Please add an option to start an engine with it running and ready to go, not cold and dark. I'm 78 years old and don't want to spend my remaining years flipping switches and pushing buttons trying to get an engine started. More common is trying to remember what buttons to push and having to go through a tutorial again just to get going. I want to have a helper start it up and maybe leave coffee and donuts for me as well. Maybe a least a popup checklist of how to start an engine up. This is especially problematic with diesels but with others as well. Don't let me be found lifeless in a cab with my finger on a switch that isn't the right one.
The engines are already turned on from the start. Many startup procedures are basically the same. Master key on, direction selector to forward, headlights on. Everything else is optional if you just want to casually drive. If you want easy, stay away from american freight locomotives.
It's the startup procedures that get me. And it's American freight that I like best. And dark is how it is. And it seems they're all different. Yesterday I wanted to try the SD 40-2 again after not driving it for a while. Unfortunately I picked a timetable with a night time start. The cab light was so dim I couldn't see the switches and buttons. First, I tried the usual but it didn't work. Went through the training module for startup, wrote down the steps, tried it on the timetable route, no power. I following the steps to the letter. Went to the training mod again, made sure I had the steps correct. Still no juice. Gave up after 45 minutes wasted time. Then tried a GP38-2. Different start up from the SD40. Dark again. Al least the cab lights were bright enough to see. Had to do the training mod to get startup correct. It worked but again wasted time trying on my own at first, then the tutorial and finally able to drive. Spent almost an hour on startup stuff. I want an option to have all the startup procedures done so that all I have to do is turn the headlights on, shift the reverser, release the braked and go. Simple is better for me and maybe for others as well.
