Expert Db Br 145 Discussion

No, the voltage change is on the open line between Bad Schandau and Děčín. That means you always need a multi-system loco to go across the border. But if you then have a long distance to go within Germany, you might not want to "waste" a multi-system loco on that. Or you have a CZ/DE capable loco, but you then need to change to a DE/NL one. You could do those changes at Bad Schandau, right near the border, or at Pirna Gbf, but Dresden-Friedrichstadt is a larger, less busy station and it's a better location for the drivers to start and end their shifts as well. That means that loco changes at Friedrichstadt are very common.

Yes, exactly, that's my point! The 145 can't do that, so we'll get some loco changes at Friedrichstadt, which is much more interesting than just taking over a complete train at Hbf.

 

It's possible that what you played was actually a TRAXX . Zusi really shouldn't be used as a gauge for realism (other than perhaps safety and signal systems). I just looked up a Zusi cab ride of the BR145 on youtube and the only thing I could find was TRAXX locos with MFD (the BR145 has an analog MFA indicator panel that looks like the one from the BR423/BR425), or in one video it had the BR101 cab. Complete nonsense.

With all that said, the BR145 is sort of a middle point between the BR101 and the TRAXX, so I can definitely understand if you have a hard time to tell them apart. But operationally or in terms of technology they are quite different, and that is the focus of Expert locomotives. For general "train spotting gaming" there are standard DLC's.

The BR145 sounds closer to the BR101 than the TRAXX we have in game. The former both share the same traction converters (but the BR145 has different, less powerful traction motors). In terms of traction control, the BR145 is quite different from the BR101 however, since it can only control individual bogies (while the BR101 has control of each traction motor individually) so if you lose one traction motor you lose that bogie.

When it comes to brake control, the BR145 is yet again very different (and actually very different from the TRAXX as well, which went back to the BR101 way of doing things) with no pneumatic fall back and just two redundant brake computers. The BR101 only has one brake computer, but if it fails you have a traditional pneumatic brake valve that can be used. On the BR145 it acts more like how the central control computers (ZSG) behave on the 101, where one of the computers is always the master while the other is the slave. If the former fails the locomotive automatically changes master.

Actually, from the outside and in terms of sound the earliest TRAXX (BR146.0 and BR185.0) are basically just repainted BR145's, so in some sense the BR145 is even closer to the TRAXX than I made it seem above. The important thing to note is that the BR146.0 and BR185.0 have "glass cockpits" (MFD instead of an analog MFA), and the TRAXX we have in game are very much not these variants but the later 146.2/185.2 that replaced the locomotive body (with upgraded crash standards) and ripped out the old traction converters (it sounds quite different from the earlier variants).

What drives me when it comes to making Expert locomotives is to make the driving operations and the physics/systems realism as true to life as possible, of course it can be interesting to tackle a completely new locomotive, but it's not my main focus .

Based on the data I have (that was used to make the Dresden-Leipzig timetable), on the German side (i.e. the playable side) the BR145 outnumbers the BR189. Remember that the BR189 comes in different variants depending on supported countries, there are no BR189s that can drive in every country that a BR189 is certified, they all have a smaller subset of supported countries. For example you might have one that only is allowed to run in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, or another that can only run in certain Eastern European countries and so on. So, while more BR189's were built than BR145's, the BR189s that can run in the Czech Republic are outnumbered by the BR145's.

However, I would love to make a BR189 Expert as well

 

Thanks for that. I have heard before (probably from Maik) that Zusi should not necessarily be used as a benchmark to judge the accuracy of German traction, whether sounds, physics or indeed cab appearance. So once again this is borne out and I will tread more carefully when cross checking. (Better not tell Carsten!) Anyhow you are convincing me the Expert 145 could well be worth a look when it releases!

 

If we’re getting a BR 189, how is the Chance for the 152 from Siemens as well?

 

We "are" not getting a 189, we "might" get a 189. At some point. Maybe.

 

I totally understand why devs are so reluctant to mention anything that's not 100% confirmed- people definitely hear what they want to hear lol!

Maybe, indeed! All he said was "he'd like to make" one and it instantly became promised to some folks- wild!