[atsf37l]

I do a lot of switching (shunting) of cars. OR won't let you move cars without air on them (unprototypical, by the way) and so it is necessary to hook up the hoses and pump air - very time consuming - or hit the ? and initialize the air brakes. Make a set out or pick up move and then do it again. Since I'm simulating the movement of cars without air I have to initialize a lot but I notice that after a short while the ? has no effect and I end up having to wait for the air or save the game and restart which seems to 'reset' the initialize feature for another short stretch.

Can this feature be left on? :(

[R H Steele]

Does this standard practice of moving cars without air on them only occur during switching (shunting)?
I ask because would it be possible to provide an switching/shunting option to move cars without air? Select the option when desired, normal operation would be off except when switching ops were the order of the day.

[atsf37l]

R H Steele, on 10 November 2014 - 09:46 PM, said:

Does this standard practice of moving cars without air on them only occur during switching (shunting)?
I ask because would it be possible to provide an switching/shunting option to move cars without air? Select the option when desired, normal operation would be off except when switching ops were the order of the day.

Oh yeah, very much so. Cars are switched in yards and moved around in switching moves out on the line without air on them as a normal practice, using the engine brakes to control the cars. Once the train is put together and ready to roll then the air hoses are hooked up and the automatic air cut in for road operation. The only time you would use air on the cars for switching is if you were working long cuts, like unit coal, and on a gradient. Air would then be cut in for safety purposes but for the most part switching is done with free rolling cars with handbrakes used when cars need to be parked.

As an example, I just ran a Fall stock run on the RGS. I took ten empty stock cars to Lizard Head Pass where there were already five stock cars on the tail of the wye by the stockpens. Once there I simulated loading those fifteen cars with sheep, moving them back and forth between the siding in the snowshed and the sheep ramp on the 7 car long wye tail. All of those moves would have been done after the cars were bled of air and free rolling. Cuts would be set out on the siding with a handbrake set and the locomotive would move air-less, free rolling cars to the stockpens using Independent (Locomotive) brakes to spot the cars for loading.

Having to hook up the air hoses. and pumping air to get the cuts of cars to move, significantly and unprototypically delayed the operations. First couple of moves I could use the initialize feature but then I'd lose it and have to save - taking a loooong time 'cuz I was 8 or so hours into the operation - and then restart to recover the feature and continue loading sheep.

So yeah, either an initialize feature that remained active or a dedicated switching mode would be appreciated.

In the "ye olde sim" the cars set out on sidings or dropped somewhere acted as though their handbrakes were set. Once connected this hand brake set would come off and the car would be free to roll as directed by the locomotive. I hate to bring up what happened in that "other" simulator, but THAT would be my preferred situation.

I do like the extra and prototypical step of having to hook up the air on the cars in order to use the brakes but they should freely roll once coupled and the hoses be hooked up when the train is back together and ready to depart. :Neeeedsleeep:

[R H Steele]

Thanks for the explanation, I understand more about correct operating procedure. I have encountered the same problem, but in my ignorance of proper ops procedure I thought you just waited for the air to come on all the cars, then proceed. The change you suggest for switching/shunting would be perfect and simulate real ops.

Sounds like something the OR team should look into, especially with the ramp up to V1.0. There are a whole lot of switching activities available and all the activity templates involve switching.

Maybe you should post a bug.

[KiwiPeter]

There is more to this, I believe, and I'm surprised if the devs don't know about this bug. In fact, after a while of shunting the brakes go completely haywire. It usually starts off with the ? key not resetting the brakes, as can be seen in the brake HUD. The pumping up can take a VERY long time and I usually just speed up the clock. Then, when I press ? half the consist's brakes get disconnected (no brake reset happens). This shows clearly in the HUD. If I re-connect the brake line (press \) the reconnected part's brakes are where I was before plus the handbrakes are on!

This "feature" has been with OR for as long as I have been playing with it, i.e. several months. I tried looking through the bug tracker to see whether this had been reported, but I can't find stuff in that.

Regards,
Peter.

[atsf37l]

KiwiPeter, on 13 November 2014 - 10:35 PM, said:

There is more to this, I believe, and I'm surprised if the devs don't know about this bug. In fact, after a while of shunting the brakes go completely haywire. It usually starts off with the ? key not resetting the brakes, as can be seen in the brake HUD. The pumping up can take a VERY long time and I usually just speed up the clock. Then, when I press ? half the consist's brakes get disconnected (no brake reset happens). This shows clearly in the HUD. If I re-connect the brake line (press \) the reconnected part's brakes are where I was before plus the handbrakes are on!

This "feature" has been with OR for as long as I have been playing with it, i.e. several months. I tried looking through the bug tracker to see whether this had been reported, but I can't find stuff in that.

Regards,
Peter.

I've had all of those things happen Peter and I plan to send in a bug but right now I can't get the #$%@& thing to do it so I can send in a log file with the issue present! It's been working like it is supposed to and not screwing up, but I'll keep switching and see what happens. If you can pop off a bug report that would be great 'cuz it sounds like it's playing games with your head as well! LOL! :bigboss:

[atsf37l]

OK, bug reports submitted on this issue as well as the problem of not having a detent between "Lap" and "Running" which makes it entirely too easy to lose your brake set.

We'll see what the gurus can come up with. :bigboss:

[R H Steele]

There is something else happening here. I have been running some switching operations (is Switching and Shunting the same thing??) and when hooking up to cars to be moved the cars start out with the emergency brake applied. There is no way to move them without hooking up the air and going through the whole procedure outlined in this post. The handbrakes can be released using the F9 window, but not the emergency brake.

Perhaps an option in the F9 window would accomplish something -- perhaps, a switching operation added to the list of options in the F9 window that accomplished this: "all cars no air, emergency brake off."
So when the engine coupled to the cars you could open F9 click on the option and move the cars. Too complicated?

[engmod]

>is Switching and Shunting the same thing??

Yes, cars are switched in America and shunted in England and Australia.

This bug was discussed here about 6 months ago.

cheers

[atsf37l]

Discussed, but not fixed. :dance3: