Hi. I have a question about the best and my favorite route in TSW. Am I doing something wrong, or is it just that, as usual, the train's exterior lighting is so hopeless that it shines a meter forward? This totally spoils all the fun in the evening and at night. Is there really still a problem with the lights in some trains after so many years? Unless something is switched somewhere else and I don't know, please give me some tips. Regards
The BR628 has very weak lights, which is normal. It is an old train from the 70's and back then they were not made to light everything up.
No train actually has such lighting. It wouldn't be allowed to move if the driver couldn't see anything! This is unrealistic and cannot be explained. Steam trains a hundred years ago provided more light. This is kind of issue...
The lights of the 628 are true to reality, in former times the lights were not made for the driver to see something, but to be seen or to warn that the train is active.
Not true. You only need to see signals - which are illuminated. You don't need to see the track as you don't need to steer a car on a road. The dispatcher is steering you. The marker lights are there for you to be seen. In fact many drivers refuse to use high beams even when they are allowed to just because they do not want to see what they are running over, causing a PTSD for many (if you see it, it's too late anyway.) Driving services at night is not for the driver to enjoy scenery - it's a job. Make it realistic and people will still complain....
I have been interested in railways for 35 years and I have never seen anything like what you write about. Maybe in Poland in the 1970s we had better light bulbs than in Germany? Excuse me, how can you see the speed limit signs without lights? The lights may be dim, but what we have here is like driving blind. You can see it in the tunnel. Pull in, stop and tell me where are the lights outside? this isn't realistic, it's just screwed up. But its only my opinion.
You have a Buchfahrplan and a Langsamfahrstrecken plan which tells you about the speed limits - in addition to your mandatory route knowledge. Either on paper or combined as EBuLa. The lights are enough to illuminate trackside signs and hectometer boards at close range. Railroading is NOT driving on sight (and if it is, after a Zs7 - or a defective crossing triggering a 1000Hz influence, you're bound to 40 km/h speed limit in Germany). Imagine how the old British Diesels only featuring a weakly illuminated headcode box were able to do their job... or Steamers literally just using candles. And US is totally different. Here in Germany, there's houses and roads everywhere trackside, you're not supposed to cause car crashes by blinding them.
There are even on YouTube enough videos of DB trains in the 70s-00s where they didn't even have their lights on.
I understand all this. It's not about adding lights like in modern locomotives. But to increase its range by at least two meters. It looks as if the developers had a problem with creating lighting's at night and tried to hide that problem. But since I see no one has a problem with it, great for the developer.
My suggestion would be to drive the route at night anyway, because this route must be - arguably - the one with the best night lighting in TSW.
Is that +2m range researched or just a personal "pimp my ride" wish? The 628 was setup by a skilled developer in the business since MSTS days, and known for high quality.
