DT Wagon Pack 2

[ashgray]

Happy to be of help.
Not got these yet, but I would be surprised if there wasn't a manual lurking in the \Manuals\EN folder of Railworks.

None that I can find...

Ash

[malkymackay]

Well that's not very helpful. Mind you, how many actually bother reading manuals

[ashgray]

OK, for a wagon pack, I guess reading the manual isn't essential, but it would at least tell me what the routes & names of the included scenarios are, so I can find and run them.

Ash

[holzroller]

Regarding speeds, the OTA's could run up to 75mph, originally with a reduced load, but iirc later that caveat was removed, probably after the ends were extended to match the later angled style. In practice the reduced load had little effect on the wagons with the original flat ends. These ran in class 4 trains south from Glasgow en-route to shotton etc, from . The wagons were gathered at Mossend from all points north for the journey south, and on their return empty, dispatched back to all points North. I have a couple of TOPS train lists from the 80's somewhere.

[windberg]

I think every add on needs a manual with informations about the product (datas, history, operation and so on like the VDAs manual). There is no manual with the wagon pack 2 and this is a disappointment for me. The wagon models are very good but have only one paint per wagon. If this wagons will go the Class 40 way this will be my last direct buy. Now I have to drive Scottish timber.

[holzroller]

Just a little bit of info for any body considering recreating the scottish timber trains at the time of these original OTA's.In the air brake era pre OTA, and during the time of the early conversions, timber was also carried in OBA's, OAA's and even OCA's. I also remember having two of the Plasmoor converted OBA's in a timber train I worked south from Elgin. Bogie bolsters were used from Inverurie for tree size timber, but being vacuum braked withair pipes were limited to 60 mph and you could ony have three marshalled together in one place in a train. The total you could have in a train was dependant on load and brake power available. They weren't that common and only appeared for a few years. On another tack there were also a couple of PVA's used to carry bagged cement to Craiginches south for a time in the 80's.

[Kariban]

OTAs could be found in Exeter Riverside reasonably frequently ( not all that long ago there was freight up the Barnstaple line ), I think the PCAs also, and there was a cement terminal behind Exeter Central for a while so there's scope to use on B-E if you bend the era somewhat. Not that it's changed much since the mid 80s anyway. Well, Taunton has, but who wants to stop there

There's an issue with the brakes ( when isn't there an issue with the brakes! ) that I've mailed DT about, they seem to have some hybrid of vac & air I didn't know the BPE could even do - if you want to substitute something in the meantime then the TrainBrake section from the TTAs in the freeware pack is a good place to start. Only really looked at the PCAs, seem nice enough if nowhere near dirty enough pricewise well... yeah not quite Fastline, but they are 5 completely ( mostly ) different models I guess.

[PeterDD]

I think every add on needs a manual with informations about the product (datas, history, operation and so on like the VDAs manual). There is no manual with the wagon pack 2 and this is a disappointment for me. The wagon models are very good but have only one paint per wagon. If this wagons will go the Class 40 way this will be my last direct buy. Now I have to drive Scottish timber.

Do not dispair, there is a manual, however you need to download it from the downloads area of DT's site, look in the free railworks software link. It is similar to DT's (and indeed RSC's) other manuals and is a bit on the light side but it does list the wagons and scenarios. The numbering system seems to be a bit of an afterthought however.

There is also a beta patch to improve braking performance in the railworks patches link.

Have not had time to try them out yet but they are certainly a welcome addition for those of us like the later BR eras.

Peter

[malkymackay]

Thanks for the heads up on those Peter.

Actually bothered to drive one of the included scenarios from a pack for a change & wished I hadn't bothered. The first time I ran the PAA scenario, the Player train was routed straight down the mainline past Tyne Yard. Checked the path in the editor & tried it straight from there without making changes. I was then correctly routed towards Tyne Yard - go figure

I would say, that whoever created this scenario may not be entirely familiar with the services of the period & the real route. Only 7 coaches in the HST formations (they are missing the TGS), a freight train being routed through the middle road at Newcastle Central when there are Goods lines avoiding the station, following Kuju's mistake of Containers at Low Fell (Newcastle FLT was at Follingsby, just to the south of Pelaw on the Leamside line), a Freightliner service running in the middle of the day. Before anybody says 'why not see if you can do better', go have a look in the UKTS library

[FoggyMorning]

In DT's defence here, I don't see any claims anywhere that the included scenarios are strictly prototypical. I'm also curious as to why seeing freightliner trains in the middle of the day is wrong?

Steve

[malkymackay]

Steve, fair point about them not claiming that they are prototypical.
As for the freightliner, looking at the Freight Timetables I have for the line from the 80's, they tended to run from late afternoon through to the early hours of the morning. Kind of makes sense to path as much freight as possible when there are very few passenger rated services on the move.

[FoggyMorning]

Ah, that's interesting about the freightliners. These days you can see them at any time of day or night it seems, although there is obviously a lot less freight on the railways now

[Kariban]

Ah, that's interesting about the freightliners. These days you can see them at any time of day or night it seems, although there is obviously a lot less freight on the railways now

Not sure that's actually true, you know; just a lot less variety.

[FoggyMorning]

Ah, that's interesting about the freightliners. These days you can see them at any time of day or night it seems, although there is obviously a lot less freight on the railways now

Not sure that's actually true, you know; just a lot less variety.

Yes, that was more what I meant. Interesting point about volume, be quite an interesting rainy day project looking at some figures etc.

[USRailFan]

Only 7 coaches in the HST formations (they are missing the TGS)

There would've been a few Cross-Country HST services using the northern ECML I think, which would be 7-car? And TGS cars weren't introduced until 1980 or so, so it isn't TOTALLY incorrect to have an HST without one, if the scenario is set in the late 70s...

EDIT: Downloaded the available manual and noticed that the scenarios are set in the mid-80s, at which point it would obviously not have been any HSTs, neither 7- nor 8-car, without TGS. Then again, not even all RS.com scenario creators seem to know this, looking at e.g. the 'Trains vs Zombies' scenarios, you see FGW HSTs with only seven intermediate cars, no buffet, three FOs and no TGS... Same with the WCML North altho at least there they remembered the buffets...