advice needed for making UK activities and in general

[PeterBN]

I'm trying to make activities for some of the UK routes, semi prototypical. At the moment, I'm working on a freight activity for the Oxford Paddington route. I'm not sure if I get the right atmosphere for activity.

Is it common to see Railtrack ( MOW ) equipment scattered around on unused sidings?
Intermodal trains, are they mostly run with the companys own equipment, or can I mix and match? Is it different for the various freight operators?

Aggregate trains, will they allways use their own equipment, or will you see leased equipment as well. From looking at pictures, it seems they are mostly using their own rolling stock, but locomotives can be varied quite a bit. is that assumption correct?

Finally, would someone like to take a look at one of my activities, to see, what I should/could change to improve it. It's a bit heavy regarding traffic and loose consists, so might run slow on some PCs

I have used quite alot of payware and freeware DLC:
Class 66
The Armstrong Powerhouse repaints of class 66
Justtrains hoppers, freightcars, mow equipment
Class 08
UKTS freeware packs
I'm not sure if the class 43 and coaches, came with the game or not - the FGW ones..
Class 86 payware ( used some rolling stock from this pack, I believe )
Ovee MJA ( twin box wagons )
Class 158 inc a FGW repaint from UKTS file library
Class 37 & 47

I'm not 100% sure if the list is complete..

If anyone is interested in taking a look and giving some advice, but don't have the dlc, message me, and I'll take out the offending package.

I have added the RWP file to the post, it's a relative short run, 25 minutes.

Peter

[PeterBN]

Forgot to add the file, sorry
https://secure1.storegate.com/Shares/Ho ... 836b964be2

Peter

[Kromaatikse]

The UK railway system is a complete mess at the moment, ownership-wise, so I wouldn't worry hugely about whether things have exactly the right logo on the side. It is very common for locos owned by one company to be spot-hired off to another. The fleet owned by any one company can often be very heterogeneous as well, both in type and livery - there are still some 37s in BR Blue in mothballs somewhere, just waiting for a need to reawaken them for service. The foolproof way is to find a photograph of a train in the right era and area, and try to match it.

The wagons themselves will usually look quite generic, although there is a recent trend to add company livery to some types of wagon. The most prominent feature of a container train, however, is the containers themselves - which have absolutely no relationship to the railway itself, but will either be some generic colour or have the livery of a shipping company on the side.

Railtrack equipment is usually stored at strategic locations, probably at or near the workmen's depot, and driven to the worksite at a fairly decent speed. Occasionally it may be stored away from the depot if it is needed in the same place on two consecutive evenings, for example.

Slightly more likely to find in a random siding is a Thunderbird engine - as in "Thunderbirds to the rescue". These are also kept in strategic locations, in fact, but the strategy is very different from PW maintenance. A Thunderbird is usually kept in the very short eastern bays at Edinburgh Waverley and wherever convenient at other major hub stations, and one may also be found in the vicinity of a steep gradient. It is likely to be one of the old BR stalwarts - a 37 or 47 - or else whatever is going spare that day, unless an operator has a dedicated Thunderbird fleet (eg. some of the 57s are specifically designed for Thunderbird duty for Pendolinos). On electric lines, periods of "spare" duty are built into locomotives' working diagrams, and these may serve as Thunderbirds too.

You might also see entire freight trains in sidings, particularly if they are actually loops. The driver might be taking a rest break, or the train may need to wait en route for a particular slot further on in the journey, or require to be overtaken by a faster train.

Otherwise, many sidings have a specific purpose, perhaps to allow a nearby customer to load and unload goods. It may then be possible to guess at a type of train that could potentially be found there for a good reason - *without* an engine attached. It won't be there all the time though - many railfreight customers might only use their siding a couple of times a week.

[PeterBN]

Thanks alot, for the detailed post. Quite alot to work with. Many things make alot more sense now.

Peter

[Kariban]

Aggregates are quite likely to be trains of stock owned by the company, or in the case of Mendip Rail by a group. Coal is hauled by pretty much everyone, though; given it's mostly imports there won't be a company to own stock ( BR owned coal wagons too even when we had mines ) so it'll be EWS/DB or FL HH. Tanks I don't know... but there is one thing you might have fun with, and that's DB's Enterprise flows, which is pretty much a revival of the old Speedlink network on a smaller scale, ie less-than-trainload traffic. I don't think there's any of that on Ox-Padd though unless there is some massive diversion via Oxford.

[FoggyMorning]

Aggregates are quite likely to be trains of stock owned by the company, or in the case of Mendip Rail by a group. Coal is hauled by pretty much everyone, though; given it's mostly imports there won't be a company to own stock ( BR owned coal wagons too even when we had mines ) so it'll be EWS/DB or FL HH. Tanks I don't know... but there is one thing you might have fun with, and that's DB's Enterprise flows, which is pretty much a revival of the old Speedlink network on a smaller scale, ie less-than-trainload traffic. I don't think there's any of that on Ox-Padd though unless there is some massive diversion via Oxford.

