As a train operator, I can tell you, irl and most of of speeds you traveled, youd have no fear of derailment. This games derailment model is more strict than rl.
There are a few heritage railways that have "Driver Experiences" that allow you to run a locomotive for a day under supervision of a trained crew. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a more realistic experience.
A must for anyone who is interested! Im lucky enough to have had much footplate time operating preserved locos in my youth and its something i would not change for the world. I only play with the small scale stuff these days 5- 71/4" gauge.
@@akamadman203 They're going to try and do coop, they haven't guaranteed full MP lmao tbh they'd need to leave it for DV2 imo. Start out from the beginning with a map designed for MP (ie. multi-tracks to begin with) and the option to take specific roles even if it's as a passenger.
If I remember correctly, what you said about being in a steam locomotive in a tunnel is actually why Southern Pacific created its cab-forwards. Because it was the 1940s or 50s, they were oil burners, so they were able to turn the whole thing around, with an enclosed cabin where the tender previously was, and plopped the tender on the back, with plumbing for the oil to fire it. This meant that the crew could go throguht SP's many long tunnels without dealing with the annoying, irritating, and in several cases, dangerous fumes.
Having played the game, I now understand what an incredible feat this is. I salute your skill. Your knowledge helped me complete a $44K, 12-car, ~600 ton job from Harbor to Machine Factory.
25:23 You're kind of lucky in that scenario since you're coasting down hill so the smoke won't be quite that bad, but coming the other way... On the Somerset and Dorset Railway there was a mile long tunnel between Midford and Bath Green Park called Combe Down Tunnel and it was notorious for its low clearance (meaning that the smoke from the chimney would rebound immediately off the roof and down into the footplate) and steep incline if you worked out of Midford, not to mention no ventilation shafts, crews referred to it as 'Dantes Inferno' and if your engine slipped while climbing Combe Down Tunnel it could be hellish. One incident in 1929 actually resulted in deaths after the Driver and Fireman were overcome by the smoke while their engine was climbing through Combe Down Tunnel, the engine then continued on its merry way with the unconscious crew on the footplate, out of control down into Bath yard where it crashed, killing the driver, and two railway workers in the yard. Nasty stuff.
When I can, I try to watch your Sunday-Night Trucking stream, but I am just more of a video consumer, rather than a stream one, so I am really super happy how you have picked up your videos again. Thanks a lot for keeping up with making such great content!
Tip: the steam dump is for when you finish a trip. You’re supposed to leave it open after finishing so you can leave the loco and don’t have to wait for it to cool.
this game looks like what ive been wanting to see in a train simulator. large map with plenty of activities/jobs. instead of just scenario runs like the other train simulators.
I would much rather spend hundreds of dollars on dlc in derail valley than ts just because it's so much more hands on and you actually do something other than drive on closed, predetermined path at certain speeds.
It'd be perfect if this was also available for consoles, but I doubt it ever will, once I save enough to get a decent setup, this'll probably be one of the first games I get
@@captain-Dan If he'ld have to do a 500km journey, he'ld never reach the end because he would be through his coal and water reserve well before the middle point. ;)
@@captain-Dan Yea, but it gives us a nice insight into how well modeled this thing is. If you watch the boiler pressure and listen for the safety valve, you can see the pressure drop a little when the valve opens.
Pretty well all certified boilers are tested at double operating pressure hydrostatically, that's the law. In reality a modern (as in not wrought iron!, so last 150ish years or so) will probably take an extreme amount of pressure to blow, something like 10times its actual operating pressure. The explosions in the very early days were iron vs steel boilers and more often than not caused by crews tampering with safety valves, either because they made to much noise (no joke!) or trying to extract more power. Explosions are relatively rare when it comes to modern stuff, more stuff like superheater failures and dropped fusible plugs than actual explosions, these things can still be fatal however. Even in case of a derailment and loco turn over, boiler is unlikely to explode, but its still an extremely nasty experience for the crew and more often than not fatal, we lost a few here about 20 years ago and i wont go into detail out of respect. Loco itself has just been returned to service and it really was relatively undamaged considering it ended up on its side.
Over in California, there is a museum that still has a steam engine that was used in the mountains. What the guide mentioned was that cabins for the engines were mounted on the front and the boiler would be reverse mounted so that the emissions would not cause CO poisoning to the engine operator. Something interesting you might like.
@Squirrel Good sir, at 26:40 you make a crucial fault in steam-trainning... When entering a tunnel the firebox should always remain closed and the fire turned 'low' (if you will) to not risk a blowback from the furnace into the driver cabine. You never top off coal while inside a tunnel, very dangerous in reallife steam trains.... Another pro-tip, you can judge how your fire is doing by keeping the exhaust smoke between a light gray color under a low (pulling) load and a darker grey for a higher (pulling) load... Most people including yourself are driving this steam train with max coal and fire going, which creates black smoke or a to cold setting, which creates a more white-ish smoke.... Nice video keep up the good work.... I would love to see more of your derail valley videos... Greetz from the Netherlands.
One small technical problem, you said the blower blows air over the fire. It doesn't, it simply blows steam up the smokestack and thus draws air over the fire. Tiny detail but I thought I'd point it out.
Not sure if you will see this, but if you put the control partially in reverse, (not sure if it is modeled in the game) you can use the train's power to slow it down instead of so much brake. Wouldn't want brake fade on a steep decent.
@@julius6889 not on diesel and electric engines But it still works with older designs and some other more modern steam locomotives. You see engines way way back in the mid-late 1800's didn't actually have a break on them beside the handbreak on the tender and cars so the reverser was used and because they were so light the wheels locked up and started slipping in the opposite direction of travel to slow it down. By using steam against the motion of travel in the cylinder, it acts as a form of break.
This was done on early steam lcomotives, which only had handbrakes or steam brakes, but on more modern steam, this practice was no longer used due to more powerful air or vacuum brakes, as well as the fact that braking with the engine causes a lot of stress on the valve gear, rods and pistons.
