Smokebox: Central Pacific Railroad #60 "Jupiter" 4-4-0

[ozinoz]

A stunning looking pack - the level of detail is without equal. We have been spoilt once again...

Just imagine this sim without Mikes add-ons. Doesnt bear thinking about...

[mrennie]

**!!bow!!**

A stunning looking pack - the level of detail is without equal. We have been spoilt once again...

Just imagine this sim without Mikes add-ons. Doesnt bear thinking about...

Thanks Grant, I hope lots more people share your enthusiasm for Jupiter

[evafan002]

**!!bow!!**

A stunning looking pack - the level of detail is without equal. We have been spoilt once again...

Just imagine this sim without Mikes add-ons. Doesnt bear thinking about...

Thanks Grant, I hope lots more people share your enthusiasm for Jupiter

I have had the money stashed away since the day it was announced.. if this doesn't turn out to be a winner then i don't know what will..

[B-24_LIBERATOR]

It's definitely a winner, but you have to have patience climbing a grade

[CArailroader]

It's definitely a winner, but you have to have patience climbing a grade

How many cars will one pull up a grade before stalling and needing a second engine?

[mrennie]

It's definitely a winner, but you have to have patience climbing a grade

How many cars will one pull up a grade before stalling and needing a second engine?

It depends on the grade. One of the career scenarios has the loco hauling four passenger cars uphill from Truckee to Norden. On the 2.3% grade, the "sweet spot" for the cut-off is 51% (maximum cut-off is 75%) at a speed of 11-12mph. On the 1.3% grade, at 40% cut-off, she manages 18-20mph. That's assuming you have her set up properly with the boiler pressure at around 119psi.

The really tricky part is to get the fire just right, so as to conserve water and wood. If you have it too hot, with the safety valve blowing off steam all the time, you can run out of water (in the tender) before reaching the water tower that's been set up for you to refuel on the way. You have to aim at keeping the fire at a temperature where it's generating just enough steam but not too much. Fortunately, the way that the scripted auto-stoking works in Jupiter is that you use a special control (a log you can click on in the firebox) to set the target temperature and then let the script take care of stoking as and when needed to maintain that temperature, so you don't have to adjust the stoking rate yourself. You can easily see how hot the fire is at any time by looking at the colour of the flames and the glow from the inside walls of the firebox.

[B-24_LIBERATOR]

It's definitely a winner, but you have to have patience climbing a grade

How many cars will one pull up a grade before stalling and needing a second engine?

It seems to do a pretty even 11-13mph up Promontory (1.6%) with 8-10 cars. I just tried it with 15 and I was moving along at 4-5mph.

But if you have enough friends, anything is possible
(30 cars)

[mrennie]

Not long to wait now. In the meantime, here are a couple I took on the Raquette Lake Railway while preparing a scenario for uploading to the Workshop as soon as Jupiter reaches the Store.

20170506225216_1.jpg

20170506225328_1.jpg

[bpetit]

Wait, that thing can go up that steep butt grade?

[mrennie]

Wait, that thing can go up that steep butt grade?

It takes a bit of practice (I stalled the first time I tried it). On the really steep part heading west, you have to be as quick as possible in cutting the throttle to change to a longer cutoff (akin to taking your foot off the gas pedal and selecting a lower gear in a car) and then opening the throttle again, and you have to pick the right moment to do it - if it's too soon or too late, or if you take too long doing it, you'll stall. But that's the fun of it. It'd be boring if it were easy

Even more fun is going down the other side without speeding (no air brakes) and still arriving on time. I'd go so far as to say that on hilly routes, Jupiter requires even more skill than the FEF-3 and Connie, unless you cheat and press Ctrl D to disable the difficult controls and/or use the fake independent brake in the F4 HUD. I put that in specially for anyone who might not get the hang of braking without brakes, so that they can enjoy Jupiter without getting too frustrated. Of course, if that's not enough, it also works fine with Simple Controls.

[CArailroader]

Wait, that thing can go up that steep butt grade?

It takes a bit of practice (I stalled the first time I tried it). On the really steep part heading west, you have to be as quick as possible in cutting the throttle to change to a longer cutoff (akin to taking your foot off the gas pedal and selecting a lower gear in a car) and then opening the throttle again, and you have to pick the right moment to do it - if it's too soon or too late, or if you take too long doing it, you'll stall. But that's the fun of it. It'd be boring if it were easy

Even more fun is going down the other side without speeding (no air brakes) and still arriving on time. I'd go so far as to say that on hilly routes, Jupiter requires even more skill than the FEF-3 and Connie, unless you cheat and press Ctrl D to disable the difficult controls and/or use the fake independent brake in the F4 HUD. I put that in specially for anyone who might not get the hang of braking without brakes, so that they can enjoy Jupiter without getting too frustrated. Of course, if that's not enough, it also works fine with Simple Controls.

I love a good challenge, in the simulator or real life railroading. I have no better days on the railroad then when problems arise, it may get frustrating but there is nothing like coming across a new issue and tackling it and have the experience for next time and to teach others. But thank God for air brakes and knuckle couplers. I wouldn't want to be a brakeman having to jump from car to car to set handbrakes or loose fingers just to make up a train!

[mrennie]

[mrennie]

[ZekTheKid]

Your efforts continue to impress, Mike! I know UP 119 and CPRR Jupiter have been re-created in real life, but are there any existing examples of the rolling stock used in the time period?

[mrennie]

Your efforts continue to impress, Mike! I know UP 119 and CPRR Jupiter have been re-created in real life, but are there any existing examples of the rolling stock used in the time period?

I found modern photos of one CPRR car in a state of disrepair, but I also based mine heavily on the cars at the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Virginia City, Nevada, that date from 1870 (caboose no. 8 and coach no. 4 in particular), but also adapting them to some details that I could see in period photos and newspaper reports from the era that mentioned the colours (information I found through the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum (http://cprr.org/Museum/). So although I can't affirm that the cars are 100% accurate, I do believe they're as close a representation of the original cars as anyone can possibly make (unless original drawings for 1869 CPRR cars are unearthed, which is highly unlikely).