"Steam" container
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The steam container is a top-level config.txt file entry used by Steam Enginespec assets.
Supported Tags
The Steam container supports the following tags. Each tag is show here with its default value.
steam { boiler-volume 10.0 burn-rate 0.5 burn-rate-idle 0.01 firebox-heating-surface-area 20 firebox-efficiency 0.75 firebox-thermal-conductivity 10 firebox-plate-thickness 0.016 fuel-energy 27912000 fuel-specific-heat-capacity 1260 initial-boiler-temperature 373 max-coal-mass 1000 ideal-coal-mass 500 min-fire-temperature 500 max-fire-temperature 1300 minimum-volume 8000 maximum-volume 9000 fusible-plug-volume 7500 boiler-heat-loss 2.0 piston-angular-offsets 0.0174,1.5254,3.0333,4.5413 piston-volume-min 0.0272 piston-volume-max 0.1505 piston-area 0.1734 safety-valve-low-pressure 1653 safety-valve-low-flow 0.05 safety-valve-high-pressure 1684 safety-valve-high-flow 0.1 shovel-coal-mass 5.0 water-injector-rate 3.0 water-injector-rate2 3.0 boiler-efficency-idle 0.75 boiler-efficency 0.4 boiler-efficency-min 0.25 speed 15.0 cutoff 0.4 blower-effect 0.5 blower-max-flow 2.5 starting-coal 500 starting-water 7500.0 starting-boiler-steam 10.0 steam-chest-volume 0.1233 steam-chest-max-flow 25.0 valve-lap-percent 0.05 hand-brake-max-force 1000 super-heating-constant 100 tractive-effort-constant 0.8 number-cylinders 2 number-power-strokes 2 legacy-piston-count 4 }
boiler-volume
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Volume of the boiler, in cubic metres.
Note that in earlier versions of Trainz (pre TC3, trainz-build <2.8) this value was in litres, and newer versions of Trainz will multiply the value when it's read in from the config file.
burn-rate
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: The tested/'normal' rate at which the firebox burns coal, in kg/s (before being scaled down by drafting rate).
burn-rate-idle
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: The rate at which the firebox constantly/idly burns coal, in kg/s (before being scaled down by drafting rate).
firebox-heating-surface-area
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Total surface area for heat transfer from the firebox to the boiler, in square metres. Larger areas result in more heat transfer, both cooling the fire and heating the water.
firebox-thermal-conductivity
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Technically watts per metre kelvin, but real numbers are no good here - many factors mean a steam loco is far from an ideal heat conductor than what the equations are based around. Defaults to 10. A higher number here will mean more heat transfer from the fire to the boiler - resulting in higher pressure but less fire temperature. Lower numbers will result in more fire temperature, but less heating.
firebox-plate-thickness
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Thickness of firebox plate in metres. Defaults to 0.016, which is equivalent to 5/8".
fuel-specific-heat-capacity
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Joules per kilogram kelvin. Amount of energy (joules) needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the fuel substance by one degree kelvin.
fuel-energy
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Joules per kilogram. Amount of energy (joules) that is released by burning 1 kg of the fuel.
firebox-efficiency
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Firebox efficiency scalar, from 0.0 to 1.0. This directly scales the energy released from fuel burn, in order to approximate various heat losses from the firebox into the environment. Higher numbers mean more energy from fuel burn, lower numbers mean more energy is lost/wasted.
initial-boiler-temperature
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Degrees kelvin. This value will determine whether the engine is 'ready to go' or needs 'warming up' prior to a run when first placed.
max-coal-mass
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Maximum amount (kg) of fuel it's possible to cram in the firebox, before it starts falling out.
ideal-coal-mass
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Ideal amount (kg) of fuel to have in the firebox for optimal burning. This value will appear as "100%" on the interface, and will burn the best.
min-fire-temperature
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Degrees K. The minimum/idle temperature of the fire. A higher value here makes the loco 'wake up' quicker, but too high and it will build pressure even when left idle.
max-fire-temperature
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Degrees K. The maximum temperature the fire is allowed to get to. Lowering this will have the effect of limiting both top end boiler pressure and maximum water heating ability.
minimum-volume
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Litres. The amount of water in the boiler that corresponds to the bottom of the sight glass - 0% on the interface. Defaults to 80% boiler-volume.
maximum-volume
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Litres. The amount of water in the boiler that corresponds to the top of the sight glass - 100% on the interface. It should be above the 'minimum volume'. Defaults to 90% boiler-volume.