@@kitchenjail3546 Not to mention that even with modern-ish steam power, using the locomotive's own brakes (unless running without a train) was typically frowned upon, since if you used them long enough, the heat generated could cause the driver tires to expand and separate from the wheels.
Some information about entering tunnels - many a crew was nearly suffocated while operating steam locomotives over the Sierra Nevada mountains here in the USA due to there being so many tunnels bored through the mountains and the snow sheds laid over the tracks to prevent falling snow from blocking the way. The Southern Pacific remedied the suffocation by ordering several batches of "Cab Forward" locomotives. They are fired by oil, so no coal is required, just open a valve to shoot what is essentially bunker c fuel oil into the firebox. The entire locomotive is flipped around 180 degrees with a fully enclosed cab while the tender still rides behind. If you've ever coal fired steam locomotive, you'll understand why being a fireman on an oil fired engine is a breeze in comparison.
Squirrel, it looks like job starts when you pick up job report from table not when you first validate it in the machine - that's why it has 83 min. elapsed time - you had to pick it up from 30min. before starting video, look @10:24: it has 42min. elapsed time already; same was in your previous video and I thing that dev on your stream said that you only need to validate at the end of a job.
25:23 I have experience working on steam locomotives through long tunnels the trains are 15 inch gauge and the tunnel is 800 ft long which might not seem like much but at this scale and the size of our steamer it can get bad as our engine is oil fired and the tunnel is set at a grade so it makes it fun charging through it because at the fireman you have to keep an eye on how much oil you are injecting to the fire as if you have too little you wont make the pressure needed to keep your speed and you will have the fire blown out by the draft that the engine is making, but too much and you will gas the passengers and lift the safety valves inside (which is not a fun thing to do mind you) so while we are doing this we are also constantly injecting water into the boiler all the way through and while normally this will lower the temperature and pressure we are working the engine so hard that the pressure and water level for the most part stays constant. but yeah I know in the mountains it was a real bad problem so much so that one railroad had special locomotives with the whole engine reversed (called a cab forward) to combat all of the tunnels and snow sheds. while other railroads had gas masks for the crew or large fans in the tunnel or just used electric locomotives in place of steam engines. but in many cases you try to get the stack as clean as you can and make sure everything is set right going into the tunnel and you should be good till you get to the end of it.
Hi Paul, nice video as always. Your videos on this game why I purchased it for myself. Took me a bit to get the hang of things, but I found some methods of success that I thought I'd share. 1)
Squirrel, the time for your load starts the moment you put the job book into your inventory. You don't need to run it through the validator before leaving. When you validated it at the coal mine, it already had 42 minutes elapsed. Only put the book in your inventory when you have fully set up the train to leave the station.
I found Old Bob's Shop. If you have already found it, skip the rest of this post. The next time I went through a town I bought Old Bob's Shop Key. I went back to the shop and unlocked the door, and low-and-behold there was an old Hand Cart; the kind you pump by hand. I used the F1 - F6 keys that also work on the Steam Engine. I took the Hand Cart for a joy right and had a blast. If you haven't found the shop yet and would like to give it a try, Go North of the Machine Factory and just before you get to the first junction there will be an unmarked (on the world map) siding going South West. When you get to the shop by going along the siding take Old Bob's Shop Key and approach the door pointing at the lock. It will light up and you can unlock the door and get to the Hand Cart. A nice diversion.
My colleague's grandfather used to drive these steam trains trough tunnels, and he said it was always like this: they shoveled the coal in, set everything, and hit the deck. :) They laid on the ground throughout the whole journey through the tunnel, so you don't want to try this on your own, Squirrel. ;)
When you went into the tunnel, you mentioned the smoke building up in front of you. On most railways I know of, the tunnels were ok for that, they had good ventilation or something. But on the Southern Pacific, that was actually a serious problem, so they built the cab-forward locomotives to fix that problem. Due to their design, the smoke came out right at the back of the engine itself, while the cab was at the front, keeping the smoke far away from the driver. Most other cab-forwards had the driver's cab in front of the smokebox, but everything else was the same as a conventional locomotive. Because the firebox was now at the front in the SP cab-forwards, it was hard to get coal up there, so they chose to make it an oil fired design, but the oil lines had leaking issues, which combined with the poor tunnel ventilation to cause one accident, where leaking oil caused wheelslip in a tunnel, and the automatic brakes caught the locomotive before it slid backward too far, but the poor ventilation resulted in the smoke building up, and a spark or something must have set the oil on the rails alight, as that caught fire, resulting in either the burning or asphyxiation of the crew, I can't remember which. I'm not 100% sure whether I got the details all correct, anyone correct me if I get it wrong.
49:04 I know this is an old video and squirrel might have found out but that is just the slack between cars. Usually happens when either the gradient changes or you put more/less power on the train
I would ask if there were anything you'd like me to do in order to help out 🤣 This simulator looks amazing! You do a brilliant job at operating that steam engine.
It'll be neat when they model the loco brake on both engines, as well as add some cooling system for the shunter. That thing overheats pulling anything for any period of time lol
To respond to your comment about driving through a tunnel in a steam locomotive, it's fun. Depending on the train size, tunnel length, & speed, it's not that bad. I loved it and miss it horribly.
They're probably referring to the videos on SquirrelPlus, my second channel. Here's a couple of fun derails from there: ua-cam.com/video/Jg10R4gV3wY/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/eZeAgO1QyUk/v-deo.html
The VR version is really where this game shines. I can honestly say that I have never felt as sick in a VR game as I did when derailing in this game. It's not a pleasant experience to be upside down in a game when you're actually standing up in your living room I don't know how much the game has changed but about a year ago I played the free VR tech demo version of the game and the derailing was quite intense
I think the blower is supposed to be on in tunnels, to help counter the effect of compressed air (from entering the tunnel) going the wrong way down the smokestack/chimney and causing blowback.
