Union Pacific FEF-3 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive, by Smokebox

[OpenRailer90]

I do not use Facebook myself. But my favorite locos of 2014 that I own are:
1. UP FEF-3 by Smokebox
2. E03 Expert Line by VirtualRailroads
3. P32AC-DM by DTG
4. Metrolink and Coaster trainsets by DTG
5. BR111 Steam Version by VirtualRailroads/DTG
6. ACS-64 by DTG
7. BR426 by DTG
8. HHP-8 by DTG
9. Class 801 by DTG
10. CRH-1 by JustTrains/LiuFei
11. CRH380D by JustTrains
12. Holiday locomotives(Monster Disco, Gnomes)

Many of the items towards the bottom are not exact. But the FEF certainly is my #1. Thank you Smokebox!

[mrennie]

I do not use Facebook myself. But my favorite locos of 2014 that I own are:
1. UP FEF-3 by Smokebox
2. E03 Expert Line by VirtualRailroads
3. P32AC-DM by DTG
4. Metrolink and Coaster trainsets by DTG
5. BR111 Steam Version by VirtualRailroads/DTG
6. ACS-64 by DTG
7. BR426 by DTG
8. HHP-8 by DTG
9. Class 801 by DTG
10. CRH-1 by JustTrains/LiuFei
11. CRH380D by JustTrains
12. Holiday locomotives(Monster Disco, Gnomes)

Many of the items towards the bottom are not exact. But the FEF certainly is my #1. Thank you Smokebox!

Thanks Tycoonkid9

Looking at some of the replies on fb, it seems a lot of people haven't even understood the question. Some are obviously just voting for their favourite real world locomotive, including ones that aren't even in TS ( ) and others are voting for locos that I know for a fact are absolutely atrocious models (I'll refrain from naming names).

[NYWhiskey]

Can you post a link Mike? All I see is their timeline. https://www.facebook.com/dovetailgames

[buzz456]

https://www.facebook.com/railsimulator

It's about the sixth item down.

[NYWhiskey]

Thanks Buzz.

[mrennie]

I've corrected the engine simulation file (UPFEF3 Engine Simulation.bin) so that the engine brakes do now brake the locomotive (without needing to set the automatic train brakes). The error was due to the core code brake cylinder pressure not rising as fast as the corresponding needle on the brake gauge. If anyone wants to beta-test this new file, either send me a PM or drop me a line at smokebox.3dmodelling@gmail.com. I'll reply with the file as an attachment.

[engineerbj]

Well, I bought the FEF-3 Northern over Christmas, and now that I've gotten to play with it properly for a few weeks, I've come to one conclusion WOW! WOW! WOW!
Not only does it look simply amazing (so much so it's straining my comp to run it smoothly, but it's managing, so yay), but it's perhaps one of the few virtual locomotives that felt real and properly complicated to me, and that's a rare thing in Railworks/Train Simulator 2014/15.

Smoke, you've done it again for us, mate, and again, my hat's off to you. The consolidation was good, still a favorite of mine, but the FEF-3's the showstopper in this class act!

I will say that it's quite difficult to drive, the throttle's touchy and tends to react huge in terms of steam chest pressure with little nudges in either direction, and if it's slick, you really have to work it back and forth to take off smoothly without spinning the drivers. I have gotten caught once where I was spotting cars on a siding in the winter and the locomotive got stuck on a slick spot near a switch, absolutely refused to pick up a cut of cars no matter what I did with her, sand, no sand, easy on the steam or give her the gun, sweet talking 'er or downright cussing her to move her butt and pick 'em up, the drivers would falter then lose it completely on hitting the frogs on the switch, and then as I'm busy slamming the throttle shut to recover, the slack in the couplers drags her right back to where I started (the track on the siding is dead level). The only solution was to uncouple and get a better run at it light-engine , once she was over the switch all was okay again, so I don't know whether I can chalk that up to me still learning the ropes, the weather/traction settings (traction was set to snow, appropriate since it was snowing), some sort of glitch, or it was a just plain bad spot in the tracks for a big Northern to try switching at, go figure.

Oil firing's no picnic either, but I'm not complaining and I'm not a wimp, sooner or later I'm going to figure it out and get it right (seem to always have too much steam), watching the real deal is helping, but it's definitely something new for somebody who's used to firing on coal, even on the toughies like the BR Class 6 from Just Train, which is a close tie with the FEF in terms of favorites/best of the sim list for me.

