The advantages of geared locomotives?

[Dat Zorro]

Ahoy there!

I'm nearing 6.000 € from running iron ore with the Cooke Consolidation by a long 3%-slope and I'm thinking about replacing it with either a Heisler or Climax. That way I could just place a 5-6%-ramp down the mountain and save a lot of time that way.

However, from sheer tractive effort according to the guides, the Heisler for instance seems to perform worse than the Cooke 2-8-0, yet is more expensive and heavier, wondering why I should actually bother. According to the numbers, the 2-8-0 might even be better suited for steep grades.

Are there more things to consider than numbers, meaning that the Shay, Heisler and Climax may have advantages the catalogue doesn't show?

Many thanks in advance for your insights. :)

[Ghost666]

good luck getting the 2-8-0 around the same tight curves as the Heisler, also, just buy the climax, it's always been the better option..

[Happycamel27]

Originally posted by Ghost666:

good luck getting the 2-8-0 around the same tight curves as the Heisler, also, just buy the climax, it's always been the better option..

By the way, the 2-8-0's go around the tightest curves the game lets you place with circle mode (30 degrees). It has two blind drivers so it can go around really sharp curves

[Kitsune Dawn]

The geared locomotives are able to handle tighter curves easier as well. Even the little shay, for all people hate it (I think that was a case of be careful what you ask for), can do quite well with tight curves.

You can actually get tighter than 30 degree curves if you aren't using the circle method, and while the geared engines won't handle ALL the curves, they can still deal with curves that the other engines nope out of.

[Yobur]

In the new circle tool, curves are given in meters of radius, not degrees. The tightest curve you can lay is 30 meter radius, which is about a 61 degree curve. The flatcars, the Porters, and the geared locomotives will (maybe) negotiate that. Nothing else will.

[doug.frank49]

I like the Heisler the best. Even though the Cooke Connie has more tractive effort, the Heisler is easier to rerail, (no tender), larger cab to move around, and has better acceleration, which makes it work well in yard switching. Also, it has the best whistle sound and looks good. The climax is a good choice to pull a lot of freight, but sounds terrible (like a sewing machine), and is slower.

[Dat Zorro]

So, the geared locomotives don't pull more and don't handle grades better than the conventional engines?

[Piston Pete]

Geared locomotives, those steeley mountain goats, should put out great tractive affort but only at low speeds. You will notice that the wheels will much easier slip when throttling up to much (high speed rotation of the (cylinder) connecting rod is converted into high torque of the driving axis. This way they can climb rather steep grades.
Maybe the tractive effort is not as goos as the 2-8-0' s but that's because of their lighter weight. You can make them heavier but in the mountain environment of pre 1900' s they will definitely sink through the track...

[Karlack26]

Geared locos in game will start to out perform locos with similar tractive effort on grades greater then 4%.

[Kitsune Dawn]

Originally posted by Piston Pete:

Geared locomotives, those steeley mountain goats, should put out great tractive affort but only at low speeds. You will notice that the wheels will much easier slip when throttling up to much (high speed rotation of the (cylinder) connecting rod is converted into high torque of the driving axis. This way they can climb rather steep grades.
Maybe the tractive effort is not as goos as the 2-8-0' s but that's because of their lighter weight. You can make them heavier but in the mountain environment of pre 1900' s they will definitely sink through the track...

Don't forget, early tracks used very light rails. I think the lightest I've seen reference to is 10 pound rail. Which means every foot of rail weighs 10 pounds. A 10 foot section would weigh 100 pounds.

Heavier locomotives can't really run on that without bending or breaking things.

[huddo]

10 pounds to the foot must have been an archaic form of measurement, In the USA the American Society of Civil Engineers laid down the specs for rail profiles from 40 pounds per yard to 100 pounds per yard in 1893. (Wikipedia) When someone says 100 pound rail nowadays they mean per yard, not per foot.