@@rrice1705 One problem was with blasts of air going back down the chimney and through the furnace. They might have found a way around the problem toward the end.
I discovered a little trick that may be useful to some or it may add to the burden, but here goes. If you inject the water so you can see the water level rise. Then stop injecting water just below the top of the glass bulb so you can still see the white line of the water level. I found that the steam engine uses coal and water at about the same rate. When the water level gets down to about 1/4 water left you will usually hear the tick-tick-tick alarm that we hear when its telling us to add more coal. Sometimes I don't hear the tick-tick-tick because of the noise, For me it has been a useful tool to know what the coal level is.
The Job starts as soon as you pick up the ticket. You don't have to validate the job. Next time look at the ticket, throw it back on the table and pick it up as soon as you're ready to leave. You started allready with 43 minutes on the jobticket when you validated. Keep up the good job, greetings from the Netherlands.
Yes you may not have to deal with the steam dump valve. Something to keep in mind is if you're hitting the point where it's venting itself, then you're wasting coal and water building steam that's not being used. When my steam meter gets near the top I close vents and let the coals simmer as they will burn far slower during times when steam isn't needed. (For example when going downhill or sitting stationary.)
I just noticed, when you went to "aquire the job" before coupling the train, you had already done so and had 42 minutes on the clock! This is why the time was so out of whack
Glad you are no longer venting steam for no reason XD. I find it weird they put that feature in when in real life all it was used for was making sure the lines and pistons where dry and didn't have condensed water in them. When the locomotive was stationary you'd push some steam through to the pistons to keep them warm and not have 'wet steam' or condensate in them. Since water can't be compressed.
Ive just come off derail valley at the time of writing this comment and i pulled 1472 tons over 3 different job booklets with a single steam locomotive. Although i did have to have the blower, the drafting and the sander on full blast and once i crested the hill, i was pretty much out of sand and once i was on the long straight leading up to the bridge just before the tutorial area, the tender ran dry so i had to get to the steel mill with the boiler only a quarter full of water and then when I uncoupled the steam locomotive from the train to bring it to the fuel area, the fire went out about halfway down the length of train because there was no more coal or water. There are a few things i would like the devs to add. Being able to control multiple locomotives from just 1 cab would be extremely handy and brake vans would be absolutely brilliant. I had MEGA problems on the downhill stretch because the wagons kept banging into eachother since the couplings had been stretched going uphill but were now coming together going down. A brake van would stop thus from happening as there would be a way to brake the train from the rear. Thus stopping the wagons from hitting eachother.
A brake van can only do so much though Specifically meaning If you have a Very heavy train you would need either a Large brake van Or Multiple Smaller ones to do the work (Though off topic I do hope they add in a Small steam shunter and Multiple types of brake vans For different areas (For example at the steel works You would have a heavy Brake van at the farms you would have Lighter Brake vans and the steam shunter would have more power than the diesel shunter
Coupler slack is a problem in real railroading to this day. Nice that the devs modeled it in the sim- they have put a lot of work into this. I think only UK (European too?) railroads used "brake vans." In the US the caboose was an office for the train crew, dating back to the days when the brakes were set by hand while walking across the top of the cars. Today there is still the capability of partially setting the brakes on a few individual cars to keep the slack stretched while going downgrade.
@@ostlandr I think in the game a brake van would be more practical. Setting brakes on individual wagons would be very inconvienient. You could just pull one handle and the couplings stay taught because the brake brake van is braking from the rear. I also think tbat if brake vans werre to come into the game then there should be two different handles for the engine brake and the brake in the van.
"saftey, I think, is more important" As someone in the transportation industry nothing is more true than this. Whether you're a trucker, pilot or conductor saftey should ALWAYS be your top priority. I know it's always mine.
As a former driver, the tunnels should fill with smoke and lingers for a long time as takes a while for the vents to get rid of it. The smell is sulphurous and pungent. Had to close my cab windows every time! lol
53:18 - A "steam dump" isn't real, it's just for this game. In real life, the steam coming out the sides is usually toward the front from the cylinder cocks opening. They blow steam through the cylinders to keep them warm (to prevent water condensing) while they're stationary. They only tend to open them if they're planning on moving off again soon. For a long stop, they may leave them closed or just slightly cracked and open them fully before/while setting off to blow any water out of the cylinders.
In VR, you guys can put the coal on the foot plate and have it ready to shovel it more quickly then twisting around to keep the fire going. It's a real life thing that the fireman can do, try it in VR. Might like it as idea to make it easier or something.
irl another trick that was employed on real railroads was running low water to generate more steam, because less water to heat means faster steam generation Edit: when I do heavy coal hauls I like to have the blower on full, damper all the way open, throttle wide and reverser on full speed, I can generally get away with 60 out of the coal mine
I will try this after I will learn how to steam loco. For me it was a pain in the ass moving 400+ tons cargo from Harbor to Food Factory follow the East exit from Harbor with the small diesel loco.
ive driven multiple steamers on heritage lines and rule 1 and 2 of tunnel saftey is dont have the fire box door open and dont stick you head or any part of your body out of the side
Speed signs are there now, as well as a second break and a lot of other changes. Nice job, i already failed 2x with 1200t and 1000t to get up the hill, saw someone make it with 1200t so it is possible. But its really not easy. Will now check if 800t are more doable. The steam loko and tender also have some weight, so your actually moving more than just the train. Still a lot of verry good help in your video, will try to manage speed better next try.
Hey Squirrel, you Mentioned you would like a go on a steamer? i would recommend Elsecar heritage railway near Barnsley me and the wife took a little saddle tank out for a spin , amazing experience. 10/10 would train again
I believe that on a real steam loco you're not allowed to open the firebox because of the tunnel effect making the fire bellow out into the cab rather ferociously when at speed due to the train creating a high / low pressure area in front/rear.
