Driving Steam Locomotives
Firstly, a steam locomotive needs fuel; you need provide water to turn into steam, and any valid furnace fuel to produce heat.
Before driving the locomotive, you need to fuel it. while riding it, right-click and a window pops up. Put your fluid container with water in the top-left slot and you'll see the tank fill up (the center guage in the loco's inventory, and the left-most gauge in the bottom-right). You can also load the fuel using a Fluid Loader Augment. Then, you need to add burnable fuel to the firebox slots along the bottom; the number of firebox slots depends on the specific locomotive you are using. slots. Once the fuel is placed in a slot, it will start burning causing the temperature to rise (the right-most gauge on the bottom right). Once the temperature is over 100°C, the loco will start consuming water to produce steam. Do not open the throttle until there's sufficient pressure (the center-gauge, labeled PSI, in the bottom right) To avoid wheel-slip, gradually increase the throttle and let the loco accelerate.
- To regulate speeds, use a combination of brake and throttle so that the loco doesn't accelerate or decelerate. When driving a fast or heavy train, you won't be able to stop very quickly. Plan ahead for stops and start slowing down well in advance.
- Keep an eye on the water gauge, as the loco has a chance of exploding if it dips below 75%
- You can couple 1 or more tenders behind your loco to add extra storage for fuel and water. The loco will pull from the tender(s) automatically.