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Folks,It looks like the consist builder in MSTS does not allow dissimilar coupling types to work together in the sim....so use Conbuilder version 1.5.5 or newer to make the consists of schnabel cars for your activities and there should be no problems...it will still show an error/warning message about dissimilar couplers when you build the consist, but it will work in the sim just fine....As for uncoupling the cars....once you have made a consist with these types of cars they cannot be uncoupled....I have tried several times and types of other units tied to the schnabels and it turns out the same each time...no cars in the consist tied to the schnabels can be uncoupled.Maybe there will be a solution to this in the future....Rick
Rick, and all other schnabel users. I have been running the various schnabels with one or two locomotives, an idler flat; the schnabel set; another idler flat; and a caboose. I just ran some tests, and was able to uncouple the idler flats from the schnabel; thus leaving it by itself completely free of the rest of the train??? I have been making my consists using Conbuilder v1.6.1, and have added a name line to each of the wag files (in their correct order of course) so that when I look for the car in "CB" it is easier to find and assemble. Following is an example for the CEBX800:Schnabel 3 Front A1 Schnabel 3 Front A2 Schnabel 3 Front A3 Schnabel 3 Front A4 Schnabel 3 Front A5 Schnabel 3 Front A6 Schnabel 3 Front A7 Schnabel 3 Load/CEBX800 270' Schnabel 3 Rear B1 Schnabel 3 Rear B2 Schnabel 3 Rear B3 Schnabel 3 Rear B4 Schnabel 3 Rear B5 Schnabel 3 Rear B6 Schnabel 3 Rear B7 ____________________________________________________________________ CEBX800_A1 CEBX800_A2 CEBX800_A3 CEBX800_A4A CEBX800_A5 CEBX800_A6B CEBX800_A7 CEBX800_LD CEBX800_A7B CEBX800_A2B CEBX800_A3 CEBX800_A4B CEBX800_A5 CEBX800_A6 CEBX800_A8Note that the A3 & A5 sections are used for both the front and the rear, so I copied the two wag files and renamed them for the rear. Also note that Schnabel 3 designates that this is the 3rd schnabel that I have modified this way. Hope I havn't confused you all, and that this may help some of you out. A word of caution though, always back-up your original file before doing any editing !!!!! Ron K of Rockford
Ron, Did you make any changes to the WAG files other than name changes?Also, I have been able to uncouple cars from the schnabels but not recouple afterward....have you been able to recouple?Rick
Rick; No, I just copied the 2 wags and renamed them for the rear cars so as to show up better in conbuilder. And yes, I have been able to recouple to the schnabel after uncoupling ?????
Thanks Ron,I have done some tests as well and have been able to uncouple from the schnabels and then recouple, but some of the cars in MSTS have not been able to do this and I haven't figured out why....Rick
Rick; Arriving home from work tonight, I resumed running the CEBX800 consist on the new Priest River RR; which I've been exploring the route with at a max speed of 20 mph. I tryed some more uncouplings, and this time I could not get the rear idler flat to uncouple; although it did last evening! The front idler flat uncoupled and recoupled just fine. Now I am getting a bit confused here??? I will try some more tests with some different flats(I have been randomly downloading 40 & 50 ft flats from the file library for testing purposes)and let you know what my results are. Later Ron K of Rockford
>I have done some tests as well and have been able to >uncouple from the schnabels and then recouple, but some of >the cars in MSTS have not been able to do this and I haven't >figured out why.... I'm a bit stumped by this as well. At first I thought it was a bounding box issue on the car you are trying to couple to the Schnabel, but I can't get consistant results.Is it something to do the the Schnabel itself? I've noticed that the different parts of the car act very strangely when you derail them. The car is obviously a very unorthodox build. (Due to the constraints dictated by MSTS) Maybe it's just some quirk inherent in the way the car needed to be designed?-Jeff
I don't know if the constraints are MSTS or the coupling syntax that needs to be the way it is for the car not to compress and uncompress on itself as it rolls along....the BAR coupling makes for a very clean and rigid design....But I tried at first to use automatic coupling but the pieces ran into each other and blended along the car at different spots depending on if they were in a curve or not....I think chain coupling is no better....When the units I have coupled to the schanbels use BAR coupling it looks great but cannot be uncoupled from the schnabels....so the first and last pieces of the schnabels are done with Automatic and BAR coupling and this allows them to be placed and uncoupled from other standard units in MSTS....however some of the units once uncoupled do not allow themselves to recouple.....so it poses a dilema....if I use just automatic coupling for the schnabels they act as all cars in MSTS do and float around each other sometimes leaving several feet of gap between the couplers of each car and then sometimes they compress up until some parts overly the cars attached to each other....both these options do not look good in the sim except when the unit is standing still.If someone knows of a way to get the units to hold their spacing and not be BAR coupled it would help tremendously.I do not know if this is an issue of the coupler statements or if the problems lie in unit size or bounding box settings....I may never know.Rick
This issue is now fixed and here are some shots to prove the point....First the CEBX800 and two flats in my practice yard.... Then the trailing flat uncoupled from the unit.... Then the leading flat uncoupled from the unit.... Then the unit and the leading flat recoupled about to recouple to the trailing flat.... Then all pieces recoupled and ready to haul.... This was done using BAR coupling on the interior units of the schnabels and AUTOMATIC coupling on the first piece and the last piece of the schnabels....I tested this with 12 different cars in my trainsim folder and all worked great...and the schnabel held it's rigidity during all operations!!!!!See I ain't an IJIT......Look for the fix as Fix_Schb.zipRick