I feel like foggy weather would be a REALLY big challenge in this sort of game where you have no hud, and you only indicator of what's to come is 100 or 200 feet out
I hope they add more steam locomotives with different whistles and cab layouts, would also be cool to have day and night cycle so you have to switch the head light on
"Ya know, i know we have a time limit, but i think safety is more important." Couldn't say it better myself. I'm a former trucker and i'd sooner have my dispatcher, broker, or customer upset with me for being a little late, than ever do any possible harm.
the dream of every boy, running a steam engine. i just read about the "job" and what you have to learn nowadays..... itll allways be a dream for me tho. good thing we have games like this! hope it adds Multiplayer soon
So I fire these things in the UK and to be fair the game is pretty good at simulating the rush of it all. It isn't always relaxing! That 'steam dump' is called a blow down valve and would be used either before coming off or going onto shed to force out any contaminants in the boiler (Not to drain the entire boiler as it wouldn't do it much good!). The 'Vent' is called the damper and quite often there can be anything from 1 to 4 (or none!). These are essentially doors on the ashpan (where the fire ashes are collected) that open and shut depending on how much airflow the fireman wants to have. The game shows that very well! For an early access game the simulation is very good. The 'temperature' gauge is something you wouldn't see in real life and is it a bit unnecessary really and i'd like to see the injector modified to be a bit more realistic having a water and steam valve with variance depending on pressure, water temperature, etc (they really are temperamental and never work the same!) but the idea of putting it on and simply leaving it in the correct trim is exactly what I do! Cheers for the top class video Squirrel. I look forward to the next one!
Used to love running steam locomotives in Trainz Railroad Simulator. Took the Big Boy to Australia and put it on the Pibara iron ore hauls because why not.
On a real steam locomotive, you actually don’t want the water to be fully topped on on the meter. You want to maintain it at about 2/3. I keep it at 3/4 in the game, because it’s easier to measure using the bolts placed along the meter in 1/4 increments. If it drops below 1/2 in real life, you are running the risk of a boiler explosion. If it’s too high, you won’t have very much steam reserves. None of this is taken into account in the game as it is right now, but if you want to operate it realistically, keep it in mind.
At the mention of two people. I think that's how steam engines were operated for real. One person to perate the engine, and the other person to shovel coal (Called Fireman)
There is no steam dump valve on a steam engine. They have the safety valve but that’s up top on the boiler. The steam that comes out is usually the water injector. Is a lot more complicated to drive and fire a steam engine than this one.
I know this is a game, but IRL if you open firebox while in a tunnel, there will be major fire blowback, burning the operator. Wonder if it will be implemented if ever death was a thing in this game XD
4 most mentioned things
-20s-30s
-back off on the regulator
-apply the brake
-quick check of the map
Shovel in more coal.
Look out the window
CHOO CHOO
@@9bmichaelcn958 FYI it's 4x "Chugga chugga"s for every "choo choo". Officially speaking, that is...
As a train operator, I can tell you, irl and most of of speeds you traveled, youd have no fear of derailment. This games derailment model is more strict than rl.
Well, it is called Derail Valley.
Trains are HEAVY
@@michaelbujaki2462 haha true true... I just think I'd give people a perspective of how fast you'd actually need to go to derail hahaha
@@adamchmielewski6162 indeed sir haha
@@SupernovaSpence How fast?
There are a few heritage railways that have "Driver Experiences" that allow you to run a locomotive for a day under supervision of a trained crew. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a more realistic experience.
The Nevada Northern RR in Ely, Nevada, USA has that.
Out of curiosity what it's the youngest you can do that at?
@@yogabumm 18 Years Old with a Valid Drivers License.
Talyllyn railway!
A must for anyone who is interested! Im lucky enough to have had much footplate time operating preserved locos in my youth and its something i would not change for the world. I only play with the small scale stuff these days 5- 71/4" gauge.
This game would be really cool with multiplayer like with a full crew
soon to be look at their discord and it well you all bout it
Yeah boy i want to be the thief that rob the damm train
@@fo3369 LOL
When that happens I'll list as steam fireman for sure.
@@akamadman203 They're going to try and do coop, they haven't guaranteed full MP lmao
tbh they'd need to leave it for DV2 imo. Start out from the beginning with a map designed for MP (ie. multi-tracks to begin with) and the option to take specific roles even if it's as a passenger.
If I remember correctly, what you said about being in a steam locomotive in a tunnel is actually why Southern Pacific created its cab-forwards. Because it was the 1940s or 50s, they were oil burners, so they were able to turn the whole thing around, with an enclosed cabin where the tender previously was, and plopped the tender on the back, with plumbing for the oil to fire it. This meant that the crew could go throguht SP's many long tunnels without dealing with the annoying, irritating, and in several cases, dangerous fumes.
Having played the game, I now understand what an incredible feat this is.
I salute your skill. Your knowledge helped me complete a $44K, 12-car, ~600 ton job from Harbor to Machine Factory.
25:23 You're kind of lucky in that scenario since you're coasting down hill so the smoke won't be quite that bad, but coming the other way... On the Somerset and Dorset Railway there was a mile long tunnel between Midford and Bath Green Park called Combe Down Tunnel and it was notorious for its low clearance (meaning that the smoke from the chimney would rebound immediately off the roof and down into the footplate) and steep incline if you worked out of Midford, not to mention no ventilation shafts, crews referred to it as 'Dantes Inferno' and if your engine slipped while climbing Combe Down Tunnel it could be hellish. One incident in 1929 actually resulted in deaths after the Driver and Fireman were overcome by the smoke while their engine was climbing through Combe Down Tunnel, the engine then continued on its merry way with the unconscious crew on the footplate, out of control down into Bath yard where it crashed, killing the driver, and two railway workers in the yard. Nasty stuff.
This is the reason that cab-forwards exist.
@@retovath well in America yes
And you figure with how big the 9Fs were on the S&D that the exhaust output must've been brutal.
That's a helluva story....so it wasn't all fun and games huh???
