Railworks America

For those that run steam trains in advanced mode, I have a question on operation with getting water to the boiler.
Specifically for the Lima 2-8-0.

From the manual, the following shows the keyboard keys that is used.

- Live Injector Steam throttle - shift 9 (open)
- Live Injector Water Valve - L (open)
- Live Injector Lever - O (toggles open and close)

- Exhaust Injector Steam Throttle - Shift 8 (open)
- Exhuast Injector Water Valve - K (open)
- Exhuast Injector Lever - I (toggles open and close)

Are these steps in th correct order

1) Open the steam throttle. (that would be Shift 9) - this can stay open through out the journey
2) Open the water valve (that would be L)
3) Pull the injector lever (that would be O)

To stop water from entering I would close starting with 3, then 2.

When would I use the exhaust injectors (as the manual doesn't talk about it.

Also thre are the Blower and Steam blower throttle
To properly use the blower, I would open the Blower first then control the blower with the Steam blower trottle. (is that correct).

jack72 wrote:For those that run steam trains in advanced mode, I have a question on operation with getting water to the boiler.
Specifically for the Lima 2-8-0.

From the manual, the following shows the keyboard keys that is used.

- Live Injector Steam throttle - shift 9 (open)
- Live Injector Water Valve - L (open)
- Live Injector Lever - O (toggles open and close)

- Exhaust Injector Steam Throttle - Shift 8 (open)
- Exhuast Injector Water Valve - K (open)
- Exhuast Injector Lever - I (toggles open and close)

Are these steps in th correct order

1) Open the steam throttle. (that would be Shift 9) - this can stay open through out the journey
2) Open the water valve (that would be L)
3) Pull the injector lever (that would be O)

To stop water from entering I would close starting with 3, then 2.

That's all correct. I often see people running the loco with steam gushing out of the overflow pipe under the cab, which means they did it in the wrong order and the injector failed to "pick up" the water. I also see them with water flooding out of the overflow, which means they forgot to turn off the tap and are wasting water.

jack72 wrote:When would I use the exhaust injectors (as the manual doesn't talk about it.

Use the exhaust injector when there's pressure in the cylinders (you can see that on the back pressure gauge), which is usually the case unless you're coasting with the throttle closed, or are at a standstill. It's more efficient in terms of using less steam from the boiler. Use the live steam injector sparingly, basically as a supplement to the exhaust injector if that one is unable to keep up with water consumption, or when there's no exhaust pressure (like when topping up the boiler while at a station stop).

jack72 wrote:Also thre are the Blower and Steam blower throttle
To properly use the blower, I would open the Blower first then control the blower with the Steam blower trottle. (is that correct).

Nope. Open the blower steam throttle and leave it open (just like the injector steam throttles). Adjust the blower rate using the blower control valve (lower down in the cab).

There are a lot of misconceptions about blower use. Proper use is quite complicated to explain, but the idea of closing the blower once you're on the move and only using it to boost steam production is actually a big no-no. The blower should always be on, at least partially, so that if the throttle is suddenly closed, you don't risk blowback from the firebox into the cab (which is actually simulated on many of my other locos). I always have the blower at least partially open.

Thanks mrennie.
I was trying to drive the Lima on the Horseshoe curve in the (Lima 2-8-0) (Adv) Consolidating Power scenario

I don't know if you have/tried that yet, but for some reason in the yard, after setting the switches to get out, the swtiches, switch back on you just about when you are upon them.
But I finally got out,

The first time I tried to add water, I tried to use the levers and valves in the loco rather than keyboard keys. I got it to work,
But the second time I needed water it didn't. So I tried with keyboard keys, and got lost. (Some keyboard keys don't show action on the loco, so for those with one key to toggel open and close you are lost what it was set at after pressing several time waiting for action. e.g. Live injector (O).

Anyway, I did see me waist water through the brake pipe as it was cushing out.... but couldn't figure out how to stop it.

I will try again later and stick to the keyboard commands below as I tried only to use the live water lever and valve as I thought that is the fastest way to get water in. I usually fill up on I am about 75% in the tank.