Braking questions, Trainz related.

[Davie_UCF]

I've driven in cab mode for years now, but still braking eludes me slightly.
Often if i'm not paying attention and need to brake suddenly i'll whack on the independent brake aswell as the main brake. I doubt this is prototypical?

How do you use the lap function? Do you set the brakes to application then press lap and keep doing this till the brake power rises?

Did steam locomotives have independent brakes? Because the shortcut works in Trainz however I can never see an independent brake in the cab?

Cheers!
David.

 

[007007]

I'm not a big steam guy but I can answer your air brake question.

Some of the Trainz locomotives have "self lapping" brake valves and others don't. I'm assuming when you apply the brakes you have 5 positions. Released, lap, application, handle off, and emergency. Released and emergency are self explanatory while handle off will draw the brake pipe all the way down to 10-12lbs (used while in trail). The APPLICATION position will reduce your equalizing reservoir (a volume of air that increases and decreases quickly to know what your brake pipe will do. The brake pipe always follows the EQ reservoir unless the brake valve is cut out) and a service rate which your brake pipe will follow because air wants to be equal. The purpose of the LAP position is to keep the equalizing res/brake pipe from continuing to lower which obviously will continue to apply more braking effort to the cars until you reach a full service application (when air in the auxiliary reservoir on the cars equalizes with the brake cylinder). When you reach that point you have no more service braking left even if you drop the brake pipe past, on a 90psi system, 64lbs. The LAP position is a position you move the handle back to when you reach the desired amount of brake pipe reduction you want. So if you want a 10lb set (25lbs on the brake shoes) you would move the AUTOMATIC brake valve handle to the APPLICATION position until you see the equalizing reservoir drop to 80lbs (the white needle on the left gauge in most North American locomotives) and when it gets there pop the handle back into LAP which will keep the equalizing reservoir at 80bs and keeping your brakes set. If you decide you need more braking effort, pop the handle back into APPLICATION until you reach desired level then back to LAP. When you're slowing down enough move the handle to RELEASE and the brakes will start to kick off. Keep in mind that it takes time for the air to travel and the brakes to release so say if you're trying to hit 25mph you may need to release between 30-35mph depending on how heavy of a reduction you've made.

Hope I helped a little,

Steve

 

[cascaderailroad]

In Trainz ... If you press S, then A repeatedly for 25 times, it starts the entire train Full Braking Application.

If you press the PauseBreak KB key, it puts the entire train into Emergency Braking.

If you press S, then C, and press W 8 times, it puts the Full Dynamic Braking into Throttle 8.
(By pressing S, C, W 8 times, then pressing A 25 times, or Pause Break, achives Dynamic Braking, plus either Emergency/Application).

On the prototype, on a downhill grade, using just the Loco-Independent Brake, would cause violent slack run in, and cause a delailment.

In short to stop a runaway train quickly, press:

S AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA S C WWWWWWWW
or:
S PauseBreak S C WWWWWWWW

If you just want to slow a runaway down, when it finally reaches @ 25mph hit:

Q S C XXXXXXXX
or:
Q S C XXXXXXXX PauseBreak/off

 

[ptrainman]

007007 is dead on the money. Brake setups with the LAP postion in the handle are 24L brakes. Ones with out the LAP postions are 26L, the most used non-electronic brake setup in the US. All electronic air brakes (Epic II, FastBrake, and CCB2) use the same setup as 26L just with computers in the middle. 24L brakes take a bit of getting used to. The EMD cab that is built in to TS2009 and up has 24L brakes when it should have 26L. The 2006 back built in EMD cab has 26L brakes. Any locomotives built after the mid 60s have 26L brakes. And to answer your other question Davie, yes steam locomotives have independent brakes, atleat American ones do. In the built in steam cab used by the Big Boy the independent handle is the short handle behind the train line brake handle.


Paul