I like this route, picked up in the holiday sales. Interestingly, before I get the Class 76 moving, I hear some ‘pops’ in the outside view. Presumably this is to do with the overhead lines? The 76 and the 506 are interesting trains to drive: featuring a transition from series to parallel electricity running, which takes a little bit of getting used to. For some reason these screenshots appear darker on my phone than on the PC. Lovely scenery, pantograph flashes, and frames rates fine for me (had read complaints about that: perhaps with a previous version).
Interesting to see some images of the real 76: in part of the route, the overhead lines are set very high for some reason, needing some very tall pantographs, at other points, quite low. Pictures show the line sagging a bit in places.
When the Woodhead Line was electrified steam trains still ran and, believe it or not, there were water troughs for them. The catenary was hung as high above the troughs as possible, some twenty feet IIRC, but it still seems like a disaster in the making.
One of my favourite routes, despite it's few problems. It's a demanding route from a frame rate point of view, and there are some inaccuracies with signalling and routing... assuming that the route is set in the late 70s in the period of decline.
It was not the Water Troughs but Water Columns at stations as the fireman was required to climb on the tender or bunker of a tank loco to fill it up. Not sure about "a disaster in the making" as it worked from 1954 until the end of steam in 1967. Being lower voltage DC Current it was not as deadly as 25kv AC and in those days people had sense. Peter
Didn't need "cant lines" painted on trains either. If you work for the railway, and need reminding that climbing on top of a train underneath OHLE is dangerous, maybe you're in the wrong job. A small danger notice served everyone well enough. Why you need a bright orange stripe as well is beyond me.
Some interesting historical material: https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MetroVickers_MSWLocos1954.pdf https://www.lner.info/locos/Electric/em1.php
I was sure I'd read about troughs but can't find the reference now. Certainly having the catenary as far away from the water cranes as you can sound practice. Less deadly it may be but, when you're talking about 1,500V carrying enough current to push trains, I doubt anyone unfortunate enough to find himself making up part of a circuit would appreciate the difference.
There is an important difference. In the world of power transmission 1500V DC is just on the limit of low voltage. 25kV AC is not. The important difference is that it's hard to get a sustained arc with low voltage, so burn injuries are unlikely.
I don’t know if it’s my driving, but does anyone else find that as soon as you put a Class 76 into notch one, there’s a bit of a jolt? If this reflects the prototype, then passenger trains hauled by a 76 can’t have been the most comfortable! Vintage whiplash injuries?!
You can get that on any train which is hauled by a loco as it has to take up the slack in the couplings But this version of the 76 is a bit rougher than the one from the original route.
I remember seeing 76s hauling coal trains (I'm too young to remember passenger services - not that there were many any way)... I don't recall then jerking forward like that in real life.
