I finally finished Session 2 using the SD45 and two SD7 engines, and it was a brutal excursion. I finished the session at 7:30 ish game time, and put the engines to bed. Crazy stuff. I was exhausted.
Okay, so Phil, I did some playing around with the initial problem. Everything I did took place on the spur where the problem was. This is what I found out.
1. I changed engines to see if that was the problem. I put the ATSF SD45 on the load and it couldn't budge the consist either. I put both engines on the consist and they were crawling at throttle 7, but throttle 8 gave wheel spin. Something is not right.
2. I left the ATSF engine on the consist, but uncoupled the loaded flats with the heavy equipment. The SD45 was barely able to pull the 6 unloaded container cars off the siding, screaming at throttle 8 and the sander going. I deleted two of the empty container cars and now the SD45 was able to pull the consist - mind you they are unloaded empty container cars. This is very odd. I put the SP SD45 on the 4 loaded flats with the equipment and it was able to pull them, albeit with difficulty, but they were slowly moving at throttle 5 or 6. Okay, this still seems odd.
3. Now I deleted all 6 of the container cars that come with the session, and then I re-added them to the game. A single SD45 was able to pull all 6 of the newly added - but same type - empty container cars with ease, quickly moving out with no problems at throttle 2-3 and no sander. Hmmm.
4. Still with a single SD45, I backed the new container cars up and connected to the 4 loaded flats. I managed to get the consist moving but just barely as there was still a problem somewhere, but at least this was progress.
5. I then deleted all 4 flat cars, and re-added the same ones, loading them once more with the same heavy equipment. I then connected the new empty container cars to the new loaded flats. I was able to pull the entire consist with a single SD45, starting out slowly through notch 1 and 2, and then easily pulling the load off the spur by notch 3. I'm mystified.
Do you suppose the container cars and flats were just not playing well with TANE from your original session? Once I deleted and re-added them, things worked just fine. I'm open to suggestions.
Heinrich505