www.MeshTools.co.uk 1 Contents
Background………………………………………………………………………………………………... 2
Technical Data……………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
Controls…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Liveries………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
Scenarios…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 29
Reskinning/Sound Policy……………………………………………………………………………… 30
Head codes………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31
Credits……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
Background
Maerdy Branch
The Maerdy branch was in South Wales, it ran from Porth to Maerdy Colliery, following the River Rhondda. Originally owned by Taff Vale Railway it was used as a coal mining freight railway and continued into service when the Great Western Railway took over in 1923. The line also ran passenger services from Porth, stopping at Ynyshir, Pontygwaith, Tylorstown, and Ferndale. The line continued up to the Colliery, however this was freight only, also privately owned by the NCB..
The last passenger Train ran on 15th of June 1964 because of the Beeching cuts, just leaving the coal trains to Maerdy Colliery. The track was lifted in 1987, however the colliery didn’t close until 1990.
Today many of the bridges remain and the line turned into a cycle path, however the track bed South of Tylorstown is now gone, the remains of the stations and bridges removed and replaced by the A4223 Porth and Lower Rhondda Fach Relief Road (Porth Bypass).
English Electric Type 3B
The English Electric Type 3B was a class of 4 wheel electric locomotives built by English Electric between 1921 and 1951 mostly at the Dick Kerr works in Preston. The locomotives could be powered by batteries or from overhead wires. The voltage and power of the locomotive could be altered as could the weight so very few of the class were actually the same.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 2 The class all had a central steeple cab with sloping bonnets either engine. These were either filled in with ballast such as concrete or scrap metal, or if the locomotive was battery powered with banks of lead acid batteries.
This particular Type 3B is based on the locomotive built to work at the Upper Boat power station near Pontypridd in Wales. The locomotive was registered to run on GWR metals to access the nearby exchange sidings to collect and drop off coal wagons. The locomotive worked here between 1945 (when it was built) till 1971 when the power station closed. From here the locomotive was moved to CEGB Back O'Th'Bank power station in Bolton where it remained until that power station closed in 1981. From here it was then preserved at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester where it remains to this date.
WD Austerity 0-6-0ST
The Hunslet "Austerity" was an 0-6-0ST shunting engine designed by R.A. Riddles for the War department. The design evolved many years before from the Class 48150 0-6-0ST produced by Hunslet, these small tank engines were then developed by Hunslet into the class 50550, a much heavier and more powerful engine. Riddles took the design of the 50550 and simplified it making it more suitable for cheap and quick production. In total 377 Austerities were produced for the War Department up until 1947. The engines were built by various firms including Hunslet, Andrew Barclay Sons & Co, W.G Bagnall, Hudswell and Clarke, Robert Stephenson's and Hawthorns and the Vulcan Foundry.
After the war, the War Department had no further need for the "Austerities" and they were sold to various companies including the LNER which after modifications to make them suitable for their service and became Class J94, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen where they became NS Class 8800. Further examples were sold for industrial use in collieries and mines etc.
After the war the NCB ordered 77 new austerities for use in its collieries and these were produced between 1948 and 1964. The NCB continued to use these austerities well into the 1970s and 80s long after steam on the mainline had come to its end. The J94s of the LNER and later BR were finally withdrawn in 1967 having found use on the difficult branch line of the Cromford and High peak Railway.
Hunslet 3878 started out life in 1945 at the Vulcan Foundry’s as number 5280 and entered service with the war department as WD 75290, soon she moved to the Longmoor military and was repainted in blue with red and gold linings and carried the name Manipur Road and number 186. She was at the Marchwood military railway between 1950 and 1953. She then appears to have fallen and withdrawn in 1960. From here things get quite interesting, she was then purchased by Hunslet and completely rebuilt as number 3878 and was out shopped in 1961. Following this rebuild she was then sold to the NCB where she eventually ended up at NCB Mardy as Mardy number 3 (although the number 3 indicates that she probably arrived before the Pannier No.4 which means before 1964). Like her sister described next she was withdrawn in June of 1971. She was cut up on site. Given her short life span at the colliery, especially after being rebuilt in 1961 gives testament to the fierce work the engines had to perform. Strangely we have been completely unable to find a picture of her, even at the Longmoor military railway.
