Posted 05 January 2019 - 07:42 AM
If I recall braking systems correctly (and have enough caffeine this morning... http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/lol.gif ), bail-off should rapidly release the locomotive brake and keep it released while holding the independent lever in bail-off. Upon letting the lever return to rest in any position (applied or released), the air pressure should build and cause it to re-apply at whatever pressure is set by the main (automatic) brake handle. Re-application shouldn't be instant, as the air pressure needs to build again in the locomotive brake circuit. (The sim should handle that according to braking and physics... if not, there's a bigger problem.)
Some notes on using the bail-off function...
The locomotive brake should only stay cut-out (disabled) when the dynamic brake is activated. Here's where it gets complicated. Early systems require the engineer to bail-off once when applying the dynamics to trigger the hold-off. On modern dynamic brakes, the locomotive brake should bail-off and stay held off automatically when the dynamics are activated. (Or activated beyond the minimum setting, depending on locomotive manufacturer. Also, some systems may have a feature which cuts the locomotive brake back in when dynamic braking falls below a useful level at low speeds. This would be have to be handled in .eng and .include files in the sim.). Bailing-off periodically while in dynamics is done to ensure that the locomotive brake isn't applying because of a leak or malfunction in the automatic brake system. It shouldn't be necessary, and may be prohibited by some railroads. (Why? Because hitting bail-off still dumps the locomotive brake air, which takes time to recharge. That means there might not have enough pressure in the system when it's needed, so it's a safety issue.) But if the locomotive brake is applying under dynamic braking when it shouldn't this will keep it from applying too much additional braking force at the locomotive's wheels. (In the sim, leakage should be defined in .eng and .include files.)
On steam locomotives or anything without dynamics, the only way to keep the independent bailed-off is to hold the lever in the bail-off position. This means that to control slack in the train (or stretch the train) by bailing off the locomotive brakes while applying throttle while the automatic brake is applied at the same time, you'll have to hold the locomotive brakes in bail-off with one hand while operating the throttle with the other. Since you don't have a third hand, you have to plan what you're doing so you can let go of the throttle to operate any other controls while staying bailed off. Which can be more of a problem than at first thought. (And this is why it's important to know how much "set" to apply to the automatic brake so you don't have to fiddle with it...) You might hear talk of putting a "wedge" in the independent to keep it bailed-off -- this is what it sounds like -- jamming an object into the independent brake handle's area to keep it pushed into the bail-off position, freeing your other hand. It's also prohibited to do so by any railroad's rules. Coordinating throttle, automatic brake and locomotive brake bail-off to control slack (and perform stretch-braking in passenger service, particularly with heavyweight cars) isn't easy! Having the necessary functions working correctly on the RailDriver would be great for steam operations!
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