Amtrak F59PHI tune up

The following is an update of the F59PHI ENGine file for Paul Burton's model, f59phiv1.zip (1Mb, 02-Feb-03) available from Train-sim.com. You'll also need the F59PHI cabview by Mike Karlik, 3window.zip (5.7Mb, 29-Nov-02), from Train-sim.com. If you don't have 3DTrainStuff's SD70 (no longer available from their site), download airbsnd.zip (9.4Mb, 24-Jul-02) which appears to have the EMD 710 engine sounds, required for prototypical sound for the F59PHI (allowance has to be made for the fact that the SD70 has the V16 version of the 710 whereas the F59PHI is a V12).

The suggested parameter changes below are derived from the V4.1 physics update to the GP59 loco which has the V12 710 motor. The EMD GP-series V4.1 physics updates are in gpphy41.zip (172kb, 07-Mar-02) from Train-sim.com. The changes below are not perfect but seem to be close; values will be updated after more research.

The October 2002 issue of Trains features the F59PHI in its power issue and, noting that blended brakes are used, web•TrainSim has included them below. Blended braking is the automatic application of dynamic braking along with normal train braking so the driver/engineer doesn't have independent control over dynamic braking. The Acela is an example where blending braking is used. The V4.1 physics GP59 brake and dynamic brake values are not included below but web•TrainSim has inserted them into his F59PHI ENGine and there are no problems; he'll take time out for testing as soon as he can!

Note 1: web•TrainSim has installed the 3window F59PHI cabview files in their own sub-folder, F59PHI, under Common.Cab where they'll be for use with other (hopefully) F59PHI models. If you do the same, remember to use WordPad, or your favourite Unicode text editor, to prefix the ACE files with ..\\..\\Common.Cab\\F59PHI\\, except for those the author has aliased to the default GP38 and Dash 9.

Note 2: web•TrainSim has put his SD70 sounds into their own sub-folder, SD70, under the Common.Snd folder since they're applicable to many different SD60 and SD70 locos.

Note 3: F59 is the EMD series number, P = passenger train haulage, H = head-end power (known as hotel power in the UK) for auxiliaries such as train air-conditioning and lighting, I = independent driver/engineer cab (named Whisper Cab by EMD) with its own suspension and air-conditioning for greater operator comfort.

07-Feb-03: mass corrected to 118t (260,000 lbs).

    ..............
   Mass ( 118t )
   WheelRadius ( 20in )
   InertiaTensor ( Box ( 3.594m 4.431m 18.4m ) )
   Coupling (
      Type ( Automatic )
         Spring (
            Stiffness ( 1e6N/m 5e6N/m )
            Damping ( 1e6N/m/s 1e6N/m/s )
            Break ( 1.1e7N 1.1e7N )
            r0 ( 20cm 30cm )
            )
    ..............
   Adheasion ( 0.29 0.60 1.8 0 )
   DerailRailHeight ( 4cm )
   DerailRailForce ( 2.5*118t )
   DerailBufferForce ( 275kN )
   NumWheels ( 8 )
   Friction (
       1326N/m/s   0   0.7mph   21.15N/m/s   1.8
    ..............
   MaxBrakeForce( 85kN )
    ..............
    ..............
   Sound ( "..\\..\\Common.Snd\\SD70\\sd70Eng.sms" )
    ..............
   MaxPower ( 3000hp )
   MaxForce ( 357.9kN )
   MaxContinuousForce ( 296.6kN )
    ..............
   MaxVelocity ( 110mph )
   MaxCurrent ( 1700A )
   WheelRadius ( 20in )
   Sanding ( 6mph )
   NumWheels ( 4 )
    ..............
   BrakesEngineControllers( "Independent, Train, Dynamic, Blended" )
    ..............
   CabView ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\F59PHI\\f59phi.cvf" )
   MaxDieselLevel ( 1700gal )
   DieselUsedPerHourAtMaxPower ( 184gal )
   DieselUsedPerHourAtIdle ( 4.3gal )
    ..............
   DieselEngineIdleRPM( 265 )
   DieselEngineMaxRPM( 905 )
   DieselEngineSpeedOfMaxTractiveEffort( 13mph )
   DieselEngineMaxRPMChangeRate( 37 )
    ..............
   Comment ( Combined_Control( 0 1 0.5 0.5 throttle dynamic ) )
    ..............
   Sound ( "..\\..\\Common.Snd\\SD70\\sd70cab.sms" )
    ..............

Brakes

To tune up the F59PHI's brakes, you might copy the braking sections from the V4.1 physics update to the GP59 loco, being careful to copy and paste one section at a time. If you're not comfortable with copying and pasting in case something goes wrong, compare values line by line between the two ENGine files and just change those values that differ.

The sections to copy and paste being/end with the following:

   AirBrakesAirCompressorPowerRating( 3.8 )
    ..............
    ..............
   AirBrakesIsCompressorElectricOrMechanical( 1 )

   EngineBrakesControllerMinPressureReduction( 6 )
    ..............
    ..............
   TrainBrakesControllerFullServicePressureDrop( 26 )

   DynamicBrakesMinUsableSpeed( 3.5 )
    ..............
    ..............
   DynamicBrakeHasAutoBailOff ( 1 )

To make life easier for the driver/engineer in the commuter services that the F59PHI is used on, dynamic braking is applied alongside with the air brakes, as in the Acela and other modern commuter power cars/locos. So a couple of lines from where you've finished, you'll see this line:

   BrakesEngineControllers( "Independent, Train, Dynamic" )

Check you have Blended in the list:

   BrakesEngineControllers( "Independent, Train, Dynamic, Blended" )

Now scroll down until you come across the section that notches the dynamic brakes:

      Brake_Dynamic ( 0 1 0.1111 0 
         NumNotches ( 10
            Notch ( 0       0 Dummy )
            Notch ( 0.1111  0 Dummy )
    ..............
    ..............
            Notch ( 0.9999  0 Dummy )
         )
      )

We want infinite adjustment so we reduce the above to just:

      Brake_Dynamic ( 0 1 0.1111 0 
         NumNotches ( 0 )
      )

Note one bracket has been moved up to close the NumNotches ( 0 ) line.

Then, on the next line down, check you've commented out the Combined_Control line; you should have:

   Comment ( Combined_Control( 0 1 0.5 0.5 throttle dynamic ) )

One final adjustment is to change the air pressure values for a freight loco to those for passenger services. These are the values you need to edit:

    ..............
   AirBrakesMainMaxAirPressure( 140 )
    ..............
   AirBrakesCompressorRestartPressure( 136 )
    ..............
    ..............
   EngineBrakesControllerMaxSystemPressure( 110 )
   TrainBrakesControllerMaxSystemPressure( 110 )
    ..............

Save this ENGine file and give your F59PHI a trial run, perhaps putting it into a commuter service consist in one of the NEC activities.