What US Diesel is close to the performance as Southern Pacific K-M ML4000C's?

What locomotive is close to the performance to Southern Pacific Krauss-Maffei built diesel-hydraulic? The enginespec used for crazytrain's ML4000C's, reskinned by btvfd, is 'DD40X', <kuid:-25:431>, which, to me, makes them seem to be too powerful. I've got three of them on the front of a 54-car coal train and they have no problem with hauling it on level track. Does anyone have any ideas as to a proper enginespec? They produce 4,000 horsepower, so I suspect the enginespec for a GE Dash 8-40CW, 9-40CW, ES44AC, or EMD SD70.

With a power output of 3500 hp each and a top speed of 70 mph, 3 locomotives shouldn't have too much trouble with a 54 car coal train.

What you need is HP, Mass, and number of wheels to be about the same.

When I put that in there, I was really hoping to be able to slam it into notch 8 and watch the wheels spin. Sparks flying everywhere and perhaps even molten metal slinging all over the place as it struggled to gain traction would have been really cool, too.

Evidently, I failed.

I don't think any loco in Trainz can wheelslip sparks ... I think they look spectacular

crazytrain said:

When I put that in there, I was really hoping to be able to slam it into notch 8 and watch the wheels spin. Sparks flying everywhere and perhaps even molten metal slinging all over the place as it struggled to gain traction would have been really cool, too.

Evidently, I failed.

Click to expand...

I'm running them on Dermmy's EK3 route with a 60-car coal train. I spent most of the time with that long train in notch 1, sometimes in notch 2, from the yard at Hazard all the way to Cornettsville. The grades between Hazard and Cornettsville stay under 1.75%. From there I head up the Leatherwood branch to the small yard at Beech Fork, with grades between 2% and 3%. When I get to the yard at Beech Fork, I leave half of my train, 30 cars, and head up the Blair Fork Branch to the Blue Diamond Coal Company's Royal Diamond Mine, with grades between 2% and 3%. Then I leave half of my train at the Blue Diamond Coal Company's Royal Diamond mine before I head up the last little bit to Blue Diamond Coal Company's Tilford Tipple #2, the last mine on the branch. Reason why leaving half of the train there? Well, because I don't have enough room for all 30 cars, and of the 3%+ grade. After loading the first 15 cars, I back down to the Royal Diamond Mine and take the second half of the train up to the Tilford Tipple. I then load the cars and head back down to the Royal Diamond Mine, pick up the remaining 15 cars, and head back to the yard at Beech Fork. I then repeat the process with the second half of the 60-car train and then combine them back at Beech Fork. Once the two trains become one, I head back down the branch and on to the coal-fired power plant just past Hazard, where I unload the coal before heading back to Hazard with the empty cars.

What would be the enginespec config file tags numerals, that can be edited, to make a locomotive Superman powerful, so that it alone can stop a 1 mile long train on a -3% grade, or haul a train up a 3% grade, unassisted ?

What is the single most powerful locomotive in Trainz, that can do this ?

I know there are some ridiculously small locos out there that can do this feat

Well, now that I've got a 60-car coal train loaded full of coal, the ML4000C's get a workout hauling the train. However, I'll try removing one of them to get a 30:1 ratio, 30 cars per 1 locomotive, and see what happens. Right now I've got a 20:1 ratio of 20 cars per 1 locomotive.

EDIT: Now those two ML4000C's are getting a serious workout. I'm spending most of the time with the throttle in notch 5 and the dynamics in notch 2.

EDIT: I stand corrected about the grades. From Hazard to Cornettsville the uphill grade maxes out at 0.79% and the downhill grade maxes out at -0.78%. From Cornettsville to Beech Fork the uphill grade maxes out at 2% and the downhill grade maxes out at -0.23%. The yard at Beech Fork is also on a 1.49% uphill grade. From Beech Fork to the Blue Diamond Coal Company's Royal Diamond mine uphill grade maxes out at 1.92% and the downhill grade maxes out at -0.56%. From Blue Diamond Coal Company's Royal Diamond mine to the Blue Diamond Coal Company's Tilford Tipple #2 is all uphill and maxes out at 3.18%.

Just an interesting tidbit.

While doing some testing in DCC mode (TRS2004), I eased up against a track bumper and opened it up. Wheels spinning like mad. No sparks or nothing (hah!) but all the windows did start flashing?? so i guess not a total failure.

In Cab mode, the wheels would spin but never really fast. Just really, really slow. Weird.

You should know that TRS2004 has the constant of gravity wrong so train performance is off.

Thanks whitepass. Man, that's like learning the world isn't really flat. Or that Sa.... um nevermind.

Explains why the content I was throwing into ts2009 was acting so much differently than it was in trs2004.