RSC 2-8-0 CONSOLIDATION

[ozinoz]

That extra bit of colour really brings it to life - you wouldnt think a little white stripe could do so much...

I just wish you would take my money now...

for the perseverance and patience. We are the better for it.



Grant

[mrennie]

Thanks Grant,

I like the red doors too

Here's how the front looks now ...

2013-01-20_00015.jpg

[FourEightFour]

Wow is all I can say. I work with a few different steamers on a day to day basis, and I truly appreciate your attention to detail. Heck you made a working hydrostatic lubricator, and I have never seen that before. I breezed through the pages, so I am sorry if these has been asked before:

With a dome throttle there is a momentary delay before the steam gets to the cylinders, does your model have this? It is at most a one to two second delay. No big deal if you do not have it, as I prefer front end throttles, but it does make switching a bi#$h!

Also what kind of injectors does this engine have? A picture would suffice if you do not know the name of them.

Would love to beta test it but I don't have the the know how(on the game side) to apply for the job at railworks.

I also cast another vote for an FEF-2/3 (844), plus I can more than likely get you plans for it too.

[mrennie]

Wow is all I can say. I work with a few different steamers on a day to day basis, and I truly appreciate your attention to detail. Heck you made a working hydrostatic lubricator, and I have never seen that before. I breezed through the pages, so I am sorry if these has been asked before:

With a dome throttle there is a momentary delay before the steam gets to the cylinders, does your model have this? It is at most a one to two second delay. No big deal if you do not have it, as I prefer front end throttles, but it does make switching a bi#$h!

Also what kind of injectors does this engine have? A picture would suffice if you do not know the name of them.

Would love to beta test it but I don't have the the know how(on the game side) to apply for the job at railworks.

I also cast another vote for an FEF-2/3 (844), plus I can more than likely get you plans for it too.

Thanks for the comments

The delay from the dome throttle is something I wasn't aware of before, but it's very interesting. I can see how I could implement it. I'd connect the regulator lever to a separate control variable, remembering it's values over the last two seconds and copying the values from two seconds ago into the real regulator control variable (the one recognised internally by the simulation code).

The injectors are the pick-up type, and I've also included the steam throttles. The engine script simulates pick-up failure too, and there are particle effects to show steam and water coming out of the overflow pipes when the appropriate conditions occur.

Cheers,

Mike

[johnmckenzie]

Any chance of a couple of boxcars and a caboose to match? Thank you very much!!

(If you don't ask you don't get....)

[mrennie]

Any chance of a couple of boxcars and a caboose to match? Thank you very much!!

(If you don't ask you don't get....)

RSC mentioned that early on (that it would be good to include some rolling stock with the package). The problem is that it would take quite some time to produce them to the same standard (or to any standard), which would delay the release of the loco. Nevertheless, I have indeed thought about doing some 1930/40s stuff to go with it.

Michael Stephan's rolling stock (http://www.golden-age-rails.com/rwroll.html) should also fit the bill.

[mrennie]

I need some advice. I've scripted a limit on the amount of sand available. I've set the limit at 30 minutes continuous operation before the sand runs out (you'll still be able to move the lever, but after 30 minutes of sanding, no more sand will be deposited on the rails). The idea is to give an incentive to using the sanders only when they're really needed, rather than simply leaving them on for the entire duration of a scenario. However, I have read somewhere that it was rare to run out of sand. What do you think would be a reasonable limit? Less than 30 minutes? More?

There's a thread here http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,145962 that says "The optimal rate of application is 4 oz per minute at 14 mph but it is usually delivered at 20-24 oz per minute account of loss in delivery and to be effective at higher speeds especially during emergency braking.". The problem is that I can't find any information about the capacity of the sandboxes (apparently "sandbox" is the correct term, not "sand dome", "dome" being reserved for the one and only "steam dome").

[mrennie]

With a dome throttle there is a momentary delay before the steam gets to the cylinders, does your model have this? It is at most a one to two second delay. No big deal if you do not have it, as I prefer front end throttles, but it does make switching a bi#$h!

I've scripted a one second delay

[ozinoz]

You continue to taunt and tease us, day after day; and I'm loving it

[McCRRR19]

I need some advice. I've scripted a limit on the amount of sand available. I've set the limit at 30 minutes continuous operation before the sand runs out (you'll still be able to move the lever, but after 30 minutes of sanding, no more sand will be deposited on the rails). The idea is to give an incentive to using the sanders only when they're really needed, rather than simply leaving them on for the entire duration of a scenario. However, I have read somewhere that it was rare to run out of sand. What do you think would be a reasonable limit? Less than 30 minutes? More?

There's a thread here http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,145962 that says "The optimal rate of application is 4 oz per minute at 14 mph but it is usually delivered at 20-24 oz per minute account of loss in delivery and to be effective at higher speeds especially during emergency braking.". The problem is that I can't find any information about the capacity of the sandboxes (apparently "sandbox" is the correct term, not "sand dome", "dome" being reserved for the one and only "steam dome").