RSH 7099 was built in 1943 and joined her sisters as WD 75063. She stayed with the war department for quite some time and ended up at some point carrying the number 125. She
www.MeshTools.co.uk 3 served at multiple places with, initially starting out at the Honeybourne Central Ordnance Depot, then Bicester COD, then to the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway ( by this point carrying the number 125 ), then back to Bicester COD before finally being sold to the NCB in the late 60s. She saw out the remainder of her life at NCB Mardy and was withdrawn and scrapped like her sister in June 1971. She was again cut up on site.
Technical data – WD Austerity 0-6-0ST
Introduced: 1943 Power Classification: 4F Configuration: 0-6-0ST Total Built: 485 Length: 30'. 4. " Width: 8'.9" Height: 12'. 6.81" Weight: 48T. 5C Coal Capacity: 2.3 Tons Water Capacity: 1200 Gallons Tractive Effort: 23870 Lbf Estimated Power Output: 510HP Fire tube heating surface: 873 Sq Ft Firebox heating surface: 88 Sq Ft Total Heating Surface: 961 Sq Ft Cylinder Size: 18' x 26' Driver Diameter: 4'. 3" Boiler Pressure: 170 Psi
Technical data – English Electric Type 3B Introduced: 1921-1951 Configuration: 4 Wheel electric Total Built: Around 35 Weight: 20T Power: 100HP Driver Diameter: 33" Power Source: 180 Lead acid batteries Voltage : 320-400V
www.MeshTools.co.uk 4 Austerity Controls
Each engine has two versions, a standard [Std] and an advanced [Adv] version. The need for both arose when creating the script as we found that the AI simply could not drive the engine, nor could the automatic fireman use the injectors/shovel coal. Since the HUD must be fully functioning we had to do 2 versions, the simple and the advanced engines.
The simple version of the Austerity is virtually identical to the advanced version, however the injectors and firing are simplified to conform to the automatic fireman. All scenarios have a standard and advanced version using the respective standard and advanced engines.
When you enter the Austerity's cab you will probably notice two things, firstly you are on the wrong side, but that is down to some misinformed designer putting the driver on the right (but not to worry he also allowed you to drive from either side). Secondly you will likely notice some interesting controls, but before you touch them it may be wise to know what they all do! Here are some key ones for you to learn (and you will be tested later!).
Additional Controls Steam Brake Release: ; Apply: ‘ Handbrake Release: / Apply: Shift / Reverser Release Lock: E Cab Lamp Delete White Lamp (Front Bottom Left) Ctrl 1 White Lamp (Front Bottom Centre) Ctrl 2 White Lamp (Front Bottom Right) Ctrl 3 White Lamp (Front Top Centre) Ctrl 4 White Lamp (Rear Bottom Left) Ctrl 5 White Lamp (Rear Bottom Centre) Ctrl 6 White Lamp (Rear Bottom Right) Ctrl 7 White Lamp (Rear Top Centre) Ctrl 8 Red Lamp (Front Bottom Left) Ctrl Shift 1 Red Lamp (Front Bottom Centre) Ctrl Shift 2 Red Lamp (Front Bottom Right) Ctrl Shift 3 Red Lamp (Front Top Centre) Ctrl Shift 4 Red Lamp (Rear Bottom Left) Ctrl Shift 5 Red Lamp (Rear Bottom Centre) Ctrl Shift 6 Red Lamp (Rear Bottom Right) Ct Ctrl Shift rl 7 Red Lamp (Rear Top Centre) Ctrl Shift 8 Whistle toot B Shovelling Hold R
www.MeshTools.co.uk 5 Steam engines are very different beasts to drive than Diesels or Electrics. Before you start, it's important to get some idea of how they work - what components there are and how they interact - some of this might seem basic and you'll be tempted to skip it and move on but I would encourage you to read carefully.
There are two fuels needed to make a Steam Engine work - coal and water. Coal is used to make fire, fire is used to turn water in to steam and steam pushes the cylinders that drive the wheels.
Let's split it in to four bits - Fire, Steam, Going and Stopping.
Fire Your goal here is to create a fire that will provide the right amount of steam at the right time. That's the key here, it's not simply a case of "as much as possible all the time", but let's get to that detail as we go, to start with if you can get it creating as much as possible then the worst that happens is you're continually blowing the safety valves and that's just noisy and a waste of steam. As you get more proficient you'll learn to cut back your steam generation at the right times.
