AT&N consolidation

[canadiannational1996]

I just bought the locomotive and it is just amazing! I'm just having trouble with firing the locomotive in expert mode, i can't seems to increse or decrease the stoking rate with the pedal. Even when i use the keyboard controls the pedal goes down and then up again. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[mrennie]

I just bought the locomotive and it is just amazing! I'm just having trouble with firing the locomotive in expert mode, i can't seems to increse or decrease the stoking rate with the pedal. Even when i use the keyboard controls the pedal goes down and then up again. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi!

I'm the developer of this loco. Thank you for buying it!

There are a few things to check. Some of these might seem like silly questions, but I have to ask, just to be able to discard them as possible causes:

Are you using the non-HUD version of the loco, i.e. the one without "HUD" in the name? The HUD version is meant for running with the F4 HUD or Xbox controller, and not all of the expert controls work properly with that version. Likewise, the non-HUD version is meant to be run with keyboard and/or mouse, and bringing up the F4 HUD can interfere with the controls (for example, turning off the exhaust injector water if you had it on before turning on the HUD).

Did you open the firebox doors with the hand lever located above the doors, before activating the stoking? That lever should really only be used when the stoking is completely turned off, and before stepping on the foot pedal for the first time, you should make sure the doors are closed (hand lever all the way up). This is because the levers and the pedal do sometimes interfere.

Another point is that it's normal for the pedal to go up and down by itself. When you drag the pedal down with the mouse, it does actually move down the first time, precisely because the doors will immediately start to open. The pedal moves with the doors, not because of dragging the mouse. If you only dragged down a little bit, the doors won't stay open for long, and as soon as they start to shut again (automatically), the pedal will go back up. Similarly, if you drag the pedal up, it might not necessarily move, unless it just so happens that it's time for the doors to shut again. Think of the pedal as an invisible control (which it is) that you don't see move with the mouse, but simply as part of the door mechanism. Increasing or decreasing the stoking rate simply changes the rate at which the doors open and close (and the amount of time they stay open in between is constant, to ensure that the simulation does actually put more coal in!). The reason it goes down when the doors open and up when they close is that it works like that in real life. When the fireman steps on the pedal, it activates an air-driven piston that opens (and holds open) the doors. When he lifts his foot off the pedal, it goes back up and the air is let out of the piston, causing the doors to close again. You can hear the air going in and out of the piston if you listen carefully to the model.

Let me know if that helps!



Mike (Smokebox)

[canadiannational1996]

Thank you for the reply. I am using the correct locomotive and still nothing happens, i am having the same issue with the water valve i open it and then it rotates back to its close position.

[mrennie]

Thank you for the reply. I am using the correct locomotive and still nothing happens, i am having the same issue with the water valve i open it and then it rotates back to its close position.

That happens if you have the F4 HUD enabled. The HUD interferes with the customised controls. Is it happening without the F4 HUD enabled? if so, then that's something very strange indeed. is it the exhaust (fireman's) or live (engineer's) water valve?

[canadiannational1996]

It was the F4 HUD interfering, everything works fine now. I must have misread what you wrote, excuse me for this. Thanks again for all the support.

[mrennie]

It was the F4 HUD interfering, everything works fine now. I must have misread what you wrote, excuse me for this. Thanks again for all the support.

I'm glad it was the F4 HUD

I hope you enjoy running the loco. It can be quite a challenge in expert mode, firing manually, but it's more fun that way. for me at least.

I've put some renamings up here on RWA if you want to check them out ... PRR, UP and CPR.