Automatic Stoker

When driving a steam loco in realistic mode, I noted an automatic stoker/fireman slider that the tutorial says to set around 80%. I don't notice any effect on coal level though (CO.) I still have to hand fire with the spacebar to bring the CO level up to 100. Can someone explain how the auto stoker control works? Thanks.

Hi Raymac1946
The 'coal slider' in Realistic mode effectively makes the fireman shovel coal at a set rate (how fast it is, depends on how far up you move the slider). The exact amount that gets shovelled is set by the shovel size, and the size of the grate (and a few other things relating to the coal on the grade) in the enginespec asset.

On some locomotives, this may not balance well and as such you may still need to manually add coal yourself. This is can be realistic on even mechanically stoked locomotives, where the fireman often has to shovel coal into some portions of the firebox that the stoker can't cover (particularly underneath or either side of the stoker!).

Regards

Thanks very much for the information.