't know how hard a hill start would be here. After reaching on the top, you've got to split your train in like 4 parts. Spoiler: You can possibly mess up here ! If you don't stop precisely, you'll end up with a hopper blocking the switch after splitting the train. Then we slowly pull uphill at < 3 mph to load the cut with coal, after which you are supposed to park this loaded cut onto a siding. I released the brakes & the loaded hoppers started rolling pretty rapidly. I applied service brakes to 'First Reduction'. Wheels on my loco. skids for a moment before it hits the dirt. ( I'm kinda happy that it simulated realistically; brakes are being applied on the loco. first cause the wheels to 'lock' & the hoppers drag the loco. causes it to snap off the rails. Thanks, DTG ) But I have so many questions, here - How do you use the transition lever on F7 ? Is it like the gear system of BR 101 DMU ? Like Lower setting means more traction & higher setting means more power ? Will it somehow help in hill-starting ? Also, it doesn't go beyond this setting for some reason... How do you bring the loaded hoppers down to the siding without derailing ? It's about 1000 tons with 2 x F7s & a loaded cut on a 3.5% grade. Also Dynamics don't work at low speeds of Clinchfield. So, what's the 'right way' of braking in this situation ? This loco. doesn't have an MU-2A valve ( as far as I'm aware ). So you can't set it up in a proper Lead/Trail config. Otherwise, it would've been possible to fine-tune the brakes a bit by leaving one of the loco. with it's brakes dragging. Not ideal but would've done the job ! Any remedy for that ? And why does the Rotair Valve has different settings for passenger lap & freight lap ? Isn't lap supposed to be Brake stand cutoff ? Any additional tips would be great Can we summon the train god DTG Matt ?
The F7 has auto-transition. You just need to put the transition lever into “1” and the loco does the rest. If it was an earlier F3 model, then you’d have to mess with the lever while driving. We can go into more detail if you want to, but as far as CRR is concerned, you needn’t worry about it. If you’re struggling with the hill-starts, you probably need to take the F7s all the way up to (or close to) the red line on such an extreme gradient (P.S.: don’t forget your sanders). Air brakes. And hard. No other way to do it. Take it slow. Crawl if you need to in order to keep the train under control. That is your absolute priority; not being the fastest. As you recognised yourself, that’s not a good idea in general. If you’re really determined to do it anyway, try messing about with the independent brake of the trailing A-unit. Maybe the game will let you do something with it - never tried it. PASS and FRGT are for cabs with the brakes cut-in (i.e. the one the engineer is in). PASS LAP and FRGT LAP are for trailing A-units with the brake stand cut-out. The different LAP settings have something to do with different emergency brake protocols (fast acting vs controlled) but I couldn’t find the specifics on those. The scenario is one of the harder ones in the game. It tests your mettle. All the advice I can generally give you is to be careful with everything you do. On that gradient, any mistake is a potential disaster. If you need more input on the F7 in general, try checking out the official operator’s manuals.
The transition lever has nothing to do with more power. It is for choosing whether you want to use dynamic brake, series parallel shunt for shunting i guess and series parallel for actually driving a consist. A gear shifter in a car for instance. No mu2a valve on locomotive. Your loco will always be your lead loco when set up with the 3 switches, transition lever to series parallel, rotair valve to freight. The other locos are automatically the trailing locomotives so no adjustments necessary. In terms of braking, dynamics and auto combined while bailing off independent. Similar to sherman hill.
The only real answer is to take it slow. For hill starts like with any other train you want to apply a little power, release the main brake and when it's almost released finally release the locomotive brake as you increase the power. For braking the loaded hoppers when returning to the loop, you can use the main brake. The first application will likely not be sufficient to slow it properly so increase and lap gradually until the train is no longer accelerating but holding a nice steady speed. Ideally around 5mph. The brakes are like the 101 in that you can stop the pressure increasing or decreasing by 'lapping' it. Then once you are near the stopping point just increase the brake force and it will stop quite quickly, even on a downhill gradient. As someone else said, the transition lever is basically only for if you want throttle or dynamic braking. Even at slow speeds I've found the dynamics aren't bad and can help you fine-tune the braking force along with your airbrake. The key to it is just take it slow as its not something that should or can be rushed.
This is a tricky scenario but not for the reasons stated. The scripting has an AI F7 turn up to remove part of your shunted train. This is bugged both in terms of how you position the cars and if you reload a save game before that point. The only way I could ever get this scenario done was to charge up the hill completely ignoring the speed limit, so. I could pass that part before needing to save.
Don’t mean to derail this thread, but could somebody confirm whether my previous post at the beginning of this thread is visible? It said that it had to be approved by a moderator. I never had that before.
Guess that counts as confirmation that my post is indeed visible That much I know, but I don’t know what these passages in the manual refer to:
Thanks, everyone for the replies... Yes Lamplight, you're post is visible. Agree that this is 'one of the hardest' if not 'the hardest' scenario in the game. Thanks for the documentation. Makes sense about the Rotair valve That's correct in the reference to American Railroading. However, my curiosity was regarding the 2 lap positions as explained by Lamplight. Thanks anyways I try to complete the scenario / service in one sitting only, or with some pauses at-most. Doesn't feel relatable to save and resume the next day. I see your point. But I suppose dynamics don't work properly ( atleast IRL ) at low speeds like 5mph. See my OP. That's where I derailed
Not sure there's much more I can add than has already been discussed. I've run the scenario numerous times, it's absolutely one of my favourite in the game, and easily the hardest scenario in the game. I've run it at least once on a DTG stream if I recall, not sure if those are archived on YouTube. Don't use save with this scenario, as Vern noted, it breaks the AI, no idea why. It's no excuse because the feature SHOULD work, but, personally, I feel this scenario gains its full effect when played in one sitting - it's a real tense one that will test your focus and attention for a longer period. Take it slow and careful, the minute that train is going any kind of speed it's too late. You can also, if I recall, pin down parking brakes on the cars to make the train a bit easier to handle - but - I don't recall doing that in my playthroughs, it was just slow moving and careful application of the independants I think maybe with the odd panic train brake Oh, and always check your points before any move. Always. There's one bit where you have to uncouple half way down the train and then pull forward - recommend keeping an eye on the coupling as you pull away because if you bounce it a bit, it can re-couple. Keep it slow and you'll keep control Matt.
It is easily the best scenario in the game and maybe the most challenging. Actually when I ran it many moons ago I did make extensive use of the save function, partly because I could not spend the time and partly to hold the action while I figured out what to do next. Maybe I paused a few times too. Not saying it works for everyone, but it did for me. MP is right to be careful with the switches. And following the instructions to a tee is also important, though I seem to recall I had to think a little outside the box when running around the consist.
Agreed and Clinchfield is a route that definitively could do with some post release love, be it some additional motive power, more scenarios or (shock for suggesting it) an extension.
The often-referenced GP7 would be a fantastic addition to CRR with appropriate timetable services. I'd also like to see the pathing fixed. Doesn't make any sense right now how trains are dispatched via the passing loops while there's no train that needs to pass.
I can confirm. Perhaps I didn't follow appropriate procedure for switching cabs, but using the handbrakes prevented a rollaway for me when I changed cabs once the train had been assembled for the run back. "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."
When I first started the game, this was the point where I learned about and disabled journey mode, as it was one of the very first scenarios I encountered (Clinchfield being the first route I tried) and it was so damn hard.
