ELR Trainsets And OR

As mentioned in another thread I am playing around with the Timetable Editor in OR, having a go at setting up the days passenger operations on my Far North route.

After a bit of faffing around I settled on using consists from the ELR route pack - the Class 37 + Mark Ones and Class 24 + Mark Ones.

The various timetable services load okay but on both train sets, I cannot move. I've done the brake initialisation "thing" (which OR seems to insist on), train and loco brakes fully released, direction lever set but when I open the throttle the engine revs up but no movement.

A default Class 50 consist moves off fine without any intervention.

Am I missing something here or does the ELR stuff have an issue running in OR?

Hi Vern,
If you are using consist ELR_37418&6Mk1's, I noticed that the loco's .eng file contains an Airbrakes section - by removing that, the consist moves much better, although there's a lot of room for improvement!!

May I suggest that you look at, and maybe post in, the UKTS Open Rails Forum?   Darwin Smith (darwins) has posted several revised .eng files for UK diesels and given hints as to how to make them run better in OR.

Cheers,
Ged
.

I got the train moving Ged not sure what I did to achieve that, however the train brakes don't work... It does seem not 100% compatible. However I have to say after firing up my FN route I wince at how primitive it looks after all this time and compared to the likes of MEP, Thames Trent etc. I was thinking about having a go at remaking it with proper DEM and UKFS but I think it has since been covered in the @2008 created Highland Railway. Don't think my neuropathy would appreciate me trying such a huge undertaking anyway!!

I am perma-banned from UKTS, after upsetting the wrong people about Railworks more than a few years ago. Requests to the admin to let me rejoin have gone unanswered. Can still access the file library, luckily.

Hi Vern,
If you can access the file library, I assume you can also read the Forums (?Fora??).  If so, this is the thread I was thinking of :  https://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=324&t=150769&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=diesel+loco+brakes#p1855365

Also, another thread which contains much pertinent information is : https://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=151169&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=brakes

Cheers,
Ged

Yes I can still read the forums, just banned from posting.

Interesting reading in the linked threads, but I have come to the conclusion there is little point in using amended ELR consists for an activity/timetable which is intended to be shared as every end user will then need to make the same changes.
The workaround is probably going to be setting up with the default Class 50 consists and leaving it up to end users if they want to edit the timetable file for something more suitable.

Just a shame OR still has so much trouble with the eng and wag files which were, out of necessity, kludged a bit to work correctly in OR!

Hi Vern,
You mentioned that the timetable/s you're working on will be for general release. I know you have said you'd probably use the default Class 50, but may I, respectfully, suggest another approach?  We are currently working on re-releasing as many of the original Making Tracks loco packs as we can and Justin has already released his own set of Class 37s.  We make sure that the locos work reasonably well in both MSTS and ORTS, although there's always room for improvement!!  Also, from UKTS, are the loco packs previously available from the site which published the ELR route, at £9 a CD, with each CD containing 2 or 3 of the originally available separate packs.  Caveat :  I'm not sure how well they work in ORTS as they are specified for MSTS only.   I think your original idea of using stock from the ELR route wouldn't have been very well received, as that add-on is no longer available (unless there's something I'm not aware of!).

I don't think there are any copyright issues with supplying OR-specific .eng/.wag files for use in the OpenRails sub-folder of any stock item, if required.

Cheers,
Ged

Interesting you should mention Making Tracks...

I decided to switch testing the timetable function on my old Alston branch as the short distance makes it much easier. Initially I tried using the Class 120 DMU's from UKTS but not really performing that well, so far as braking is concerned, in OR. Slight application and the train stops dead.

So I spotted the MT Class 153/155 upload and thought "what if..." the Alston branch was still open and worked by a Northern Rail 153? Still a bit fierce on the braking but much more controllable. I managed to descend from Alston to Haltwhistle without incident and now twiddling my thumbs to see if OR picks up the forms next... function. I need to see if there is a time acceleration feature in the sim!

Subject to successful testing, I'll probably upload here, UKTS and TS dot com.

Compared to the Far North I was pleasantly surprised that my Alston route still looks quite reasonable despite being 16 years old. It could probably benefit from a slight rework, my home brew bridges and viaducts look horrible but then if I restart any MSTS route building I'm more likely to want to try something new.

As I just bought a 3 month Premium membership at UKTS, I'll grab the rest of the MT stuff over the next few days.

Hi Vern,
When running an activity, time can be speeded up by using [Ctrl+Alt+PageUp] and slowed down using [Ctrl+Alt+PageDown].  I don't know if it works in Timetable Mode.

Cheers,
Ged

Yes it works perfectly Ged. Quite amazing, really. Think there could be a lot of depth to this, next thing will be moving from reversing DMU's to loco hauled consists.

In the meantime, I do feel an Alston 2.0 coming on, rebuilt from the ground up with proper DEM (the terrain was traced in TS Tools), UKFS and some of Clive's excellent bridges and scenery objects.

The ultimate solution to brakes problems is to replace MSTS eng and wag - with OpenRails files. A long slow process perhaps but should give better performance in the end.

In terms of sharing activities updated eng and wag files for stock are quite small and could be included in the activity or timetable pack. To prevent overwriting originals they might either be in an OpenRails sub folder or given different names.

The alternative solution for using your old MSTS stock in OR is to use the "Simple Control and Physics" tab on the Simulation options menu. If you have that box checked errors in MSTS files are ignored and you can couple air to vacuum and drive anything with no problems.