Atomic Systems

Hi All!

After having a dabble in Max I have made a bogie platform wagon for 2ft gauge however I am having a few (presumably blueprint) related issues in getting the thing to work properly in the simulator. I am not new to modelling stock for RS but there are a few issues that have got me baffled so any help/suggestions are appreciated!

Okay so here is what said wagon looks like:



2 bogies, 4 wheels, body slung over the top, the bogies & wheels all keep their correct position in-game & nothing funny happens with the geometry.

However something strange is happing with the coupling. Upon placement in the game they snuggle up close to one another & Britomart as can be seen:



But as soon as you start to pull them the coupling slackens & looks like this:



Which is not so realistic. Is this a new feature to Railworks? Coupling slackening/compression? If so is there a way-round to make them couple properly with this type of coupler?

Also as soon as I select to drive & before I have released the brakes the wagons try to "push" Britomart along - it's only a small movement but still noticeable & as soon as the brakes are released they will get moving & "push" themselves & Britomart up to a couple of mph before I have even opened the regulator so something is not quite right there & I feel it has something to do with the blueprints.

I have tried fruitlessly to play around with many of the values in the blueprint editor, but for anyone else I am more than willing to post up the details & or send you the model & blueprints to have a look at yourself.

Thanks

Chris

I don't think there is much you can do about this.

I had the same problem with the stock I built for the PlatformProject route.

I've searched through all the blueprints and can't see any parameter, that you can alter, to affect this. I guess the coupler slack is possibly hard coded, and not user alterable.

Kevin

Hi Kevin!

Thanks for confirming this, after a lot of playing around I've noticed that even 5 Britomarts all coupled to one another experience the same compression & expansion at the couplers which is a pity but not the end of the world. Have you any ideas as to why the wagons are trying to "push" the engine even when stationary? I've altered the friction parameters to be the same as those in the blueprint for Britomart but still no change. Have you ever come across this in your own NG stock as both Britomart & your FR coach sit still where as these flatbeds still want to roll forward on the level from stationary.

Thanks Chris

Hi Chris,

I'm trying to think back to when I made the ffestiniog coaches, to see if I had problems. I'll have a look at them tomorrow to see if anything springs to mind.

One thing that does come to mind is to make sure that you have the bogies ordered correctly in the coach blueprint (ie front bogie reference first followed by the second), and in the bogie blueprint, make sure the front bogie wheel is first in the blueprint.

Having these in the wrong order may give rise to the sort of thing your seeing.

Cheers,

kevin

Hi again Kevin.

I've taken a break & looked over things again, still nothing that stands out so here's what things look like if I could ask you so kindly to spend a minute to just check over things since you have a nack for working blueprints wonderfully:

Wagon Dimensions:


Front Bogie


Back Bogie


General Properties


Bogie Entries


The only differences I can see to your own NG stock are entries for the Front & Back Pivot Y in the "General Properties" & the Bogie Pivot Y in the "Bogie Entries". However I'm unsure what these fields represent & have left them well alone.

All your help is much appreciated,
Chris

This is to do with the feature of slackening on couplings to non-braked wagons, as commonly seen in real life on chain link couplings and screw couplings. This should be resolved by changing the values in the coupling type blueprint, I'm not sure which ones, but a search on the forums should help.

thanks,

chaddockdk

Hi Chris,

Having had a closer look at the US knuckle couplers in action, today, it may be that I have modelled my couplers wrong (I presume these are what your using). I'm going to have a play with them tonight, and see if I can make them work better.

As for your blueprints. A couple of things for you to try:-

1) Try increasing the horizontal offset figure slightly (both plus and minus) for the wheels in your bogies. One word of warning, if you increase the figure too much then the vehicles will not couple.

2) Also try increasing (or decreasing) the Bogie pivot x positioning in your main wagon blueprint (alter the plus and minus figures the same amount)

Thinking about it, I have had to alter these figures on most of models (trial and error), to get the models to work correctly in the sim.

I don't think the original physics programmers actually envisaged that such small vehicles would be used in the sim. Though I used to write to KujuSabrina (a name from the past!) to point out that such small things did exist

Cheers,

Kevin

Thanks for the wise words Kevin I'll give those ideas a try & let you know.

Yes I am using the "knuckle couplers" as supplied with Britomart. Let me know if you are able to get them to stay rigid.

Chris

Chris, I've sent you a PM.

Kevin

hi guys

as this seems to be the thread where all the coupling-gurus seem to hang out , i thought id place my question here ....


... does anybody know what / how the "bogey" section in the couplings blueprint works??

( im trying to produce a 3 link coupling which also has got the "accordion" style connection between two carriages for the passengers to pass into the next carriage. but of course it would be fantastic if one could insert a dummy boogie into the middle, which would make it more flexible in courves....)