Railworks America

Hello ,

Two questions, in the real world if you are in the cab of say a switcher and you are loading though a coal plant, when do you know when you are in postion to load a wagon, is there a light that tells you [green/red] or by radio?

Now when in railworks2 same thing loading coal, am i missing something in the sim, i can obviously use an outside camera to see when i am lined up but would prefer to stay in the cab,

Thanks for any help,

Roger.

I always use the F4 Hub when doing work like that.

Hello,

Thanks for that, i see a vertical line now in the Hud between the icons for the wagons and with practice i'm loading them ok, from starting the loading to finishing ready for the next wagon, about 30 seconds, well at the coal plant i'm at,

Cheers,

Roger.

Guess I'm strange. I don't like the F4 HUD. I kill it, go to the F5 (hit the key twice) then the F3 Driver's guide. Now, I use the "fly cam" (2 key) and the arrow keys to see what I need as far as coupling. Use the 2+shift for the "head out" cam. It's like leaning out the cab window.

The Railworks world has always fascinated me. The scenery. I very rarely drive in cab, unless it's one of those stupid locomotives that has AWS.

I like heads out view myself, hanging out the window. But like Arizona I also use the other views to see more of the route. I like to use the 8 key and fly around looking for spots to do Railfanning shots. But I jump back to the cab and out the window when I have to stop or hook up. Loading and unloading freight I do outside.

In the real world locomotives can creep a train under the loader at 1-2 mph and the person controlling the loader just dumps the coal into the cars.

In railworks, I don't think that possible the cars must be stopped. In which case I use the F4 HUD and the free roam cam.

You can watch the operation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBfKwhDlAU

After watching the coal video, I'm scratching my head wondering how the inaccurate description of how Dynamic Braking works actually became part of the show, even with graphics to show the incorrect info!

The traction motors do NOT use the resistance of the engine to slow the train, the power generated by the traction motors is turned into heat in large fan cooled resistor grids - the ultimate toaster or electric grill.

I still did enjoy watching the train action.

GaryG

PapaXpress wrote:You can watch the operation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBfKwhDlAU

Ok was I the only one who laughed when the guy said both the conductor and engineer were "certified" engineers? What, are there non-certified engineers running around out there? Just driving trains illegally?

Hello All,

Thanks for the link PapaXpress, very interesting,


I am looking forward to this new Route with HorseShoe Curve next week and if its anything like the other
Routes in the sim it should be very good and hopefully we will be able to move some serious coal trains in it

Cheers,

Roger.

Shortliner wrote:Ok was I the only one who laughed when the guy said both the conductor and engineer were "certified" engineers? What, are there non-certified engineers running around out there? Just driving trains illegally?

Think maybe they are in training when they are un certified?

For lining up/switching, I use the 8 cam & stand myself by the track at approximately person-height & just imagine me moving the controls is telling the driver when to stop. Means you get to do two jobs.

Coal loading points here used to have their own signals and would load on the move, or automated wagon movement systems ( and I say used to because we don't have any coal mines left ). I think non-automated non-moving ones are generally shunted by means of a guy with a radio, about the most flexible arrangement you can get.

Dont you guys think its a bit unfair to judge the Extreme Trains episode ? dont forget its not a program for die hard rail fans, its just a program on a documentary channel thats intended to be viewed by people who have no idea about how trains work, the rules and regulations of the company and the terminology they use ?

as for the loading of the hoppers, RW fails here, as mentioned before and shown on the video, the coal is loaded while the train moves at .4 of a mile an hour, the only train ive seen with slow speed control is the IHH 56, but there is no method of slow loading coal without stopping, i have noticed tho that the coal will still load if you are traveling very slowly, but you have to be roughly in the center of the hopper for it to start, would it be possible to edit the way the loading works so that it will start further out from the center meaning we can atleast allow a near to prototypical method of loading ? albeit a tad slower than normal operations

Kali wrote:For lining up/switching, I use the 8 cam & stand myself by the track at approximately person-height & just imagine me moving the controls is telling the driver when to stop. Means you get to do two jobs.

Fair enough, its good to get peoples idea's and its no big deal , its a sim and i have been using 8 cam myself and thats an easy way to load them wagons! just thought there may have been another way,

I am happy to pass my time [i am retired ] so time i have got plenty of and it stop's me from getting bored!

All the best,

Roger.