Armstrong Powerhouse Mk1 Brakes - fixed
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:28 pm
Just treated myself to the AP Mk1 and Mk2 stock and very nice they are too. Major job updating all my consist fragments to replace the slightly oversized DT originals, bits and bobs of Kuju defaults and other suppliers to a nice consistent look. I also treated myself ( as a reward for laying 90+ paving slabs ) to the Bossman Patriot and Mogul. Really excellent and just that edge more difficulty that means you have to get to know the locos firing character properly.
I noticed that Bossman had a "AP coaches fix" available and so downloaded out of curiosity. Testing the AP coaches without the fix did indeed show that after starting off OK any mid journey braking to a halt caused the coach brakes to fail to come off when released by the loco. Confirmed this on my test track - the level straight between Thirsk and York on the East Coast route.
When I looked more closely at the AP set-up it has an Brake blueprint in the .bin file that contains separate Air Brake and Vacuum brake set-ups. The Bossman fix is to replace that entire brake section of the AP coaches .bin flies with a Vacuum only section. They do this within a separate duplicate of the .bin file ( presumably so as not to alter the originals). This replicates many of the default set-ups of Kuju stock ( and others such as Matrix etc). This differs from the other approach adopted for some of the UKTS freeware files which have a set-up with both air and vacuum brake data blueprint sections in a dual brake system.
The actual problem with the AP setup is not ( as Bossman suggest perhaps diplomatically ) that there is an inherent issue in Trainsim but that the vacuum section in the AP coach .bins actually seems to have a mistake in it. In the Vacuum Brake section it uses an eAirTwinPipe equipment type and not an eVacuumSinglePipe equipment type. When this mistake ( which looks like a search and replace error ) is removed then the coaches work just fine. Tested this on the test route section I use behind the Patriot.
I am testing also the more elegant solution arrived at by the UKTS freeware project folks of a dual system setup.
This is not a dig ( and please don't make it so ) at either AP or Bossman. Both products are fab and the sort of copy and replace error that I think happened is so easy to do. Anyway, if I get a fixed set of files I will make them available here. I know that Richard AP used to frequent here but I will send him a note as well.
I noticed that Bossman had a "AP coaches fix" available and so downloaded out of curiosity. Testing the AP coaches without the fix did indeed show that after starting off OK any mid journey braking to a halt caused the coach brakes to fail to come off when released by the loco. Confirmed this on my test track - the level straight between Thirsk and York on the East Coast route.
When I looked more closely at the AP set-up it has an Brake blueprint in the .bin file that contains separate Air Brake and Vacuum brake set-ups. The Bossman fix is to replace that entire brake section of the AP coaches .bin flies with a Vacuum only section. They do this within a separate duplicate of the .bin file ( presumably so as not to alter the originals). This replicates many of the default set-ups of Kuju stock ( and others such as Matrix etc). This differs from the other approach adopted for some of the UKTS freeware files which have a set-up with both air and vacuum brake data blueprint sections in a dual brake system.
The actual problem with the AP setup is not ( as Bossman suggest perhaps diplomatically ) that there is an inherent issue in Trainsim but that the vacuum section in the AP coach .bins actually seems to have a mistake in it. In the Vacuum Brake section it uses an eAirTwinPipe equipment type and not an eVacuumSinglePipe equipment type. When this mistake ( which looks like a search and replace error ) is removed then the coaches work just fine. Tested this on the test route section I use behind the Patriot.
I am testing also the more elegant solution arrived at by the UKTS freeware project folks of a dual system setup.
This is not a dig ( and please don't make it so ) at either AP or Bossman. Both products are fab and the sort of copy and replace error that I think happened is so easy to do. Anyway, if I get a fixed set of files I will make them available here. I know that Richard AP used to frequent here but I will send him a note as well.
