Unrealistic Speed

Jayco-man

Member
I sat up two base boards and layed track that distanc, and sat the NSes44ac NW Heritage 8103, and then sat it in nonch 1, and by the end of the two base boards it was running at 35 mph and still picking up speed. There is no way real loco will do this that I know of, so whats going on with this? Im in Traniz 2019, lasted update. I posted here because im useing 2019 and was not sure where to put it. :(
 
This is a problem that is wide spread. Even with heavy modified engine spec. Everything takes off in trainz like a rocket. Even with a fully loaded 130 car coal train. The initial start of acceleration is wayyy to quick. Even with a fully loaded train.

JR locos and non all suffer this. Maybe if some other people can provide some more help. I think at end of the day it's down to editing the engine spec more.
 
Driving in AI mode will do this, and driving manually solves the problem completely.
Putting in lower speed boards may keep speeds down to a dull roar, but still AI will have very quick unrealistic acceleration/deacceleration/braking.
Where my trains commonly start/stop/make switching moves I place 5 mph speed boards, or even slower metric speed boards.
Driving manually makes me feel like a real engineer, making certain to operate with careful train handling technique skills, so as to prevent rapid slack run-in/rapid slack run-out/coupler draft gear breakage, and driving flaws that would in real life cause certain derailments.
 
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There is the test track ya know.

Once you figure out what you need, you can create your own engine-spec, save it, and use it for any train.

You can even change the engine-spec by editing the locomotive in Surveyor so there's no need to hard wire it unless you want to. Click on the ? icon and then the locomotive. You'll see the engine spec and you can then use the pull-down to find the one you want.
 
There is the test track ya know.

Once you figure out what you need, you can create your own engine-spec, save it, and use it for any train.

You can even change the engine-spec by editing the locomotive in Surveyor so there's no need to hard wire it unless you want to. Click on the ? icon and then the locomotive. You'll see the engine spec and you can then use the pull-down to find the one you want.

Doesn't solve a wide-case problem.

In general, even with brand new JR locos. The engine specs are still off. I've come to the conclusion all the locos can't be broke, and its more a 'game engine' thing. There is no way all these locos were built like rockets (esp the ones from JR, and are fresh releases). I've yet to have 1 single downloaded engine from Freeware or Paid, act like a real loco in Notch 1 and actually crawl first. Not just take off. Some are better than others, yes. But overall, I think its a Trainz thing somewhere deep in the code. NOT just engine specs.

Test Track is under the launcher screen. Open TRS19 launcher window, File > View Test Track. Just a place to test a new loco/car without loading textures/full game. It's a quick load/preview thing.

EDIT: And No, manual driving does not solve this at all. Unless you Notch 1 for 3 secs then notch to idle to coast.
 
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Mostly I drive 1 - 5 mph in manual mode, as I enjoy switching speeds, watching coupler slack action, coupling/uncoupling/fly switching movements, Rarely do I exceed 20 - 30 mph
 
I would think that all the engines would be set with the right speed notch's set, I have know idea what each notch should be set at, and if they are set right, and you change them, then you are still not right anyway you look at it.
 
I think we're barking up the wrong tree here. It's not the acceleration curve, but it's related to the mass and friction values of the locomotive. The physics modeling has changed quite a bit since the early days, and it's a possibility that the authors of these engine-specs have used an early one as a base and cloned that for their own just as is done for other assets. This would explain why the newer Jointed Rail locomotives, and I'm assuming new ones by RR Mods work well while others do not.

For more information on this aspect of mechanics, it's worth looking at this here:

https://owlcation.com/stem/Force-Weight-Newtons-Velocity-and-Mass
 
Thanks for the update, as far as I can tell that did the trick. I ran the same engine two boards long in notch 1 and it only got to 21mph and held. I dont know what the notches are set at but that's a lot better than before. If 21mph for notch 1 is what its set at then is right on the money.
 
Ok guys know one answered my last post here, and I'm still curious about the speed set for each notch. Ok I know there probably different for each type of engine, so if there is someone who knows what the notch speeds are for this engine please chime in. Thanks for any help.
 
It would vary, depending if you were on a straight and level grade, on a descending grade, or on an uphill grade, or whether a portion of your long train was strung out over a distant hump in the trackage, about to crest the hump of the track grade, where the rear end slack could suddenly "run in" bunching up the couplers. Or whether you were in a single loco, multiple loco consist, pulling 10 railcars, or pulling 100 railcars. A notch 1 position (for example) would result in many different varied speed physics, traction motor voltage and amperage, on different grades, and in different weather conditions. An engineer would develop a sixth sense on how the consist physics is exactly handling on that particular track grade, "feeling" what notch to apply, or reduce, or where to notch it up, or notch it down, or to coast rolling along in notch zero, or whether to apply dynamic braking, train braking, or independent braking.
 
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I can not speak for other developers on how they handle engine specs. I use a complex spreadsheet to calculate the power curves. Now, obviously I can make this better over time and do just that - it isn't perfect and for instance simply calculating too little of a power falloff made some bad engine specs in the past (i.e. being able to reach full speed in notch1).

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You can view the power curve at the test track.

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