Not strictly Enterprise, but there are occasionally some Freightliner intermodals that run in very short rakes (e.g. 5-6 wagons) with the odd closed van tacked on at either front or back

[PeterBN]

Thanks for the info. I bought a Freight master subscription some time ago, for 3 month, it's expired, but I use the tables for reference. It looks like EWS runs trains to Dollands Moor and Dagenham from Didcot, they are called wagonload, which also covers enterprise trains.
The enterprise trains, are they stricly loaded/unloaded at the terminals and pickup facilities, or will the wagons sometimes find their way to private sidings ?

another question on the enterprise trains, can they be made of almost any type of wagons?
I have found pictures of them with container flats, tanks, closed and open wagons of all sorts, so I guess it's the case.

Thunderbird engines, that is dedicated engines I guess, since they probably must be equipped for running passenger trains, electrical power for doors and so on, or are most locomotives equipped for both freight and passenger service.

Peter

[Kromaatikse]

The main requirement now is that they have the right coupling and brake equipment to haul the train - although an emergency coupling adapter (normally carried on the train with the non-standard coupling) can be used to get a failed train clear of the line. Some of the Class 57s were built with Dellner couplers to fit the Pendolinos, and they also serve as diesel haulage for the few legs Pendolinos regularly take on unwired lines (eg. to Holyhead) or when the WCML electrification fails.

As for brakes, since most modern trains use air brakes to a common standard, that isn't a problem except for some vintage steam railtours - which is one reason why such railtours are accompanied by a mobile rescue engine, often attached to the train itself as a way to minimise path usage. That way brake compatibility is assured. (Sometimes the rescue engine is also used to assist on hills so as to reduce the time spent on them.)

In an emergency, any locomotive can generally be used to haul a train. There are recent records of a 66 (unashamedly a freight engine) being used to drag a HST which had hit a fallen tree. Somewhat less recently, a Jubilee on a railtour was used to assist a Class 50 hauled freight train which had failed on Ais Gill. In winter, or with air-conditioned carriages in summer, an ETH equipped engine is definitely preferred for rescuing a passenger service, but in many cases ETH might still be available from the failed traction (eg. the rear power car of said HST).

When a DMU or EMU needs to be rescued, usually another DMU or EMU from the same family is used to drag or propel it since one is likely to be in the vicinity. Eg. a Sprinter can be assisted by another 15x, or by a 14x (probably more than one) or a 17x, since they have deliberately compatible couplings and electrics. The ease of attaching a standard locomotive to these varies somewhat - classics such as the 4CIG or 101 would have no trouble, but a Sprinter or a Junesirostar would need an adapter.

[peterllamachambers]

I have just run your scenario which ran without any trouble except the alleged "broken consist" notice which required a trip to the editor.

I saw nothing that looked out of place to me as a relatively ignorant rail passenger. I enjoyed all the IA at the start of the scenario and then the rest of it.

Peter

[PeterBN]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it - and it worked out in the end. Sorry about the broken consist error messages. I don't see them, so I have no idea how that happens. Someting to investigate..
When I make a scenario for my self, I'll normally put in a waiting period of a few minutes when it starts. I like to get settled in, check the workorder, set switches and so on, But I ususally fill it with some thing like traffic or set up some scenery items, whatever I can get to fit in with the scenario.

Peter

[peterllamachambers]

The broken consist thing is a RW fault. You just have to go into the editor and move - ie drive - the train a couple of inches, save, and that fixes it.

Peter

[btvboxer]

electrical power for doors

Actually in UK the doors are opened by passengers and are closed by guard/station staff.

btvboxer

[Kariban]

Passengers are still able to close doors . But he is right, power doors still need power no matter who operates them.

[btvboxer]

Oh! Sorry, I orgot about that.

btvboxer

[transadelaide]

Just to make things interesting on the door front, most of the 3000 Class DEMU railcars on the Adelaide Metro network have sliding doors that open manually (by physically sliding one to the side with the other being cable-linked!) and close under electronic control using a pneumatic actuator charged by the air brake reservoir. Due to accessibility requirements they are having push-button controls retro-fitted as part of a current round of major refurbishments, but I'm not sure whether these use electric motors or retain the electric-pneumatic system.

The really interesting thing is that when arriving at a terminus station or some other station that is covered, the driver of a refurbished unit will push a button during final approach that will have the computer open all the doors on the platform side/s as soon as the train stops providing a light sensor detects the platform. This is a good example of power-opening doors being used sensibly, allowing for full opening or passenger-controlled opening as appropriate for the situation.