I've just completed a scenario on Hamburg-Lübeck where I drove goods into a yard, decoupled the wagons, moved onwards a bit, then reversed and drove back past the wagons, then changed direction again and coupled to another train. The scenario only had me change cab after I was coupled to the other train and left the yard in the direction I came from. But when I initially reversed to drive back next to the train I delivered, it had me stay in the same cab and drive backwards, so I didn't see where I was going. Is this how it works in real life? Are the drivers looking out the window (or using mirrors) and driving like that, or is external shunting personell mandatory for guidance? Just wondering because changing cab whenever I changed direction felt simpler to me. Code: =====Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π==={∞}====→→ ↓== ↓←==(backwards, no cab change)==←←= →→=={∞}•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π•Π=============
You always change ends in real life. Driving with limited visibility is a big no no. If you need to reverse and/or have wagons obstructing your view, you need a shunting assistant to ride the front of the train and be in radio contact with you (or use the remote control if you’re driving a shunter). Part of the reason why the lack on engine rooms in TSW is so annoying. You walk through them a ton if you’re shunting.
The assumption of the scenarios that do this is that it walks you through the cab changeover process once and expects you to remember the procedure for subsequent stops. The only time you would drive backwards (at least in UK) is if a "competent person" were in the rear cab and it was absolutely necessary (eg. if the leading cab controls were broken) to get it to safety. As this is a game however, you're free to drive whichever cab you like in timetable, and if you don't want to swap in a scenario (unless instructed to), that's entirely your choice. The only people who will shout at you will be people saying that you should obey realism at all times
There is one scenario on BBO where you have to follow the cab change prompts to the letter. It also locks you out if for some reason you wanted to go back to the other cab to check switches. Personally I think in scenarios like this, which cab to drive from when shunting or running round should be left to player discretion, so long as you end up back in the leading cab for a subsequent main line run.
Here are the UK rules on shunting from the opposite cab, as contained in GERT8000-SS2. Obviously these do not apply to non-UK countries. For shunters: For drivers:
Back in the early seventies (when I was a freight guard), We used to run a particular train into Mossend yard where we were often tasked with shunting off our train into the various sidings. It was usually a class 37 and the driver invariably remained in the one cab for the entire duration of the shunting procedure until the time came to couple up to our return train for the return journey, only then changing ends. This was common practice back then, with drivers only changing ends when going out onto the running line. the only coms we had with the driver were the signals from our bardic lamps!
That's why I'm confused. For the first change of direction there were no tutorial steps on how to change cab, so I thought either I'm supposed to figure that out on my own or I'm supposed to stay in the (previously) leading cab. Second change also no tutorial (which would make sense if they wanted me to stay in the cab for the first change, as in that case I'd now be looking in the right direction again), then for the third change of direction the scenario guided me through the cab change all of a sudden. Huh? Only makes sense to me if they indeed want me to drive backwards while staying in my cab and only switch cab once the train is ready and I leave the yard, but driving upwards of 1km without sights is... interesting.
In the US, a lot of moves like that will have a conductor on the rear platform to watch the move. Changing cabs would require changing ID numbers with the dispatcher, to the new lead loco numbers. A reverse move with conductor watching only requires permission. So, in the US, afaik, the move would not involve a cab change until attached to the new train.
To add on to that note on US trains, I believe this would be with multiple locos. In a single loco, US trains almost always only have one cab (only exceptions I can think of are ACS-64, AEM-7, and HHP-8 which are derived from European designs). This is the reason US freight trains are designed the way they are with the body being narrower than the cab--so the engineer can look back down the train when driving long hood forward.