Anyway, awesome engine, going to be getting the Overland paint scheme for it when I've a few extra bucks to spend.

Cheers,
Brendan O.

[mrennie]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for all those kind comments, much appreciated, truly.

About the touchy throttle, there's a patch coming out soon, I hope, via Steam (it'll replace the preview Patch 1 already available here at RWA). Among many other things, the patch includes a modification to the throttle such that (a) the rate of filling the steam chest is halved, meaning that you have to open the throttle twice as much as before, and (b) the pilot valve is simulated more realistically - there's a rapid response for the first 1% travel of the throttle lever as the pilot valve opens, but then it's capped at 5% of the maximum fill rate until the lever reaches 5%, when the main valves open one after another (from 5% throttle lever travel on, the response is linear up to 100%).

Something else to keep in mind about the throttle is that there is no steam chest pressure gauge in the cab (and the pressure that the F5 HUD calls "steam chest pressure" is actually not the steam chest pressure at all). The gauge above the brake pressure gauges shows the back pressure in the cylinders, measured at the exhaust ports of the valves. When the pistons aren't moving, there's no exhaust and no back pressure, but if the throttle is open (or even if the throttle is closed but the locomotive came to a halt with steam still in the steam chest and it hasn't condensed yet), there will be some pressure in the cylinders - unless the cylinder cocks were opened to vent the live steam to atmosphere. What this means is that, if the cylinder cocks are closed, when the throttle is opened with the loco standing still, the pressure will be building up in the steam chest and the cylinders even though the back pressure gauge is showing 0psi. If you realise that, it becomes much easier to do switching activities with the locomotive. You can open the throttle a little bit to get some steam into the steam chest but close it again before it fills up too much. Then when you put the Johnson bar (reverser) into the corner and release the brakes, the locomotive will start to move but because the steam chest isn't at full pressure (which would be a few psi less than boiler pressure, because of losses and condensation), you won't suddenly be applying the maximum starting tractive effort and therefore will be far less likely to slip the drivers. You should also be aware that there will be a delay between the loco starting to move and the back pressure rising, because the back pressure depends on the exhaust. I think a mistake some people make is that they open the throttle, see the back pressure is still at 0psi, think they haven't given it enough throttle and open it much more. What that does is to make the steam chest fill too quickly, putting too much pressure into the cylinders, leading to wheelslip. It's all about balancing the rate of flow of steam from the boiler through the throttle valves into the steam chest, with the rate of live steam usage in the cylinders. Starting the locomotive smoothly depends, in particular, on judging when you have the right amount of steam in the steam chest before you release the brakes. The "right amount" of steam depends on the reverser (cut-off) setting, the cylinder cocks, sanding and track conditions. Getting the right amount into the steam chest depends on how and when you stopped the locomotive, the throttle lever extension and how long you keep it there before setting off again.

All of this is why I, for one, get far more enjoyment from "advanced" simulations than I do from the standard HUD-driveable locos. You really do have to understand how things work internally and have a feel for what's happening in the firebox, boiler, steam chest, cylinders, etc.

I find it immensely satisfying when I'm able to run the locomotive without referring to the F5 HUD at all. However, while you're learning to get the feel of the behaviour of the steam chest, it does help to open the F5 HUD and watch the "regulator" value. Despite its name, that doesn't show the position of the regulator (throttle). It actually is an indication of how much steam pressure there is in the steam chest. For example, if it's at 0% (meaning 0psi) but you then crack open the throttle, "regulator" will start to rise (at a rate that depends on how far open you have the throttle, and whether the cylinder cocks are open). If you close the throttle,the "regulator" value will stay where it is (unless the cylinder cocks are open, in which case it will rapidly drop to 0% again) but will begin to fall slowly as the steam condenses in the steam chest. If "regulator" gets to, say, 97%, it means that the steam chest pressure is 97% of the current boiler pressure. When the locomotive is moving, "regulator" will go up and down in synch with the piston strokes as the steam chest empties steam into the cylinders on the admission cycles but continually refills with steam from the boiler.

I hope that helps you to visualise what's going on and to understand how to control the locomotive at low speed, avoiding wheelslip when you start off.



Mike

[mrennie]

The official patch for the FEF-3 has gone live ... it's a 197.4 MB download (to replace the entire package, including the manual).

This patch supersedes the one I posted at RWA in December, so if you did install that one, you should delete the unpacked folders (Audio, Particles, Preload, RailVehicles and System) in ..\RailWorks\Assets\Smokebox\UP FEF-3 Northern, leaving only the UP FEF-3 NorthernAssets.ap file (size 1,009,994 KB).

