Update on the steamers

[dtrainBNSF1]

Hello all!

Progress is being made with the planned steamer upgrades howbeit slowly with my schedule. The Daylight upgrade as well as the SP&S 700 & NKP 765 modifications are almost ready, the Challenger is just about ready, the Cab Forward is progressing well enough, but unfortunately I haven't even started on the K4s .

I'm looking for people to beta test my mods when the time comes. Just tell me what loco(s) you're willing to test for me and I'll send a .zip file your way along with instructions when I'm ready to have my mods tested. EpicMopar has already volunteered to test out 700 and I apologize for the wait but others can join in the testing as well. The more the merrier First there's something about the Big Boy I've noticed and that I would like to experiment with. Depending on how experimenting with the Big Boy mod goes it could clear up a power issue I'm having with the 765 right now. If anyone wants to participate in this Big Boy experiment please let me know and I'll connect with you.

I would also like to mention something I discovered about the loco weights that may or may not be already known but I thought I'd mention it to be safe: while modifying the 765 I played around with the weights using a converter on my phone. What I discovered is that (big surprise) the developer docs section about locomotive weight at least for steam locos and tenders is wrong. The developer docs say that the loco weight in the file is measured in imperial tons (or long tons) (tonnes). TS2015 then converts that figure into US short tons. What I discovered is that the value in the file is actually measured in metric tons after some fiddling around and comparing weights in the consist editor and my unit converter. Whether or not this extends to diesels, electrics and wagons/coaches has yet to be tested. Thought I'd let you guys know what I found

[bpetit]

Using long tons with some 40ft boxcars Mike's FEF-3 can comfortably pull 40 loaded 40ft boxcars up Sherman Hill at its maximum tonnage. Although a metric ton vs a long ton is all really that many pounds 2204 vs 2240. It's really up for debate, on what the sim uses for weight. Personally, when I did the performance modifications to the Big Boy and Challenger years ago. I really didn't understand many of the values at the time. I have a better understanding now. I hope you have a lot more success with them than I did.


Thing is the developer docs are severely out of date. Smokebox and I theorize the sim just uses long tons for weight, no conversions whatsoever.

Speaking of which, I need to ask Bob to take down both old performance files.

[dtrainBNSF1]

Using long tons with some 40ft boxcars Mike's FEF-3 can comfortably pull 40 loaded 40ft boxcars up Sherman Hill at its maximum tonnage.

So the FEF-3 can handle 1350t. from Cheyenne to Buford? (Oddly enough the tonnage rating chart I've got has the tonnage limit from Laramie to Buford left as blank so I'm not sure how to interpret that). If that's the case then average each boxcar you've got should weigh somewhere in the vicinity of 33t. or so. That's not far off from the default boxcar weight which in the scenario editor is listed as 30t. (more like 31t. actually).

To add to that debate I have full lists of the car weights from the US Assets pack, Marias Pass, Stevens Pass, Surfliner, Sherman Hill, Donner Pass, the GN Empire Builder dlc, Cab Forward, and GreatNortherner's Santa Fe pack that I converted from long tons to short tons which compared to what's in the consist editor is pretty much spot-on except some are off by 1t. since in the case of a decimal I round up to the nearest whole.

[mrennie]

The weights in the blueprints are definitely in Imperial tons. Similarly, water capacity (e.g. for tenders) is in Imperial gallons.

1 US ton = 2000lbs. 1 Imperial ton = 2,240lbs.

1 US gallon = 0.832674 Imperial gallons. The HUD shows the amount of water in the tender in Imperial gallons (something to be wary of when you compare it with what's written on the rear of US tenders!).

[dtrainBNSF1]

The weights in the blueprints are definitely in Imperial tons. Similarly, water capacity (e.g. for tenders) is in Imperial gallons.

1 US ton = 2000lbs. 1 Imperial ton = 2,240lbs.

1 US gallon = 0.832674 Imperial gallons. The HUD shows the amount of water in the tender in Imperial gallons (something to be wary of when you compare it with what's written on the rear of US tenders!).

Boy don't I know it! When testing the Berkshires for example it's printed "22000 gal." and it throws me off every time.