Creating a Fire - Train Simulator offers a number of controls here, these are: Stoking Blower Damper
Stoking - this really is the simple act of adding more coal to the fire. This controls the "fire mass". In a real steam engine there is a fine art to loading on coal such as what size of coal lumps and where on the fire to put it. In Train Simulator it's a simple fire mass value, as you stoke it goes up and as you run the engine it goes down. That's complex enough for us at the moment. The fire mass has an "ideal" value, at this ideal value the fire is most effective, if you are above or below it the fire becomes less effective. What does effective mean - it means steam generation. How do you know what the ideal value is? The techie way is to look at the engine blueprint, it's in there. The non-techie way is to experiment. I usually go with whatever the *starting* value is, so on the coal button it says "2.5 tons, 66%" - the 2.5 tons is how much is in the bunker / tender, the 66% is the size of your fire mass. If the fire starts at 66% then I will usually go with running the fire from say 62% to 70%. On the Austerity the ideal firemass is around 550lb or 55%. Be wary though, having the firedoors open lets cold air into the fire cooling it, don’t keep he firedoors open when working hard as your steam generation will suffer.
Blower - When the blower is turned on it will force air up the chimney, this has the effect of drawing air up from the fire and feeding it. Starting this will give you a steam generation boost when stationary or when the regulator is shut.
Damper - Below the fire there is a grate, below that is the ashpan and either side of that there is a door (or two as in the case of the J94). Opening the Damper allows air to flow up from underneath the fire and through it - which is obviously a great benefit to feeding the fire. If the damper(s) are open then you will get a steam generation boost.
That's basically the fire covered. When you want to be clever, you can learn to turn off blowers and dampers and cut back your steam generation rate to allow the boiler to decrease in pressure as you come in to stations - nobody likes it when the safety valves kick off in a platform.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 6 Water and Steam It starts out as water and we need to convert it in to steam. Water starts in the tank (or the tender) and we use something called an Injector to take water at normal atmospheric pressure and inject it in to the very high pressure environment inside the boiler. Injectors work by using steam to force the water in - there's lots of info on the web about how they work. The key is - you need steam.
If we start out with a boiler with plenty of boiling hot steam in it and we start injecting cold water, this condenses the steam and the boiler pressure is reduced - this is something to be very aware of as you proceed.
There are two kinds of Injector generally. LIVE steam injectors uses LIVE steam from the boiler. This is steam that's available all the time but it will cost you boiler pressure. EXHAUST steam injectors make use of the exhaust steam after you've run it through the cylinders, which is great as it wasn't going to do anything else anyway except chuff out the chimney - but of course this is only available once you're running at enough speed to actually have exhaust steam, when it’s not working as an exhaust injector it will work just like a normal live injector.. There are four controls - two for each injector. One set of controls turns on the steam, and the other turns on the water. Therefore, to inject water in via the Live Steam Injector you'd start the live steam injector and then start the live water feed.
If you are manually firing using the cab controls or the keyboard you have full control over the four controls covering the two kinds of injectors, if you're using the hud you've just got a single simple button that does it all for you and it works out the best way to proceed. On the HUD, you have a value at the top indicating how much water is in the tank / tender, and a value at the bottom indicating how much there is in the boiler itself.
Note that in a real steam engine there are real consequences for over filling the boiler (it's called Priming and results in water getting in to the cylinders - very bad) but these are generally not simulated in steam engines in Train Simulator. Some engines however do simulate it. Similarly, if you let the boiler water level get too low then the "fusible plugs" get uncovered, melt and the steam in the boiler evacuates rapidly out of the boiler to stop the engine from exploding. The effects are generally not modelled but the game will terminate if you let the boiler water level get too low. The other important effect that is not simulated is the gradient - if you imagine the side view of the boiler with water at some given level and then imagine the same boiler going up a hill or down a hill you can see that the water level apparently in the tank might be seen to change and indeed in a real engine if you fill up to an apparently sensible level on a flat and then start going up a steep uphill gradient you might find yourself suddenly priming. Not to worry, the simulator doesn't currently worry about this so you can just focus on keeping it filled up. Unlike the fire mass, there is no "ideal" value - just keep water in the tank.
Going We've got a fire, we've got steam - now we need to do something with it. The steam is held in the boiler by the regulator. As you open the regulator it lets steam out in to the cylinders at the front of the loco, if your brakes are off you will soon be moving. While you're standing, condensation will build up in the cylinders. Water is the absolute enemy of cylinders because it can't be compressed like Steam. If it gets bad enough and you move off you could seriously damage the cylinders and take the loco out of action (in many cases TS engines don't simulate this behaviour, the 56xx again does). Open the
www.MeshTools.co.uk 7 cylinder cocks for the first few wheel rotations to allow the steam to blow any water out and then close them again to preserve your steam.
