Railworks TS2014 DT BR Class 4MT 2-6-0 Tender Loco Mod
Dorothy Rassmussen
Too heavy for crossing the wooden river bridge this loco isn't really for use on the NER dominated HUGE UK layout and will be ultimately going to my GER-GCR layout Valleyfields. But until that happens I will be using it to help me conduct some locomotive trials so I can fit better engine spec files to my recent NER 0-6-0 purchases from Paulz Trainz. Paul Hobbs (not the Paul from Paulz Trainz), - log in name paulhobbs on the DLS, - has made a good many nice digital locomotive models and they don't use 'one size does all' engine specs so I've downloaded a variety of his 0-6-0 engine spec files and I'm hoping to be able to match up some better engine specs for my new NER locos.
I knew there were going to be problems with the new Paulz Trainz NER locos when they just walked off with a 50+ wagon coal train without a murmur. The ex-SECR R1 tank engines that had been doing this work before are based on Paul Hobb's digital model R1 and have his engine spec files and they always gave the strong impression that they were hauling a heavy train and having to work at it. I'm happy enough to buy models from Paulz Trainz, but I do so in the knowledge that I'm going to have to fettle them a little to make them suitable for work on my layouts.
I've also got some sound files that were recorded on the footplate of the preserved NBR Class 'C' 0-6-0 'Maude' so I'll be using those too. Hopefully after that the new arrivals will be 'really useful engines' and will be properly fun to drive instead of being generic steam powered roller skates.
The orphan McDonnell Class 59's will need more careful attention though since they were well known to be underpowered and I'd like them to have that quality just to make the running shed foreman at Seaside Magna tear his hair and invent new words to bless them with.
So first test run with the usual 50 wagon coal train. I decided to start off with the NER Class E's (J71) of which the GNJt.R owns three, Nos.13, 14 & 15. Lighter axle weight made them an ideal choice for the Seaside branch and something I had to bear in mind was that they were not as powerful a locomotive as the Class E1's (J72). The posh blue E1's have a GWR 97xx engine spec file as well as the nice steam sounds file recorded on 'Maude' and the only thing I had to do to them was change out the GWR whistle sound file for a genuine NER one. Because they work reasonably well and sound like a two cylinder steam engine should they gave me a bench mark for adjusting things on the small Class E's. I decided to give the Class E's a GWR 54xx engine spec file and on test this seemed to have been a good choice as the plain Jane unlined black Class E's were transformed. They got the good steam sounds file and the proper NER whistle too; - I'm fussy about my engines having proper whistles.
Risking being accused of cruelty to small engines I decided to just use No.13 and No.14 to work the coal train. It's a tough test loading and taking a coal train off the wharf because the train gets heavier as the wagons are loaded. There was no wandering off with the train anymore as if it wasn't there. Now the two Class E's sounded like they were working hard to shift the train and keep it moving. As it happened I didn't need to worry as they were up to the task, but what an improvement.
When I came to move the two Class C's (J22) out of the way so No.13 and No.14 could take over the train I immediately noticed the difference. Their steam sound file is pretty marginal so that was immediately apparent, but they were just a couple of roller skates with no sense of having any mass and weight to them.
BUT the most important thing is that it does look like I can make my new NER locomotives from Paulz Trainz work a lot better. Perhaps not up to the standard of a full bells and whistles simulator like TS, but certainly well enough that I can enjoy playing trains on my layout. I'll sort out the earlier Class E1's (J72) I got from Paulz Trainz to have the same spec as the posh blue E1's 'Fly', 'Wasp' and 'Hornet', - which will certainly transform them and make them really useful engines; - which leaves me wondering what to do with the three NER Class L's (J73) that I've got. Class L's are bigger and heavier with 18 tons axle weight as compared to the Class E's 13 ton axle weight and 21,320lbs tractive effort compared with 12,130lbs for a Class E and 16,760lbs for a Class E1, - soooooo I'll have to put my thinking cap on and see what suitable engine spec file I can find for them.
Of course moving coal trains off the wharf with these is no problem at all. I got these from Paulz Trainz a while ago in the green Edinburgh Railway livery just because I liked the look of it. He had them in the NBR's strange yellow brown livery as well, but the colour reminded me too much of a baby's nappy contents and I saw enough of that when my two now grown up adult children were small.
