RSC 2-8-0 CONSOLIDATION

[CSX2057]

AWESOME!! Something I'm looking forward too.

[thecanadianrail]

So I drive almost 3kms and manage to loose all of my steam...awesome! defiantly will need to do a little more learning as the usual steam driving techniques for RW do not apply to this one.

A few tips to keep from losing steam pressure:

Keep the steam chest gauge reading lower than the boiler pressure.

If you see the boiler pressure needle going down (unless it's going down because the safety valves popped), lower the steam chest pressure (by backing off on the throttle or, better, hooking up the reverser), until it steadies.

Pull the damper lever up ... it lets more air into the firebox and gives you a hotter fire.

Keep the fire mass at around 650lbs. There's a picture in the manual that shows what the coal level looks like at the optimum amount. Letting the fire mass go down too low is one of the principal causes of losing steam.

Try to keep the red ball in the water sight gauge between the top two arms of the support. If you're firing manually, you should be using the exhaust pick-up injector frequently.

With practice, you'll get a feel for when it's the right time to open the throttle wide and how to use the reverser cut-off. I've found that a pretty good setting for getting up the grade from Altoona to Gallitzin is 100& throttle and about 60% reverser, but you have to control the locomotive all the time. It's definitely not a "fire and forget". In the Slippery Slope scenario, I go around the Horseshoe curve at about 20mph. That's what you should aim for.

yea the only thing I didn't do was pull the damper lever up and keep an eye on the water sight gauge....mainly because I still cant find it!

[B-24_LIBERATOR]

I can keep the steam pressure up easily but seem to lose all or most of my power at any sign of a grade (I'm pulling 6 30 foot boxcars and a small wooden caboose). What am I doing wrong?

[mrennie]

Puff of steam. Lags me to death by the way.

That's a strange puff of steam! I can't reproduce that at all. I've tried it on three different computers, including a cheap laptop, but the cylinder cocks always emit steam the way they're supposed to. I wish I could find out what's making it do that on your system. In the meantime, all i can suggest is that you pull the cylinder cocks lever only part of the way back. The amount of steam is graduated (you can have the cocks partially open).

What graphics card have you got? I found that there are some settings for NVidia cards that improve frame rates a lot.

[mrennie]

I can keep the steam pressure up easily but seem to lose all or most of my power at any sign of a grade (I'm pulling 6 30 foot boxcars and a small wooden caboose). What am I doing wrong?

If you're going slowly going into the grade (less than about 10mph), try pushing the reverser forward and ease off the throttle, until the steam chest pressure is around 90-100psi and climbing. As it rises, keep pulling back on the reverser to keep it at about 90-100psi. However, if the grade gets steeper and you start to slow down, open the throttle up more to raise the steam chest pressure, but keeping it below the boiler pressure. The reverser is a lot like the gearshift in a car, and the throttle is like the accelerator (gas pedal). Going up a grade, you usually need more gas but also have to change down a gear. In the loco, that's like opening the throttle more and pushing the reverser further forward.
On a grade of 1.8% or more, it's normal to be going at around 12mph. Don't try to go any faster at the expense of losing boiler pressure. If you have the reverser cut-off in the right position, and keep your fire and water at the right levels, the boiler pressure will rise again even when going uphill, as long as you're patient and don't try to accelerate too quickly. I find that even on a steep grade, I can keep the pressure up once I've got her going at a steady speed.

[mrennie]

yea the only thing I didn't do was pull the damper lever up and keep an eye on the water sight gauge....mainly because I still cant find it!

The water sight gauge is a long glass tube in front of three staggered black valve cocks. It's in front and to the left of the steam gauges. It's sometimes easier to see the floating red ball if you look at it (and zoom in) from the fireman's side. There's a picture of it in the manual.

[B-24_LIBERATOR]

I can keep the steam pressure up easily but seem to lose all or most of my power at any sign of a grade (I'm pulling 6 30 foot boxcars and a small wooden caboose). What am I doing wrong?

If you're going slowly going into the grade (less than about 10mph), try pushing the reverser forward and ease off the throttle, until the steam chest pressure is around 90-100psi and climbing. As it rises, keep pulling back on the reverser to keep it at about 90-100psi. However, if the grade gets steeper and you start to slow down, open the throttle up more to raise the steam chest pressure, but keeping it below the boiler pressure. The reverser is a lot like the gearshift in a car, and the throttle is like the accelerator (gas pedal). Going up a grade, you usually need more gas but also have to change down a gear. In the loco, that's like opening the throttle more and pushing the reverser further forward.
On a grade of 1.8% or more, it's normal to be going at around 12mph. Don't try to go any faster at the expense of losing boiler pressure. If you have the reverser cut-off in the right position, and keep your fire and water at the right levels, the boiler pressure will rise again even when going uphill, as long as you're patient and don't try to accelerate too quickly. I find that even on a steep grade, I can keep the pressure up once I've got her going at a steady speed.

That's how I usually drive, but say at 1.8% most of my other locos can top at least 30 with more cars...but I don't know how realistically their modeled compared to yours either.