Note: in the description below I’m going to use the name "cut-off" but you can interchange it reasonably with "reverser" in the context of the simulator, it's the W/S keys. Start with the cut-off in full forwards position. As you accelerate you want to start fairly quickly drawing the reverse back towards the centre. Without getting in to diagrams of how the cylinders work (there are many on the web) I’ll just explain this by saying it controls how LONG you are letting steam in to the cylinders for each cycle. As the train speeds up you will find it is a) losing boiler pressure rapidly and b) stops accelerating and seems to plateau unable to go any faster. This is because you've reached a balance point and the effort required to evacuate the cylinders from the steam in the last half cycle is as much as is being put in this time. The solution - put it in for less of the cycle by bringing the cut-off back.
How you move the cut-off is entirely different per engine and not just per class, it's different on each engine because of the wear and tear on it. This one is really where you will want to practice and learn to feel the engine.
Don't bring the cut-off in past 15% minimum, you might find the different loco's have different minimums below which they are no longer able to put enough steam in to do anything useful.
The J94 is a tricky so and so to drive efficiently, it only has 3 notches in the reverser and they are all located close to full gear. This doesn’t give much scope expansive working, not that you’ll even come remotely close to needing that on Maerdy’s fierce inclines. Always start in full forward, then once at speed notch back to notch 3. From then on you have if you don’t want the pressure to drop rapidly to drive on the regulator reducing the opening as you speed up.
Don't forget that the same logic applies in reverse. Start at -75% and bring it back towards - 15% as you accelerate.
Finally, as you slow down up a steep gradient remember the appropriate times to move the cut-off back out again.
Stopping Ok so we're moving. Now we need to stop, but first when we started off I assumed the brakes were off so let's fix that and go back to the beginning again because you most likely started out with the brakes ON.
For this I’m going to focus on the main Vacuum and Air brakes most locomotives have. Locomotive brakes are different again and I’ll cover those later.
Brakes have three main stages - RELEASE, RUNNING and APPLY. Sometimes you'll find there's no RUNNING, sometimes you'll find running called SELF LAPPED, but the ideas are the same.
Vacuum and Air brakes work differently to how the brakes on your car might work, or how they work on most diesel or electric locos. On a car, bike or diesel loco, you are using automatically lapped brakes, set it to 20% and it'll just sit there slowing down gently at the same rate. Brakes on a steam engine are MANUALLY lapped.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 8 RELEASE makes the brakes come off. RUNNING holds the brakes where they are. APPLY makes them go on.
If you set it to APPLY 20% it will gradually apply the brakes more and more until they are fully on and you're screeching to a halt. STARTING
Move the brakes to RELEASE and watch the brake gauge go up. When it's at 0 your brakes are on completely. When it's at 21 your brakes are OFF completely. That value may differ among steam engines but you'll be able work it out pretty quickly. Most UK steam engines are either 21 or 25 (inches of mercury).
Once the brakes are off, move them back to RUNNING. If you don't have a running state, you can probably put them to the most minimal Apply setting, just make sure the brake gauge isn't going down. Why do this? Because releasing brakes uses some more of that precious steam from the boiler - so while they're in releasing you're losing more steam. Put it in running and that hole is sealed up.
This is the single biggest mistake most users make when operating a steam engine.
Not all locomotives however are fitted with vacuum or air brakes. In our case the Austerity has no train brakes at all. It only has a locomotive steam brake and handbrake, the steam brake only has two positions, on and off and nothing really in between. Moving the handle between these two positions will cause the steam brake to apply/release quicker or slower but it’s tricky to do. Generally it’s best just to apply and release the steam brake in a pattern.
Stopping Move the brakes to apply, drop the value down to say 12 and then move back to RUNNING to hold it there. Now the speed will drop steadily and evenly. This requires practice - and trust. It's too easy to brake too hard and then stop short. Once you learn the loco and how it behaves on the track with the load behind it, you'll learn to trust what to set it to and that it will stop at the right point. This really is just practice.
If you find you're stopping too short, move it to release and then back to running again when it's at the new value (say 18) and you'll slow down less quickly. If you aren't slowing down enough, move to apply and then back to running when you're at a lower value, say 6. If you want to be absolutely perfect - the best drivers stop on a "rising needle" for the most comfortable stop, this means that as the train comes to a stop you are releasing the brake pipe (and the needle in the cab is rising, hence the name). Do this in your car - put your foot on the brake to stop and keep it at the same point all the time and you'll get a bit jerk as you finally stop. Now try it by gently lifting off the brake as you stop and you'll find it far smoother. This requires a LOT of practice though.
