Mystery loop handle under some cars

[Montuhotep]

I've noticed under some cars (for instance, the flatcars with upright stays for hauling logs and pipes) there is a sort of loop handle underneath about halfway down the car that can be interacted with-- but doesn't seem to do anything. Does this have a function at Realistic difficulty? Or is it something to do with a system that hasn't come on line with Simulator yet?

[Badjoe]

I haven't actually used it in game so I can't say if it is the same as RL or if it is even functioning. But on the trains I drive we use it to release the brakes on each individual vehicle by letting any air out of the brake system (Steering valve, reservoir, etc.)
Usually done after parking cars more long term, after applying the approporiate amount of handbrakes of course. :P

[HuskyDynamics]

Yep, it's a release handle for the air brakes. See the Cylinder Release short for more detail, but essentially it lets you release the air brakes on a car without connecting the air hose to a locomotive. I think every locomotive and piece of rolling stock should have one, but they're pretty hard to spot.

[pickleStomp]

All railcars (and locos) have a pull handle to dump the individual air reservoirs for that car. any air hose not connected to a powered air pump will gradually lose pressure, this will mean that even with the handbrake off there will still be brake pressure applied if the car has been sitting for a while, but not long enough to lose all air pressure. for an in depth explanation see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqjW533hPas

[Montuhotep]

Ah, that would explain why I haven't noticed it doing anything; I leave the valve open at the end of the decoupled cars for the remaining air to escape before closing it.

[Badjoe]

Originally posted by Maxwell's Demon:

Ah, that would explain why I haven't noticed it doing anything; I leave the valve open at the end of the decoupled cars for the remaining air to escape before closing it.

When you let the air out of the pipe you are applying the brakes fully, the wagons basically think you just applied full emergency brake by venting them completely. However, over time(Hours, weeks or even months later depending on how airtight the system is) the brake parts will lose all their air and the brakes release. The pull handle just releases all air right away.

[Montuhotep]

Originally posted by pickleStomp:

All railcars (and locos) have a pull handle to dump the individual air reservoirs for that car. any air hose not connected to a powered air pump will gradually lose pressure, this will mean that even with the handbrake off there will still be brake pressure applied if the car has been sitting for a while, but not long enough to lose all air pressure. for an in depth explanation see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqjW533hPas

Thanks for the video link; I'll take a look. Although brakes aren't the 'glamour' part of the sim, since my great-grandad was a brakeman, I think I owe it to him to learn to do it properly! :D

[Montuhotep]

Great stuff. I also found this video very helpful for understanding the triple valve and the development of train air brakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjsT-V58yqw

[Rockymnt]

Great video about "bottling the air" (leaving a car with "valves" closed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esy-R6P1suw

[Montuhotep]

Hmm... that video left me with more questions. I am getting the idea that, when leaving cars on a siding, I need to (1) Apply train brake; (2) Apply handbrake on car to be decoupled; (3) Close engineward anglecock at the decoupling location; (4) Disconnect hose; (5) Decouple/unlink cars... leaving the nonengineward anglecock open while cars are standing. Yes? Should pulling the car's reservoir release handle be part of this process? Because it doesn't appear to fit in anywhere I can see.

[Badjoe]

Originally posted by Maxwell's Demon:

Hmm... that video left me with more questions. I am getting the idea that, when leaving cars on a siding, I need to (1) Apply train brake; (2) Apply handbrake on car to be decoupled; (3) Close engineward anglecock at the decoupling location; (4) Disconnect hose; (5) Decouple/unlink cars... leaving the nonengineward anglecock open while cars are standing. Yes? Should pulling the car's reservoir release handle be part of this process? Because it doesn't appear to fit in anywhere I can see.

You really only need to use the release handle if you want to release the brakes on the car. It is mostly to prepare the cars for the shunting crew later on. In-game this isn't really much of a problem since you're the only one alive in the world, and coupling the air hoses together is also very easy.
But to speed things up when shunting certain types of cars in RL you often just hang on the hook without tightening it or attaching the air hoses. Only using the independent brake or the train brake on a small section of the cars.

[TheLostPenguin]

Originally posted by Badjoe:

Originally posted by Maxwell's Demon:

Ah, that would explain why I haven't noticed it doing anything; I leave the valve open at the end of the decoupled cars for the remaining air to escape before closing it.

When you let the air out of the pipe you are applying the brakes fully, the wagons basically think you just applied full emergency brake by venting them completely. However, over time(Hours, weeks or even months later depending on how airtight the system is) the brake parts will lose all their air and the brakes release. The pull handle just releases all air right away.

I'd just like to note for the benefit of others that whilst a timeframe of days or even weeks (probably not months though) is realistic IRL for wagons to maintain reservoir pressure and so keep their brakes applied, in DV wagons bleed down and release their brakes EXTREMELY quickly, at a rate that would probably see them pulled from service IRL. Whilst everything is turned up to very unrealistic levels in terms of wear and resource consumption to make players engage with those systems frequently, the rate of air bleed is pretty ludicrous and handbrakes MUST be set if you're going to leave a train anywhere near a gradient for more than a couple of minutes, because if you leave it for ~20 minutes (haven't time it, but it's not very long at all) it'll be gone (or arriving unannounced where you're working) due to the brakes releasing themselves. Same applies even if parked on the level if you're assembling a consist to take out of a location, if you're gone for a little while fishing the wagons you need from the middle of a siding you might end up shoving your prepared train along when you try to buffer up to it with the next set of wagons.

[Montuhotep]

Good to know it does bleed down and release, even if too quickly-- means what I'm doing is useful and not just roleplay! :)