Can’t Hear Class 377 Decelerating Sound When Outside

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by UnlimitedMagic, Jan 18, 2020.

  1. UnlimitedMagic

    UnlimitedMagic Well-Known Member

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    Once I was outside trainspotting at Falmer when I couldn’t hear the decelerating sound but when I’m driving inside the cab it’s fine.
    Hope u guys fix this soon
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2020
  2. Olaf the Snowman

    Olaf the Snowman Well-Known Member

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    I will check it out for myself, but did you have the DRA in and what speed were you doing when you were observing the train from the outside? The reason I was ask is because most of the deceleration sound you are hearing is the rheostatic braking as the traction motors are now acting as generators dissipating heat through resistors on top of the train. Setting the DRA will prevent the use of the traction motors which includes traction power as well as rheostatic braking (and regenerative braking if OHLE). And below certain speeds*, regenerative/rheostatic braking cuts out as it is not capable of stopping a train. A bit far fetched but I would be impressed if TSW incorporated this to make it super realistic.

    *varies by unit. I don’t know about class 377s but other similar units are 12.5mph or 25mph, etc....



    I’ve just looked up a video of a class 377 stopping and notice how in the last few mph just before the the train stops, you can’t really hear the train braking- it’s because it has switched to pure friction braking (at about 30 seconds in).

    Sometimes you may also get pure friction braking when braking at high speeds if the resistors above train get too hot (or in the case of regenerative braking as well, OHLE can’t accept it as there aren’t many trains drawing current in the area.
     
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  3. UnlimitedMagic

    UnlimitedMagic Well-Known Member

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    It happens when I’m trainspotting and it doesn’t make a sound when it’s entering the station.

    Like see at 32:50 on this video
     
  4. Olaf the Snowman

    Olaf the Snowman Well-Known Member

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    No you’re right, so it might just be an error for some reason; maybe it’s a glitch that you have to take charge of the train to be able to hear the braking or something like that. I had a go myself today to test the braking and when I brought it into London Road, even with DRA set, you could clearly hear the dynamic braking all the way till the train came to a stop. (With DRA set, there should be none at all; with DRA not set, it should cut off at approx 10mph or whatever the speed is for this particular traction) It’s not something that I’m going to blame the game developers as it is such a fine detail that unless you’re a driver/fitter etc... you’re not going to notice and the trains handle incredibly well and I am generally very impressed with the East Coastway.

    Having said that, it would be a good challenge for the company to develop a traction such as the Class 390 where dynamic braking is displayed separately from the brake cylinder/pipe (I.e. friction brake) gauges so they won’t be able to get away with it if it’s wrong :cool:
    The only way you would be able to tell if you’ve lost dynamic braking from the gauges on for example a Class 377 is by observing the brake cylinder pressure increase to compensate for the lack of dynamic braking when it cuts out but as I say it is not something most people will know. Even as a driver you don’t really need to know this because the Analogue Control Unit (ACU) in each vehicle automatically determines the amount of friction braking required depending on the vehicle loading and amount of dynamic braking available in order to provide the correct retardation force required by the driver (I.e. position of the Power Brake Controller selected by the driver). So for example, if dynamic braking cuts out, this will be supplemented by more friction braking.

    Or maybe the unit you were spotting had dynamic braking isolated throughout due to a fault, etc... ;)
     
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