Conclusion Steam engines are hard to drive, but they are tremendously fun and a great challenge. Add to all the fun above the fact that as both driver and fireman you need to learn the route itself, learn the gradients and learn the signals and speed limits - all this helps you to make the right decisions at the right times. For example, you're coming up a hill to a reduction in speed limit - why use your brakes, ease off on the throttle and let gravity help you out. You're going along a level bit and approaching an uphill stretch, it's tempting to get up as
www.MeshTools.co.uk 9 much speed as possible and lose boiler pressure - but instead you might be better off preserving boiler pressure rather than gaining speed and then when you hit the hill you'll have the power to get up it.
(Written by Matt Peddlesden for the original Austerity)
The Regulator
The regulator controls how much steam from the boiler enters the cylinders, the further it is opened the faster you will accelerate. Essentially if you want to meaningfully get somewhere you will probably want to open this, but be careful how much you open it since the engine may slip. The Regulator can be controlled by using either your hands or the A and D key to respectively increase and decrease the regulator setting.
The Reverser
The next important control you will want to learn is the reverser, this works essentially like gears on a car, moving the reverser closer to the centre is like moving up through the gears of a car meaning you can go faster. It works by limiting the amount of steam which enters
www.MeshTools.co.uk 10 the cylinder and allows the steam to expand more efficiently hence you will be able to go faster without emptying your boiler and making the fireman rather grumpy. To move the reverser you must first release the reverser lock by pressing E, then the W and S to move it forward and back.
The Reverser on the Austerity is of a pole type, it has 3 notches in either direction and a mid-gear notch. It is fitted with a locking mechanism which locks the reverser into a notch and prevents it moving while the regulator is opened. To release the lock the E key must be used, but caution must be used to not release the lock while the regulator is open more than a third otherwise the reverser could fly into full forward or reverse taking your arm with it!
Cylinder cocks
The cylinder cocks allow any steam which has condensed in the cylinders to be exhausted out of the cylinder preventing damage since water really doesn't like to be compressed. A secondary effect of the drain cocks is that it aids warming of the cylinders when the regulator is opened. They can be found under the reverser pole. The previous driver will have left the cylinder cocks open to prevent the engine moving while it stands idle (and so you don't forget to open them before moving off). The drain cocks should be opened when starting after being stationary for a prolonged period of time and left open for around 5-6 revolutions of the wheels. They are controlled by the C key.
The Handbrake
www.MeshTools.co.uk 11
Despite what some people may say the handbrake is the only truly fail safe brake and will probably work 99% of the time. But let's not worry about brake failures (they won't fail, honest!). The handbrake is less effective compared with other forms of braking being slower to apply, less effective and requiring the fireman to screw it down. It however doesn't require steam pressure to operate and hence will be your brake of choice when moving about the shed near the end of a long shift.
Blower
The blower is the left valve in the picture above, it is used to create a draught through the boiler when the regulator is shut, it's useful for creating pressure quickly when stationary
www.MeshTools.co.uk 12 ready for an assault on a hill! Although it does absolutely nothing when the regulators open since that creates a draught as well, so it mainly just wastes steam. Make sure however it is open a bit when shutting the regulator and is wide open when going through tunnels to prevent a blowback of the fire into the cab, which would really ruin your day! To open and close the blower the N and shift N keys are used respectively.
Sanders
The sanders on the Austerity is of a steam type, the steam being used to inject the sand in front of the drivers. Sand is used to aid adhesion in poor conditions (basically it makes you slip less!). The valve has 3 positions, up for front sanders, centre of off and down for the rear sanders. The X key will lift the handle up, while shift X will move it down.
Injectors
www.MeshTools.co.uk 13 Injectors are used to put water into the boiler, their operation is as follows: The water regulator is opened for the respective injector, this is located on the far left and right of the cab, being used for the left and right injectors respectively. This can also be open and closed by the K and Shift K keys for the left injector and L and Shift L for the right. Next the steam valve is opened gradually to allow the injector to pick up, this can be done with the O key for the right injector and I key for the left, the same key is also used to turn them off. Remember also open the water valve before starting the injector, and after you have shut the steam valve otherwise steam will erupt from the injector and make a very loud noise!
