Hello all, I have a question how to brake a train realistic. How much brakeforce to apply at a certain distance from the station to make it on time in the desired stopping area? Because My problem is, still, to brake on time to reach a station or i schoot over the stopping place. I think in reality, driving a train gives you the feelings of movement and braken force, same like a car. At least I image, but in Tsw I don't have this feeling. If this subject is already discussed before, please link me towards there. Br Sander
It was definitely an attention-getting title. Current speed, weight, length, type of brakes, gradient, weather conditions, etc and success depends on practice. No loaded American freight train above 30 mph can stop completely within one mile and that's why the horn is a constant feature through populated areas.
Passenger trains are probably the easiest to practice with at first, as they have the relatively strongest and quickest-acting brakes. Generally modern EMUs have better brakes in this regard than locomotive-hauled trains. I suggest picking one type of train to practice with, and sticking with it for consistency. Don't worry so much about keeping to the timetable to begin with; this will allow you to approach at lower speeds which are easier to judge. Also, I suggest not trying to master vacuum brakes first (found on steam trains and the Class 101 DMU), because there are additional complications in controlling them. Physical reality is that momentum is proportional to the square of speed, and disc brakes remove momentum at a constant rate over time. This means that relatively small differences in speed can have a significant effect on stopping distance. This effect is magnified further on trains with tread brakes (usually older types), which remove momentum at a lower rate at higher speeds. You will need to learn the relationship between speed and distance for a "standard" brake setting of your choice, then use more braking than standard if you're going faster than you should at a given distance, or less if you're going slower. This "standard" braking should be somewhere in the middle of the range of available brake settings, so that you can make adjustments in both directions, and to minimise the risk of wheelslide in slippery weather. On a 3-step brake (British DMUs and EMUs) you can choose either Step 1 for a gentle approach or Step 2 for a more aggressive one. On a 7-step brake (British HSTs and most newer German trains), Step 3 or 4 will probably work. Where you have a continuous, stepless range of brake settings, try in the 40-60% range to see what suits the type. Take the train out on the Training Centre's outer loop using Free Roam mode, practice setting the standard braking you choose, and just watch what happens and get a feel for it. German trains and routes tend to measure speed in kph and distance in metres or km. A typical cruising speed between stations will be 120-140kph, assuming the distance between stations is long enough to get that fast. With standard braking, you should start braking between 1.0-1.2km. Cut power before then in anticipation, say at 1.5km. Look for a black-and-white striped "bench" sign which is supposed to indicate an approximate braking point for stations, though it's sometimes inaccurate, and not always placed at all in TSW modelling. Expect roughly 90kph at 600m and 60kph at 250m. If you can control your speed down to 25kph and then release the brakes, you should be able to stop in the correct position with standard braking from 2-3 carriage lengths, referring to the hologram that TSW projects. British trains and routes tend to measure speed in mph and distance in yards or miles. Cruising speeds between stations vary wildly depending on the route and stopping pattern. On the ECML you might be cruising at 125mph (200kph) on approach to a station or red signal, and you'll need to start braking nearly 2 miles out. On Birmingham Cross-City or Blackpool Branches, you might only reach 40mph in places, in which case you might only need 250 yards. My rule of thumb for the higher speeds is to note which signal would give you a double-yellow if the platform-end signal was at Danger, and start braking there. For lower speeds, from 70mph you may need 0.7 miles (about 1km or so), while from 50mph you'll only need 800 yards (half a mile) for the gentler end of the standard braking options. These distances will also be modified by the gradient of the line. Uphill will slow you down more quickly in the same brake setting, while downhill you'll slow down less readily. You'll need to adjust your braking distances and/or brake setting to compensate. This also means you'll need to learn which stations have a significant gradient on their approaches.
Give us an idea of what and where your driving and then we can give some more specific advice, though a general bit of advice I would give is, as Taihennami said, don't worry about the timetable, and it is much better to crawl into the station than to go shooting past at 30 mph.
Wow, that's harsh! My mental chcklist for an average German passenger train is 80 km/h at 1 km, 60 km/h at 500 m and 40 km/h at 200m. That braking curve slides me into the platform very nicely (usually in notch 1B, on level track), and I never have trouble keeping to schedule - and the railroad never gets sued for whiplash injuries.
Well, another usual part of braking technique is easing the brake when coming to a stop. That reduces the jerk forces, which are more noticeable to passengers than a smooth deceleration. It's particularly important with tread brakes, which bite pretty hard at low speeds. German signalling, incidentally, is set up so that modern intercity trains must be able to stop from 160kph in 1km, because that's all the warning you'll get from the lineside signals in dense fog (and is why LZB is required to go any faster than that). This requires sharper braking for a signal check than in the UK; I think Full Service braking is the required technique. At similar speeds in the UK, you would get at least 50% more braking distance from the first adverse signal. By the way, the speed-distance numbers I quoted roughly correspond to Step 1 braking in the Pacer or the 158. Standard braking technique for a planned stop, with a known braking point, is Step 2.
With passenger stuff, its just practise. I found i progressed from looking at the numbers and then just eyeballing it once i found my braking point and rough speed.
Thanks for the reactions! And sorry for miss spelling braking i see now actually that it is the autocorrect that creates breaking... But I should had checked it before posting... R For those who asked where I was driving, The Vorarlberg line.
I've noticed that the Talent 1 requires relatively high brake settings to obtain similar braking performance to other trains in TSW. My "standard" brake setting for it is 60%, easing to 40% when coming to a stop. Some of the stations are approached on quite steep gradients, so watch out for that too. Generally it's better to brake early and need to ease the brakes to coast in, than to brake late and risk running out of brake power and distance.
Minor correction: Momentum is linearly proportional to speed. I.e. p = mv. Kinetic energy is what is proportional to the square of the speed (E_kin = mv²/2). Everything else you stated is correct though
Onewallfree english = einwandfreies Englisch Not the yellow of the egg of an expression, only Germans will understand
