So after quite some time I was in a mood for some leisure driving, which usually means 442 or some train like that with easy controls and such... and I noticed sth, not sure if it is a quirk, bug, or just some imperfection in physics - so I was going 160 kph, nearing Koln, so a 1.0% downward gradient, on tempomat... it was maintaining speed, but not showing any braking, which is weird thats why heading into Koln Hbf I decided to turn the tempomat off with almost the same gradient, and the train barely gained any speed, without braking... other trains gain speed with half that gradient... I get that 442 is an EMU and thus usually lighter, but still, it was in double traction on descents you usually have to brake, so I was wondering, why is 442 almost immune to this lol... havent tested this on Tharandter Rampe, but still, a 0.5 or greater descent should make a train gain some speed
Yeah trains seem to have greatly varying grades of response to inclines and some moreso than others. I can't say I was ever offended by the behaviour of a 442 but recently I installed the 204 shunter and BOY does that thing go by itself on even 0.1%. Your case sounds less extreme, how does it compare in the same location if you try a 42x?
I am not sure 423 or any S-Bahn uses that corridor... might try a 146.2 run, but I am guessing that one will react quite a lot since it has heavy dostos... might try a free-roam with OBB 4024 in double traction to see if there is any difference but usually 0.5 does some slower gain in speed and 1.0 gives quite a momentum, especially if you arent braking also might try the Dresden Riesa version on that route to see if that one behaves differently (sometimes different models from different routes behave differently) havent noticed this behavior before, but then, I do pay much more attention to dials and indicators these days than before, so I am noticing things
Comparing apples and oranges. A 442 at 160 km/h with a lot of aerodynamic resistance is as likely to slow down as my car when I lift my foot off the gas pedal at 220 km/h will slow down even on a downward slope. That cannot be compared to a 204 which will get rolling at small speeds.
I also tried it going barely 60 kph and upon approach to the Hbf, there is 1.0 slope, gradually lessening... but still... I put master controller to 0 to see if it would gain speed and it barely gained any... whereas 423 started gaining speed on such gradient as soon as I let go off brakes (did a run today from Koln Hbf to Duren, S-Bahn) might do some more runs later, I'm pretty much dead for today
Yeah, which is why to him I was suggesting trying other EMUs. The 204 was more of an anecdote in this instance. Although comparing that one to even other shunters (which ok, are in a different size class), again, that one seems to just fly with the minimum slope lol
ok, so I tried some runs with DB 442 (which has 2 ends and 2 intermediate coaches) and VVO 442 (with only 1 intermediate coach) - the DB 442 (Koln Aachen) reacted to descents around 0.5 and 1.0 only very slightly and during coasting at flat sections (0.0) it even started slowing down (which is kinda normal tho)... the VVO 442 (Dresden Riesa) sometimes reacted even to 0.4-0.5 descents, at around 0.7-1.0 it gained a bit of speed and during coasting on flats it mostly held speed so I assume the 442 on Dresden Riesa is done slightly better, tho it still seems to me as if it had some slight magic brakes for descents this is an older EMU/loco, so yeah, I dont expect it to be done so well as Vectron lets say, and I know in older stuff there were some corners that were cut since most ppl wouldnt even notice, but then, I would expect this one to react to the terrain better tho I am not a real driver nor do I have enough in-depth knowledge of these trains, so I dont know if a real 442 behaves this way the 423 seemed to react to changes of gradient pretty well, havent tried 425 or 422
