This is probably old stuff but thought I would mention it... 1. Doing a run on GWE with the Class 101 DMU, on the level between Maidenhead and Twyford speed topped out at 65 MPH in 4th gear and full throttle. Should be 70 MPH, probably a tad more. 2. Some distinctly odd lighting. Running without the cab light on, little to no forward illumination as to be expected from a train without a high intensity headlamp. Switch the cab light on and suddenly it's illuminating half of East Berkshire! Screenshots below... Probably long past the sell by date as regards any fixes but maybe worth looking at.
65.5mph was the official highest fourth gear speed as quoted in the driver's manual, though I don't know what the actual top speed on level gradient in practice was.
As said above they were actually 65.5mph machines though a friend of my father always used to say 62 or 3 was pushing it.
70 MPH must have been the MPS going downhill, but certainly AFAIR all the conventional DMU’s had a top speed of 70MPH.
The issue with the cab light providing more light than the headlights happens on lots of routes with lots of locos/trains. I found running the class 66 RHTT on BCC did the same.
I believe the lighting (slightly contradictory to Nick Y but not completely) is an issue that mainly occurred with older routes and happens so less. As there's only one route in TSW older than GWE, there are some eccentricities with it as a result. However, GWE also has the best daytime lighting from my experience so there's a silver lining to everything I guess.
I checked the Class 101 on both NTP and TVL and in neither case did the cab light have the effect shown above. ^NTP ^TVL
(Post continued due to image limit) ^GWE I do not have the GW Blue pack on PC so I couldn't check it, but I did use the HST and the test was successful, as some more distant scenery can be seen. I do have path tracing enabled, but as the effect is the same it doesn't really matter.
Sounds like it is route related then. I must try a night run on TVL or NTP later to check. Well at least it was nice to see where I was going for once on a night drive, rather than playing Simudrive Sim!!
I’m sure I have had the 101s on other routes up to 70mph, but I can’t remember exactly where (NTP and TVL have few opportunities for such speeds due to mostly low line speeds and frequent stops) - it may have been gradient assisted. I do feel as if different 101s perform differently, but I haven’t done any real analysis on it to prove the point.
Another lighting issue with the 101 if you turn on the coach/passenger lights they will bleed through the roof in exterior view.
That is a good point, which is why it probably never came through in testing. Even on DLOGW, most of the 101 services are Paddington to Maidenhead and vv stopping trains without much opportunity to get over 55 or 60 MPH. Just happened that Quick Play gave me the scenario where you take a late evening train from Slough to Reading then on the Depot, so you can open it up between Maidenhead and Twyford.
Wonder if you could get it beyond that on NTP on the long downhill towards Manchester Ignoring the station stops, obviously And put it in neutral so the engine speed doesn't limit it
Well yes at that point there would be nothing to slow it down. It just seems strange to me that a unit rated with a top speed of 70 MPH can't actually reach that speed using its own engine power on the level.
I was more of the angle of whether Simugraph would actually let it go beyond 70 while gravity does its thing...
Could the differing top speeds be explained by the differing power to weight ratios of the two and three car units?
My sense is that the top speed is limited by the maximum permitted revs, which in 4th gear is reached at 65mph. Even if, up to that speed, you have ample power and good acceleration, you won’t get beyond that speed. So I don’t think it’s to do with power to weight ratio as such.
All three 101s do perform differently. The NTP one is technically the more correct one as it got slightly improved with the preserved collection update. The Tees Valley one is still in the state it was when released, while the GWB one is kind of a hybrid of the two, it has some aspects of the NTP one but not correctly implemented or not changed at all in some aspects.
