WIP AT&N Class 280-157 Consolidation

[mrennie]

That's a pity. RW looks so much better with detailed shadows and projecting spot and point lights. It would be worth trying it with TSX on but some other things turned down/off.
It's easy to do a cab light, In fact, I've already put in a soft red glow coming from the firebox, which looks very atmospheric seen in either the cab view or outside view. My plan is to have it activated only when the firebox doors are open.

Concerning cab lighting in steam locomotives, I found this when googling "steam locomotive cab light :

http://law.justia.com/cfr/title49/49-4.1.1.1.23.3.75.22.html

49 C.F.R. § 230.87 Cab lights.
Title 49 - Transportation
PART 230—STEAM LOCOMOTIVE INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE STANDARDS
Subpart C—Steam Locomotives and Tenders
Cabs, Warning Signals, Sanders and Lights

§ 230.87 Cab lights.

Each steam locomotive shall have cab lights that sufficiently illuminate the control instruments, meters and gauges to allow the engine crew to make accurate readings from their usual and proper positions in the cab. These lights shall be so located and constructed that the light will shine only on those parts requiring illumination and does not interfere with the engine crew's vision of the track and signals. Each steam locomotive shall also have a conveniently located additional lamp that can be readily turned on and off by the persons operating the steam locomotive and that provides sufficient illumination to read train orders and timetables.

So, where would these cab lights be mounted? Were they more like spot lights aimed directly at the gauges and controls, rather than a ceiling light that lit up the whole cab? I'd really appreciate some expert advice on this.

[mrennie]

Here's another interesting snippet of information:

Required illumination.

(a) General provisions. Each steam locomotive used between sunset and sunrise shall be equipped with an operable headlight that provides illumination sufficient for a steam locomotive engineer in the cab to see, in a clear atmosphere, a dark object as large as a man of average size standing at least 800 feet ahead and in front of such headlight. If a steam locomotive is regularly required to run backward for any portion of its trip other than to pick up a detached portion of its train or to make terminal movements, it shall also be equipped on its rear end with an operable headlight that is capable of providing the illumination described in this paragraph (a).

(b) Dimming device. Such headlights shall be provided with a device whereby the light from same may be diminished in yards and at stations or when meeting trains.

(c) Where multiple locomotives utilized. When two or more locomotives are used in the same train, the leading locomotive only will be required to display a headlight.

With this info, I can set up a scenario with a guy placed 800 feet in front of the loco and then calibrate my headlight beam to make sure it lights him up

I'll also make two headlight beams, one for the dimmer, another for the main.

[jpetersjr]

There would have usually been a cab light above the engineer's seat and a cab light above the fireman's seat.

[mrennie]

There would have usually been a cab light above the engineer's seat and a cab light above the fireman's seat.

Were they pointed at the gauges, like spotlights? Any idea how they were actually mounted? (maybe behind a safety cage or something). I could really do with a photo.

[jpetersjr]

They would have just been a simple light bulb hanging above the engineer and fireman's seats.

Usually there wasn't any lights that pointed at the gauges, some of the gauges lit up.

I'll see if I can find any pictures.

[mrennie]

I'm working on the chuffing sounds now. I'm aiming to have all custom sound files, nothing borrowed from RSC/Kuju/etc.

[UP3985]

[mrennie]

Thanks Mike

I found another (fuzzy) photo of a steam engine can that appears to have a normal household type of light socket tied to the backend. I couldn't see the switch, but it might even have been in the socket itself.

How about the selector for the headlights and classification lights? If I don't find anything, I'll make it a simple knob to select the headlight between off, dim and on, and use the kb to select the colour of the classification lights (since the colour selection was manual anyway, with a lever under the light).

By the way, I put a guy 800 feet in front of the loco to make sure it lights him up when the headlight is on full, so there shouldn't be any complaints about the headlights being too weak :)

[bpetit]

Do the headlight cast shadows?

[mrennie]

Do the headlight cast shadows?

Yes, they do. I always have TSX on with highest detail shadows ... looks great!

[bpetit]

Might not be so good on a lower end system.

[jpetersjr]

I be ready to see a new video when you get the sounds finished. Will certainly be ready to see what it's going to sound like.

[mrennie]

Here's a thing. I realised that in my model, the pistons on both sides were completely in phase with each other when they ought to have a 90 degree phase shift. That is, the wheels on one side have to be rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the other side. Without that 90 degrees difference, the locomotive could get stuck if it happened to have stopped with the pistons at their furthest extension (with the big end of both the main rods at the furthest point away from, or the nearest point to, the cylinders). The phase shift is the reason why, for a 2 cylinder engine, you hear four exhaust beats for each revolution instead of just two. In fact, it was when I was doing the chuffing sounds that I spotted the error (I asked myself how it could make four chuffs if the piston only exhausts twice in each revolution of the wheels).

So, I've rotated the wheels on the right hand side by 90º, but I'm now having to put each part of the motion into separate groups. Before, for example, I had both main rods, left and right, in the same group, so that when animating, I only had to move one of them into position and the other would follow it (but staying on the other side). Now, I have to separate them, and then juggle the animation points of the right hand motion to give it a 90º phase shift with respect to the left hand motion. It's not difficult, just a pain in the behind, but it'll be well worth it, because the motion will now behave prototypically in every way.

I'm learning such a lot from doing this loco, not just about making models, but also about how the real thing works. It's intellectually very rewarding.

[OutlawJack]

That would be cool as $#@% if it works!

[mrennie]

That would be cool as $#@% if it works!

It works! I finished testing it just now. It was a little bit more difficult than I expected because of the 24 child groups limit in 3DC. I had to ungroup each part of the motion in order to add in the 90º offset between left and right, but then regroup them with a common "grandparent" group (e.g. each main rod is in it's own unique group - MainRodR and MainRodL - so that they can be animated separately, but then those groups are placed inside a higher group called MainRod, which is a child of bo02) just to keep the total number of child groups (total at the same level within a given element) at or below 24. Anyway, it's done, and looks fantastic now. Totally prototypical. I'll Upload a video after sorting out the sounds (my new stereo sounds still need a lot of work to synchronise them properly, with the right fade-in, fade-out, duration, volume and so on).