n00b question #8342 - bumpers that bump?

[sniper297]

Pretty sure that's the number, I'm asking so many questions lately I gotta ask how many questions I've asked. :hehe:

I've been using Signal Rail End USA at the end of yard tracks and spurs, and it's come to my attention that the bumpers ("buffers" for you Brit types) don't stop cars, even when they hit at less than 2mph - they always derail instead, causing a chain reaction that derails the entire train. Doesn't matter what the derailment realism is set to, end of track = derail everything. Is there a specific bumper that will actually STOP cars that bump into it without derailing?

 

[cascaderailroad]

You can place an AI Brake at locations, and trainz will couple on and stop ... but then it seems the AI Brake can not be deleted, nor decoupled.

If you put an AI Brake on railcars, it is a invisible loco, and gives a draft of railcars, drivable ... and in a hump yard gives them hand brakes.

Is there another invisble loco on the DLS, for placing at end bumpers, and yard exits ?

I have had 25 locos each coupled to 25 AI Brake, and on my Horseshoe route, I still can not stop a 15,000 ton loaded coal train comming down a 1.75% grade.

They just slide ... and slide ... and slide

 

[paulzmay]

There is a tag 'buffer-speed' that determines how fast a railcar the buffer/bumper will stop.

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/KIND_Scenery-trackside

I don't know if this is the same for pre-TS09 versions, but I suspect it is.

Paul

 

[sniper297]

Well, I'm primarily concerned with 2010 and 12, looking at this asset;

username "Signal_Rail_End_USA"
region "USA"
trackside 0
kind "mosignal"
function "TrackSignal"
buffer-speed 3
asset-filename "rail_end_us"

If that's 3 meters per second, X 60 X 60 /1000 = 10.8 KPH, add a French postage stamp and pay the European Union Metric Conversion Tax, multiply by 0.6, comes out to 6.48 MPH in real money. So if it hits at 5MPH or less it should rebound without derailing? Need more testing, I'll be back.

 

[sniper297]

Okay, appears to be the slack action fizzix rather than the bumper itself. Can't really tell how fast a car is going after uncoupling, but you can take a SWAG that if you uncouple at 4mph a hundred yards short of the buffer, it's probably between 3 and 4 mph. Done that way with a single car, it hits the bumper and stops okay. Two cars, the first one to hit the bumper derails. Trying that with a switcher and 3 boxcars coupled to the front, instead of uncoupling and kicking I just hit the bumper with the whole train at 3mph. Got the F5 speed display window open, from 3mph to 6, 7, 10, I'm applying full train brakes and it took over a minute to stop. Meantime the first and second car derailed.

Trouble here is the first car hits the bumper at 3mph, and even if there's no visual rebound it calculates the velocity of the rebound and the subsequent secondary collision with the next car, which bounces car 2 into car 3 which bounces off the engine and rebounds into car 2 which kicks car 1 back into the bumper at E=MC squared. Which basically means when all else fails you cheat, cloning the bumper and jacking it up to buffer-speed 9 works for any combination of cars at a reasonable speed.