I ain't reading all of that
When I can, I try to watch your Sunday-Night Trucking stream, but I am just more of a video consumer, rather than a stream one, so I am really super happy how you have picked up your videos again. Thanks a lot for keeping up with making such great content!
marsdiep1976 what a nice comment
Tip: the steam dump is for when you finish a trip. You’re supposed to leave it open after finishing so you can leave the loco and don’t have to wait for it to cool.
this game looks like what ive been wanting to see in a train simulator. large map with plenty of activities/jobs. instead of just scenario runs like the other train simulators.
I would much rather spend hundreds of dollars on dlc in derail valley than ts just because it's so much more hands on and you actually do something other than drive on closed, predetermined path at certain speeds.
I like this sim...
It'd be perfect if this was also available for consoles, but I doubt it ever will, once I save enough to get a decent setup, this'll probably be one of the first games I get
With that boiler pressure, I was half expecting rivets to fly through the cabin
More wasted steam coming out of the safety valve than the pistons! and the coal usage, you'd think he's melting glass in the firebox
@@captain-Dan If he'ld have to do a 500km journey, he'ld never reach the end because he would be through his coal and water reserve well before the middle point. ;)
@@captain-Dan Yea, but it gives us a nice insight into how well modeled this thing is. If you watch the boiler pressure and listen for the safety valve, you can see the pressure drop a little when the valve opens.
Pretty well all certified boilers are tested at double operating pressure hydrostatically, that's the law. In reality a modern (as in not wrought iron!, so last 150ish years or so) will probably take an extreme amount of pressure to blow, something like 10times its actual operating pressure. The explosions in the very early days were iron vs steel boilers and more often than not caused by crews tampering with safety valves, either because they made to much noise (no joke!) or trying to extract more power. Explosions are relatively rare when it comes to modern stuff, more stuff like superheater failures and dropped fusible plugs than actual explosions, these things can still be fatal however. Even in case of a derailment and loco turn over, boiler is unlikely to explode, but its still an extremely nasty experience for the crew and more often than not fatal, we lost a few here about 20 years ago and i wont go into detail out of respect. Loco itself has just been returned to service and it really was relatively undamaged considering it ended up on its side.
Over in California, there is a museum that still has a steam engine that was used in the mountains. What the guide mentioned was that cabins for the engines were mounted on the front and the boiler would be reverse mounted so that the emissions would not cause CO poisoning to the engine operator. Something interesting you might like.
Can-forward mallets on the Southern Pacific?
@Squirrel Good sir, at 26:40 you make a crucial fault in steam-trainning... When entering a tunnel the firebox should always remain closed and the fire turned 'low' (if you will) to not risk a blowback from the furnace into the driver cabine. You never top off coal while inside a tunnel, very dangerous in reallife steam trains.... Another pro-tip, you can judge how your fire is doing by keeping the exhaust smoke between a light gray color under a low (pulling) load and a darker grey for a higher (pulling) load... Most people including yourself are driving this steam train with max coal and fire going, which creates black smoke or a to cold setting, which creates a more white-ish smoke.... Nice video keep up the good work.... I would love to see more of your derail valley videos... Greetz from the Netherlands.
For some reason I find just the sound of the steam engine extremely calming. I must've been a conductor in a past life.
Doubt it but yeah it's soothing. Past lives aren't a real thing
One small technical problem, you said the blower blows air over the fire. It doesn't, it simply blows steam up the smokestack and thus draws air over the fire. Tiny detail but I thought I'd point it out.
So it's induced draft and not forced draft
@@burnerheinz exactly
Thank you....
so that is the sudden increase of smoke. I was wondering why the smoke pulse
Not sure if you will see this, but if you put the control partially in reverse, (not sure if it is modeled in the game) you can use the train's power to slow it down instead of so much brake. Wouldn't want brake fade on a steep decent.
This does work in game.
Works in game. But in real life it was really not a thing to do. :-P
@@julius6889 not on diesel and electric engines But it still works with older designs and some other more modern steam locomotives. You see engines way way back in the mid-late 1800's didn't actually have a break on them beside the handbreak on the tender and cars so the reverser was used and because they were so light the wheels locked up and started slipping in the opposite direction of travel to slow it down. By using steam against the motion of travel in the cylinder, it acts as a form of break.
This was done on early steam lcomotives, which only had handbrakes or steam brakes, but on more modern steam, this practice was no longer used due to more powerful air or vacuum brakes, as well as the fact that braking with the engine causes a lot of stress on the valve gear, rods and pistons.
@@kitchenjail3546 Not to mention that even with modern-ish steam power, using the locomotive's own brakes (unless running without a train) was typically frowned upon, since if you used them long enough, the heat generated could cause the driver tires to expand and separate from the wheels.
4:39 Best whistle sound I've ever heard.
Some information about entering tunnels - many a crew was nearly suffocated while operating steam locomotives over the Sierra Nevada mountains here in the USA due to there being so many tunnels bored through the mountains and the snow sheds laid over the tracks to prevent falling snow from blocking the way.
The Southern Pacific remedied the suffocation by ordering several batches of "Cab Forward" locomotives. They are fired by oil, so no coal is required, just open a valve to shoot what is essentially bunker c fuel oil into the firebox. The entire locomotive is flipped around 180 degrees with a fully enclosed cab while the tender still rides behind.
If you've ever coal fired steam locomotive, you'll understand why being a fireman on an oil fired engine is a breeze in comparison.
Squirrel, it looks like job starts when you pick up job report from table not when you first validate it in the machine - that's why it has 83 min. elapsed time - you had to pick it up from 30min. before starting video, look @10:24: it has 42min. elapsed time already; same was in your previous video and I thing that dev on your stream said that you only need to validate at the end of a job.
@@roxbird20 the job validator was also a way of starting the timer.
Not "pick up" but "put in inventory".
