Diesel Mechanical Transmission

Hello all,

Some improved diesel mechanical transmission functionality has been added to the most recent unstable version of OpenRails.

Things are still at an early stage, but it now possible to more accurately model the transmission on locomotives like the BR D2/12 built by Hudswell Clarke (OR Gearbox Type A) and Hunslet locos (OR Gearbox Type B).

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?/topic/35993-diesel-mechanical-locomotive/

It is not yet possible to model the type of transmission found on first generation dmu and BR class 03 etc.

Regards

Darwin

There has been a lot of progress recently with the physics for first generation diesel multiple units. There is now a good model for the diesel engine and Wilson gearbox.

An example class 101 can be downloaded from Peter Newell's "Coals to Newcastle" website. This requires OpenRails version U2022.09.22-0951or later for correct operation.

At the moment the train can only be driven from a driving motor car, not from a driving trailer.

Driving instructions:

Select forward direction.
Select first gear ( with the keyboard press E four times ).
Release the brake.
Open the throttle.
When rpm reaches the "Change Up" mark on the rpm gauge close the throttle and wait approx 2 seconds.
Select second gear ( with the keyboard press SHIFT + E together )
Open the throttle again and so on...

If due to climbing a gradient the engine rpm decreases until it reaches the "Change Down" mark on the rpm gauge then close the throttle, pause about 2 seconds, change to the next lowest gear and open the throttle again.
When coasting you should always use gear 4. (Not so important in OR, but it prevents damage to gears on the real thing.)
When stopping leave in gear 4 until just before the train comes to a halt and then change to neutral.


There is a driver training film on YouTube here