What is the trick to driving steam trains in advanced mode

[stumper66]

I thought I had it figured out but there are a few levels where going up hill when I start losing speed and eventually come to a halt, despite, having the cutoff at 75%, regulator at 100%, full coal and water level around 70.
Is there something else I should be doing?

For example in Cornish Mainline and Branches - Freight run, I was only about 5-10 minutes in going up a 1.0% - 1.3% grade when I started losing speed. Finally came to a stop and couldn't go any further.

Do I need to do something like open the drain cocks when I start moving? I've tried Alt+D but doesn't seem to do anything. What from I've seen in real steam trains you need to open them when you first start moving until the water is out, and you can see the steam coming out of the side of the train, but I don't see anything like that in the game. On steam trains which I can actually find the drain cock lever it doesn't seem to affect anything while driving.

 

[edh6]

Look at the steam chest pressure. If it is significantly less than the boiler pressure when at 100% regulator try winding in the reverser.

 

[stumper66]

Just tried that and it made no difference.
Here you can see BP is at 109 and SC is at 102. I tried different cutoff %s but it made no difference.
My consist is 6, BR 12 ton ventilated van - 268 ton, which I don't think is a whole lot.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6765gr0d4yi7enp/SteamTrain.png?dl=0

 

[edh6]

What loco is it?

 

[AndrewH]

Just tried that and it made no difference.
Here you can see BP is at 109 and SC is at 102. I tried different cutoff %s but it made no difference.
My consist is 6, BR 12 ton ventilated van - 268 ton, which I don't think is a whole lot.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6765gr0d4yi7enp/SteamTrain.png?dl=0

Running a locomotive at 75% cutoff and 100% regulator will drain your boiler of steam very quickly which is why the boiler pressure has dropped to109 psi. At that pressure there is not enough tractive effort available to lift the train up the grade.
You mention you are 5 - 10 minutes into the session. Some engines are quite cold when you start and need to be driven with a light touch to warm up properly (75% cutoff and 100% regulator is not a light touch!). To warm up a locomotive quickly use the blower.

 

[philskene]

The "approved" way is to drive with full regulator (North American = throttle) and control the speed by adjusting the cutoff (reverser). This gives full boiler pressure at the cylinders and maximises boiler efficiency. Of course, going down hill may require closing the regulator.

However, this technique is not infallible because of deficiencies in some of the especs used by some locomotives and by the fact that I still regard the N3V execution of the steam locomotive espec as work in progress.

Can I make a suggestion? I did some work a while ago and worked up a couple of especs that seemed to perform reasonably well if the locomotive is driven correctly. Download one of my steam locomotives (search with "philskene" as the author) and see how it goes. Tell us if it's an improvement over what you are experiencing now.

The one feature that seems to arouse most criticism is the noise of the popping of the safety valves, and this applies to all steam locomotives that I have tried. A particularly bad offender is the built-in C&O locomotive. One way of overcoming the loud noise is to edit the safety valve volume in the "sounds" folder.

Phil

 

[stumper66]

The loco is Ivatt 2MT - LMS Black 1.
I tried it again with the blower on full from the beginning, didn't make a difference. This loco feels very slow even with no cars attached on a flat surface. It might be a bug in TS2019, going to see if I can find it in t:ANE for comparison.

Thanks Phil for the suggestions, that is how I have been driving it so far. The other locos I've played usually have too much boiler pressure such as the C&O as you mention above but the Ivatt always seems low. Also yes it is annoying how it also seems to making loud steam hissing noises.

 

[stumper66]

Also I was looking at the controls in the loco and couldn't figure out what 3 of them were. Any idea based on the picture here?

 

[philskene]

stumper --

Reducing the loud hissing noise from the safety valve:

Open Manage Content / find "Sounds" / Open for Edit in Explorer / Copy the Sounds folder to a temporary location.
In the temporary location, change the kuid to kuid2:570470:100003:2 (it will then obsolete the original) / edit the safety valve sound file with a wave editing application (I use "Audacity", freeware) to reduce the sound level.
Drag and drop the folder in the temporary location back into Manage Content / Revert the original Sound folder. The original should indicate that it is obsolete.
The disclaimer -- I take no responsibility if this breaks your version of TRS19, borks your PC or gives you a nasty virus like hives or a disease like leprosy. Do it at your own risk. You have been warned.

From memory I think I reduced the sound level by 50%, or even more, to bring it down to an acceptable level.

Phil

 

[stumper66]

So I think the problem is going up steep hills the boiler pressure slowly drops until it is under 100. On missions where you need to follow a schedule I find myself falling behind.
What are the tricks to get the max BP when going up hills?
I've found there are all kinds of dials and knobs in the various steam trains that are usually unlabeled. Do I need to work with some of these?

I just tried a BR 9f Double and could only manage around 30 MPH going up a steady hill when the speed limit was 60. Even when I got to top and was going downhill I couldn't even get it to hit 60 MPH with full throttle. The BP was under 100 for most of it.

 

[philskene]

A suggestion. Try "Loco S&A 4-6-2 #750", from the Download Station.

It's this one, a high stepping "Pacific":

Watch full screen / 1080p:

It's always performed well for me, even on 3% grades with a reasonable trailing load.

Just pretend British Rail borrowed one as part of the "1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials". Tell me how it performs for you.

Phil

 

[edh6]

Not all the visible controls in the interior actually do anything in Trainz.

Trying out other locomotives is a good idea. Some in Trainz are a pain to drive. I've always found the espec on my P2 quite ready to drive if you want something British. I'll give the Ivatt a go later to see how it does.

Why does everyone complain about the safety valves? They've clearly never tried to have a conversation next to a real locomotive that's blowing off. It's far louder than in Trainz...

 

[Bill69]

Not all the visible controls in the interior actually do anything in Trainz.

Trying out other locomotives is a good idea. Some in Trainz are a pain to drive. I've always found the espec on my P2 quite ready to drive if you want something British. I'll give the Ivatt a go later to see how it does.

Why does everyone complain about the safety valves? They've clearly never tried to have a conversation next to a real locomotive that's blowing off. It's far louder than in Trainz...

I think there are many people using Trainz that have never seen or heard a real steam engine performing under load.

Bill69.

 

[edh6]

As fas as I can tell the Ivatt is just a tricky loco to drive. I placed on on a 350 ton goods train and struggled to get over 10 mph, even on the flat. Other locos of various types were much easier to get the same train going at a sensible pace.

 

[2995Valliant]

First bear in mind the prototype was designed for hauling light trains (I doubt anything much over 150 tons on any line with decent gradients) at low speeds - most freight trains ran at 25mph.

However, the Trainz model can never perform properly as it is 33 tons overweight, the tender is around 25 tons overweight and the engine spec is a work of fiction.

Off topic - Ed, Apologies, I still owe you a D49 e-spec.

 

[Ghost42]

http://www.trainzclassics.co.uk/guides_tips/files/Driving_the_9F.pdf

Best tutorial I have found.