Firing and leaky brakes

[Dan]

I don't want to be one of those people who constantly bleats and bitches about what RW can't do or doesn't do very well, nor to be a rivet counter.

I was recently doing the delivery day scenario on the Somerset and Dorset.

I remembered from when I used to fire the problems with brakes leaking on. So I decided to try to recreate this effect by leaving the handbrake on a couple of wagons and then trying to pull the train out from Radstock.

Naturally the steam pressure went through the floor and in the end I stalled on the bank.

So I stopped for a blow up.

What struck me is how the AI fireman does all the things that would get him shouted at if he were a real fireman. I know that you can switch the AI fireman off but for a lot of people firing is pretty boring to do and doing that and concentrating on driving etc is a total pain.

For example:

Fuel efficiency is the biggest thing with almost all railway companies. The cost of fuel is the biggest expense so the less you use the better for the company.

But

AI fireman constantly had the boiler at 75-95% full. This is not how you would do it. It is like boiling a kettle or pan. The more full the kettle/pan the longer it takes to boil and the more electricity/gas you end up using.

In reality you would run with the least amount of water you can get away with because the less water you have in the boiler the less fuel you are using up. The result being that your driver and depot manager don't shout at you for wasting fuel.

The point being that this is where route knowledge comes into it - you would never run with too little so that when the gradient changes the water moves forward exposing the firebox crown and blowing a fusible plug

This then ties into steaming problems.

Having had my boiler pressure go through the floor and having stopped to build up pressure the AI fireman then wasted the pressure I had built up by putting on the injectors even though the boiler was already 80% full.

If you are having steaming problems then the last thing you would ever do would be to waste steam - especially if you had had to stop for a blow up.

I don't know if other people who have fired, or who drive steamers have any thoughts on the sanity of the AI fireman, or if there is anyway to get him to behave in a slightly more 'realistic' manner. To be honest, I only noticed how it was operating because I had given myself this steaming problem by running with the handbrakes on. :)

I will add that as a fireman the thing I did hate was drivers who wasted steam by driving badly.

[Kali]

Heh, he finally drove me to manually fire eventually, definitely needs the sack! to be honest though you can get away with some bad firing habits with manual firing that make it a bit easier; if you're attempting to go flat out ( up a hill for instance ) you can just leave him shovelling at a steady rate, leave the injector on at a steady rate and just forget he's even there. I don't think boiler level has any effect on steam production in RW either - I'm in the process of learning RW steam engine physics so I'll check. Having the firedoor open doesn't seem to do anything other than put you at risk of blowbacks.

But no you can't edit the fireman, sadly.

[Dan]

I'm glad that it isn't just me who thinks he needs the sack.

Shame that you can't edit his intelligence.

I've said elsewhere that one of the things I'd like to see if variable physics - it would be great if you could simulate the effect of bad coal, or leaky tubes because it would make for a much more immersive footplate experience and also give you much more to think about when driving.

[Kali]

Yes, I've thought about that, sadly you can only really simulate that with a diesel; no way to adjust steam usage at runtime without also increasing power. There are other amusing things like the blower that doesn't use any steam, and opening the regulator at rest instantly raises steam production despite there not being any exhaust at all, but once you get moving it's something like a steam engine. I think water level only comes into play when it goes over the limit for priming, or when you run it low enough to melt the plugs.

[Dan]

It is a shame that you can't tailor the physics of a steam loco to match a repaint. I've always thought it a bit silly to have a rustbucket that goes like it is ex-works and vice versa.

I'm just wondering what people who drive North American steamers think about the firing?

[Kali]

You can; you just have to give it it's own simulation folder. Clone the simulation folder into your repaint folder, edit the one line in the engine blueprint pointing to the simulation blueprint and that's it, you can edit your new simulation files to your heart's content.

[arizonachris]

I'm just wondering what people who drive North American steamers think about the firing?

I use the AI fireman, there's too much else going on, and I've never run a steam locomotive in real life, so I wouldn't know where to begin. I don't really drive any British steam, except the Tornado and the Flying Scotsman, which are comparable to big North American steam. It took a while to learn what levels to keep things at, but I never run out of water or coal, or sand for that matter. Main thing for me is to just have fun, since I've never done the real thing, so to speak.

I have the Big Boy, Challenger, Berkshires, GS4, Tornado, Scotsman, and all the other default RW steam locos.

[Dan]

I completely agree with you about keeping things fun and accessible. If the game were totally realistic then it would be very very boring.

It's only because I've fired that I know that the AI fireman has things arsey-versy and I only noticed because I set myself up to run out of steam (by doing something unrealistic in the process).

Oil firing is again totally different to coal firing.

[Kali]

I don't know about boring, if the fireman was totally realistic you'd never have time to drive, though! and overall it wouldn't be very relaxing, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Going a bit offtopic there.

Larger US coal fired engines have auto stokers, but other than not having a firedoor there's no practical difference in RW.

[arizonachris]

Curious, is there an oil fired steam loco in RW? I know the Cab Forward is oil fired, but we don't have one.

[Dan]

If I were being honest I wouldn't mind having an AI driver and just concentrating on firing :)

I think there was supposed to be something that was oil fired but I can't remember which. With oil firing you've got the whole thing with the atomiser settings and oil flow which would need whole new key settings.

[Kali]

There's no oil-fired option; one of the Gtrax engines is meant to be oil-fired, there's no option but coal in the blueprints though.

Oil flow can translate to shovelling rate, there's no equivalent for atomizer though unless you use the firebox door for it. Actually that's not a terrible idea.