Front Coupling Problem

I'm having a problem trying to uncouple from the front coupler on the
Newark & New Jersey line. I'm trying to use the Penn Central 1500 locomotive.Everytime I try to uncouple from the cars they recouple again and I can't get loose.I checked the bounding box for the loco and cars and they appear to be ok.I recall that sometime ago someone posted a procedure as to how best to uncouple from the front and I did a search with no luck.Could someone tell me how to get around this problem?Russ

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RE: Front Coupling Problem, Stooopid_person, Apr-24-03, 10:56 AM, (1) RE: Front Coupling Problem, sniper297, Apr-24-03, 11:11 AM, (2) RE: Front Coupling Problem, kmanc21, Apr-24-03, 12:22 PM, (3) RE: Front Coupling Problem, kevarc, Apr-24-03, 12:35 PM, (4) RE: Front Coupling Problem, abarten, Apr-24-03, 12:48 PM, (5) RE: Front Coupling Problem, dejoh, Apr-24-03, 04:31 PM, (6) RE: Front Coupling Problem, sniper297, Apr-24-03, 05:42 PM, (8) RE: Front Coupling Problem, Coonskin, Apr-24-03, 04:55 PM, (7) RE: Front Coupling Problem, dejoh, Apr-24-03, 08:18 PM, (9) RE: Front Coupling Problem, baldwin, Apr-25-03, 03:34 PM, (10) RE: Front Coupling Problem, Coonskin, Apr-25-03, 06:59 PM, (11) RE: Front Coupling Problem, baldwin, Apr-25-03, 07:47 PM, (12) RE: Front Coupling Problem, Coonskin, Apr-25-03, 10:15 PM, (13) RE: Front Coupling Problem, baldwin, Apr-26-03, 08:30 AM, (14)

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>I'm having a problem trying to uncouple from the front Reverse the train at about or less than 1mph until the loco is about a few metres from the trailer.

------My favourite LUL train------

HAPPY NOW? It's not moving anymore.
It's still the same train but in another livery, that's all.

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To elaborate on what stooopid said:When you couple on with the front coupler, you usually have to hit it a little harder than with the back coupler to get the couplers to engage, or back away from it to get it to engage. As far as I know, nothing can be done about the coupler window, when you exceed a certain number of cars ahead of the engine they don't all display. But the trick to uncoupling is that the couplers have a default "engage" speed of 1 mph, so when you back away at that speed, they will recouple. Since diesels have notched throttles and fast acceleration, the first notch accelerates past 1 mph very quickly, and the couplers recouple. So to slow down acceleration I:
1. Uncouple
2. Selector to reverse.
3. Independent brake (loco brake) to 30%.
4. Throttle to notch one.
5. Slowwwwly release independent brake until engine just starts moving.
6. Wait for 5 foot seperation before releasing independent brake completely.
That has to be adjusted of course, if you have a helper the independent brake don't affect the helper, so you need more independent brake to restrain the acceleration added by the helper. If the cars recouple while you're doing this, just add more independent brake, uncouple again, and start slowly releasing the brake again. Steam is actually easier to do this with since the regulator is more finely adjustable, don't need independent brakes. Most steamers don't seem to have them anyway.

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As far as uncoupling goes here's what works for me. Set the hand brakes on the cars you are uncoupling, uncouple the cars (leave the F9 window open just in case) and start to back away. Most of the time setting the handbrakes will allow the front coupler to uncouple. If they don't uncouple, double click on the front coupler while still in reverse at notch one and it should uncouple. If not just keep double clicking the front coupler while in reverse and eventually you will break free. As far as seeing all the cars when you are using the front coupler - just double click on the last coupler showing in the F9 window and it should jump to the end of the consist, at least it has for me.Ken

How did I survive before MSTS

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http://forums.atomic-systems.com/viewtopic.php?t=14918Kevin Arceneaux
DEFAULT IS FOR DUMMIES

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Interesting opost. I look forward to trying this.Al
http://alfredbarten.com

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Ah, the most troublesome function of this otherwise great train sim. Lets admit it folks, The front coupler is a complete failure on the software developers end. Time and time again I have had the send don't send message come up, trying to dislodge cars from the front of an engine, then crashed out of the sim, to desktop. Granted, some times it works, and I can go on my merry way. MOST TIMES IT DOES NOT WORK. I've simply avoided useing the front coupler. That is not very Train realistic. To check out an operating front coupler, look into Auran's Ultimate Train Collection. I use both, and think Microsoft can learn a trick or two about un-coupling engines. Lets face it, in a real industrial switching operation, you have to at times, use the front coupler.Not in Train simulator
Dejoh