25:23 I have experience working on steam locomotives through long tunnels the trains are 15 inch gauge and the tunnel is 800 ft long which might not seem like much but at this scale and the size of our steamer it can get bad as our engine is oil fired and the tunnel is set at a grade so it makes it fun charging through it because at the fireman you have to keep an eye on how much oil you are injecting to the fire as if you have too little you wont make the pressure needed to keep your speed and you will have the fire blown out by the draft that the engine is making, but too much and you will gas the passengers and lift the safety valves inside (which is not a fun thing to do mind you) so while we are doing this we are also constantly injecting water into the boiler all the way through and while normally this will lower the temperature and pressure we are working the engine so hard that the pressure and water level for the most part stays constant. but yeah I know in the mountains it was a real bad problem so much so that one railroad had special locomotives with the whole engine reversed (called a cab forward) to combat all of the tunnels and snow sheds. while other railroads had gas masks for the crew or large fans in the tunnel or just used electric locomotives in place of steam engines. but in many cases you try to get the stack as clean as you can and make sure everything is set right going into the tunnel and you should be good till you get to the end of it.
Hi Paul, nice video as always. Your videos on this game why I purchased it for myself. Took me a bit to get the hang of things, but I found some methods of success that I thought I'd share.
1)
Squirrel, the time for your load starts the moment you put the job book into your inventory. You don't need to run it through the validator before leaving. When you validated it at the coal mine, it already had 42 minutes elapsed. Only put the book in your inventory when you have fully set up the train to leave the station.
They changed the behavior in the last build. Now yo need t validate at the start to signal you have taken the job.
@Hans Oh. Thanks. I didn't know they updated. It's been about a week since I last played.
I found Old Bob's Shop. If you have already found it, skip the rest of this post. The next time I went through a town I bought Old Bob's Shop Key. I went back to the shop and unlocked the door, and low-and-behold there was an old Hand Cart; the kind you pump by hand. I used the F1 - F6 keys that also work on the Steam Engine. I took the Hand Cart for a joy right and had a blast. If you haven't found the shop yet and would like to give it a try, Go North of the Machine Factory and just before you get to the first junction there will be an unmarked (on the world map) siding going South West. When you get to the shop by going along the siding take Old Bob's Shop Key and approach the door pointing at the lock. It will light up and you can unlock the door and get to the Hand Cart. A nice diversion.
there's a caboose in the game now, get reginald's garage key at the city sw shop and it's just past forest south
Some railroads in particularly mountainous areas had cab forward designs, where the cab was up front and the smokestack was at the back of the engine.
Southern Pacific
So like that experimental engine in journey beyond sodor, lexi?
Basically
My colleague's grandfather used to drive these steam trains trough tunnels, and he said it was always like this: they shoveled the coal in, set everything, and hit the deck. :) They laid on the ground throughout the whole journey through the tunnel, so you don't want to try this on your own, Squirrel. ;)
Great to see how much you've improved from your first video of this sim.
Driving the steam train in VR is an absolute delight. my only complaint is that there are no flat surfaces to put a map on like the shunter XD
When you went into the tunnel, you mentioned the smoke building up in front of you. On most railways I know of, the tunnels were ok for that, they had good ventilation or something. But on the Southern Pacific, that was actually a serious problem, so they built the cab-forward locomotives to fix that problem. Due to their design, the smoke came out right at the back of the engine itself, while the cab was at the front, keeping the smoke far away from the driver. Most other cab-forwards had the driver's cab in front of the smokebox, but everything else was the same as a conventional locomotive. Because the firebox was now at the front in the SP cab-forwards, it was hard to get coal up there, so they chose to make it an oil fired design, but the oil lines had leaking issues, which combined with the poor tunnel ventilation to cause one accident, where leaking oil caused wheelslip in a tunnel, and the automatic brakes caught the locomotive before it slid backward too far, but the poor ventilation resulted in the smoke building up, and a spark or something must have set the oil on the rails alight, as that caught fire, resulting in either the burning or asphyxiation of the crew, I can't remember which. I'm not 100% sure whether I got the details all correct, anyone correct me if I get it wrong.
doesn't this become rather expensive in Lighter cost ?, because it looks to me that your threw the lighter into the furnace every time :D
beat me to it lol. 10 quid for a cheapo zippo even adds up lol
The devs are planning to change it so that you light something which you throw into the fire, rather than the lighter.
@@hasrock36 Ahh Zippo expenses saved.
but, what happened to matchs ?
Well I mean zippo has a life time warranty.
49:04 I know this is an old video and squirrel might have found out but that is just the slack between cars. Usually happens when either the gradient changes or you put more/less power on the train
I love how you explain everything you do, one of the things I enjoy most about your videos 👍
Makes me feel like I'm right there with you
I would ask if there were anything you'd like me to do in order to help out 🤣
This simulator looks amazing!
You do a brilliant job at operating that steam engine.
I find this video oddly relaxing. Thanks.
A Two-Player Co-op would definitely come in handy when operating a steam engine.
Amazing how that Locomotive could handle all the boiler pressure.
It'll be neat when they model the loco brake on both engines, as well as add some cooling system for the shunter. That thing overheats pulling anything for any period of time lol
More Derail Valley please! Can't get enough :)
To respond to your comment about driving through a tunnel in a steam locomotive, it's fun. Depending on the train size, tunnel length, & speed, it's not that bad. I loved it and miss it horribly.
Can you show us some video clips of derailing? This is DERAIL Valley after all. 😁😁😁
There's plenty of that in some of his other Derail Valley videos.
@@Maeyanie Which video and what's the timestamp in the video? He only has three Derail Valley videos posted on his channel.
They're probably referring to the videos on SquirrelPlus, my second channel. Here's a couple of fun derails from there:
ua-cam.com/video/Jg10R4gV3wY/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/eZeAgO1QyUk/v-deo.html
@@squirrel thanks
The VR version is really where this game shines. I can honestly say that I have never felt as sick in a VR game as I did when derailing in this game. It's not a pleasant experience to be upside down in a game when you're actually standing up in your living room
I don't know how much the game has changed but about a year ago I played the free VR tech demo version of the game and the derailing was quite intense
ALWAYS turn off the blower in tunnels. Just some good advice.