[mrennie]

That's how I usually drive, but say at 1.8% most of my other locos can top at least 30 with more cars...but I don't know how realistically their modeled compared to yours either.

I can't (or perhaps shouldn't) speak for the other locos, but the Consolidation has been tested a lot and the performance has been very carefully studied and tuned. 30MPH going up a 1.8% grade is totally out of the question for this loco. Keep in mind that it has a low maximum boiler pressure (180psi) compared to more modern "superpower" steam locos (typically around 250psi), but despite that it also had a reasonable (for the era) starting tractive effort of about 35,000lbs thanks to the (very!) small 40inch driving wheels. However, small driving wheels means that the top speed is low, and the maximum drawbar horsepower is developed at a low speed. This Connie develops its maximum 1,184HP at around 15mph.

[bpetit]

Puff of steam. [img]snip[/img] Lags me to death by the way.

That's a strange puff of steam! I can't reproduce that at all. I've tried it on three different computers, including a cheap laptop, but the cylinder cocks always emit steam the way they're supposed to. I wish I could find out what's making it do that on your system. In the meantime, all i can suggest is that you pull the cylinder cocks lever only part of the way back. The amount of steam is graduated (you can have the cocks partially open).

What graphics card have you got? I found that there are some settings for NVidia cards that improve frame rates a lot.

a tiny Nvidia Geforce GT540M 1GB

[B-24_LIBERATOR]

That's how I usually drive, but say at 1.8% most of my other locos can top at least 30 with more cars...but I don't know how realistically their modeled compared to yours either.

I can't (or perhaps shouldn't) speak for the other locos, but the Consolidation has been tested a lot and the performance has been very carefully studied and tuned. 30MPH going up a 1.8% grade is totally out of the question for this loco. Keep in mind that it has a low maximum boiler pressure (180psi) compared to more modern "superpower" steam locos (typically around 250psi), but despite that it also had a reasonable (for the era) starting tractive effort of about 35,000lbs thanks to the (very!) small 40inch driving wheels. However, small driving wheels means that the top speed is low, and the maximum drawbar horsepower is developed at a low speed. This Connie develops its maximum 1,184HP at around 15mph.

The traction is fine and I understand the difference between large and small diameter driving wheels, but like I said before it loses most or all of it's power even on a small incline it seems. With 175 PSI going 30 mph on level ground it comes to a hault on a 1.8% grade about a mile or so from where the grade starts. I have been able to get it to crawl up the grade between 9-12 mph and the funny thing is it worked fine on Horseshoe Curve going at least 22 mph with no power issues and a larger load.

[1225fan5358]

mrennie. I think you put TOO much realism in this. Nobody knows how to drive a good ol steam engine! I know that isn't it, but just wondering if RSC did any tinkering with the model before it was released

[ozinoz]

Done my bit, unclained the plastic (that is not completley true - its been sitting here for weeks just waiting to give up its number in return for this) and the day has now finally arrived. Just a pity I have to wait a couple of weeks to get to play - hopefully over Easter.

and

[mrennie]

The traction is fine and I understand the difference between large and small diameter driving wheels, but like I said before it loses most or all of it's power even on a small incline it seems. With 175 PSI going 30 mph on level ground it comes to a hault on a 1.8% grade about a mile or so from where the grade starts. I have been able to get it to crawl up the grade between 9-12 mph and the funny thing is it worked fine on Horseshoe Curve going at least 22 mph with no power issues and a larger load.

With the larger load, did you start off already coupled up or did you begin as a light engine and then couple to the consist? I've read somewhere that the physics in the simulator don't take proper account of the friction (or rolling resistance) if you start off uncoupled, and the difference is significant. It could also depend on the cars in the load .... they might not have the correct simulation data (weights and so on), although I'd have to investigate that before I could put my hand on my heart.

On the run from Altoona to Gallitzin, on the first part where you pass that warehouse with the woman in the suit, chatting to a man, I always slow to about 7-8 mph and crawl up the hill for a while until it picks up speed further on.

Which route are you using? If I have it, and if you describe the consist, I'll set up the same run and see if I can reproduce what you're experiencing.

[mrennie]

mrennie. I think you put TOO much realism in this. Nobody knows how to drive a good ol steam engine! I know that isn't it, but just wondering if RSC did any tinkering with the model before it was released

Well, that's the fun of this model ... the challenge of running it. On the other hand, I also put quite a lot of time and effort (at the insistence of RSC) into making the HUD version (with double the t.e. and h.p. to compensate for the auto-fireman) for those who prefer something less tricky to operate. I sometimes use the HUD version when I feel like relaxing a bit more.

EDIT: Nope, no tinkering by RSC.

[mrennie]

Done my bit, unclained the plastic (that is not completley true - its been sitting here for weeks just waiting to give up its number in return for this) and the day has now finally arrived. Just a pity I have to wait a couple of weeks to get to play - hopefully over Easter.

and

Hi Grant!

I hope it'll live up to your expectations. I poured all my love into this model and it's great to see the interest it's generating

Let me know how you get on


Mike