I've got some questions about PZB when driving with Freight. - what mode am I meant to be in? I was driving the 182 on HAM-LUB and my PZB was at 85 which seemed too fast for freight. - what's the top speed of freight? I know it probably differs from wagon to wagon but an absolute top speed is what I'm interested in. - and a bit of a random one, how am I meant to slow down for a red when I only start getting yellows like a kilometer away from the red? Thanks.
This post tells you all you need to know about which PZB mode to be in (and the brake set-up for DRA and DCZ). The calcualtion for your maximum permitted velocity is also included. It’s nowhere near as simple as just saying freight is running in mode M or U, although freight in mode O is (almost) non-existent. If a rough guideline is what you want to break it down to, lighter stuff (like auto cars, container cars, …) will generally be fine in M, heavy stuff (box cars and tank cars) will usually be in U. The only hard limit I can give you is: All of the freight cars in TSW are limited to 120 km/h due to their construction. I assume you’re familiar with the limits for the different PZB modes, but those rarely matter when you do the calculations in the post I linked you to. By braking hard and driving defensively. With some route knowledge, you’ll know about potential trouble spots and can ease off on the throttle beforehand (in general: freight trains should coast a fair bit below their speed limit and not be driven to the max with constant throttle application). Brake as soon as you see the yellow distant-signal, not as you pass it - this’ll give you around an additional 500 meters before the 1000 Hz monitoring. If a yellow distant-signal does surprise you, step on the brakes - all the way to a full service application if really necessary. For context, a 1 bar reduction in the brake pipe is considered the maximum for a full gentle application; anything above is considered very hard braking.
Strangely I have never heard about this, could you explain it a bit more accurately? For example let's take the 120km/h flat section before Riesa? Should I accelerate, coast ~20km/h below the limit and accelerate again? Never thought about that in these terms but it makes sense, 1bar reduction is step 5 braking in the BR146 for example which is pretty aggressive
It’s something I’ve sort of picked up on over years of watching interviews with train drivers. 20 below is perhaps a bit too relaxed, but generally you’ve got the right idea. Accelerate up to perhaps 5 (or maybe even 10 if you want to be sure) km/h below your speed limit so that you’ve got headroom for gradient changes. A lot of this probably depends on how well you know the route. If you know something’s ahead of you (kind dispatchers will tell you in real life), you’ll drive very relaxed with a freight train due to the inefficiency of accelerating/braking when you finally catch up. Once you’ve finished accelerating, you’re right. You’ll cut power and let it roll and slow down. When you’ve slowed down maybe another 5 km/h, you’ll apply power again and cut it once you’ve reached your target. Now repeat. If you’re driving up a gradient though, constant throttle applications is pretty much required though for obvious reasons. If you know a speed restriction is coming up, you’ll cut power way in advance and let it roll to minimize the brake usage. A freight train is under less time pressure than a passenger train and can afford the time loss through this method. The energy saved in exchange is worth it (at least according to DB). It’s probably also the reason why AFB is rarely used for freight trains from what I know.
I see, the only thing that seems a little bit strange is that to maintain a certain speed you would just accelerate, coast and accelerate again even on a flat track, which was the only places where I used AFB anyway, I thought this kind of driving styile would put more strain on the couplers, but I guess the throttle setting is minimal and the train doesn't "bunch up" too much by just coasting. Kind of hard to wrap my head around how it could be more efficient, but I'm sure there is an explanation. With everything else it makes sense, I was already doing it to some extent but I guess nowhere near enough... I didn't drive freight like an IC but perhaps I wasn't far away enough, and in fact I found myself in some situations were I needed almost full service brake application. Thanks you for this discussion, I always try to drive as realistically as possible
Thanks to you as well It’s these sorts of discussion that I enjoy most about the forum - sharing our combined knowledge to get as close to the real thing as possible. I’m with you on that - it seems a bit counterintuitive especially when considering the peak forces the couplers are exposed to with this technique repeatedly. But the DB number crunchers have spoken - short repeated application of the throttle is more efficient than constant little application. I’ve seen/heard this technique described in a large enough variety of sources (including DB’s own arcade-y simulator app) that it certainly seems like what’s taught in real life. It’s probably all about momentum and little friction if I had to guess.
Probabily, I guess the fact that in theory the lower the speed the lower the air resistance is I guess it could make a difference, but it really does seem a tiny amount. But a tiny amount of saving across thousands of trains I guess could add up pretty fast. Anyway interesting, I'll keep that in mind for my next german freight run
Well, for one thing there are very few freight consists you should be driving at 120 at all, and never over that (In Germany, 120 km/h is an absolute speed limit for freight; with only one or two exceptions all the in-game wagons are limited to max 100 if loaded).
My 120 was an example, the same would apply for a train with max speed 100, 95, 90, etc... instead of having little throttle to hold speed you give some "bursts" to maintain a decent speed.