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Funny, dejoh, you didn't kill this thread by posting here!
Must be losing your touch.
Yeah, when the infamous "throw a dog a bone" 1.1 patch came out there was a lot of feedback on the locking up/crashing to desktop/send love letter to Uncle Bill problem. Common denominators;1. Loose consist on player path. Using manual switches for spurs so that the player engine is off the path when coupling avoids that problem.2. Hitting too hard causing program to crash instead of train derailing - change derail buffer force in .eng file for the engine you use for switching to at least 800kN, since the front coupler is more sensitive to derail buffer force than the back coupler. Haven't tried the double coupler values entry since this is the first I've heard of it, but I'm gonna try it only on an engine first, without adding it to any cars, see if that works. (How will I know it's working? I dunno, by following my own advice here I don't have lockups/crashes/send don't send with the front coupler very often, so I guess I gotta go thru an entire year without one single lockup, then I'll know!)3. Incorrect bounding box values in engine and/or cars. Download bboxedit from the file library, fix the rolling stock. When I was first testing the 1.1 patch I used the default GP38 and the default freight cars, since the scientific method requires eliminating as many variables as possible. Little did I know at the time that some of the default cars have incorrect bounding box values, the most notorious being the US2chemicar. Until I fixed the bounding box in the US2chemicar, I not only got occasional lockups with the front coupler, it frequently refused to couple when using the BACK coupler, especially when picking tank cars out of a string of other cars and attempting to assemble a long train of tankers. Haven't had that problem since fixing the bounding box with bboxedit.4. Do switching on the Port Ogden & Northern only, since the PO&N was originally developed long before the infamous 1.1 patch, it has 2 zillion wyes per mile of mainline for turning the engine around and using the back coupler!

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Very interesting thread in that link kevarc provided.I'm neck deep in too many projects to do a thorough job of testing, but would really be interested in the findings of someone taking the time to explore this theory.If any of you do, would you please post your results here?Andre Ming

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Hey Snipe. good to read your most informative thread. I've worn down the rails on the PO&N. Anything new in the air? P.S. did you know theres a P.O.& N route (layout) in Aurans TRAINZ? Remotely simular.See ya
Dejoh

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Hi AndreI think this one has some merit, so am going to give it a workout. Let you know what happens.mervyn@madasafish.com

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Sounds great Mervyn. Hopefully more stability can be found when using the front coupler.btw: Long time since our posting paths have crossed, hope you and yours are doing well. Andre

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Doing fine thanks Andre, all well with you.mervyn@madasafish.com

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We're all healthy, I'm gaining weight, the wife still looks fine and dandy, the grand daughter's growing like a weed...Yup. Life is good.Looking forward to your findings on the coupler issue.Andre

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Ok. Been doing some testing of this dual coupling entry using the N&NJ. I first of all made sure that all stock used on the route was changed and then also checked that the coupler damping line was correct in all cases. The first engine used was #500. This being a relatively slow engine in throttle reaction time I found that so long as movements were done in run1 or 2 there was no tendency to recouple, but use of higher settings caused the recouple to come into play again. Verdict, no problem because switching/shunting movements are done at slow speed anyway.The second engine tested was the GP38, and at first I had no change from the pre mod state. Next I tried with just a very brief open/shut on the throttle to get rolling, and this did work, but needed to be fairly finely judged to uncouple OK.Then I remembered a couple of posts from last year, one on here and one on UKTrainsim, both making changes to the way the throttle is setup in the .eng file. Luckily I had saved both of them and put those settings into the GP38.Throttle ( 0 1 0.025 0 0.
NumNotches ( 9
Notch ( 0 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.044 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.11 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.23 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.34 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.5 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.65 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.81 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 1 0 Dummy )Now this engine will behave itself during switching/shunting operations in a similar manner to steam engines. Put it into run1 and ever so slowly it will move away and begin to accelerate with no recoupling of cars/wagons. Run2 also gives no problems. This fix does not sort out the F9 problem when using the front coupler, but on the basis of two hours of trouble free switching I can heartily recommend it. There is a lot of work to do in amending all stock in your trainset folder, but if you use Train Store and do it route by route its not too bad.mervyn@madasafish.com

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