British Rail GT3 Turbine Locomotive
During the 1950s & 60s, British Railways was working on replacing their dated steam power with less antiquated designs, many of their mainline goods trains were still being pulled by 0-6-0s that hadn't evolved much from prototypes from the 1880s. The two main power types being considered were overhead electric & diesel traction, being pursued by the southern & midland regions respectively, but the western region had been pursuing a more bold option, gas turbine power. While this technology had only entered military service relatively recently, BRs western region had been looking into its viability for quite a while, with their first gas turbine machine entering service in 1949, with a second arriving in 1951, but a third experimental gas turbine was desired. It was thought that the loco would have the greatest chance of success if it was laid out as conventionally as possible, so the duel cab & driven bogie arrangement found on the previous two machines was rejected for a single cab at the rear, with the turbine unit in front, a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement & a tender carrying the fuel, leading to GT3 looking strangely anachronistic. GT3 was trialed between January of 1961 & 1962, GT3 excelled at providing a high power output for extended periods, could achieve speeds as high as 90 miles per hour & output 38,000 pounds of tractive effort. The machine was not without fault however, the gas turbine powerplant was extremely loud even while at idle, making the machine somewhat of a nuisance to the public, & only having one cab meant the locomotive required turntables when most other locos being rolled out at the time didn't, more generally however, GT3s simple & steam loco-esque design meant that everything other then the powerplant was roughly 20 Years out of date on arrival, & with gas turbine proving to be impractical to use on mass in the first place, GT3 was ultimately shelved, never having pulled a revenue train in its short life, though GT3 has created somewhat of a cult following amongst rail enthusiasts.
This build has been in the works for a while if I'm honest, at first I practically gave up, as I couldn't get the turbine powerplant to provide the amount of power I needed without guzzling fuel, but once I cracked it, it's quickly become one of my favorite builds, it's ultimately a bit slower then I'd like, but it's still respectably quick & can also pull quite a bit. It'd also be negligent to not mention this build is slightly themed around a character I like, who was created by Artechnca on YouTube, Horas & GT3 have a uncannily similar brand & colour scheme so I couldn't really help myself, Horas also has a song, which is where the overlay in the thumbnail & gif on the TV in the tender is from, the song is also just really good so go check it out.
[url=https://youtu.be/P5umA5ujsow?si=r_uEGNy82D7AUjw6]https://youtu.be/P5umA5ujsow?si=r_uEGNy82D7AUjw6[/url]
Instructions
Start Up
Starting this locomotive fairly straight forward, first you have to locate the breaker panel, which is located in the front of the tender on the right-hand side, once all three breakers are on, go to the main cab & flip on the fuel pump, after that, simply hold the turbine starter button until the turbine kicks on, you’ll hear it, after that release the handbrake & locate the cut-in key, which is slightly hidden on the right hand side of the main control stand. It’s also worth noting after starting the turbine it occasionally appears to cut out after it’s been idling for a couple seconds, this is not of concern & the turbine will re-light itself once you put the locomotive in gear.
Driving
This locomotive has a mechanical transmission with a total of nine gears, ranging from 4 to -4, by default it will be in 0 or neutral. Selecting any other gear will make the locomotive move, higher gears will increase your speed but reduce your pulling power, so with particularly heavy trains or when going up hills, lower gears may actually allow for higher speeds.
The throttle controls the power of the turbine, more throttle means more power, but setting it too high will cause the wheels to slip, slips can also happen when shifting roughly or multiple gears in quick succession.
The brakes are fairly straight forward compared to my other builds, the brake is a simple throttle lever, altho the cut-in key must be turned on for the brakes to work. For doubleheading operations, only one locomotive's brakes should be cut in, that loco will have control over the brakes on the whole train. This locomotive also has a switch setter that works with the ZE Smart Railroad Signals add-on, without this add-on the switch setter won't work, but the rest of the locomotive will.
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3045238901]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3045238901[/url]
Extra
Within the tender there is a boiler to provide the train with steam heat, currently this only works with the GT3's accompanying carriages found below, but it will be compatible with any other carriages I make featuring steamheat in the future.
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3706286429]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3706286429[/url]
