Just a suggestion to implement wheel flats into the game. All rail vehicles have potential to suffer with them and it depends on maintenance schedules how regularly they are fixed, but If anyone has watched a long US freight consists pass by they will have heard at least a couple of the freight cars with wheel flats (a bang, bang, banging noise) as the car passes by. The same is true for the UK rail scene, sometimes it’s locos or multiple units that have flats (some sound like they have square wheels!). A wheel flat is produced when the wheel is locked and slides on the rail head causing a flat spot, as the wheel then turns it rolls onto the flat spot and creates a banging sound on every rotation, the faster the wheel spins the faster (and seemingly louder) the banging sound. To remedy flat spots,the axle is reprofiled on a wheel lathe removing a small amount of metal to smooth out the profile of the wheel. In TSW this could mean a small percentage chance of a vehicle having wheel flats to randomize the consist and further add an extra layer of realism in sound. For those who have never heard of wheel flats, watch a long US consist on YouTube to see if you can detect when a vehicle has a wheel flat or if you want, just type “wheel flat” into YouTube I’m sure there will be loads of vids.
A freight car with a flat wheel (or even a hotbox) would make for a realistic challenge in the game. On my O-Gauge layout at home, I have a car made by Lionel that simulates a flat wheel, complete with sounds and crew dialog. The effect is fantastic and really makes my train more fun.
