I made a CRR Amtrak F7 but when I couple it to amfleet coaches it doesn't release the brakes. I've tried setting the rotair valve to passenger and freight but it still won't work.
No, it's not prototypical. US passenger pressure is 110; there's no way to make those Amfleet brakes release with just 90. Modeling oversight.
Probably, this was never tested, if it is supposed to work at all. No amfleet coaches and they would not fit the era (I think). Nobody will have thought about testing it in practice then.
I think it was because Clinchfield was conceived as a freight route with no notion of passenger services on it. Still, the SPG diesels all have working passenger air settings. The Amfleet I coaches were around by 1976. However, they couldn't have been hauled by F7s, because they required HEP. Although early Amtrak drove lots of legacy locomotives, these were passenger locos with steam boilers (E's, FP's, Alco PA's etc) pulling legacy steam-heated cars. In any event, Amtrak has never used that route. The last passenger services were Clinchfield's own, and those ended in 1954
It’s a shame thought that it carried over to the ATSF F7. It would have been nice to use them with some form of passenger rolling stock at least but no dice.
An inherent problem here is that DTG slapped the passenger Warbonnet livery onto a freight-model F7 (Santa Fe modded some of its F7s for passenger service by putting a water tank in the A unit and a steam generator in the B unit; both were needed for passenger coaches).
I suspect we may see a proper diesel Amtrak train this year. If not, within 24 months at the latest. Just suspect..... Also a route in the Sierra Nevada mountains... also just suspect. It would be nice to get a high speed 70mph route between Kansas City and Chicago that is obviously flat and not a mountain pass.
So, I’ll pose the question for the class. What evidence do you have to point to this possibly happening which would make you suspect it? There has been virtually ZERO talk by DTG of anything related to more Amtrak coming right now or a route in the Sierra’s. So I’m curious what’s making you suspect these two things other than it’s what YOU want to happen… You always word your posts like you know secret hidden facts the rest of us are unaware of.
I discovered if I spawn in a amfleet train with the ACS64 and set to neutral, trail, and release all brakes, it will release everything and I hook up an f7 to the other end it will operate, and use the ACS like a trailing loco. Only thing is you have no train brakes besides the independent. Maybe there's a better way, but I still had fun with it.
I was able to use the Sante Fe F7 and amtrak coaches on the Antelope track. Initially, I could not get it to move, but was eventually able to resolve the issue. The problem is, I can't remember what I did! I'll have to go experiment tomorrow and see if I can figure it out.
So what's the actual miss here? Should the rotair valve in passenger provide 110psi charge into the brake pipe? Did the clinchfield models actually do this? If the CRR F7s were only set up for freight (CRR did briefly run pasenger services but its not immediately clear was the consist was), did that mean the rotair valves were useless even at the time? (All of which is to say that if the F7 doesn't actually provide 110psi, then the simulation totally works and there isn't enough pressure to release modern brakes.) Shame, too. Southern Pacific definitely ran F7 in ABB formation along the AV line as the San Joaquin Daylight service (LA to Oakland via the...San Joaquin Valley).
Clinchfield ran passenger service until 1954. Whether they used their F3/F7 fleet for it, or steam, I'm not sure. But IIRC all F7s came from EMD with a dual-purpose air system (not worth the trouble to make two different brake systems), so an F7 should be able to move coaches even if it can't heat them. Certainly CRR No. 800 can haul passenger coaches today, as it has frequently pulled CSX' executive train.