[UP3985]

How difficult would it be to make a 3rd party whistle for the FEF?

( I've been wanting one for a while now that sounds like the original one on her, like in 2010. It had a less harsh and more earthy tone to it. I like it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsG-XV5Hek

[mrennie]

How difficult would it be to make a 3rd party whistle for the FEF?

( I've been wanting one for a while now that sounds like the original one on her, like in 2010. It had a less harsh and more earthy tone to it. I like it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsG-XV5Hek

It does sound good

The difficult part of making a whistle sound is to get the loop sound file to loop smoothly. If there's even the slightest non-uniform segment in the sound, it repeats on each loop and becomes very obvious and irritating.

One trick that helps is to make a sample that is more or less uniform, then copy it to a new file and reverse it (most sound-editing software, such as "Power Sound Editor Free" can do that), then copy that reversed sample and paste it onto the end of the original sample, then save it as the new loop sound. If you do it correctly, it almost ensures that the loop won't have an abrupt edge when it reaches the end and loops back to the beginning. However, you still have to make sure that the sample hasn't got any of those annoying non-uniform bits somewhere else in it.

Then there's the problem of the fade in and fade out, which is another very tricky thing to do, getting the fades to join properly with the loop. I've done part of the work already by setting up the sound blueprint so that the value of the whistle controllers trigger the samples at the appropriate time, but you still have to make the sound sample files in the right way. It's no wonder that sounds tends to be the no.1 complaint among customers - they're the hardest things to get right.

[OpenRailer90]

I found a free FEF-3 whistle in the newest horn pack which is in the downloads library. Back up the old proxy for the whistle and change the lines to match the new whistle sound. Alternatively you can use DAV Decoder to convert the whistle sounds into .dav files and rename them to the old parameters (back up old whistle first!).

[UP3985]

Ok, I have this recording I took from a DVD promo video, and spliced some parts of it together, Maybe it could be looked ad and tested for soundness? I've changed whistles before, but never on the FEF. Any file I'm semi familiar with is missing. The file is attached below. If someone can do a whistle mod from this, that'd be great, if not it's whatever, I'll figure something out.

[Logan20131]

I found a great whistle blow in this video.
http://youtu.be/-1lWdkd-4sk

[OpenRailer90]

Update has been rolled out: http://www.engine-driver.com/article/sh ... e-released

Smokebox has today released an update for their incredible FEF-3 as part of their ongoing commitment to develop and improve the locomotive. Please see the extensive list of fixes and enhancements below.

Here's a list of what's been fixed:

Numerous fixes to save and resume
Activation of locomotive brake cylinder piston animations corrected
When switching from the #5 view to the #2 view, the FEF-3 cab windows no longer have a mirror effect
Pilot coupler hood can now be removed in the HUD version
Here's a list of what's been enhanced:

Feedwater pump gauge needle now pulsates each time the pump's piston performs one stroke.
Updated brake simulation for the Advanced version, adapted from the Soldier Summit advanced brakes (including scripted auxiliary and quick service reservoirs, selectable brake difficulty level and reporting of the handle detents).
Increased condensation in winter (Advanced version).
Enhanced smoke and steam effects.
Cylinder cocks now emit steam only when the admission valves are open and there is steam in the cylinders (Advanced version).
Improved clanking sounds, especially when coasting.
Added impact and coupling sounds.
Added fire noise (audible when the firebox peephole is open).
Smoke emanates from firebox peephole when smokebox draft is low.
Cab background rumble noise added.
Modified soot calculations.
Performance report gives the weight of the consist in US short tons.
Animated bell clapper.
Darkened texturing of lightweight car tyres.
Harmonized "External forces factor" so that steam and smoke all drift in the same direction.
AI FEF-3s now mimic many operations of the player-driven locomotive in the same consist - for example, they will open their doors and windows when the player does.
The track conditions (dry, wet, snow or leaves) are initialised automatically at the start of a scenario, according to the season and weather.
Tender cargo trigger boxes increased in size for easier refuelling.
Tender coupling pin added.
Additional Quick Drive consists for the all-black liveried FEF-3 have been added.
If you own the FEF-3, the update will download automatically from Steam. If you have any problems/queries with regard to the update, leave a comment below or submit a ticket to our support site where we will be ready to help.

The FEF-3 update will be approximately 173MB in size.