I think the blower is supposed to be on in tunnels, to help counter the effect of compressed air (from entering the tunnel) going the wrong way down the smokestack/chimney and causing blowback.
@@rrice1705 One problem was with blasts of air going back down the chimney and through the furnace. They might have found a way around the problem toward the end.
I discovered a little trick that may be useful to some or it may add to the burden, but here goes. If you inject the water so you can see the water level rise. Then stop injecting water just below the top of the glass bulb so you can still see the white line of the water level. I found that the steam engine uses coal and water at about the same rate. When the water level gets down to about 1/4 water left you will usually hear the tick-tick-tick alarm that we hear when its telling us to add more coal. Sometimes I don't hear the tick-tick-tick because of the noise, For me it has been a useful tool to know what the coal level is.
The Job starts as soon as you pick up the ticket. You don't have to validate the job. Next time look at the ticket, throw it back on the table and pick it up as soon as you're ready to leave. You started allready with 43 minutes on the jobticket when you validated. Keep up the good job, greetings from the Netherlands.
4:19 the blower only works when their is enough pressure in the boiler XD
Thank god someone said it.
Yes you may not have to deal with the steam dump valve. Something to keep in mind is if you're hitting the point where it's venting itself, then you're wasting coal and water building steam that's not being used. When my steam meter gets near the top I close vents and let the coals simmer as they will burn far slower during times when steam isn't needed. (For example when going downhill or sitting stationary.)
The trees growing in the middle of the tracks drive me crazy 🤬😵🤣
The game is in Early access it’s bound to have some bugs.
I just noticed, when you went to "aquire the job" before coupling the train, you had already done so and had 42 minutes on the clock! This is why the time was so out of whack
4:01 that must cost a fortune in lighters
After you throw the lighter, you still keep it for some reason.
Glad you are no longer venting steam for no reason XD. I find it weird they put that feature in when in real life all it was used for was making sure the lines and pistons where dry and didn't have condensed water in them. When the locomotive was stationary you'd push some steam through to the pistons to keep them warm and not have 'wet steam' or condensate in them. Since water can't be compressed.
I love how he explains how to drive the train safely. Nice video
Ive just come off derail valley at the time of writing this comment and i pulled 1472 tons over 3 different job booklets with a single steam locomotive. Although i did have to have the blower, the drafting and the sander on full blast and once i crested the hill, i was pretty much out of sand and once i was on the long straight leading up to the bridge just before the tutorial area, the tender ran dry so i had to get to the steel mill with the boiler only a quarter full of water and then when I uncoupled the steam locomotive from the train to bring it to the fuel area, the fire went out about halfway down the length of train because there was no more coal or water. There are a few things i would like the devs to add. Being able to control multiple locomotives from just 1 cab would be extremely handy and brake vans would be absolutely brilliant. I had MEGA problems on the downhill stretch because the wagons kept banging into eachother since the couplings had been stretched going uphill but were now coming together going down. A brake van would stop thus from happening as there would be a way to brake the train from the rear. Thus stopping the wagons from hitting eachother.
Caboose is in the works and will be added later.
A brake van can only do so much though Specifically meaning If you have a Very heavy train you would need either a Large brake van Or Multiple Smaller ones to do the work (Though off topic I do hope they add in a Small steam shunter and Multiple types of brake vans For different areas (For example at the steel works You would have a heavy Brake van at the farms you would have Lighter Brake vans and the steam shunter would have more power than the diesel shunter
Coupler slack is a problem in real railroading to this day. Nice that the devs modeled it in the sim- they have put a lot of work into this.
I think only UK (European too?) railroads used "brake vans." In the US the caboose was an office for the train crew, dating back to the days when the brakes were set by hand while walking across the top of the cars. Today there is still the capability of partially setting the brakes on a few individual cars to keep the slack stretched while going downgrade.
@@ostlandr I think in the game a brake van would be more practical. Setting brakes on individual wagons would be very inconvienient. You could just pull one handle and the couplings stay taught because the brake brake van is braking from the rear. I also think tbat if brake vans werre to come into the game then there should be two different handles for the engine brake and the brake in the van.
"saftey, I think, is more important"
As someone in the transportation industry nothing is more true than this. Whether you're a trucker, pilot or conductor saftey should ALWAYS be your top priority. I know it's always mine.
As a former driver, the tunnels should fill with smoke and lingers for a long time as takes a while for the vents to get rid of it.
The smell is sulphurous and pungent. Had to close my cab windows every time! lol
If you're new to derail valley or considering buying it the water valve and the 'reverser' can be controlled using the scroll wheel.
53:18 - A "steam dump" isn't real, it's just for this game. In real life, the steam coming out the sides is usually toward the front from the cylinder cocks opening. They blow steam through the cylinders to keep them warm (to prevent water condensing) while they're stationary. They only tend to open them if they're planning on moving off again soon. For a long stop, they may leave them closed or just slightly cracked and open them fully before/while setting off to blow any water out of the cylinders.
In VR, you guys can put the coal on the foot plate and have it ready to shovel it more quickly then twisting around to keep the fire going. It's a real life thing that the fireman can do, try it in VR. Might like it as idea to make it easier or something.
That video both helped me and it was interesting! Very well narrated.
irl another trick that was employed on real railroads was running low water to generate more steam, because less water to heat means faster steam generation
Edit: when I do heavy coal hauls I like to have the blower on full, damper all the way open, throttle wide and reverser on full speed, I can generally get away with 60 out of the coal mine
Would be nice if you could play the steam locomotive co-op, so you could have a fireman manage the coal and water for you like in real life.
I will try this after I will learn how to steam loco.
For me it was a pain in the ass moving 400+ tons cargo from Harbor to Food Factory follow the East exit from Harbor with the small diesel loco.
