Feature Bsi Unit Compatability

I for one am a huge UK sprinter fan and spend a lot of time in game driving either the 150 or 158...

The good thing with sprinters is that they are usually compatible together(one of the few groups of trains that are compatible together). For example, you can often see 158's attached to 150's and previously 150's and 142's/143's. Occasionally, you would see turbos (166/165's) attached to either 150's and 158's on depot moves (non revenue earning services).

Now I know that you can couple 158's, 142's and 170's in game and I believe as they are all made by the same 3rd parties but why not make them all compatible? Look at BR locos in the game and how they are compatible to others carriages for different things.

Another slight thing, I have been trying to recreate is the 3 car 158 with a doubled up centre driving cab but doesn't seem to have been implemented...?


Photos below have been taken from the internet.\/

 

Compatability should be refined across the whole current library. BSI couplers are a good start but the entire class 66 line up should be standardised as well as one or two other examples of compatability improvements.

 

IRL it used to be the case that due to different control systems, the Class 165/166 Turbos could not be coupled to Class 15x Sprinters despite both having BSI couplers. The only provision was to couple mechanically only (fitter drop the electrical boxes) for a dead slow move with one set a “swinger” to clear the line. To my knowledge that never happened in practice, it was generally better to get a fitter to site or arrange assistance with a fully compatible unit.

 

Aside from which, class 165/166 were rarely, if ever, in locations that had 15x allocations.

 

Cotswold Line in the early 90’s when Regional Railways ran the bulk of the daytime services (with the infamous 155’s) but there were also Thames Trains workings at certain times of the day (plus the InterCity HST’s). There was also a RR parliamentary move from Oxford to Swindon and vv once a day. There was also a period when Thames Trains ran an Oxford to Bristol TM service with Turbos.

 

Fairly limited opportunities for the units to meet then. Roughly as i recall/suspected.

 

Here is the closest thing I could find to support the use of turbos on other BSI compatible units... These are never used in passenger service but on depot and empty moves.

 

It's possible over the years the units were modded to overcome the electrical and control differences. As I said, I was going by the instructions we worked to in the early 90's when Turbo's and 15x's could not be coupled.