Weak Brakes (Independent & Train Brakes)

[PRR4435]

I was wondering if anyone here would know how to make a steam locomotive's loco & train brakes stronger. By that I mean it's not stopping fast enough when its pulling a train and I'm using the train brake, and when I'm running light and apply the independent brakes, it takes absolutely forever to come to a complete stop. Does anyone know exactly what in the engine file I have to change to fix this problem?

[bigmak1313]

FYI, trains don't stop on a dime.

[PRR4435]

FYI, trains don't stop on a dime.

I'm aware. I have ran other steam locomotives on the simulator and they all stop (with or without cars) MUCH faster than the locomotive I'm having problems with.

[hiball 3985]

I'm aware. I have ran other steam locomotives on the simulator and they all stop (with or without cars) MUCH faster than the locomotive I'm having problems with.

Maybe if you told us what loco you are referring to that might help. Most of us don't have crystal balls.

[PRR4435]

Ok, It's the newer NKP 765 all though I don't see how that makes a difference.

[kmanc21]

Ok, It's the newer NKP 765 all though I don't see how that makes a difference.

It is the physics parameters that the locomotive builder has put into the unit. The fact is that most locos and rolling stock in MSTS stop far faster than anything that would occur in real life. There are two schools of thought on this issue in MSTS - those that want this to be a game, which it primarily is, and those that want it to be a realistic simulation of train operations, I reside in that camp. What bigmak1313 was trying to get across is that a modern day freight running at speed will take 1 mile or more to come to complete stop, even in Emergency. An Acela running at speed on the NEC even longer.

[PRR4435]

Ok, well my problem is that while running her with a 6 car train at 30 MPH it takes unreasonably long to stop. Running light is even worse. First of all, her locomotive brake BARELY works (it's so so weak), so when I use the train brake to stop her, it could take up to 10 seconds to come to a stop if I'm going 6 MPH. Maybe I exaggerated a little but the point is I want quicker brakes, both for the train and the loco. I mean, I don't necessarily like it when I end up 50 feet from a switch that I wanted to stop in front of because the train brakes take forever to stop it. And last time I checked locomotives can stop fairly quickly when running light. So my question is, where in the ENG file can I fix this (give her a stronger loco& train brake)?

[derekmorton]

MaxBrakeForce is likely the one you want for the engine.

To get the train to stop quicker, its every wag file.

[baldwin]

There is a complete section of the file missing, which usually is found just after the Friction lines. It defines the brakeforce and some other parameters.

This is from the Milw 261

BrakeEquipmentType( "Triple_valve, Auxilary_reservoir, Emergency_brake_reservoir" )
BrakeSystemType( "Air_single_pipe" )
MaxBrakeForce( 81.56kN )
EmergencyBrakeResMaxPressure( 110 )
TripleValveRatio( 2.5 )
MaxReleaseRate( 2.27 )
MaxApplicationRate( 1.717 )
MaxAuxilaryChargingRate( 1 )
EmergencyResCapacity( 2.604 )
EmergencyResChargingRate( 1 )
BrakeCylinderPressureForMaxBrakeBrakeForce( 64 )

You will most probably have to make some of these figures match those found in the braking section further down in the engine section of the file, things like charging rates and release rates.

[rockislandfan]

In addition to what has already been said, there are two sets of "NumWheels" in the engine file. The first one near the top just after the adheasion line effects the independent engine brake. Change this value to 1 or 2. Then just a few lines below that is a line for MaxBrakeForce. Change that to value around 175 or 200. You will notice a really strong independent brake maybe even too strong to be realstic but you can change the value until you get the results you want. I can tell you from experence that at switching speeds such as below 10 MPH an independent brake is very powerful, a single engine can stop a long cut of cars pretty fast on level track at slow speed. But my experence is only with diesels not steam. At high speeds the independent isn't much use.

Ron