Kaiser Steel U30C 1030

[discord.gg]

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The U30C was one of many locomotives to come out of General Electric's Universal Series of locomotives. These universal series locomotives, commonly referred to as "Uboats", were launched in 1956 and continued to be made and upgraded to the Dash-7 series until they were replaced by the Dash-8 series. The concept of the Universal series was to create a locomotive that was easy to manufacture into different railroad gauges for differing countries, hence the name "universal". They were known for their unusual yet familiar shape along with the distinct "guzzle" sound created by the prime mover. The Universal series was GE's first real launch into the locomotive market without their old partners ALCO. Although they were no rival to the Giant EMD, they saw great sales and useage until most were either sold or scrapped. GE quickly gained the title of EMD's biggest competitor, knocking ALCO down to 3rd place. Despite their commercial success they were still inferior to the EMD locomotives, mostly due to reliability issues and lower performance. Locomotives like the U30C were still viable options for railways who could not get their hands on the newest EMD 6 axle locomotive, the SD40.

Kaiser steel was looking to replace their aging Baldwin RS12 locomotives with something newer, and purchased 5 new U30C locomotives for their Eagle Mountain railroad that went from the mine to the Southern Pacific Interchange around Fontana, CA. Numbered 1030-1034, these U30Cs reliably hauled ore from the mine until it's shut down, then continued to run emptying the mine's reserves until 1986. The locomotives, which were still in great condition thanks to the maintenance team, were stored and left to rot until they were all scrapped in early 90's. Kaiser Steel now remains mostly a memory from a long gone American empire. The Kaiser name still lives on in the healthcare sector along with the aluminum sector, and their bright red color remains a memorable feature.

-7FDL-16 Prime Mover Generating 3000HP
-Weight: 395,500 lbs. [not including additional Ballasting]
-Dynamic Braking and MU Capable
-3000 Gallon Fuel Tank
-Locomotive Type: Roadswitcher [C-C]

This U30C is a bit of a single player toy and not very reliable in multiplayer due to the necessity of plentiful subgrids to replicate it's shape. That being said it is a world beater power wise and realism wise. This is the 1st locomotive to be uploaded with the brand new ESS2 and WABSIM air brake system. Both of which aim to accurately simulate a real locomotive's operation. The prime mover is a replica of the 7FDL-16 that outputs around 1800 SWATTS and propels the locomotive to 50MPH with the brick, all of this possible thanks to the new train update. That being said this is not compatible with rolling stock not marked by the red "wabsim" banner nor is it compatible with any older locomotives as the MU system has been rebuilt from the ground up. There will be no efforts to add compatability however most of those old locomotives are being rebuilt anyway, (starting with the SD70MAC).

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Links to Units 1030-1034 can be found here:

KSCX 1030- [You are Here]
KSCX 1031- https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2873428224
KSCX 1032- https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2876652702
KSCX 1033- https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2873427915
KSCX 1034- https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2876651680

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Refer to the video above if you need a visual reference, but here is a list of steps for those who prefer:

Startup:
-Open breaker cabinet and flip on all breakers
-Cut in the Brakes and set the Mu2A to "Lead" (both found on the bottom left of the control stand)
-Go to the control stand and flip on the gen field breaker
-Flip on the fuel pump and engine run breaker on the engine control panel
-turn on Platform and/or Engine room Lights as well if needed.
-walk out the door on the long hood side and open up the panel right next to the "L" in "Kaiser Steel"
-dont forget to open the other panel with the button that was revealed by opening the first door
-Prime the locomotive till the light comes on, then press the start button
-close the panels
-return to the cab and set the Isolation Switch to run

Operation:
-on the control stand, set the selector to Throttle
-set the reverser in the desired direction (3=F 2=N 1=R)

-to engage dynamic brakes, set the throttle to idle then shift the selector forward to "B"
-use the throttle lever to apply dynamic brakes.

-Use the automatic brake to apply the train brake,
-Use independent to apply brakes to all locomotives
-the brakes function like real train brakes, examples of proper operation are in the video.

-Headlights have 3 options, off, on, and on AUX. on AUX engages the ditch lights. Ditch lights are local, headlights can be controled with ESS2

the MU System, ESS2:
ESS2 is a complete rebuild of ESS1 fixing most of the issues. It is now easier to operate as well.

Master Unit Controls-
-To make a locomotive master, flip on the engine run switch.
-if only locomotive in the train, set to [Lead/Intermediate/DPU] on the headlight selector.
-if theres a locomotive behind it being controled and the master is facing forward, select [Controling Front Forward]
-if theres a locomotive behind it being controled and the master is facing backwards, select [Controling Rear Forward]

Slave Controls-
-Flip the engine run switch off
-if this locomotive is not the last locomotive in the group of locomotives, leave the headlight selector on [Lead/Intermediate/DPU]
-if it is the last in the group, set the selector to [Controlled]
-connect the locomotive to the leader and connect the electric cable ports to one another
-A properly hooked up formation should function as one locomotive, and headlights should only apply to the outermost locomotive lights

-worth noting due to a Cable Anchor bug, it is best to set the slave back to master before disconnecting the cable, or else it might mess with the slave system, there appears to be no fix for this bug as it has to do with the cable anchor being messed up and not the logic. -

DPU Master Controls-
Master-
-keep the locomotive set as the leader and enable the antenna sending button on the DPU controller in front the engineer's seat.
-also set the kepyad on the DPU controller to the desired frequency

DPU Slave Controls-
-flip off the engine run, turn on the "enable DPU slave mode" on the DPU controller located in front the engineer's seat.
-leave the antenna sending button off, instead set the frequency to the same one as the master locomotive, and thats it.
-set headlight selector to [Lead/Intermediate/DPU]

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And thats about it, keep in mind more locomotives and rolling stock that are WABSIM and ESS2 compatible are coming very soon.
Also the template locomotive still needs some work done, so that will be coming pretty soon.
Heres a link to some of the available rolling stock:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2866006518&searchtext=conrail



Cab shape, radiator shape, painting, and thumbnail done by Enzocats
Systems, engine, and engine hood designed by Jimmy Swaggy

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