SAR Class 520 4-8-4 (slightly beta, but fine)

[Gumboots]

Ok, here it is, in all its current glory. Extra glory (namely more texture detailing, and an extra skin in green) will follow as I have the time.

This is RT3's first Australian locomotive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Aus ... _520_class

Current stats are provisional, but should be in the ballpark. It's set up mainly for express haulage, and for my express revamp pack.

Stats won't be very good with PopTop default express. I may (might, maybe) do an extra sets of stats to suit PopTop default cars at some stage, but don't hold your breath.

Anyway, at the moment it looks like this:
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Unlike most RT3 locomotive the valve gear is functioning, using my patented Walmarts valve gear system. I learned a few new things setting it up.

Usually, if staggering a set of drivewheels 180 out of phase, the drivewheel that has the crankpin above the axle needs to have the connecting rod (but not the piston or coupling bar) flipped 180 degrees around its pivot point before exporting to .3dp. Anyone who is interested can see how this was done on my Pennsy H3 or the Mogul Revamp.

However, this new locomotive surprised me. It required the connecting rods for the valve gear to be in their normal position, even though their crankpins were set above the axle. Flipping them 180 degrees, as I would normally, resulted in them also being 180 degrees out when running in the game. I have no idea why this case is different to the others, but apparently it is. That's RT3 for you.

That was easy to sort as soon as I saw it. The trickier part was getting the secondary (invisible) Truck3 drivewheels for the valve gear to be synchronised with the main (visible) drivewheels. Attempting to save some verts and polys, by using fewer invisible layers on the valve gear drivewheels, screwed up the rotation of the valve gear. Getting it sorted turned out to require that the invisible ones had exactly the same size and number of layers, set at the same offsets, as the visible ones. Doing that synched everything perfectly.

So it all works now. Zip attached. Give it a flogging.

[Gumboots]

Ok, one green skin. Had the PSD set up for both anyway, so might as well get it running. Skins are easy once you have the initial loco and tender done.

This one carries the actual name and road number of the first of the class. The screenshot has the number 530, which I've corrected to 520 in the actual skin. Couldn't be bothered doing another screenshot.

The locomotive still exists, and was operational until 1998, although it's not currently operational as it's having some work done to it. You can read about it on the Steam Ranger pages: The 520 Restoration Appeal

So the green version is at the same stage as the black one. Everything works, but the skinning is currently fairly basic. Zip attached.

Installation is a piece of cake. You just drop the PK4 into Data/PopTopExtraContent. Nothing else is necessary, as long as you already have the black one.
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[bombardiere]

Great. Thank you for sharing these.

I can image that the black one is Pennsylvanian S-1 or T-1. Yes, I think it is more T-1 rather than experimental S-1.

[Gumboots]

The PRR T-1 was a much larger and more powerful unit, but yes the styling is very similar. It wouldn't be hard to make a proper T-1 model for the game if anyone wanted to, but it's not a project I'll be taking on myself.

I'm inclined to have a crack at a C32 next: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South ... locomotive

These were a total classic of the NSW steamers. In service for almost 80 years, and hauling just about anything anywhere right until the end. They were one of those fortunate units where everything came together just right. Drivers and firemen loved them because they were easy on the crew, had enough hauling power for most jobs, and had the ability to make up time when necessary. If a crew heard they were getting a C32 for the day, they were happy. Mechanics and managers and accountants loved them, because they were so reliable and required so little work to keep them running. They also look cool, IMO, so I think we should have them.
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The other point about them is that the original configuration, the P6 saturated version, comes in 1892 and is suitable for the last of the pre-1900 express years, while the superheated version comes in 1911 and can have enough extra grunt to haul post-1900 express. The only visible difference is the longer smokebox on the superheated version, so modelling and skinning both is a piece of cake.

A similar situation applies to the D50 and D53 Consolidations. A few more differences between them, but nothing major, so easy enough to do both if you're doing one of them. They share a fair amount in common with the C32, and were basically a freight version of the same locomotive. If I can knock this lot off it will fill some big holes in the World category. They were fairly standard UK export models of the period, so would be suitable just about anywhere.