Help getting steamtrain up the hill....

[David]

Last night I played a scenario from Riviera in the 50ties but when I have to climb a hill the train goes slower and slower and no matter what I try I can't get the train over the top of the hill. Any help would be appriciated, thnx, David (Amsterdam)

[pjohnandlyns]

It depends on which scenario and which loco.
If it's one with the 57xx loco they are difficult because the physics are not quite right.
If it's a Castle or a Grange then they are much better.

The following should help with all steam locos.
When you start, regulator (left lever) at zero, reverser (centre lever) at +75%, Brake (right lever) at zero.

The basics.

To pull away on the flat, set reg; at around 25%.
As speed reaches around 10-12 mph move reverser back to around 50% and increase reg; to same %.
As speed increase further reverser to 25% ish and reg; to 100%.

For hill climbing it's a case of increasing the reverser % a bit at a time to try and maintain speed.
Then it's just a case of trial and error with reverser.

Hope this helps

[pavig]

Steam trains (as long as you are stoking the fire right etc) produce power at a fixed rate. If you don't have enough power to get over the hill, then you are using the power faster than the train is generating it. Watch your boiler pressure.

Get up some speed before you hit the hill (speed is like depositing energy in the bank) but don't let your boiler pressure drop by accelerating too quickly.

Pull back (or wind back) on the reverser when you are at speed to use the steam more efficiently (ie. let the steam expand in the cylinders to do the work rather than just pushing more steam in and having it mostly go to waste.) Balance the throttle with the reverser to maintain both speed and boiler pressure.

When you're climbing you are naturally going to slow down, so rather than fighting that, rebalance the loco so that it is happier going slower. The last thing you want to do is try to keep your speed and use up all your steam. The trick with steam is to figure out how much energy you have available and try to ration it out so that it is there when you need it. If you are using it too quickly use less, and then you will have the endurance to keep applying energy when you need it most.

[pjohnandlyns]

Originally posted by pjohnandlyns:

It depends on which scenario and which loco.
If it's one with the 57xx loco they are difficult because the physics are not quite right.
If it's a Castle or a Grange then they are much better.

The following should help with all steam locos.
When you start, regulator (left lever) at zero, reverser (centre lever) at +75%, Brake (right lever) at zero.

The basics.

To pull away on the flat, set reg; at around 25%.
As speed reaches around 10-12 mph move reverser back to around 50% and increase reg; to same %.
As speed increase further reverser to 25% ish and reg; to 100%.

For hill climbing it's a case of increasing the reverser % a bit at a time to try and maintain speed.
Then it's just a case of trial and error with reverser.

Hope this helps

This was written for when using the Auto Fireman, not manual firing.