Engerth locomotives had very long lives in France with some still being used up until just before WW2. So I have no problems at all with them still being in service with my imaginary little railway company in the grouping transition period. Paul also has a 0-6-4WT Engerth locomotive, but it's a type with a powered rear bogie and they weren't so successful as their maintenance costs were fairly extreme due to the technology of the time not quite being up to realising the inventor's vision.
These are nice locomotives to drive, very slow and steady and they will just about move any train you care to couple up to them. The articulation on the digital model isn't the same as the real thing, but it does the job and the difference is only noticeable on very tight curves. The outside Stephenson's valve gear is beautifully and fully animated too and is a delight to watch in motion.
At Durley I decided to detach the loco to show you all the wharf area at the end of a relatively long, and winding, siding from Durley station. This is planned to be semi-derelict, and is fictional in any case:
Nice scenic work Sem. I have a thing for leafy backwater railways too. Ooooo 1 in 64 might make the Terriers complain a little on market days when the train is well laden, - though like you I guess I much prefer to have railways with a few hills and difficult bits rather than it all being dead flat just to add some interest to running a train service.
Nice to see a wharf. As you know from my own screenshots wharves are a big part of traffic movements on my own layout and with the HUGE UK layout having a lot of coastal landscape there's around five on the layout ranging from the quite small to very large like the one at Seaside Magna.
Sparrowcam snap I took of the main station at Seaside Magna while playing testing the NER Class E tank engines yesterday. The wooden station buildings are based on those that were at the NBR station at Markinch until British Railways knocked them down in the 1970's. They are very much the kind of thing a small independent railway might have and are replacements for generic Big 4 station buildings which never really looked the part,
In other news work continues on making my various NER locomotives properly useful. After checking real world weights and measures I was able to confirm that the engine spec files I've installed so far in the Class E and Class E1 tank engines are close matches so I'm happy about that. It's onto the Class L's (J73) now which I think will be interesting as they are real bruisers. There were only 10 in the class, so I don't know what I'm doing with three of them. One would have been quite enough for the Seaside branch and then it most probably would have been only on loan from a depot somewhere and they want it back.
I usually don't take any notice of the sale newsletters because they're mostly about silly looking dismals painted in silly colour schemes, but for once they actually had something that was interesting.
I don't really need the canal pack at the moment, the idea being (essentially) that the wharf will be overgrown and almost derelict, but functional (i.e. a goods train can pick up coal from the rather-too-modern loader) to add interest. Durley on the real Bishops Waltham branch (being about half a mile, a mile at most, from Botley) was only a halt, but I fancied something a bit more substantial with some goods facilities, as the MHLR only has one siding at Botley, and that is purely an exchange siding for the Southern. The idea with the wharf and the sidings at Durley is that this is where all goods not continuing onto Southern metals would be transhipped, and all goods not coming onto the line by rail would also be transhipped here, hence the wharf and road access.
The 1 in 64 section of the bank up to Botley is nice fun, an you're correct to say that gradients add interest. My first light railway was initially dead flat, and as such dead boring, until I added a 1 in 100 up to the middle station, and a 1 in 100 down to the terminus, essentially a peak, and even this was a bit boring.
I have Robinson RODs too because they ended up just about everywhere. I can run them on both the HUGE UK layout and Valleyfields and if I fudge a little by coupling them to a GWR tender I can run them on my GWR layout too. Being a bit of a tank engine enthusiast myself I like your list Sem, but the J94 Austerity saddle tanks are too modern image for me. It would be nice if TS had more pre-group content as I'm sure it would have much wider appeal if it did. I can't be the only one who gets put off by all their adverts promoting silly looking modern dismals.
I agree that the Austerities are a bit modern, but they are particularly fun to drive (The 'Return to Maerdy' version being the best) and I swear the two individual locos modelled in that pack have slightly different quirks that make it all the more entertaining.
However, good news comes in the fact that Digital Traction is set to release the CR 812 0-6-0 Next Friday in 15 liveries! Price isn't confirmed yet, however. I will be buying it when I can, as 123 is only useful for fast passenger runs - I need a loco to pull the CR Wagons I purchased!
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