[bpetit]

All the 40ft boxcar in the RWA route were edited to 20 tons empty, 38 tons bulk freight = 58 tons total
58x2240= 129920 lbs

Some of the boxcars here have 130000lbs as the maximum. See here: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=63711

As for max tonnage that you can keep up without stalling on the grade under ideal weather conditions.

Track One: 1350 Tons

Track Three: 2550 Tons

10% reduction for fast trains.

Add 66 and 2/3rds percent for the addition of any helper engine.

So 40x58 = 2320 tons

[FourEightFour]

So the FEF-3 can handle 1350t. from Cheyenne to Buford? (Oddly enough the tonnage rating chart I've got has the tonnage limit from Laramie to Buford left as blank so I'm not sure how to interpret that).

1350 on tracks 1&2. 2550 on track 3.

[dtrainBNSF1]

So far beta testing for the Berkshires has completed successfully. I'll get that uploaded to the library as soon as I can (just verified my game cache so I'll have to re-implement the mods I've made so far - lucky I backed them up ahead of time )

Next up for beta testing is the SP&S E-1 revision. So far I've got Railfan587 and EpicMopar slated for testing the E-1 but if anyone else would like to participate feel free to contact me and I'll send you a copy of the beta with instructions.

[dtrainBNSF1]

The new Berkshire upgrade is now available for download. The original upgrade I released last summer has been taken down so that there's no confusion as to which mod is "current". Please note that if you are going to use the new mod that you must first UNINSTALL the original mod using the Railworks Utilities app. Once the original mod is uninstalled you can install the new mod using the Railworks app.

In other news the Challenger mod is actually ready to go after being tested by TheOldDessauer. Expect to see that mod submitted to the library in the near future.

I've become aware or a bit of a problem with the cylinder conks on some of the older steam locomotive models. So far I'm aware of issues with the Challenger and the Big Boy. Personally I would like to fix that issue or get cylinder cocks working better the with the Big Boy and after poking around on other parts of the forum I think I know how to get it working (with emphasis on think). If I can get them to work on my end, expect to see an additional upgrade for the Big Boy.

[mrennie]

The new Berkshire upgrade is now available for download. The original upgrade I released last summer has been taken down so that there's no confusion as to which mod is "current". Please note that if you are going to use the new mod that you must first UNINSTALL the original mod using the Railworks Utilities app. Once the original mod is uninstalled you can install the new mod using the Railworks app.

In other news the Challenger mod is actually ready to go after being tested by TheOldDessauer. Expect to see that mod submitted to the library in the near future.

I've become aware or a bit of a problem with the cylinder conks on some of the older steam locomotive models. So far I'm aware of issues with the Challenger and the Big Boy. Personally I would like to fix that issue or get cylinder cocks working better the with the Big Boy and after poking around on other parts of the forum I think I know how to get it working (with emphasis on think). If I can get them to work on my end, expect to see an additional upgrade for the Big Boy.

Is it just a matter of setting the roll-off rate to zero?

[TheOldDessauer]

u

[dtrainBNSF1]

Yep, just tried it out tonight. All I can say is "Houston, we have lift-off".

[dtrainBNSF1]

Alright so as of today an upgrade for the Big Boy that fixes the cylinder cocks, lights, turbo generators, weight, fuel amounts, and corrects an issue with the auto-numbering for the Big Boy's tender has been submitted and hopefully will be uploaded to the library soon.

Also a complete physics upgrade for the Challenger addressing the same issues as above plus the loco's power, top speed etc. has also been submitted and will be hopefully uploaded to the library in the near future.

*sigh* Well, got the Union Pacific locos out of the way. The Daylights are almost ready-just need to make sure that the upgrade applies to all versions of the loco before uploading. I'm still waiting for feedback with the SP&S E-1s, the Cab Forward is essentially ready for testing for any that would be willing to volunteer and the PRR K4s is still waiting patiently in the wings.

Here's a picture of what to expect from the Challenger upgrade:

[dtrainBNSF1]

I've had to go back and tinker on the SP&S E-1s thanks to the feedback from the testing. I'll have it ready for testing again in a bit. School's started again and I have quite the schedule...again
Thought I'd update what's happening with the steamers.

[billy]

I'll be glad to help if ya want me.
I have all those locomotives.