[copperpen]

According to the manual, if the aux tender is set up correctly there should be three water levels in the Locomotive HUD page, C combined, T main tender and A Auxiliary tender. As the eng file is generally set up with the single tender it is highly likely that the auxiliary tender amount is being added to the normal amount at save time, which then gives the over amount on resume. Probably a bug or maybe an oversight in coding, because I would have thought having an auxiliary tender should show in the main HUD total water mass at the start of an activity which would make more sense than have it pop up later.

[steamer_ctn]

I would be prepared to investigate the possible coding of some of the features suggested in the post above.

To do so I would need the assistance of a small group of testers who would be willing to work under my guidance in setting up some test stock, and then doing relevant testing.

In particular, the features I would be happy to look at are:
i) Steam Locomotive Blowdown - some technical research would be required.
ii) Aligning smoke chuffing (if possible?) - some code already exists in OR for this, so I am not sure why this is not working.
iii) Blower operation - in terms of manual firing

If there are any interested testers, then let me know, and we can start setting up a process.

Thanks

[ATSF3751]

I would certainly be on board for helping you out with testing! I have also been slowly converting some steam locomotives to Advanced settings in the Eng file along with making some new sound sets for them. Mainly the Milwaukee Road 261 4-8-4, CP 2816 4-6-4 and possibly a few more that I know the stats of fairly well. Both of the steam locomotives I mentioned are Superheated. The Milwaukee Road 261 I personally work on in real life and was built in 1944. The other steam locomotive CP 2816 is up in Canada and I have ridden behind her a few times as well. She was built in 1930 for the Canadian Pacific. A few more I am looking at doing is Union Pacific 844 4-8-4, SP Daylight 4449 4-8-4, and CB&Q 4-6-4s along with possibly N&W 611 J Class 4-8-4 for Advanced Settings in the Engine file for testing. As you can see I like the bigger steam locomotives. Mainly 4-8-4s

Brandon

[steamer_ctn]

Hi Brandon,

ATSF3751, on 19 August 2018 - 06:51 AM, said:

I would certainly be on board for helping you out with testing!

Thanks for that.

We will be using PRR stock, as they have good test reports to compare against.

Can you contact me with your email address through this page.

Thanks again.

[Traindude]

Here's some videos that show some new ideas for OR steam:




Which features do you think are worth implementing?

[QJ-6811]

Nice and good instruction films! Everything comes back to me familiar ...... :D

[ATSF3751]

My thoughts are great videos and some of these could be implemented at a later date I think. As for right now I think the main goal is doing one piece at a time. maybe some warnings on water in cylinders, water treatment, imperials in the boiler and other little things like that could be added at a later date.

Brandon

[Traindude]

ATSF3751, on 21 August 2018 - 01:34 PM, said:

My thoughts are great videos and some of these could be implemented at a later date I think. As for right now I think the main goal is doing one piece at a time. maybe some warnings on water in cylinders, water treatment, imperials in the boiler and other little things like that could be added at a later date.

Brandon

Understood. In the meantime I've been thinking about a feature, but I'm not sure whether it'd be practical--ashpan accumulation.

Burning wood or coal means dealing with ash that accumulates in the locomotive's ashpan. Since most of the air for combustion came from underneath the grate via the ashpan, the ash accumulation had negative effects on the combustion process as the ashpan filled up. It was so important to keep the ashpan clean that ashpan capacity was often a limiting factor in long-distance locomotive runs.

My idea was as the simulated coal is burned, the ash accumulation in the locomotive ashpan accumulates until it gets to the top, and when that happens the combustion process is hampered until the player "dumps the ashes" over an ash pit. The ash pit would be an interactive object similar to a water column or coal tower, although its function is ash disposal rather than coal or water dispensing. All the player has to do is stop the locomotive's ashpan over the pit and press the "T" key once, then the ashpan accumulation goes back to zero.

As far as contributing to the OR steam investigation, I have several digital copies of the ICS textbooks, but technically I can't redistribute them since they're from a payware CD-ROM.

P. S.: Here's a third video that I couldn't post earlier due to ET's media limits.

[Lamplighter]

Hi all,

I do not know whether more should be done to improve physical behavior rather than driving conditions.
Steam locomotive maintenance is a static matter.

For example: It is necessary to separate the work of the small and large ejector for the vacuum brakes, the differences in the work of the injectors and the pumps for filling the boiler, etc.

This is my personal opinion and I can be mistaken.

[Lamplighter]

Just do not complain, allow me to contribute with the video instruction for the steam locomotive.
The comment is in the Czech language, but the video is very eloquent.

https://youtu.be/JxX1juO4GOs