Hello. I am a total newbie to the train sim world. Operating trains is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I am having a problem with the Cajun Pass routes. Whenever I am going up a 2% grade, I can never keep speed and end up rolling backward. I make sure that the COMM link is on. I use sand and try and keep it in as high of a setting without wheel slippage. Usually I end up continuously pushing the sand button in 8 throttle and not moving. If I drop it to throttle 7, I start rolling backward. When I enter the climb, I usually already at max speed for the segment and it does take awhile for speed to bleed off, but I can never keep going. I am sure it is something that I am doing wrong.
Hi there, happy to assist... Some general things to keep an eye on with American trains 1. Setup the brakes correctly ( Cutoff -> Freight , MU-2A -> Lead / Dead , Ind. -> OFF , Auto. -> OFF ) 2. 3 Breakers ( Fuel Pump, Control, Generator ) -> ON in the 'Lead' loco. of each Lash-up*, OFF in the 'Trail' loco. ( Lash-up means, a group of locos. in succession physically connected by MU Cable ) 3. Banking comm. -> ON ( if you have more than 1 Lash-up ) 4. PCS ( Pneumatic Control Switch ) -> OFF ( it's one of the red LEDs in the group of 6 LEDs present on the control stand ) 5. Apply power gradually ( Look for the ammeter in the cab or on HUD. Once you pull the throttle up a notch, wait for the output amps. to settle at a fixed value, before raising the power again )
I “beLieve” in some weather conditions services you won’t finish in the same guise you may not in reality. Don’t hold me to this, it’s plausible I got the wrong en£ of stick on a stream
Thank you for the information. SO for instance in one of the scenarios, I believe there are four locos in the front and 3 in the rear. The four in the front would be the Lash up and the 3 in the back would be the tail. Only the loco that is in the very front of the group would be the lead?
In this case, you've got 2 lash-ups The first one with 4 locos. in the front, and the second one with 3 locos. in the rear * Also, the Banking comm. -> ON, in the driving loco. The term 'Lead' simply means that the particular loco. is the 'controller' in the train, the one where the driver is positioned in. ( Originally, the official terminology for this setup was 'Master/slave locos.', it was dropped for obvious reasons )
Thank you Shackamaxon! I was able to get a 96 car train up to summit in Cajon Pass. If there is a group of locos in the middle, how do I turn the breakers on in those cabs without walking all the way back to them lol? Again, thank you so much for the help. Im sure this all pretty basic stuff
That's great to hear! Now, that's a bit tricky! There are a few things that can help you here, but be aware that the way TSW has been coded, all the locos. don't support these features. ( I'm a PC-only player, so the controls mentioned below are for PC. ) 1. The safest thing to do is to use the 'free camera'. Use the alphanumeric keys ( not numeric keypad ) No.3 ( for chasing camera ) and No. 8 for the free camera. Navigate the camera to the loco. Open the side window/door to access the controls. ( The downside is that all locos. don't let you open windows from outside. OR the hitbox on controls is not accessible from that distance ). 2. While sitting on the driving seat, use ( ctrl + '+' / ctrl + '-' ) ( '+' / '-' on alphanumeric keys, not numeric keypad ) to switch between locos. ( Again all locos. don't support it, and this feature doesn't always work as expected. I once phased through the ground due to this. So use it with caution. ) 3. In the case of locos. with Banking comm. they are hard-coded to copy certain behavior after the same ( banking comm. ) has been turned on. Use the free cam. to check the dashboard in the other cab and see if the loco has correctly duplicated the master's behavior.
One thing I forgot to add... Turn the Radio fuse ON ( usually on the back wall of the loco. ) before using the Banking comm.
Banking comm need on BEFORE reverser. I've gotten stuck on this dozens of times. If at first you put the reverser forward and then turn on Comm, then on the rear locomotives, the reverser is in neutral (!) Comm will turn on first as soon as it appears in the locomotive. Another tip, if the speed drops, but the wheels do not slip, then this is normal. I climbed Cajon at 18 mph ^_^
The trains on Cajon are already set up for that. Just press banking comm before you do anything else.
This is really all you need to do. It doesn't have to be complicated. All you need to do, after switching on banking comm, is to make sure that all the trailing locos are under power by checking the exhaust plumes. Works for me.
One thing I have noticed is the hud indicates wheelslip several seconds after wheelslip has stopped! Which in turn made me lose a lot of speed on the grades as I was holding back on the throttle when I could have applied more power.
