[Csantucci]

I'd suggest that any operation not done as required (e.g. speed too high, water scoop down outside the trough zone) should at least be reported in the activity evalueation.

[ebnertra000]

I'm no expert on steam...anything...but if the scoop is lowered before entering the water trough, wouldn't the scoop hit the end of the trough, damaging both? It would stand to reason that the water level in the trough could not be higher than the sides and ends, and that therefore one could not lower the scoop before entering the trough, nor could they raise the scoop after leaving it

[steved]

I seem to remember reading about the NYC Water Level Route and having to slow the train before dropping the scoop because the weight of the water at speed would damage it.
The mind is a funny thing.

Steve

[darwins]

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I'm no expert on steam...anything...but if the scoop is lowered before entering the water trough, wouldn't the scoop hit the end of the trough, damaging both? It would stand to reason that the water level in the trough could not be higher than the sides and ends, and that therefore one could not lower the scoop before entering the trough, nor could they raise the scoop after leaving it

Troughs had open ends. The water remained in the trough because the rails at either end were laid about 6 in higher than those at the trough, with a downward gradient at either end of the trough. This meant that there was no damage to the scoop if it was lowered slightly early or raised slightly late.

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This makes sense. I am not sure what can easily be coded. Certainly to look ahead and work out when the train is about a 100m from the trough is something that I wouldn't have a clue how to do.

The other suggestion about points, crossovers, etc might be possible, but again I an not sure if this can be done easily.

One thing I would love to see is an indication that a water trough is coming up in the HUD.

I don't think there is any easy answer for existing MSTS routes - probably best to stick to the MSTS operation - damage the scoop unless lowered and raised over the trough.

For new routes, would it be possible for you to cooperate with Goku and the folk coding for route building and track systems?

If there was a water trough marker the same as a platform marker or siding marker all of the above issues might be solved eventually.

The marker would allow troughs to be positioned on curved track and in tunnels. (Though there would need to be a way to ensure that it could not be placed on gradients!)

The marker could consist of a lead in zone, water pickup zone, lead out zone. +---=============---+ Such could presumably be made to show up in the track monitor, which is really needed.

Scoop would be broken if lowered outside of the marked sections of track, but would only pick up water in the central pick up zone.

[darwins]

Some good video of Dillicar Water Troughs here. Between 2m30s and 5m50s.

The open ends of the troughs can clearly be seen.

[Csantucci]

Wow, this is a great video to understand water trough operation. So water was continuously injected into the trough from an intermediate point and flew towards the extremities, where it passed under the rails and finished in the river.
Nice to see also all water spraying around the bottom of the locos.

[steamer_ctn]

A 2nd feature patch has been released for water trough filling in Rel. 17 of OR NewYear MG.

The associated activity has also been updated as well. This activity pack also includes a WAG file for the tender which will be required to see a new effect on the tender.

Based upon feedback and further research, the patch includes the following changes:
i) New effect which can be added to the tender to simulate water overflow in the event that the water scoop is not raised before the tender is 100% full. This feature is displayed if the effect TenderWaterOverflowFX is added to the special effects section of the tender WAG file. A classic example of this feature occurring in real life can be found in this article.
ii)The Water Scoop can now only be broken if it is lowered when the tender is traveling over a section of track with an obstruction present between the rails. For example a point or crossover would "fill in the space" between the tracks, and break the scoop. If the scoop is broken it will now not work until the activity is restarted.
iii) Reworked Locomotive Information HUD -The principle parameters of note in the 'Water Scoop' section of the HUD are ScDwn (Scoop Down), ScBrk (Scoop Broken), Min (indicates the minimum speed that the locomotive needs to be travelling for water to fill the tender), Drag (indicates the amount of drag that the locomotive will experience when the water scoop is in the trough), and Total (indicates the total amount of water taken up by the scoop when over the water trough or pan).
iv) Maximum speed - it appears that the maximum speed is not an issue with 'modern' scoops so no account nees to be taken of this. It is assumed that the railway company would place appropriate speed limits on the sections of track containing troughs (or pans), and thus if the driver observes these speed limits all should be good.In terms of the amount of water taken, this should not vary greatly regardless of the speed (provided that the tender is traveling at a speed greater then the minimum speed) as the tender can only take on the volume of water in the trough.

Attached File(s)

•  Water Trough#2.zip (8.8K)
  Number of downloads: 640

[steamer_ctn]

Further enhancements have been added to the water trough feature in OR MG v21.

These include:

i) Allowance for a water scoop to be fitted to a tank locomotive

ii) Allow the water scoop to permanently be left in the up or down position. If, however if it is left in the down position, and the locomotive crosses a point (junction), then the scoop will be broke.

[darwins]

Have to say job well done.

There are a few little things that might need to be tweaked.

The most challenging remaining problem is what to do with double headed trains. At present only the player locomotive picks up water. The normal situation should be that either one or other loco takes water, but not both at the same time.

As changing cabs is not allowed on the move then another solution is needed.

Not sure if it could be made to work using something like Y key toggles the scoop of the leading loco up and down, with Shift+Y to raise or lower the scoop of the second loco.
[In either was used when another scoop was lowered it would cause the other scoop to be raised.]

[Lamplighter]

Hi,
i have a question about the visual effects of WaterScoopFX and TenderWaterOverflowFX. TenderWaterOverflowFX only works when water is pumped using Water Scoop? Will it work to refueling water to a static water crane (used in Europe)? A water crane is a standard point defined for water refueling along the route.