Hi Belthize
The following controls work in the DDs (and all others are operable for 'fun'
):
Regulator
Cut-off
#4 brake (i.e. train brake)
Handbrake (i.e. independent brake)
Both injectors (the wheel handle, the other 'levers' aren't functional) - the two injectors operate independently. IIRC the enginespec is setup that when working hard, you may need both injectors on from time to time.
Blower
Whistle
Sander
Firebox door (may or may not effect fire temperature, not sure these days).
Brake pressure gauge
Main reservoir Gauge
Boiler Pressure
Both water gauges
All other controls are made pose-able for fun, and in hopes that one day they may be able to be used.
With a steam locomotive, the cut-off is much like the gears in a car. 75% is like 1st, and then reducing the cut-off is like going up through the gears. So make sure you start with high cut-off and then work it back. Try to reduce the cut-off in small steps (so for example, go 75% - 60% - 50% - 40% - 30%) as you increase speed. The steam chest pressure can help a little here, it will drop off if the cut-off is too high. Additionally the cut-off on the HUD will flash yellow if it is too high (and causing the draft to pull the too hard on the fire).
If the locomotive doesn't move when starting off, check the HUD. If the regulator value flashes yellow, this indicates wheelslip (unfortunately the animation/sound doesn't work, it stopped sometime around TS2009
).
If the water level shows 100% on the HUD, then this indicates that the water has reached the top of the gauge on the boiler (there are two on the DDs, both work and should be accurate). The water level can go above this quite a bit, as there is a lot of space between the top of them and the top of the boiler (as per the real one). It can also go below this before you have the fusible plug melt (Trainz does model this, you will lose boiler pressure when you go too far beyond 0% water - on the DDs I also included smoke effects for this!). If at 100%, putting more water in won't show any change. Also, if the water is too high (i.e. 100% or above as a guide), you have reduced the volume of steam in the boiler; this can be seen in your video as the boiler pressure rapidly drops and then starts jumping up and down. Try having about 70%
For the brakes, on long trains there is a delay as the reduction propogates along the train. The 'equalizer' gives you the actual pressure you've reduced to, you can then see the delay in the train pipe equalizing with this. So when you drop 5PSI out of the equalizer (i.e. the train brake), the train pipe reading will read that drop at the locomotive, but even then it could take a few seconds before the rear of the train sees that change fully (the HUD doesn't show this, it reads from the locomotive as it would on the real thing). You can, however, get a feel for this by watching the brake cylinder reading on the HUD, as this gives you a good indication of the amount of braking force being applied by the locomotive and along the train. On the VR stock, you generally want to make at least a 10PSI reduction for very gentle braking (i.e. reduce to about 63-62PSI in the equalizer/train pipe), or a 15+PSI reduction for heavier braking (i.e. about 60-55PSI). Essentially you can use the three together to see how the brakes are reacting.
Regards
Zec