So to re-cap: some of us have been thinking that the ways freight and express weights are done by default isn't right, and we should revamp them to get a clearer definition between freight and express locos. This basically means making freights proportionally heavier.
One catch is that this will make freight locos more likely to break, due to greater load. Another catch is that the faster express locos already carry a reliability penalty simply due to greater speed. Because of both factors, I'm thinking what we should do is increase freight weights to some extent, but also reduce express weights. To compensate for that, existing express locos would have their hauling power reduced a bit. WP&P and RoR seemed to think this made sense when I ran it past them.
If done right, this should give us express locos that are only good for express, but that can still haul express up grades, and are more reliable as well for the same nominal reliability rating. It should also give us freight locos that are only good for freight, but are still reliable enough to be useful.
To balance things out a bit it will probably be necessary to set all the dedicated freight locos to Ugly for passenger appeal, and make sure they aren't too fast, with express locos set to Looks Sharp or Ultra Cool depending. Ok, so that bit is easy.
The tricky bit, as far as I can tell, is what do we do about mixed traffic? We're presumably going to want to be able to haul mixed traffic too. Anyone got good ideas on how we can have mixed traffic locos that are slow enough to not take over from express locos, but fast enough to be better than pure freight locos, and grunty enough to be useful on grades hauling some freight without being over the top? Or do we just forget mixed traffic locos on grades, and make everyone use freight locos for mixed on grades?
This is all stuff that has to be nutted out and tested if people want it to happen. The actual code changes are a piece of cake. Skinning and modelling doesn't matter. Skinning and modelling can all be done whenever anyone feels like it, if they ever do.
As a start to get my head around it a bit, I went through the default PopTop cargoes and cars for the C era (1900-1949) and listed their weights. Cargo weights are for full cars. I've also included some of WP&P's custom cars for comparison. One interesting thing I've found already is that although the majority of PopTop freight cars have the same all up weight (60 tons incl. cargo) the auto carrier is heavier than the rest. If your train is hauling all autos it'll be working harder than with other freights.
*Note that the auto carrier doesn't have a C era. It only has A and B. A does up to 1949. The tank car only has A, B and C. B does up to 1949.
Anyway, short version is that by default freight consists are roughly 50% heavier than express consists, so we'd probably be wanting to change that to somewhere around 100% at a guess.
Code: Select all
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EXPRESS CAR AND CARGO WEIGHT - C ERA
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POPTOP DEFAULT MAIL VAN
MailC.car 13 tons
MailC.cgo 27 tons
Total 40 tons
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WP&P CUSTOM MAIL VAN
MrpoC.car 20 tons
MrpoC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT EXPRESS CAR
PassC.car 13 tons
PassC.cgo 27 tons
Tota 40 tons
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WP&P CUSTOM EXPRESS COACH
CoachC.car 20 tons
CoachC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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DINING CAR
DinerC.car 45 tons
No cargo file.
Total 45 tons
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TROOPS
TroopC.car 13 tons
TroopC.cgo 27 tons
Total 40 tons
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AVERAGE 8 CAR EXPRESS CONSIST WEIGHT FOR C ERA
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PopTop default (any): 320 tons.
WP&P custom cars (mail or pax): 480 tons.
PopTop default (troops): 320 tons.
WP&P custom cars (50% troops/ other): 400 tons.
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CABOOSE
CaboC car 27 tons
No cargo file.
Total 27 tons
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FREIGHT CAR AND CARGO WEIGHT - C ERA
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-- All of these are PopTop default --
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POPTOP DEFAULT AUTO CARRIER
AutoA.car 18 tons
AutoA.cgo 55 tons
Total 73 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT BOX CAR
BoxC.car 20 tons
BoxC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT COVERED HOPPER
ChopC.car 20 tons
ChopC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT FLAT CAR
FlatC.car 20 tons
FlatC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT OPEN HOPPER
HopC.car 20 tons
HopC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT REEFER CAR
RefrC.car 20 tons
RefrC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT STOCK CAR
StockC.car 20 tons
StockC.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT TANK CAR
TankB.car 20 tons
TankB.cgo 40 tons
Total 60 tons
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POPTOP DEFAULT FREIGHT CONSIST WEIGHT FOR C ERA
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Any of most types: 480 tons.
One of each type: 493 tons.
All of auto carriers: 584 tons.
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