It shouldn't do, although I only use it in QD and Free Roam. For scripted scenarios I leave it alone.

@@Smokebox Probably for the best. Great work!

My model depicts the Big Boys as they were in the mid 1940s :)

I would love to do something a NYC Hudson or Niagara but it's very difficult to get the necessary drawings.

Hi Franquito, unfortunately they're scripted to take damage above a certain speed. However, your idea of being able to disable that is a good one. I could do that with a special key and also automatically for AI locos. I'll try to do that when I have time.

@@Smokebox Thank you for the answer😁and you are welcome for the idea🤙

It's a possibility. We'll have to wait and see.

There's no visual indication of the overall fire mass but instead what you see is the build up of coal banks in the different corners of the grate, as well as to each side and in the centre. When the draft changes, such as when working the locomotive hard or, conversely, coasting, it's important to adjust the stoker manifold and stoker jets so as to get the coal to the various areas of the grate in the right relative amounts. For that reason, I've animated the actual coal banks, so you should open the firebox doors now and then (with the stoker switched off) and scan the firebox to see if the coal bed is more or less level. If it isn't adjust the jets accordingly. There are two reasons I don't animate the overall level. The first is that it makes it more difficult to do the coal banks, but the second is that really the most realistic way of running the loco HUDless doesn't involve looking at the firebox to see how much coal is in it. Instead, you should get the locomotive running steadily with the right amount of back pressure (which you can see on the back pressure gauge above the brake gauges) and then watch the boiler pressure carefully. If it's dropping from the ideal of around 279 psi, you increase the stoker pressure a little bit, and keep on doing that until the boiler pressure stays steady with the safeties feathering. If the safeties are continually lifting, you need to reduce the stoking rate. I think FanRailer did a tutorial video for my Big Boy where he explains and demonstrates this very well. I'll see if I can find it.

Here's FanRailer's (one of my expert beta testers) tutorial on the fireman's tasks (manual firing) in the Big Boy, which is equally applicable to the Challenger: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fdWgjZyJss-Uj5c.html

@@Smokebox Thanks so much for the detailed reply and the link. I did some more driving/experimenting since my comment and reading your responses now, it's all making more sense. I did have the thought that animating a coal bank on top of a moving level of coal would be quite difficult too. I tried your method of running so that the safety valves only feather and through careful adjustment of the stoker pressure, I think I got it nailed. Now to try and fine-tune my coal placement and try to keep it all as level as possible lol. I'll check out that link. Thanks again :)

@@Smokebox Quick question: is there any way to suppress the messages regarding the stoker getting jammed and sight glasses getting clogged? Would be awesome to have to check these manually. But I understand if it's not possible. Cheers

@@HarmanMotorWorks Currently it's not possible but I could add a key command for that in the next patch.

That's not something I have currently in the update plan.