Trainz/Driving Diesel Engines

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Driving Trainz, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Introductory Trainz — page by page instruction
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Starting oddly

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The following image contains streams of control hotkeys in Driver mode.
Let's explore what is happening and why they were pressed.
 
These are hotkey sequences one might enter to 'situationally Drive' in Trainz Driver. The graphic is meant to illustrate dynamic driving meeting certain conditions driving on the road. It was originally developed to explain to software engineers how a stream of keystroke captures were desired for display in a ticker display during Trainz Video tutorials, hence the row organization represents that ticker. (so far, September 2015, this hasn't happened)

A simulated CAB mode Drive

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With minimal repeating, this is a translation:

First row
QFWWW
Q= release air brakes
F= select forward (shift transmission)
W= increase throttle one notch, hence WWW=up to third notch
2nd row
A...ZXXXW...ASRWWSA
A = apply initial air brakes
...= wait or delay for some period,
  • when used between A-Z, it specifically means about three counts (2-3 seconds)
Z = Toggle brakes Lap mode on. 'Lap' engages a 'air flow hold', keeping whatever partial brake pipe pressure as was built up during the '...' delay interval.
X = Throttle back (reduce throttle one notch)
A = a 2nd A key fully applies the air brakes, bringing their brake cylinders to full stopping pressure.
S = Shifter to Neutral, necessary for reversing (next)
R = Shift Transmission to Reverse, then throttle-up 2x to slow train fast
S = Shifter to Neutral, necessary for shifting
A = useless keystroke, nervous behavior; another A won't put full brakes on any faster, bur neither will it hurt.
3rd row
...2SA.4...ZRJJJWW...X...EXEFQWW
2 = means select exterior camera view
SA = Shifter to neutral, throttle off (0 notch), begin braking
. = quickly, immediately...
4 = select free camera view, this allows user to 'walk about' (or fly around) in the World.
...= continue counting..., then Lap brakes (Z), reverse transmission (R)
J = Switch junction ahead of Loco. JJJ is either a series of close junctions or a three way junction needing cycled to the correct divergent path.

WW = here, as after 'R' above, means increase throttle in Reverse; in this case, use the motors to slow the train quickly!

E = Toggle (on/off) independent Locomotive brakes—these act very quickly compared to the main braking system.
translation: "...X...EXEFQWW" means slow, but not as hard, loco-brakes on, remove throttle, loco brake off, shift to forwards, release main brakes, throttle-up, throttle-up.

Given the preceding RRR toggling, this is a likely sequence for abruptly slowing while navigating first a junction (merge or diverge) then a cross-over (two jcts connecting two parallel tracks) so the cars swerving through the resultant 'S-curve' don't go out of control.

4th row
AZSABK2------------4...Q[CTRL-J]FW
B = ring Bell toggle
K = A typo, was likely supposed to be J, switch junction, for is not a standard Driver hotkey.
2------------4 = imply passing a junction, getting 'off the train loco' and waiting for the last car to pass,
since [CTRL-J] = toggle junction BEHIND train (contrast with J above) follows right after, accompanied by a shift to Forwards and throttle-up again.