For a general idea of how much sand an engine with that size sand domes, it is probably around 400-450 pounds of sand. I've had to dump 100 pound bags of sand into the domes of the engine I work on (Yreka Western No.19 a Baldwin 90 ton logging mikado of 1915 vintage) and it took about 4 to 4.5 bags. Also don't forget (and I'm not sure if this is possible in RW) but the engine your modeling has 2 sand domes, one puts sand on the rails for traction going forward (pushing the sanding lever forward from center) and the rear one puts sand on the rails for traction during reverse movements (pulling the sanding lever back from center). To bad you can't simulate running back and forth down the track with the locomotive laying sand on rails and grinding it down for extra grip when starting a heavy train or to get an assist in getting up that slippery hill.

Tim Stricker
Yreka, CA

[FourEightFour]

With a dome throttle there is a momentary delay before the steam gets to the cylinders, does your model have this? It is at most a one to two second delay. No big deal if you do not have it, as I prefer front end throttles, but it does make switching a bi#$h!

I've scripted a one second delay

Yay! Looking forward to this.


You could figure out how many cubic ft. are in the dome by math using your prints

[mrennie]

For a general idea of how much sand an engine with that size sand domes, it is probably around 400-450 pounds of sand. I've had to dump 100 pound bags of sand into the domes of the engine I work on (Yreka Western No.19 a Baldwin 90 ton logging mikado of 1915 vintage) and it took about 4 to 4.5 bags. Also don't forget (and I'm not sure if this is possible in RW) but the engine your modeling has 2 sand domes, one puts sand on the rails for traction going forward (pushing the sanding lever forward from center) and the rear one puts sand on the rails for traction during reverse movements (pulling the sanding lever back from center). To bad you can't simulate running back and forth down the track with the locomotive laying sand on rails and grinding it down for extra grip when starting a heavy train or to get an assist in getting up that slippery hill.

Tim Stricker
Yreka, CA

This is exactly the information I needed, thanks! 450lbs is 7200 ounces, so at 20 ounces per minute, it gives 360 minutes (6 hours). So a 30 minute limit is actually far too small. On the other hand, 6 hours would be enough to leave the sanders on all the time and forget about them, which isn't what i wanted either. I'm not sure what to do about that. I've read about people saying that RW having unlimited sand is unrealistic, but is it?

EDIT: Taking a worst case, a full dome of 400 lbs (6400 ounces) of sand at 25 ounces per minute, but doubled because there are two outlets (one on each side), gives 128 minutes. I could set the limit at 2 hours.

The bit about the forward and reverse sanders, with off being in the centre position, is essential information! Currently, I have it that sand comes out from both sandboxes at the same time, with off being lever down and on is lever up. Clearly that's wrong, but now that I've created a separate control variable for the lever, which the script then interprets and uses to set the actual "Sander" control variable, I can correct it. I can even have it activate either the forward or rear sander particle emitters, depending on the position of the lever. The time limits would also be managed separately for the forward and rear sanders. More scripting to be done tonight!

Cheers,
Mike

[mrennie]

Yay! Looking forward to this.


You could figure out how many cubic ft. are in the dome by math using your prints

The missing link was to know the weight of sand you get in a given volume of dome. Tim's figure of 400 to 450 lbs is what I needed

[mrennie]

I´m also going to try adding a shrill whistle that blows automatically when the boiler water level drops below 0.1. I think all steam locos had these by 1920, after a speight of boiler explosions in the USA (1400 in the year 1910 alone! ... before the boiler regulations were created).

I'm still considering whether to simulate a blown cylinder head. It´s been done before (on the GWR 56XX) but I have a feeling it caused annoyance for people, to have a game over, after a long run, because of forgetting to open the cylinder cocks after being stationary for a while. Maybe I could simply have a message appear in front of the engineer, saying something like ("Warning: you should really have opened the cylinder cocks!"), but let the scenario continue. Come to think of it, it could even be a spoken message ... if someone with the right accent would record it for me (mine wouldn't sound right ).

[BNSFdude]

I´m also going to try adding a shrill whistle that blows automatically when the boiler water level drops below 0.1. I think all steam locos had these by 1920, after a speight of boiler explosions in the USA (1400 in the year 1910 alone! ... before the boiler regulations were created).

I'm still considering whether to simulate a blown cylinder head. It´s been done before (on the GWR 56XX) but I have a feeling it caused annoyance for people, to have a game over, after a long run, because of forgetting to open the cylinder cocks after being stationary for a while. Maybe I could simply have a message appear in front of the engineer, saying something like ("Warning: you should really have opened the cylinder cocks!"), but let the scenario continue. Come to think of it, it could even be a spoken message ... if someone with the right accent would record it for me (mine wouldn't sound right ).

I could always record myself and say "you dun' goofed!"