Dampers
On the Austerity there are two dampers, they are used to allow air into the firebox thereby heating up the firebox through improved combustion. They are located to the left of the firebox doors on the floor. To open and close the dampers M and Shift M are used.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 14 Steam Brake
Now you have got going you probably want to know how to stop, Not to worry the Austerity is rather good at this. The steam brake will work on the engine only. The brakes are quick acting and will stop you rather quickly if you are running light engine or with a short train. Remember the effectiveness of the steam brake diminishes at lower pressures so at very low pressures the handbrake will be more effective means of stopping. The brake can be controlled on both sides of the cab or with the ] and [ keys to apply and release the brake respectively. When using the simple controls the ; and ' keys are used. The steam brake handle has a Neutral position in which the brake is neither released or applied ( this is at about 40% ), to apply the brake the handle is pulled back, the further it is pulled back the faster it applies. to release the brake the handle is pushed forwards, the further it is moved the quicker it releases.
Additional
I'm sure you'll know where the firebox doors are, to open them the F and Shift F key are used. Also you will probably know how to make the fireman shovel coal into the fire, this however is slightly different on the advanced version. The firing is done in lumps. Pressing the R key will prepare a round of coal to be fired, when the fire door is next opened the coal will be fired into the box, this can be useful when working hard opening the door long enough to fire the round of coal then shutting it and loading the shovel back up. Alternatively the coal door on the floor at the back of the cab can also be used to control the rate of firing by opening and closing it.
The windows, the roof vent and rear lamp hatch can also be opened and closed to suit your needs by using the mouse.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 15 English Electric Type 3B Controls
Voltmeter/Ammeter
The locomotive is fitted with two very important instruments, they are the voltmeter and ammeter. The voltmeter shows the voltage being supplied by the batteries, while the ammeter shows the current being drawn by the two motors.
When starting the voltmeter may read 0V, this is because the circuit between the motors and batteries has been broken by the circuit breaker. Normally the voltmeter will read the voltage being supplied by the batteries, you should keep an eye on this as the day goes by. With the batteries fully charged, the voltage will read about 400V. As a current is drawn (by the motors and the auxiliary systems like the lights) the batteries will discharge. As this happens the voltage will drop. Allowing the batteries to discharge to below around 320V will cause permanent damage to the batteries and the voltage will drop rapidly at this point, as such you should aim to stop working before you reach this voltage. Fully charged the batteries should be good for about 3 hours of use.
The other instrument is the ammeter. When either taking power, or using the electric brake you should keep a close eye on the reading. The motors on this unit have a continuous rating of 280A, at or below this current there is no risk of overheating and damaging the motors. However if the current exceeds this value, the motors will begin to overheat. The rate of this overheating is dependent on the current being drawn. At 400A the motors will take about 30s to overheat and fail. This ALSO applies to using the electric brake and the same restrictions apply. It is therefore imperative to keep an eye on the current and minimise the time where current is greater than 280A.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 16 Main Circuit Breaker
The main circuit breaker on the locomotive is located directly above the driving position and isolates the batteries to the motors. To close the breaker the handle is moved to the right position. Alternatively the P key can be pressed. When you do so, if you look at the voltmeter you will now see that the reading has risen to around 400V indicating the circuit is complete.
The circuit breaker will trip if a current of around 410A is exceeded when taking power preventing damage to the motors. HOWEVER it will not trip when using the electric brake.
Handbrake
www.MeshTools.co.uk 17 The locomotive is fitted with two braking systems, the first and most important is the handbrake. This can be applied by using the ' key and released with the ; key. Alternatively the handle is turned clockwise to apply and anticlockwise to release.
The handbrake is of a screw type and through a series of levers applies cast iron brake blocks onto the tires. One characteristic of cast iron brake blocks is the change in effectiveness at different speeds. At low speeds the brake bites strongly and the engine can easily slide, however the effectiveness of the brake decreases as speed increases.
Prolonged use of the hand brakes can also cause the brakes blocks to heat up and fade leading to a brake failure (and probably a rather nasty accident), one sign that the brakes are starting to fade is sparks coming from between the brake blocks and tires (or the fact the thing isn't slowing down!).
Rheostatic brake (Electric brake)
The other brake is the Rheostatic brake, otherwise known as the electric brake.
This brake short circuits both motors together and uses residual magnetism in the motor armatures to turn them into generators and attaches a bank of resistors generating a braking effect. The characteristic of this brake is that it is completely ineffective at low speeds as the currents generated are negligible preventing the generator effect, however at speed this brake becomes very fierce and care should be taken when operating it.
The brake will operate regardless of whether the motors are isolated from the batteries, however if one motor is isolated or failed the brake cannot operate at all. It is also important to heed the earlier warnings of keeping an eye on the current.
