EOT Speed Question

[qballbandit]

Hello,
Real world - at what speed do EOT indicators go on when throttling up, and off when braking?
Pardon my ignorant wording, as I am not familiar with how they actually work in the cab, but wasn't sure if it was the obvious; as in - as soon as the last car is moving, and as soon as the last is at a complete stop.

Thanks for any info,

[P834C]

If I understand your question correctly, EOT's are on all of the time. You need to know the last car's BP pressure at all times whether moving or not. Think about air tests. If you're talking about the EOT rear marker light it turns on when it is dark and stays on regardless of whether the train is moving. There is an indicator on the head end box or on the cab displays that lights up when the last car starts moving and it goes out when your stopped, but everything is always working on a EOT regardless of speed.

Modern EOT's are two way devices meaning they are always transmitting and capable of receiving a signal also. It transmits the BP pressure, last car moving info, rear marker on/off, battery (if equipped) status, and it is capable of receiving the signal if the Engineer flips the switch to initiate a Emergency Brake application from the rear (EOT).

[qballbandit]

Hello P834C,
Thank you for your detailed explanation. I was indeed inquiring about "last car moving info", in my foggy question.
The reason for my initial question is because I am assisting (information gathering and beta-testing, not the actual design) a gentleman with a new cab, and he is adding an EOT indicator to the main display. While not completely prototypical, due to MSTS limitations, it is a very nice little feature, and we are trying to determine a speed at which the indicator should light up, and turn off - simulating as close as possible the last car movement.
He had it at 2mph initially, but is rethinking maybe lowering the value.
Again, due to the limitations of MSTS, it's just a fun eye candy type feature on the display, not actually simulating the real movement of the last car in the player train. Just wanted it to act as close as possible to the speeds of an average heavy freight.

Thanks much! :)

[P834C]

EOT's have a vibration sensor and not an actual motion sensor. It registers that the last car is moving when there is some form of vibration on the EOT. Since it is attached to the last car of a train when that car starts moving it starts vibrating, but a train moving on an adjacent track or an employee changing the battery on the EOT will trigger the sensor also.

For the purposes of what you are trying to do, 1 to 2 mph would be fairly accurate for starting the movement (0 mph for stopping) but of course in the real world the head end of a train can move 1 to 2 car lengths before the last car starts moving and all the while the head end could be moving 1 mph.

[qballbandit]

Perfect!
Thanks very much for your reply, that is just what we are looking for. :)