Easiest way to open the injector and firebox is to use the mouse roller on them. They'll open super easily.
you forgot to open the cylinder, vent out the water, if not bye bye cylinders
Then KABOOOOOM!
16:08.
I take your point, but I think we understand the concept of a fireman.
The right term of opening the vent at the bottom is opening the damper for primary air
ive driven multiple steamers on heritage lines and rule 1 and 2 of tunnel saftey is dont have the fire box door open and dont stick you head or any part of your body out of the side
I can’t wait till they finally add in a large Diesel engine.
They have now I don’t know when they did you might already know but still
@@JakeH9678 I think he means like, big EMD's. Like SD40s or GP38s. Maybe SD70ACe's or GEVO's.
7:44 start
8:45 reversing
11:50 start of journey
Speed signs are there now, as well as a second break and a lot of other changes. Nice job, i already failed 2x with 1200t and 1000t to get up the hill, saw someone make it with 1200t so it is possible. But its really not easy. Will now check if 800t are more doable. The steam loko and tender also have some weight, so your actually moving more than just the train.
Still a lot of verry good help in your video, will try to manage speed better next try.
Hey Squirrel, you Mentioned you would like a go on a steamer? i would recommend Elsecar heritage railway near Barnsley me and the wife took a little saddle tank out for a spin , amazing experience. 10/10 would train again
I believe that on a real steam loco you're not allowed to open the firebox because of the tunnel effect making the fire bellow out into the cab rather ferociously when at speed due to the train creating a high / low pressure area in front/rear.
the reverser is the transmition of a steam locomotive. the faster you go, the more you want to decrease it
16:04 COop is a community unlock ^o^
even when the boiler is empty on water and the injector is off the steam engine seems to still draw water from the tender XD glitz
You can almost hear that loco panting.
It’s probably due to the sheer strength that thing had to put out.
I feel like foggy weather would be a REALLY big challenge in this sort of game where you have no hud, and you only indicator of what's to come is 100 or 200 feet out
I hope they add more steam locomotives with different whistles and cab layouts, would also be cool to have day and night cycle so you have to switch the head light on
Definitely interesting. Would like to see more videos with the steam trains
Did a train like this myself yesterday. A lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
every twenty seconds, "gunna shovel a bit of coal in there"
would be interesting to see other steam loco types: shunter/pannier tank, tender locos of various nations and designs.
Like an 0-6-0 steam locomotive. Those were pretty common to see with steam shunters.
Never heard of this game before you randomly popped up in my feed.
Rejoice, the algorithm is good.
These train videos satisfy my train needs.
I hope we get more trains and a bigger map. Just bought it since I love trains and simulation games.
If u ever have s chance to be in the cab of a real steam loco the memory of it will last a life time well worth the effort
Bought the game earlier this week. Would love to see contour lines on the map which might make planning runs easier.
What are contour lines?
"Ya know, i know we have a time limit, but i think safety is more important."
Couldn't say it better myself. I'm a former trucker and i'd sooner have my dispatcher, broker, or customer upset with me for being a little late, than ever do any possible harm.
the dream of every boy, running a steam engine. i just read about the "job" and what you have to learn nowadays..... itll allways be a dream for me tho. good thing we have games like this! hope it adds Multiplayer soon
So I fire these things in the UK and to be fair the game is pretty good at simulating the rush of it all. It isn't always relaxing! That 'steam dump' is called a blow down valve and would be used either before coming off or going onto shed to force out any contaminants in the boiler (Not to drain the entire boiler as it wouldn't do it much good!). The 'Vent' is called the damper and quite often there can be anything from 1 to 4 (or none!). These are essentially doors on the ashpan (where the fire ashes are collected) that open and shut depending on how much airflow the fireman wants to have. The game shows that very well! For an early access game the simulation is very good. The 'temperature' gauge is something you wouldn't see in real life and is it a bit unnecessary really and i'd like to see the injector modified to be a bit more realistic having a water and steam valve with variance depending on pressure, water temperature, etc (they really are temperamental and never work the same!) but the idea of putting it on and simply leaving it in the correct trim is exactly what I do! Cheers for the top class video Squirrel. I look forward to the next one!
Used to love running steam locomotives in Trainz Railroad Simulator. Took the Big Boy to Australia and put it on the Pibara iron ore hauls because why not.
I somebody hauled 7 or 8 (about 700+ tons) cars of iron from iron mine east to the steel mill with the small yellow locomotive.
At around 48:00 I found myself screaming to my screen "Pressure!!" 😂
On a real steam locomotive, you actually don’t want the water to be fully topped on on the meter. You want to maintain it at about 2/3. I keep it at 3/4 in the game, because it’s easier to measure using the bolts placed along the meter in 1/4 increments. If it drops below 1/2 in real life, you are running the risk of a boiler explosion. If it’s too high, you won’t have very much steam reserves.
None of this is taken into account in the game as it is right now, but if you want to operate it realistically, keep it in mind.
I think they should allow you to automate thing like the coal to simulate the 2nd and 3rd member of the crew
The video I never searched for, and the one I never knew I needed
what this game needs is multiplayer so you can have one person be the driver and one be the fireman
At the mention of two people. I think that's how steam engines were operated for real. One person to perate the engine, and the other person to shovel coal (Called Fireman)
Yay Derail Valley
Love the content....❤
Ikr!
Quick tip it's better to have the boiler halfway makes steaming easier, that's in real life don't know whether that transfers to the game
Lovely whistle on that engine
Train conducting was a tough job back in the day.
4:40 That whistle
There is no steam dump valve on a steam engine. They have the safety valve but that’s up top on the boiler. The steam that comes out is usually the water injector. Is a lot more complicated to drive and fire a steam engine than this one.
I know this is a game, but IRL if you open firebox while in a tunnel, there will be major fire blowback, burning the operator. Wonder if it will be implemented if ever death was a thing in this game XD
New challenge: since the time bonus appears to be broken do a multi-job single haul from one of the stations if that is possible.