SkittleKicks Plays Posted February 12 Posted February 12 (edited) One thing I noticed early on in SimRail when I first played the demo was there is no way to apply handbrakes to consists during coupling. What I mean is setting the handbrakes so that they do not move when trying to couple to them. It's bad enough these trains all have bumpers that act like a spring board ricocheting the loco backward and shoving the consist forward. This happens at 1 MPH. The only handbrake we can even control is in the locos. In the US depending on the length of the consist one or more handbrakes are set to prevent movement in a yard. Granted in the US our trains use knuckle couplers which instantly grab and temporarily hold until the locking pin is put in place. This is accomplished by a 3 to 5 MPH "slam" into the car. This is a big safety thing. You can waste so much time trying to connect to consists (and I have) because we can't lock consist handbrakes. I know that in Derail Valley the same types of coupling system is used as in SimRail, but in that game you can turn the handbrakes to secure them. Edited February 12 by SkittleKicks Plays Minor grammer edit 1
jeroezie Posted February 13 Posted February 13 The pneumatic brake is set on the wahons when they spawn in, so they are not going to roll away. The easy way to couple, is to stop just short of the wagons and try to apply very littele power. If you time it rigt, you can set the direct aur brake lightly, just before you actually hit the wagons, to prevent you from rolling back. With real locomotives, this push back happens too. Modern rolling stock tends to have tbis effect more.
SkittleKicks Plays Posted 2 hours ago Author Posted 2 hours ago On 2/13/2026 at 4:01 AM, jeroezie said: The pneumatic brake is set on the wahons when they spawn in, so they are not going to roll away. The easy way to couple, is to stop just short of the wagons and try to apply very littele power. If you time it rigt, you can set the direct aur brake lightly, just before you actually hit the wagons, to prevent you from rolling back. With real locomotives, this push back happens too. Modern rolling stock tends to have tbis effect more. What you said is exactly what I have tried. You still ricochet due to the bumpers on these types of locos at any slow speed, and no these consists are not spawning in with their hand brakes set. The moment you make contact while coupling they move at least 2 feet or more. I do not use a controller or Rail Driver, I have to use keyboard controls. Remember what I said. In the US we do not use the hook coupler or bumpers that are used in European trains. In the US locos can couple at 3MPH to 5 MPH with no ricochet. There is very little movement when they make contact with a consist. SimRail should have the ability to set handbrakes beyond the loco, and even adjust the bumper impact to prevent bouncing off it even if just slight.
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