KotangaGirl
Pre-Grouping Railways Nut
I used to drive quite a lot using the 'advanced' steam controls in TS2019 SP0 and SP1, but I hadn't tried doing this in TRS19 SP3 until I got the bright idea to write a better engine spec for Steve Flanders old TS2004 Foden geared locomotive. After searching for such information as I could find on small traction engine based locomotives and studying this Trainz Wiki guide I set to work. (The guide was last updated in 2013, but I certainly found it useful)
https://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/HowTo/Tune_a_Steam_Locomotive_Enginespec
I have modded engine spec files before for some of my mid 19th century locomotives, but a small single cylindered geared steam locomotive was definitely something new. To cut a long story short I did many test runs and made many edits and alterations to my TS12 3.7 engine spec and I ended up with something that was on the way to being workable, BUT the steam blower would not work no matter what I did or what settings I used. Leave the loco standing for any length of time and the boiler would contain nothing but ghost steam.
In an effort to check what I'd done I bundled the Foden up into a CDP and took it over to TANE SP4 since my old TS2019 SP1 install wasn't accessible without a lot of messing around.
The test train was 44 tons which is about the limit for this small locomotive. The first thing I noticed was that the Foden was steaming a lot more evenly and there were no sudden surges as the boiler pressure jumped higher for no reason that I could see. Signal stops of a minute or two made no difference to the boiler pressure with the steam blower on the first notch, but the real test came when I left the Foden parked beside the water tank, - blower on the first notch, - for five minutes or more while I made a cup of tea and a bite of supper. The boiler pressure had dropped to 70 lbs on my return, but it was real steam, - not ghost steam, - so it was a simple matter to get the Foden ready for work again.
My first question here is, 'Has anyone else had problems with the steam blower not working in SP3?' And my second question is, 'Has anyone noticed if the TRS19 SP4 update has made any improvements to the functioning of the steam blower?'
