Comrade Citizen Soviet Locomotives

[nedfumpkin]

Here's the work in progress for the Northern Twilight P36 4-8-4

Still a bit of work to do but this model is close enough that it will be an okay substitute to bring all your disidents to the gulags.

[thietavu]

Beautiful, thank you!! :) Now my almost ready Northern Europe scenario will have some credible Russian and East-European hauling power too! Still missing decent freight types, but one step at the time. :)

[nedfumpkin]

Give me your prioties and I'll do those first.

[nedfumpkin]

Here's the specs for the P36...let me know if it should be changed.

[thietavu]

Here's the specs for the P36...let me know if it should be changed.

p36specs.JPG

The name for P36 running between Moscow and St. Petersburg was "Red Arrow". Sounds nice, doesn't it? :) It was also used in Trans-Siberian Railway.

Some numbers:
- Maximum design speed: 78 mph
- Power: 3.125 hp
- Weight: 245t
- Axle weight: 18t (Russian trains seem to have shared the same low axle weight with Scandinavian trains due to many swampy tracks...)
- Roller bearings: everywhere
- Driving wheels: 6' 0 3/4"

http://www.gwtravel.co.uk/special_features.php?id=37

So, it looks like your numbers are just correct! :) What about the name "Red Arrow"? ;)

[nedfumpkin]

Those are the specs I was working from, although it's 245 metric tonnes, which worked out to 270 tons..a full 100 tons lighter than the Northern at 370 tons!

I saw the name Northern Twighlight on one of the locomotives, but Red Arrow works just as well for me. I noticed that the Trans Siberian version was painted blue, but since I wasn't sure if that was a post Soviet paint job, I went with what looks like the original Soviet paint scheme.

http://www.transportdiversions.com/publ ... pubid=3468

[thietavu]

Those are the specs I was working from, although it's 245 metric tonnes, which worked out to 270 tons..a full 100 tons lighter than the Northern at 370 tons!

I saw the name Northern Twighlight on one of the locomotives, but Red Arrow works just as well for me. I noticed that the Trans Siberian version was painted blue, but since I wasn't sure if that was a post Soviet paint job, I went with what looks like the original Soviet paint scheme.

http://www.transportdiversions.com/publ ... pubid=3468

You did beautiful work! :) The name can be either one, I think - you're the father, so you decide. ;)

Few locomotives outside North America ever were even nearly as heavy as the US and Canadian monsters. ;) Most of Russian (and Swedish, Finnish, etc.) railroads have been built in more or less swampy forests, so the axle load has been - and still often is - critical. The highest currently allowed axle load in Finland is 22t (tests with 25t are going on), but only some newer mainlines can handle that. There are still some branch lines with only 14t load allowed, so for example modern electric or powerful diesel locos have pretty much been out of question there. Small and light Consolidations and ten-wheelers have been extremely useful in those conditions in the past decades. I'd guess Canada has also had its share of swampy railways? :)

For those who might be interested:

Another difference between North America and Northern Europe is the amount of traffic. Especially Scandinavia is so scarcely populated that there simply isn't so much need for long and heavy trains. That's the situation on many parts of Russia and Eastern Europe, too. The heaviest thing one can see in Finland might be something like 3 x SR2 class 7000 hp (8000 hp max) electrics hauling a 5000..6000 ton freight train. The typical freight trains in Scandinavia are much lighter, 500..2000t.

SR2, by the way, is a nice beast. They use the same loco in Switzerland to haul heavy freight over the Alps. Here's a trio in action with a 5500 ton train from Russian border to somewhere in Finland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHh2-z_a3E . One thing about freight trains here is that unlike in the USA, we're talking about lighter but fast freight! These SR2 freight trains run regularly 160 kph (100 mph) and in express use their max speed is even 230 kph (144 mph). Nothing like bullet trains, of course, but not bad either.

[nedfumpkin]

I think I'll go with the Red Arrow name since it sounds much more Soviet. Northern Twilight sounds too North American.

I'll look into making an SR2. Shouldn't be too difficult.

The big problem around here is the track beds. The spring thaw does a number on them so it affects their quality and the speed. Right now they are talking about High Speed Rail links from New York to Montreal and Seatlle to Washington...but suddenly HSR means 100mph and they expect to do it with P42DCs! And to accomplsih that there will have to be billions put into the rail lines...sounds like a scam to me.

[Hawk]

...sounds like a scam to me.

If the US Government is behind it, that's pretty much a no-brainer.

[thietavu]

I think I'll go with the Red Arrow name since it sounds much more Soviet. Northern Twilight sounds too North American.

