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[BROKEN BY THE UPDATE] 231-132 Garratt articulated locomotive - non Streamlined - Front section

• FULL VERSION REPLACED BY 2 PARTS VERSION (vanilla workbench friendly), (you have to download both parts of the locomotive now)
     
• Total rework of the steam engine itself, old one replaced by more compact one with more generator output and battery capacity
  
• Total rework of the driver cabin with animated levers and more realistic decorations
  
• Rework of the exterior of the locomotive with much greater level of detail than previously
  
• All logic is now managed by a single super-computer to save performances

Rear section of the locomotive is needed : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2907191570



I worked on different locomotives and then I decided to make a Garratt type articulated-locomotive as a challenge. I decided to make a PLM-A type 231-132 Garratt locomotive because I love theses french heavy-duty locos of the 1930's. The final result is quite stunning and I was careful to keep it very close to the real locomotive.

This loco is powered by a Steam boiler connected to the Steam pistons and a steam turbine with a generator.
As the big train wheels are completely bugged, I made an auxiliary electric transmission to help the loco to move smoothly with heavy loads.

I tried to made this loco as easy as possible to drive.
I made everything concerning the steam engine automaticaly managed so you have no chance of boiler overpressure explosion or overheat (but you still need to put coal and refill boiler with water).

To start the boiler you only have to turn on the key on the top of the firebox.
On the righ side of the firebox you can switch on the water pumps to refill the boiler.



Artculated locomotive separated in 3 section :

   
• Front-section is a huge water tank (you can refill the tank with a hose, there is a fluid connector on the roof)
     
• Middle-section contains the driving cab and all the whole steam engine
     
• Rear-section is a huge tender with massive coal storage (you can open the top hatches to refill the coal)

In-game :

   
• Mass : around 20000 blocks
  
• Max speed (light weight) : 22.5m/s (80km/h = 49.5mph)
  
• Max speed (heavy weight) : 16.7m/s (60km/h = 37.2mph)
  
• All mechanical joints of the loco are functionnal and tested, so you are not going to derail on the first tight turn or rail switch ;D

During the 1920's, into the French-Algeria, the rail traffic and needs was progressively increasing over the capacity of the current main rail network and current trains capacity.
While trains getting longer and passenger cars heavier, the most powerful locomotives at the time in Algeria (Type 230) was struggling to climb at the top of the line in the mountains between the city of Alger and Oran.
In facts, the main line that was built in the late 1890's, was crossing the mountains with very strong climb rate and very tight curves.
Theses particularities made impossible to use larger locomotive so that's why during the early 1930's, the PLM-A company (PLM was a French company and PLM-A a subdivision for the French-Algerian railways) decide to use garratt locomotive.

Instead of 2 locomotives linked together, the garratt type is an articulated locomotive with 2 traction frame and a central frame with a boiler. This allows the locomotive to gain strong performances with keeping the abilyty to take tight curves.

The first Garratt type locomotive (type Double-Pacific 231-132) delivered in 1932 that weight more than 200 Tons, validated all the expectations of the PLM-A and was used on the very difficult mountains of Algeria. All of the next locomotives were very well designed and capable to pull heavy passenger trains at high speed trough difficult conditions.
These were used until the 1950's and their replacement by diesel locomotives cheaper and easier to maintain.