fusible-plug-volume
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Litres. The amount of water in the boiler at which point the fusible plugs will kick in. It should be below the 'minimum volume'. Defaults to 75% boiler-volume.
boiler-heat-loss
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Rate at which heat is radiated away from the boiler into the environment. Bigger numbers mean more cooling and lower boiler efficiency. Defaults to 2.
piston-angular-offsets
- Type: Decimal Array
- Desc: Values are specified in radians. Amount of wheel rotation required to rotate each piston to maximum travel from starting position. Will depend on how the valve gear has been animated in max. One value per piston.
piston-volume-min
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Volume inside the piston when fully contracted. This value greatly affects the level of front-end power available to a specific loco.
piston-volume-max
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Volume inside the piston when fully extended.
piston-area
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Surface area of the piston (square metres).
safety-valve-low-pressure
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Pressure (absolute, and in kPa) at which the low pressure safety valve will open.
safety-valve-low-flow
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Kilograms per second. Rate at which steam escapes through the low pressure safety valve. Note: Too high a value will result in a 'sawtooth' boiler pressure, and repeated short hisses from the safety valve.
safety-valve-high-pressure
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Pressure (absolute, and in kPa) at which the high pressure safety valve will open.
safety-valve-high-flow
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Kilograms per second. Rate at which steam escapes through the high pressure safety valve. Remember that both valves will be open at this point.
shovel-coal-mass
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: The mass of a single "shovel" of coal. This affects manual shovelling (default key- spacebar) and the rate of the automatic fireman (the coal slider in the UI).
water-injector-rate
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Maximum flow rate of the first injector when fully open (kg/s).
water-injector-rate2
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Maximum flow rate of the second injector when fully open (kg/s).
boiler-efficency-idle
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Ratio (0.0 -> 1.0). The maximum efficiency of the boiler - e.g. when the loco is idle.
boiler-efficency
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Ratio (0.0 -> 1.0). Efficiency of boiler when working at test parameters.
boiler-efficency-min
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Absolute minimum boiler efficiency. Calculated efficiency will not fall below this value.
speed
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Speed (m/s) of test run on which test parameters are based.
cutoff
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Ratio (0.0 -> 1.0). Position of cutoff control for test run.
blower-effect
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Multiplier. Sets the effectiveness of the blower. Value is the draft effect of working the loco at the test parameters compared with running the blower at maximum boiler pressure but the loco otherwise idle.
blower-max-flow
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Moles per second of steam used by blower at max boiler pressure and max setting.
starting-coal
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Mass of coal (in kg) to start with in the firebox. Ideal-coal-mass value will be used if this is not present.
starting-water
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Mass of water (in kg) to start with in the boiler. Defaults to 85% boiler-volume.
starting-boiler-steam
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Mass of steam (in kg) to start with in the boiler. If this is too high, a 'high pressure' will be reported at initial startup (but working the loco will reduce it). If it is too low, the boiler will have to immediately boil water to build pressure, meaning the loco isn't immediately ready on startup. Defaults to 10.
steam-chest-volume
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Volume of the steam chest, in cubic metres. A good estimate if unknown is piston-volume-max * number of cylinders (source 5AT website).
steam-chest-max-flow
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Moles per second. Maximum flow rate of steam from the boiler to the steam chest with the regulator fully open.
valve-lap-percent
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Ratio (0.0 -> 1.0)
hand-brake-max-force
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Maximum force exerted by handbrake.
super-heating-constant
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Degrees (kelvin) to increase temperature of steam between boiler and steam chest. High superheat results in more power at the front end.
tractive-effort-constant
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Used to calculate theoretical performance along with cylinder dimensions for the AI to use. Defaults to 0.4 * number_of_cylinders.
number-cylinders
- Type: Integer
- Desc: Number of cylinders.
number-power-strokes
- Type: Integer
- Desc: Number of power strokes per revolution. Two is by far the most common number, but this can be other numbers in extreme cases.
legacy-piston-count
- Type: Decimal
- Desc: Used for loading old (TRS2006) saved sessions. An omission in the TRS2006 save format causes a loco with a different number of pistons not to load properly. The number of pistons often needs to be changed when updating old enginespecs, as previously engines had to have twice as many single acting pistons, rather than the correct number of double acting pistons as they do now. This value is to record the old number of pistons so that old sessions can still be loaded.
Example steam container
TBD