In order to operate the brake, the power handle is moved anticlockwise past the off position. There are seven brake notches, each one reducing the resistance applied to the brake circuit increasing the effectiveness of the brake.
Lights/Lamps
www.MeshTools.co.uk 18 The battery loco can be fitted with two types, electrically operated lights and old style paraffin lamps.
Depending on which external electric lights are fitted, they can be operated with the switchboard to your right. Usually top left switch on this engine operates the front headlight while the bottom left operates the rear with the other switches being spare. On some locos the other switches operate electrical tail lamps with the four remaining switches corresponding to the markers in the four corners. On locos fitted with four headlights in the four corners the left four switches operate the lights in the relevant four corners.
To place paraffin lamps on the lamp irons, the front lamps can be placed with Ctrl 1- 4 (there is no middle lamp iron on this engine so 2 doesn't do anything) and Ctrl 5-8 (same thing with rear lamps so 6 doesn't do anything on this engine) places the rear lamps in the same fashion.
With the lamps place the red filter for each lamp can be fitted and removed by pressing Ctrl + Shift and the respective lamp number.
There is also a switch for the cab light over to your left, and don't forget the lights will also discharge the battery so don't leave them on overnight! This can also be operated with the L key.
Sanders
www.MeshTools.co.uk 19 In order to aid with adhesion the locomotive is fitted with two sets of sanders. One for the forward direction and one for the rear. They are of a gravity operating type.
The sanders are operated by foot pedals directly below the driver. The front sander is actuated by the front of the two pedals and the rear pedal, the rear sander. They can be operated by pressing them or by using the C and X keys for the rear and front sanders respectively.
Auxiliary circuit breaker
The engine is fitted with a second circuit breaker. This breaker is on a different circuit to the circuit with the motors in and controls the electrical supply to the auxiliary devices such as the klaxon and the lights. This can be operated by hand or with the I key.
Warning Devices
The engine is fitted with two warning devices. The first of which is a foot operated gong operated by a pedal directly below you. This can be sounded by pressing the spacebar.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 20
Because the bell isn't terribly loud, for safety reasons the engine is also fitted with an electrically operated Klaxon on the roof which can be sounded with the B key.
Reverser
Moving the handle forward will place will polarise the motors for the forward direction while moving the handle the other way will apply the opposite polarisation for the reverse direction. The handle can also be moved forward with the W key and backwards with the S key.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 21 Power Controller
The motors can be connected in 3 ways, Series, Parallel or set up for electric braking. Moving the handle clockwise from the off position engages the series circuit for the first 5 notches, and parallel for the 5 notches after that. Moving the handle anticlockwise from the off position will operate the electric brake which has 7 notches. The handle can be moved clockwise with the A key and anticlockwise with the D key.
Series connects the motors side by side so the voltage supplied by the batteries is split between the two motors, this means that full series the motors will only use half the voltage supplied by the batteries. Series is used initially to get going as the current is minimised by the lower voltage. There are 5 series notches each has decreasing circuit resistance so the voltage supplied to the motors increases with each notch with the final notch having no circuit resistance meaning the full voltage possible is applied (Half the maximum). This is the first of the two efficient running notches where none of the electricity is wasted by the resistors.
Parallel connects the motors in parallel so the voltage supplied by the batteries is the maximum possible and the same for each motor, this means that in full parallel the full voltage is supplied by the batteries to the motors. Parallel is used once the locomotive is at speed as the currents produced are higher. There are 5 parallel notches each has decreasing circuit resistance with the final notch having no circuit resistance meaning the full battery voltage possible is applied. This is the second of the two efficient running notches.
The engine is fitted with two series wound 50HP motors driving the axles through a reducing gearbox. The characteristic of these motors is they have very high starting tractive effort caused by a very high currents at low speed, this however drops away rapidly as speed increases so tractive effort rapidly falls. It is therefore important to
www.MeshTools.co.uk 22 keep currents to a minimum when starting by carefully working thought the series notches to minimise the chance of wheel slip.
Interlocks
It is worth pointing out the controller has two interlocks. The first of which prevents the handle from moving from off if the reverser is not engaged in a direction. The second prevents the reverser from being moved if the power handle is not in the off position. Furthermore the reverser cannot be removed if it is engaged in a direction.
