"What can go wrong?" Just after the grouping the LMS ran some trials of the 0-8-0s they had inheritted, particularly their capacity to brake loose coupled freight trains. One LNWR loco ran away (though the possibility had been foreseen and extra power was brought in), but it was recorded that braking force was reduced when the whistle was sounded. Much more seriously an 8F ran away when a fitting on the steam brake line failed, both filling the cab with live steam and depriving it of braking power. The driver stuck with it, trying to pull his train up, and was killed in the subsequent collision.
Some recent C2 tweaks:
* Disabled 'train' brake.
* Enabled 'loco/eng' brake with ET6 type controller, vice steam brake.
* Improved water and coal consumption figures.
* Increased 3 mini-hopper's tonnage to 3.8, a tentative figure.
* Achieved free rolling on down grade, with regulator/reverser in neutral.
* Re-synched wheel rotation/to speed.
* Further texture and shape tweaks (never-ending).
* Excellent locomotive speed control, except top speed is still slightly less than prototype's design max speed of 23 mph, but I'm not worried.
* More animation required (rods) and ((BM)).
* Release date unknown.
I forgot to add, do any of the watervats work (pass water) on the Ffestiniog? So far I've not suceeded in refilling the tank, although the mechanisms work fine. With the improved water usage, it could lead to a perilous situation on a long run.
Thank you to the kind person who posted the link to the freebie paint program .NET Paint, which has proved a real find and a useful addition to my MSTS tools.
<IMG width="800" height="600" SRC="http://www.atomic-album.com/showPic.php ... arper2.jpg">
Cheers Bazza
Last edited by CaptainBazza on Fri May 04, 2007 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Talking of paint, unfortunately there's no 'spray' tool, and no 'circle' selection tool, althought there's the 'rectangular', 'ellipse' (pain in the paintpot IMO) and 'freehand' select tools.
I'm still K'O'd on this C2 motion, in tandem with a similar problem on another narrow gauge loco with Walschaerts motion. I know it's a 'in my mind' problem, something obvious which is eluding me at the moment. However, I've not abandoned the project because the C2 runs very well on the Festiniog and I don't want to give up on a locomotive I enjoy running.
So my apologies to the 3.5 people who are interested.
sp762, it's true that another pair of eyes can spot a problem, thanks. Have you got the Ffestiniog, for which it's been specifically tuned and scaled? The braking is 'interesting' and the driver's full attention is required in order to prevent embarrassing incidents.