Driving the Class 04 - gear use help

[tubemad]

Hello,

I'm wondering if there is anybody on here that has driven a real Class 04 or just simply knows how to drive a Class 04 properly.
I have driven the simulated Class 101 with gears, and I know you have to shut off, change up, then slowly power up again.
Does this apply for the Class 03/04 shunter too? If so, can you just whack the power straight up after?

I am using the Hatchet Hill class 04 on the branchline stretch, but every time I change gear, I shut the throttle off, then I am rapidly loosing speed then I am in the wrong gear as the speed is a lot lower.
I don't know if these handle differently though, or weather you can move off in, say, gear 2 or 3? I must say, hill climbing is a challenge!

I have only every driven a Class 08 in reality on brakevan rides, so is a lot different to the 03/04!


Any help would appreciated before I break the loco and have to ship it off for repairs


James.

[bdy26]

I've not driven a 3 or 4, but have driven a couple of industrials. What you describe is pretty much how I'd do it, the important thing is to let the revs drop before changing gear. I wouldn't whack it straight into full throttle, but you can ramp it up fairly quickly.

B

[007MJB007]

Hello James,

There are many odd values in the 04 engine and sim bin files. I have been through it since it was released and corrected many of them. If you have RWTools and you make a back-up of the
files first, you need to have a look through them... " Rolling friction " was set way off. along with several other values. Also the TractiveEffortVsGear/Speed/Throttle.dcsv files need some adjustment too. If you also have RSC's Industrial North addon you can compare the 03 files to the 04 and see what needs looking at. Also need to look at the bin files for the Catfish wagon
" rolling friction " and loaded weight are off too.

But as i said MAKE SURE IF YOU DO, TO BACK THE FILES UP FIRST...!!!

Hope this helps you out.
Cheers Mick.

[faedundee2]

From my experience of the real things nearest cousin(the 03) is that the drive always put it in a gear before setting off(usually 4th or 5th depening on what task) then keep it at that for the whole job, when I drive the 04 on Hatchet Hill I always put it in 5th then set off as it gives no trouble getting up hills and there is no need to change gear which would cause the loss of speed. Furthermore I would say the 04s set it is very realistic, a little trick I learned while on the real 03 waas that you could power down and knock the gear into neutral without causing damage to the gear box and still come to a stop without using a straigth air/train brake which is replecated in the 04 very well.

[Oldpufferspotter]

Very interesting faedundee2, thanks for that info.
Presumably the gearing on those little shunters is set at low enough ratios for it to do no harm when you just select the most appropriate high-gear for the job, and then start away from standing in that gear.
regards Ted.

[Kariban]

They use fluid clutches, so you're not burning a clutch out ( DMUs also use fluid clutches ). Fluid clutches do try & drag the engine RPM down to the same as the output though.

[faedundee2]

They use fluid clutches, so you're not burning a clutch out ( DMUs also use fluid clutches ). Fluid clutches do try & drag the engine RPM down to the same as the output though.

Which makes things interesting when you are shutning 200 tonnes of loco around a yard with tight pointwork...

[tubemad]

Very interesting, thank you for that!

Is it the catfish wagons that are overweight? I took the 03 with 3 brakevans and a load 10 of Catfish wagons with the 04 behind, shoved the 03 off at Elm into the loop so that the 04 could shove the wagons into the other siding (was doing brakevan rides on a fictional diesel gala/open day event idea, the wagons needed to be out the way over there) but when I switched to the 04, it couldn't handle shoving the 10 wagons solo and would not budge!

Also, would you stay in high gear when cruising with no power? I no with first gen carts you're supposed to shove it in gear 4 if cruising, which I believe it something to do with the fluid clutch....?

[Kariban]

Don't think it should matter for a DMU, it's got a freewheel; I guess if that drags a bit then being in top gear is going to minimise it or you'd be trying to spin the engine up. The generic handbook doesn't mention it...

03 & 04 are basically the same engines, so if one isn't behaving like the other then one of 'em is wrong :p.

[tubemad]

Only read about it on driving tips on railcar.co.uk, and was on a driving a DMU training DVD too about putting it into gear 4...though from what I have heard from various people who rode these in BR days about the drivers, what is mentioned on the site what you are supposed to do and how they were actually handled by drivers are two different things

[faedundee2]

Don't think it should matter for a DMU, it's got a freewheel; I guess if that drags a bit then being in top gear is going to minimise it or you'd be trying to spin the engine up. The generic handbook doesn't mention it...

03 & 04 are basically the same engines, so if one isn't behaving like the other then one of 'em is wrong :p.

I think the scripting on the 04 and 03 are different, I have noticed that I cannot couple to other locos or stock other than the catfish and brakevan using the 04 but can couple to everything using the 03 it must be the boundary boxes over the buffers being a bit longer as when I back onto stock or locos the buffers are about 50cm apart and wont connect and if when I made a consist of 03+04 and 101 centre car when I detached the shunters I couldn't connect back up to it...