I downloaded the GN Heavyweight passenger set (gnhvyset.zip), and started re-painting them to Burlington (CB&Q). I looked at them in the sim, and noticed they seemed to float over the rails. Except for texture, I have not changed the rail shapes. So I decided to run them through Shape File Manager, to lower (Shift) them down to the rails. That didn’t exactly work. For some reason, the wheels ran out of round, that is, they bobbed up and down as they rolled, as if mounted off center on the axles.After restoring the .s file, I opened it up in Wordpad, and found the section that deals with the trucks (bogies). It looks like this:
matrices ( 9
matrix Frame ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 )
matrix Bogie1 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.001 0.706 9.296 )
matrix Wheels11 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.046 -0.187 1.631 )
matrix Wheels12 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.046 -0.187 0.053 )
matrix Wheels13 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.046 -0.187 -1.61 )
matrix Bogie2 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.005 0.722 -9.144 )
matrix Wheels21 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.042 -0.203 1.65606 )
matrix Wheels22 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.042 -0.203 0.0353431 )
matrix Wheels23 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.042 -0.203 -1.58531 )
)
Looking this section over, it occurred to me that this might be the same formatting as the Lighting section in a .wag or .eng file. Ignoring the first nine numbers (the zeros and ones), I found that I could lower the entire bogie (matrix Bogie1 and matrix Bogie2) by adjusting the middle number (the Y axis) and if that wasn’t sufficient, I could raise or lower each individual wheelset by adjusting the middle number of each wheel. Using the above example, The first bogie X, Y, Z coordinates are –0.001 0.706 9.296. To drop the entire bogie down, adjust downward the middle number (0.706). The number I finally ended up using was 0.68. I also adjusted each wheelset upward a bit, to center the bearings in the journal boxes. While I was at it, I noticed that a few of the axles were not centered in the journal boxes, particularly the center axle, so I moved those around by adjusting the Z axis (the last number of the group). Finally, I zeroed all the X axis numbers (I have no idea why they were off-center, but logic would seem to indicate that the bogies should be centered above the rails and below the car body). Below are the numbers I finally settled for.
matrices ( 9
matrix Frame ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 )
matrix Bogie1 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.00 0.68 9.296 )
matrix Wheels11 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 1.631 )
matrix Wheels12 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 -0.03 )
matrix Wheels13 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 -1.65 )
matrix Bogie2 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.00 0.68 -9.144 )
matrix Wheels21 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 1.65606 )
matrix Wheels22 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 -0.03 )
matrix Wheels23 ( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 -0.0 -0.2 -1.65 )
)
If anyone sees an error in my thinking, or if there is already a utility to do this, please let me know.
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