mrennie wrote:_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha wrote:If we would have both manual and automatic bail-off on the independents, we would be true to prototype for US operations. Now, only Run8 has these features.
The FEF-3 (when it's released) comes extremely close, and has the most realistic (actually, the only) bail-off simulation in TS. It even simulates the spring-loading of the engine brake handle on the 8-ET stand.
Cool! Is the tender considered a part of the locomotive in this respect, or is it part of the train with a triple valve and no bail-off?
8-ET is that a passenger formula? Using electric propagation that only the latest, best and most luxurious streamliners had?
AFAIK, C&O's latest 4-8-4's were factory equiped with electric progapagation but appararently also it was never used as such.
Can you switch your engine from passenger to freight mode, with appropriate changes in EQ and train line pressure? How about graduated release in passenger mode?
Simulated bail-off you say? AFAIK the sim treats the whole train as one unit, locos included. You can increase loco brake cylinder pressure using the independent brake handle, but not decrease it. A decrease to zero PsI effectively is a bail-off.
For those who don't know, bailing off the locomotive brakes means releasing the locomotive brakes while the automatic train brake stays applied. The automatic bail-off is necessary when the locomotives are in dynamic braking, to prevent stalling their wheels.
Manual bailing off the locomotive brakes is used when the engineer needs to "stretch" the train, by applying locomotive power against the braking train. Having two air brake systems explains the need for both train line "air pipe" and brake cylinder pressure gauges.
The engineer can only guess the brake cylinder pressure on the cars in his train by guestimating how this much reduction of the train line results in that amount of brake cylinder pressure in the cars. He positively knows the locomotive brake cylinder pressure by reading its gauge. A bailed off locomotive reads 0 PsI, a fully braked locomotive reads maximum pressure, depending on the type of locomotive brakes, i.e. single clasp, double clasp, disc, drum, etc.
Therefor, it is refreshing to learn that the independent developers know their stuff and how to apply it to the sim.
Looking very much forward to your FEF-3. She'll probably be the standard to measure all steam locomotives against.