Learned something new today, again!!!!!.

Took a run on my Columbia River Route in one of my favorite Locos, the USRA 2-8-8-2 TS12 version. Got about 2/3 of the way though , and was waiting at a siding for an AI train to pass, and my water level dropped to zero and slowly so did the steam pressure. At that point, I was stuck. Checked the level in the Tender, and there was no water at all, I had run this tender bone dry, and this run is probably under and hour. Now I looked at the same tender prior to running the session and the max capacity was only 5,000 gallons. Looked at another GN 2-8-8-2 LOCO tender I have , and it held a max of 46000 Gallons, and was loaded to 35,000 at the start. So, I need to edit the config file for the USRA tender and change that water quantity , which I did. I hit commit, went back to the session, and I still have 5,000 gallons. . Checked everything on both tenders, and can't figure out the problem. Finally, I deleted the low water tender in the session edit , and just reinstalled it, and problem solved. So when you make a change like that, even though you commit the change, if you don't delete and reinstall the item, the changes won't take effect.

Very good to know. Thank you.

Tender Capacity Gripe

I hit this just now in T:ANE. The issue is the tender maker does not set accurate values for fuel or water.

This instance concerned bdaneal's otherwise very fine 4-6-2 and tender. The description is very clear: 12 Tons Coal, 9000 gallons HoH. But the quantities in the config are nowhere near: Coal=35,000, Water=5000. Presuming the values are in Kg as for any other product, 12 T coal is approx 10,886 Kg and 9000 water 34,047 Kg (US Tons here, adjust for Imperial as appropriate.) I haven't run it yet but have high hopes.

This issue is also evident in the SAR Beyer-Garrett, another of my favorite steamers. (I haven't studied the Garrett's numbers, but just swapping the two values at least makes the consumption rates close to equal.)

I'm working up a session with a 120-mile round trip for the Pacific, but just 30 miles drains the tank. Of course you can InstantLoadLocos
from time to time, but that's not very real. That loco was designed to run 125 miles or more between refills.

Seems to me the asset creators, having spent so much time and effort making beautiful equipment, could spend a trifle more effort on getting this item right before uploading.

When you are talking about locomotives created for TRS2004 you have to take into consideration that the game dynamics were very different than modern versions of Trainz. Creators used whatever settings that made the locomotive work kind of correctly in TRS2004 rather than using technically correct numbers. As the physics system changed with each new version, adjustments had to be made but many creators left the game before updating their creations.

William

If you only edit the config.txt file you must do the delete and reinstall as CM will not update a Session.

wreeder said:

When you are talking about locomotives created for TRS2004 you have to take into consideration that the game dynamics were very different than modern versions of Trainz. Creators used whatever settings that made the locomotive work kind of correctly in TRS2004 rather than using technically correct numbers. As the physics system changed with each new version, adjustments had to be made but many creators left the game before updating their creations.

William

Click to expand...

Yeah but, it's not a question of physics, just of mass and volume of inert product. I've encountered the same issue in every edition from 2006 on. Somebody decided "5000" was a nice number for Water and other people have just gone with that, though it bears no relation to reality and has no effect on the steaming properties of the attached locomotive except for severely limiting its range.

:B~[

whitepass said:

If you only edit the config.txt file you must do the delete and reinstall as CM will not update a Session.

Click to expand...

Very true.

The issue makes the creation of steam sessions for upload problematic. Do I restrict my creation to less than 30 miles because that's all the asset will do? Do I employ unrealistic work-arounds? Do I modify my own tender, write the session using its capabilities, and leave it to other session users to do their own mods and go through the trouble of cloning the session to use them?

:B~[

RHKluckhohn said:

Very true.

The issue makes the creation of steam sessions for upload problematic. Do I restrict my creation to less than 30 miles because that's all the asset will do? Do I employ unrealistic work-arounds? Do I modify my own tender, write the session using its capabilities, and leave it to other session users to do their own mods and go through the trouble of cloning the session to use them?

:B~[

Click to expand...

You could, of course, provide watering facilities throughout the route and just accept the asset as it is without any modification.

Trevor

trev999 said:

You could, of course, provide watering facilities throughout the route and just accept the asset as it is without any modification.

Trevor

Click to expand...

Ha. That's real enough, lots of pictures of fire departments doing fill-ups for excursion trains, which this is, at odd locations. I'll think about it, thanks.

I suspect that the Creators in 2004 days did not expect their steamers to run long enough for it to be a concern, based on how they ran in 2006. I never saw a steamer keep its boiler pressure until 2009 or 12. In 12 they did pretty well, but some of them are showing the issue in 105766.

There are examples where the creator gave up and only provided DCC compatibility.

:B~]

trev999 said:

You could, of course, provide watering facilities throughout the route and just accept the asset as it is without any modification.

Trevor

Click to expand...

OK, got that working, complete with pop-up fire department bowser. Happily there's a hydrant at the far end of the run that is now active. Thanks for the suggestion!

:B~)

RHKluckhohn said:

I hit this just now in T:ANE. The issue is the tender maker does not set accurate values for fuel or water.

This instance concerned bdaneal's otherwise very fine 4-6-2 and tender. The description is very clear: 12 Tons Coal, 9000 gallons HoH. But the quantities in the config are nowhere near: Coal=35,000, Water=5000. Presuming the values are in Kg as for any other product, 12 T coal is approx 10,886 Kg and 9000 water 34,047 Kg (US Tons here, adjust for Imperial as appropriate.) I haven't run it yet but have high hopes.

...

Click to expand...

Yep, those are the right numbers. Test run was a complete success. Started with 75% on board (having run 35 miles to reach the session) and exit after 90 total miles with 30+ % remaining.

This is a very sweet-running locomotive and easy to handle, albeit the head-out view is not all that might be desired. Still, it serves. The prototype was a favorite on the Road by all accounts, which is fitting.

:B~)