Hi, I thought it would be interesting to compare the acceleration and braking of trains between TSW and TSC so I've plotted the acceleration and braking curves for the Class 323. Method: I took a reading every five seconds according to the in-game clock. The train was in power notch 4 all the time for the acceleration and emergency brakes for the braking. I used the stretch between Longbridge and Barnt Green, which is on a slight uphill gradient, so I had to hold the train in brake step one before starting. Results: There is only 2 seconds difference between TSC and TSW in the acceleration (120 and 118 seconds, respectively). However, in TSW it was only going 2 mph after 5 seconds. I think this was because the brakes took slightly longer to release, so you might want to take a couple more seconds off the TSW time. TSC appears to be much faster than TSW in the deceleration with a 10 second difference (33 and 43 seconds, respectively). This is something I've been meaning to do for a while and hopefully I'll find the time to do some more. Let me know if there's anything in particular you would find useful. I'd really like to compare these with real data, but I suspect that's only available to train operators.
I think there's still a bug in the 323 LSV (load sensing valve) that gives a unrealistic variation in brake force in TSW. Its why the brake is sometimes weaker than it really should be. I believe data probably comes from the same source as the same WMT employee worked on both versions.
In the original steam they said the brake force varies depending on the weight of the train (how many passengers are on board). They labelled it as a feature.
That's interesting, thanks, I didn't know that such a feature was implemented. Do you know if any other trains have this feature? I did these runs in quick drive/ free roam, so should I see a difference if I used a timetable service?
I love a good graph and the title of the thread really made my face light up. I'll keep a nice big eye on what you're doing mate!
Here's the next set of plots, this time of the Class 142 Pacer. I chose to start these runs for Reading heading towards Paddington. For the acceleration I started off in step 3, increasing to step 5 somewhere around 15mph and then step 7 (full throttle) at 30mph. It's clear that the acceleration in TSC is much slower at higher speeds.
Yes, there's a lot of Pacers for TSC. Be sure to check against the AP Class 142 V2 pack (which features adjustable bounce).
I asked becuase in TSW the 142 comes with 3 different engine types which behave differently and I wasn’t sure which engine you were using in either game, by the looks of that screenshot it looks like you’re using the default pacer which may use its original engine.
The differences between the pacers is rather interesting, assuming they are the versions with the same engines, that TSC one really does struggle over that last 15-20mph. I (luckily) never had many trips on Pacers so couldn't say personally which is right either.
Interesting. So the 323 stops way slower than its TSC counterpart. I keep a table of stopping distances for various trains and I can tell you that it is the fastest stopping British EMU in it by far. For example, to come to a stop from 60 mph, most of the others take 500-550 yds (in reality, it's a bit less, but I round it up a bit for practical reasons). The 323 takes ~400 yds. No other British EMU in the game is that quick to stop, as far as I know. Edit: I decided to run my own test, as this big of a difference didn't sit right with me. Method: similar, except for the location. I used the Training Center, as it's entirely flat and there is no adverse weather (track wetness, snow). The formation was: WMR, 6 coaches, Loaded. The acceleration curve seems broadly similar. However, the deceleration line isn't. It took 40 s to stop the train from 100 mph. In your test, it took 43 s to stop from 90 mph. That's a pretty significant difference. Perhaps, it was down to gradient, perhaps, different formations yield different results.
Yeah, that's quite a big difference. From memory I used an empty 3 coach train. I'll try some more formations when I get the chance.
The class 142 was made by Just Trains, not DTG, so they are probably the most accurate UK units in-game right now.
OK, so it looks like I made a mistake with the 323 Deceleration. I've retested it with three coaches, both full and empty from 90mph and in both cases they take 30 seconds. Time (s) Speed (mph) 0 90 5 75 10 60 15 46 20 30 25 15 30 0 So almost exactly 15mph every 5 seconds. I remember having a problem applying the emergency brake using the emergency stop button, so I think I used the power brake handle. Maybe the time taken to move the handle caused a problem or maybe I only moved it into full service.
I'm currently testing different Class 142 variations, and there is zero difference between empty 2-cabs and loaded 4-cabs, so there's that. Formations seem to have no effect on performance (unless it's a light engine). I didn't use the Emergency brake, that stuff's OP. I just moved the Power/Brake handle to the B3 position.
