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One way to drive a steam loco, as done by many engineers, is to run with the regulator (throttle) wide open (100%) and pull the cutoff back to about mid 30% area. Use the cutoff to control speed.
Bob
... which allows the steam to develop maximum expansive power after the valve closes...
Interesting, you are all very educated on steam locos!
......2. What powers the blowers and and what are they used for?
Yeah, this one pops up from time to time...
The train brake works on all cars in a train. The independent brake (spelt independant by Auran :hehe: ) only works on the loco. There is a slight time delay in operation of the train brake to the brakes taking effect which is fine when driving a train where things can be anticipated but is a darn nuisance when you're trundling around a yard or loco depot with just the loco. The independent brake operates much quicker than the train brake but only on the loco. You have to be real careful how you use it on a train because the loco slows down but the rest of the train keeps going. The run in of slack can be a real kicker sometimes (I've seen a lightly loaded wagon get pinched off by this little trick!).
As a general rule (and it's only general) use the train brake when driving trains and never the independent brake, and only use the independent brake when travelling "light loco".
Cheers
Nix