Can't beat "Goods to Market"

[jwb1971]

Hello. I am a new member on this site. I am having trouble finishing the "easy" scenario called "Good to Market". I keep looking for posts by other people needing help with this one but apparently I'm the solitary loser when it comes to this particular one.

My problem is I can't ever seem to make it to the end in time. I've gotten better but keeping a good speed up is difficult. Sometimes I almost get to 50 MPH and other times I hover around 25. I was looking around on the web and tried the following... Brake off until pressure stabilizes then up to "running". Reverser full forward (75%) then about 50% Throttle. As speed goes up slowly ratchet back the reverser. Problem is when I do that I loose acceleration and so I push the throttle to 100% but I can't get any power.

Any tips or tricks!?

Help!!

UPDATE - I just tried the scenario again but this time after I got the train moving I put the brakes all the way off and then she was purring at 60+ MPH. I guess this is how you do it but I thought you were supposed to leave the brakes in the "running" position the whole time. Is that just for starting from a standstill and after reaching cruising speed? Otherwise if I leave the brakes in the "running" position the whole time I can never seem to accelerate enough. Looking for clarification on the brake setting please.

Thanks,
JWB1971

[robbit]

Might help to tell us what route you are on. Different Steam Engines drive differently. Would help to know what engine it is you are driving

[jwb1971]

I thought I made that clear in the title! Well, if not it's the route on "Goods to Market"... It's Bathe Green Park to Templcombe... the train is Black 5-4-6-0 BR Black.

thanks

[robbit]

Goods to Market is not the route it is the scenario. Nowhere in your title or post did you make that clear that it was on the ROUTE Bath to Templecombe

[jwb1971]

Sorry, I assumed the scenario title would be sufficient. I've been publicly chastised and will never post noobish questions again. Now that we have that out of the way, any help?

Thanks!

[jwb1971]

I've never been able to figure out the braking thing. I will look up on it

That'd be great. I just played the SCENARIO again (lol) and went from -2000 points to -208... so I've improved! No matter what I do I can't seem to arrive on time and it's really starting to get frustrating. It's labelled as an "easy" scenario so I feel pretty dumb that I can't do it. I wonder if it was mis-labelled?

I think instead of waiting on the steam pressure to stabilize every time I need to change directions I should just slam it in to reverse and forward as needed. Waiting for that gauge to fill up is adding at least 5 minutes to my total time... about the same time I am arriving late at my final destination.

If you don't remember the scenario there is a lot of moving cars into sidings, unhooking some, hooking up others... a lot of back and forth.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

[hertsbob]

Hi

You want to have the brakes set to 'Running' when you're driving along but there's no real need to wait for the pressure to stabilise, as you put it.

When the brake handle is in 'Release' you're using steam up in order get the brakes off and when it's set to 'Running' the braking system is effectively locked off so it doesn't use any steam. That's in extremely general terms, of course!

You'll probably quicker when shunting (switching) to use the handbrake ('/'). It applies and releases far more quickly than the train brakes even though it's not really the correct way to do it.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Bob

[jwb1971]

Hi

You want to have the brakes set to 'Running' when you're driving along but there's no real need to wait for the pressure to stabilise, as you put it.

When the brake handle is in 'Release' you're using steam up in order get the brakes off and when it's set to 'Running' the braking system is effectively locked off so it doesn't use any steam. That's in extremely general terms, of course!

You'll probably quicker when shunting (switching) to use the handbrake ('/'). It applies and releases far more quickly than the train brakes even though it's not really the correct way to do it. :D

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Bob

Terrific! I didn't know about the handbrake. I'll give that a try too. And just so you know I did do my homework before posting on here. Check out this link... http://www.gtraxsims.com/tut/howtorun.htm

Have you tried this scenario before? Just wondering what you ended up with as a score if you did.

Thank you for your help. I've reset my impressions of this forum. Everyone isn't intolerant and condescending! Who knew?

:-)

[hertsbob]

Hi

I don't really ever drive trains too much as I'm far more of a creator than a user, so I reckon you'll have already beaten whatever score I'm likely to be able to achieve in that scenario.

The brakes do tend to release very slowly on certain locos and in my mind it's far more satisfying to use the handbrake. Be careful that you've taken the handbrake off before attempting to drive away though, you'd be surprised how easy it is to leave it applied inadvertently!

This thread is similar to the link you posted, and although it's primarily concerned with the firing aspects of steam locos you might find it of interest.
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=314&t=126233

Cheers

Bob

[robbit]

I am sorry if you think I am condescending But this:

I thought I made that clear in the title!

Sounded to me you were the one that was condescending. I have every piece of DLC from steam and a lot from 3rd party's which means I have a lot of scenarios and routes. So it is not always enough to just give the scenario name. You will get more help by giving as much info as possible right from the get go. If people feel they are going to have to try to pull the info from you they may not have or take the time to help you.

If I mistaken your comment for sarcasm then I truly apologize for that. This forum is a great place to be and the last thing I would want to do is to make someone feel unwelcome.

Please except my apology and move on towards a better tomorrow.

[robbit]

The tut on gtrax is how you would drive the daylight or freedom and is not always the same for other steam engines. American Steam seams to drive differently then British steam. I am not very good with either but the more you drive them the better you will get.

[jwb1971]

Sorry too Robbit. When I wrote that I was thinking of it in a humorous way. Sometimes my sense of humor gets me in trouble. My wife says I have no tact. :-)

I see by the number of posts you have that you're a veteran on here. I'm sure you've run into your fair share of clueless users asking dumb questions. I'll take your advice to heart and try to be as specific as possible from now on.

Thanks again for the help.

Moving on.

[jwb1971]

Ok, so I didn't wait for the steam pressure and I was much quicker. Also, when the train was moving from station to station I didn't apply the brake at all and was able to accelerate quickly. The problem I ran into was that I didn't slow down in time and was penalized for speeding (and lost most of the 1000 points that I started with) AND in my rush to put the cargo cars in to the final siding I ended up hitting the stop with the last car and derailed about 5 of them!

It's getting better but I wouldn't call it easy!

[BillPeck]

jwb1971

Okay I have tried it just havent finished as I was trying to run the train when going slow use the reverser (Johnson bar) you dont need +75 or -75 % engine will begin rolling at about 35% + or - with the throttle being used to increase speed. When under way decrease the reverser to about 25% you should see an increase in speed

As to braking pay attention to you indicators on the f4 and f3 views.

and practice the career scenarios are harder than the rest good luck

[jwb1971]

jwb1971 *&!welcome!&*

Okay I have tried it just havent finished as I was trying to run the train when going slow use the reverser (Johnson bar) you dont need +75 or -75 % engine will begin rolling at about 35% + or - with the throttle being used to increase speed. When under way decrease the reverser to about 25% you should see an increase in speed

As to braking pay attention to you indicators on the f4 and f3 views.

and practice the career scenarios are harder than the rest good luck

Thanks! I kept looking at the F3 view and the signal always showed green even when I knew a signal would be red. I had to resort to visually looking down range with the "head out the side window" view. The problem is you can't zoom so you have to almost come to a complete stop when approaching a signal just in case it's a red one.