I'll look into making an SR2. Shouldn't be too difficult.

The big problem around here is the track beds. The spring thaw does a number on them so it affects their quality and the speed. Right now they are talking about High Speed Rail links from New York to Montreal and Seatlle to Washington...but suddenly HSR means 100mph and they expect to do it with P42DCs! And to accomplsih that there will have to be billions put into the rail lines...sounds like a scam to me.

I think I agree with the P36 naming... SR2 btw, appears to be the Swiss 460 class engine already included in the game. Just with different painting. :)

The spring problem sounds familiar. It's not so bad with railroads here, but the ordinary roads tend to suffer a lot after every winter. The fastest passenger trains we have today are Sm3 & Sm6 "Pendolino" electrics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR_Class_Sm3 They should run at max. 220 kph (137 mph) but most of the rail network doesn't allow trains to reach that speed. :( The situation won't change since there just isn't enough money for improving (or even maintaining) the tracks. It's a funny thing; we're living in a modern, wealthy western democracy - but suddenly it seems like there is no money for anything: roads, railroads, healthcare, culture, education, environment... You name it. The economy grows nicely every year - yet we hear that there is less and less money for any public purposes. Guess this means that most of the money goes to private pockets who don't pay almost any taxes... or abroad. Probably both. We're going to have a very "interesting" general election this Spring... But so much for politics. ;)

[nedfumpkin]

I think that if war used railroads again then they would invest in it since that seems to get a lot of money from the governments.

In North America rail travel is deemed eccentric and everyone pretty much uses a car. The network is designed for freight, and even they take priority over passenger trains. I'm blamining the oil companies.

[Mobius]

I have made a Russian 0-8-0 Ob loco but it has no animation bones. I don't know what are the poly limits the game would use. Also it would be nice if the game didn't have to use the .x direct x files compressed.

[Hawk]

Good to see you still kicking Steve.

[arop]

The Russian 0-8-0 class Ob looks exactly like the kind of locomotive I think we need for European railways too. I would even be satisfied with a 2-8-0 Consolidation with a six-wheel tender and with the "cowcatcher" and the front carrying wheel removed (for rrt3 (and TM)). Such engines, with spark arresters, were built in huge numbers in Central Europe in the period from 1870-1910, when 0-6-0 and 0-8-0's were the predominant wheel arrangement for freight locos. The 2-6-0 and the 2-8-0 came relatively late to Europe compared with North America. In old Russia many locomotives were woodfired

[Altoona+BeachCreek]

Ahhhh, glorious Soviet Steam for the glorious Soviet Union! America can say what they like about what the great Stalin did to his designers, but you can't say it didn't work! Five foot gauge means it could easily out-haul and out-run even the Class J or Daylight. Plus, it's just plain stinkin' beautiful. A think we should go with Red Arrow, because twilight makes me think of something I really despise (not the teen vampire movie, something worse...). Anyway, is that Ob class on Trainz? 'Cus that's what it looks like. It also looks very nice btw! Now, the 0-10-0 we have in game is German-based, right? It's pretty close to the highly popular Soviet 0-10-0. The Soviets often excluded lead and/or trailing trucks due to the lack of curves. And we think we have long distances between cities? Pah! The Russians are the only ones brave enough to inhabit the inhospitable, by which I mean the great wasteland of Siberia. That big empty space between Moscow and Vladivostok has been the main reason for high speed steam like the P36. Oh, and I hear NA in-game was lacking a 2-10-0, when I have just been using the Russian Decapod for a while. During the civil war, American builders like Baldwin and ALCO were manufacturing broad gauge Decapods for the Russian government, but the Great Revolution cancelled the order. Some locomotives were stuck here, so they were re-gauged and put to use on smaller railroads. Are you going to add smoke deflectors to the final P36?

Thank you very much for this beautiful new addition to the RT3/TM family of steam locomotives! Any chance you could put 'er up as a preview like you did for the cowboy engines?

[thietavu]

Russian engines are, indeed, very welcome for such scenaris as my own Great China and Northern Europe. For example, Mongolia used mainly Russian power - currently mostly unavailable in RRT3. Some essential types:

M62 and its double & triple versions 2M62, 3M62 diesel (very common)
TE116 and 2TE116 diesel (also very common)
SR1 electric (for Finland but its close relatives run elsewhere, too)
L-class 2-10-0
Em-class 2-10-0 (manufactured btw in USA, some used also in China and Finland)
FD-class 2-10-2

These types alone would help certain scenarios very, very much! :) But P36 is already a huge help!

[sbaros]

I cannot locate the download link for this one

[Gumboots]

I don't think the finished unit was ever posted here.