Coming Soon: Stevens Pass 1929-56

[CArailroader]

3000 hp. You figure it out.

So a few cars then. One more question to bug you: in the cab of the Y1, there are two identical looking horizontal levers, on the left side of the control stand. What are they for?

[Eirjan]

3000 hp. You figure it out.

So a few cars then. One more question to bug you: in the cab of the Y1, there are two identical-looking horizontal levers, on the left side of the control stand. What are they for?

the notched throttle, and the regenerative braking.

[Eirjan]

3000 hp. You figure it out.

So a few cars then. One more question to bug you: in the cab of the Y1, there are two identical-looking horizontal levers, on the left side of the control stand. What are they for?

the notched throttle, and the regenerative braking.

"The controller has a main Cylinder with 26 notches and a Braking cylinder with 16 notches. the first 24 notches of the main cylinder control the shunt fields of the two main generators, and the last notches control the current in the traction motor field circuits. the 16 notches on the braking cylinder control the shunt field of the regenerative braking exciter."

this is from page 480 of the CERA builtin 116 "Electrification by GE" ISBN 0-915348-16-0
there's a lot more about the Y1 in the surrounding pages of that book (477 to 484) and how she works.

[buzz456]

3000 hp. You figure it out.

So a few cars then. One more question to bug you: in the cab of the Y1, there are two identical-looking horizontal levers, on the left side of the control stand. What are they for?

the notched throttle, and the regenerative braking.

"The controller has a main Cylinder with 26 notches and a Braking cylinder with 16 notches. the first 24 notches of the main cylinder control the shunt fields of the two main generators, and the last notches control the current in the traction motor field circuits. the 16 notches on the braking cylinder control the shunt field of the regenerative braking exciter."

this is from page 480 of the CERA builtin 116 "Electrification by GE" ISBN 0-915348-16-0
there's a lot more about the Y1 in the surrounding pages of that book (477 to 484) and how she works.

Please just shut up.

[buzz456]

Screenshot_GN Cascadian_47.70868--121.36269_12-31-47.jpg

Screenshot_GN Cascadian_47.71350--121.34091_12-32-58.jpg

[PNWR1854]

Please just shut up.

That's extremely rude, and no way for a moderator to speak. you should be the role model here.

[ErikGorbiHamilton]

Please just shut up.

That's extremely rude, and no way for a moderator to speak. you should be the role model here.

Did you see the read the posts leading up to that statement? Buzz RARELY gets that way, so if he does then something went wrong, which happened to be the consistent pecking of the other user...

[thegevo5k]

Please just shut up.

That's extremely rude, and no way for a moderator to speak. you should be the role model here.

Did you see the read the posts leading up to that statement? Buzz RARELY gets that way, so if he does then something went wrong, which happened to be the consistent pecking of the other user...

I was confused at first until I saw the posts the user was making. I can see why Buzz said that honestly.

[PNWR1854]

I was thinking the same thing. It doesn't justify being rude.

[EngineerJohn]

On the rare occasion buzz gets that way. They probably deserve it.

[OpenRailer90]

Incredible work. As one highly interested in electrified operations in the USA, this one grabs my attention big time. I'm hoping to see a Y-1 repaint into PRR colors as an FF2; the GN Y-1s were sold to the PRR in 1956 and are suitable for backdated NEC and NJCL operations.

And please stop with the drama, we're here to enjoy the WIP shots of this route...

[BNSFdude]

I'm hoping to see a Y-1 repaint into PRR colors as an FF2

Paint.net is free.

[ricksan]

Just wanted to clarify a few points regarding the Y-1 locomotive.

Full disclosure:

As for the Y-1's "realistic operation," the answers are pretty much no, no, and no. The speed control ("regulator") and brakes, including the regenerative brake, are all Kuju/RSDL/RSC/DTG standard issue. There's no custom scripting of those items and none is planned. Enjoy it anyway.

The audio is pretty much imaginary.

The motor generators, compressors and ventilation fans cannot be individually started by the player. Those are all high-voltage components and to the best of my knowledge (which is mostly limited to reference sheets published by GNRHS and articles on the GN Goat site) the switchgear for them is all inside the engine room.

If you want to modify the audio or the physics, feel free to do so.

About the cab:

The cab is semi-fictitious. There's a nice drawing of a W-1 cab at the GN Goat site, but the W-1 was completely built by GE at its Erie plant 20 years more recently than the Y-1 so it presumably has more advanced systems. The W-1's predecessor locomotives were built by either ALCo with GE components (Y-1 and 3-phase units), or Baldwin with Westinghouse components (Z-1). We were unable to locate any photos or illustrations depicting a Y-1 cab. The closest we came was the photo below of an unidentified GE cab, which served as the inspiration for our cab. If you happen across a set of photos of an actual Y-1 cab, I don't want to see them!

Good news:

You will have the ability to individually control the pantographs. An auto-manual switch on the control panel allows you do this. The locomotive is silent when the pantographs are down, but when you raise either or both of them you hear the engine-room components ramping up. In the default auto mode, the pantograph selection is tied to the reverser and only one of them is up at a time. This is consistent with the default panto behavior that dates back to RSC times. In manual mode you can raise either pantograph or both of them at will. But if you lower both pantographs, the loco powers down.

Technical note:

According to GNRHS, the bus bars seen on the Empire Builder version of the Y-1 were added as a safety measure, avoiding the need for work crews to handle high-voltage MU connectors. Adding the bus bars required the headlight and bell to be relocated.

Regarding mods to the Y-1:

The guy who made the Y-1 for Cascadian committed to making only one of the GN electrics, choosing the Y-1 because "it looks cool." He did concede to making the two versions you've seen in the screen shots and photos elsewhere in this thread. He says he also "has plans" to make the PRR FF2 version. (We'll see. I hear he's back to driving RS-1s again.) Anyway, you might hold off trying to make a PRR repaint. The FF2 will have to be a custom model since, though it lacks the overhead bus bar like the original Y-1, the headlight is in the relocated position midway up in front of the cab, instead of in its original position atop the cab. Notice also that the bell is still underneath the FF2 cab porch where it had been relocated for the Empire Builder Y-1. Then there's the PRR lettering for which the decals on the GN model are not suitable. Other details include the single-digit road numbers and of course the PRR paint job.

The catenary on Cascadian is 6.4 m above the railtops and the Y-1 pantographs animate up to that elevation. If...IF...an FF2 version of the Y-1 should someday drop out of the sky, which routes would it be most likely to run on and what are those routes' catenary heights?

[thegevo5k]

I appreciate that detailed explanation Rick. That answers a lot of questions.

[Brickrail782]

Do you have plans to release this on Steam, or will it be on the G-Trax site? (Either way, I'll buy it.)