Reverser Key and Motor Isolation
With the reverser in neutral the key can be taken out and placed on the desk with the E key. From there it can either be replaced back into the reverser with the E key again or placed in the motor isolating switch on the side of the control stand. In that position moving the handle up will isolate the front motor (No.1 end) and moving the handle down from the horizontal positon will isolate the rear motor (No.2 end). Once the motor is isolated press Y again to return the handle to the desk.
Should a motor fail because of overheating (indicating by smoke coming out of the motor) the motor will need to be isolated to prevent further damage and catching fire. You will need to isolate a failed motor before taking power/using the electric brake (not that you can use the electric brake with a motor isolated) for this reason. If you break both motors, good luck since you can’t move the engine anymore!
www.MeshTools.co.uk 23 English Electric Type 3B liveries
BR Black
BR Green
www.MeshTools.co.uk 24 CEGB Blue
CEGB Bolton Yellow
www.MeshTools.co.uk 25 CEGB Red
CEGB Bolton Green
www.MeshTools.co.uk 26 CEGB Spondon
NCB Green
www.MeshTools.co.uk 27 Plain Green
WD Austerity liveries
RSH 7099
www.MeshTools.co.uk 28 Hunslet 3878
Scenarios
Scenarios involving the Austerity support both standard version and the advanced version, they are defined using [Std] for standard and [Adv] for Advanced.
Over Time–
Managing the last shunt for the day, taking down some full coal wagons down the valley and rounding them up at the yard in Maerdy.
Afternoon Arrivals –
A bit of light shunting is needed to be done and something new has arrived at the colliery.
Up and down, slip and slide.–
There is some urgent and heavy shunting that needs to be done, take 2 sets of empties up and 1 set of loaded wagons down the bank, oh and it’s raining
Training Time–
A short training session with the English Electric Type 3B locomotive followed by some light shunting to practice.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 29 Reskinning/Sound Policy
Our (Meshtools) reskin policy for this addon is as follows:
We generally allow reskins of our work to be done. Permission needs to be sought before doing said reskin, to do this contact us at Meshtools by filling in a support form on our website at http://www.meshtools.co.uk/contact
We would also like for you to inform us how your reskin is going and if any improvements can be made to make reskinning easier. Approval should also be sought before uploading it to any site as a quality control check.
The reskins must not include the shape files, child object files, simulation files, script files, sound files or animation files, but it can include the loco bins if needed.
No modifications at all must be done to the sounds, any sound modifications must be done from scratch and not based on the included sound files ( sound files includes: .xml and .bin files ). Sound modifications if done must not use or include any audio files such as .wav or .dav files included with the addon. Permission must be sought before doing any sound modifications.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 30 Head codes
The engines also have toggleable head code lamps which can be turned off and on while in play. To do this simply hold down Ctrl Key followed by either 1, 2, 3, 4,5,6,7 or 8
CLASS A CLASS B CLASS C
Express passenger or a Stopping passenger, rail motor Parcels, fish, livestock, milk, breakdown train. or a breakdown train returning fruit or perishables all XP stock. from job.
CLASS D CLASS E CLASS F
Express freight or livestock Express freight with at least 4 Express freight all unfitted with at least 30% XP fitted vehicles connected to the stock. connected to loco. loco or a short unfitted express freight.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 31
CLASS G CLASS H CLASS I
Light engine or engine with Through freight or ballast train. Was not used. one or two brake vans attached.
CLASS J CLASS K
Through mineral or empty wagon train. Pick-up or branch freight or mineral/ballast train on a short haul run.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 32 Credits
Thank you to all those who those who helped out, contributed and gave their own time in helping out with this project! Without them it wouldn’t be where we are today!
Also, thank you for taking some time to go through and read this manual, we hoped it helped answer some of your questions or any problems you’ve been having! I’d also personally like to thank you for purchasing this addon and supporting us. We hope to bring you a lot more exciting addons in the future!
A MeshTools development.
Www.meshtools.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/Meshtools
Major contributors:
Michael Whiteley: 3D modelling, texturing, animation, route building, scenarios, research and live streams.
Edward Fisk: Sounds, simulation/physics, scripting, quality control, support, research and Live streams.
Additional contributors:
Simon Hall: Help with script and assistance with electric motor theory.
Kieron Rigby: Providing some excellent recordings of the Austerity.
Testers:
Our group of enthusiastic beta testers!
Dovetail games Beta/QA testers
Chris Barnes
Thanks to!
The volunteers of…
The East Lancashire Railway http://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/
National Tramway Museum, Crich. http://www.tramway.co.uk/
Great Central Railway http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/
Dovetail games for publishing and additional support and assets.
www.MeshTools.co.uk 33