3rd Rail running anomaly

Do all 3-rail 3rd Rail Engines come with ERR Cruise Commander installed?

If so, are you using 32 speed steps or 100 speed steps?

Can Cruise be turned on and off while running?  I always leave mine on so I don't know if this can be done.

I run using DCS.  I have a 3rd Rail E7, a Legacy GP9, and a RailKing RS3 with ERR Cruise Commander and new Railsounds installed.  All 3 have a similar "jerk" if I start off in 32 speed steps, but not in 100.  What bothers me more is the sudden stop I get when I go from 1smph to 0smph, no coasting at all.

I've watched films of old steamers and they have a pretty hefty jerk when starting off, but that may be nothing more than Hollywood making a show.

On the Real Trains forum there's a video of a pretty woman engineer who appears to know exactly what she's doing, yet there's a slight jerk when she changes direction, so maybe it's normal.

One other thing, did you set the "Feature Code" if using the ERR Cruise Commander?  Not sure if this is preset at the factory, but the kit states to set it after installation.  And not sure if it'll have an impact but the manual says it needs to be set to detect throttle settings (page 7).

No Bob, only the latest models, steam, electric, and diesel have ERR. That B&O 2-10-2 should have had EOB.

Thanks Jack, guess my blurb above doesn't apply.  Hopefully someone will have an answer soon!

Paul, my big six had similar symptoms in that it would start out slowly and then suddenly lurch forward, resume accelerating and lurch forward again and again.  It quickly developed another symptom that led me to the problem.  I would shut it down immediately as it lurched forward.  I began to hear a whirring noise near the cab area.  The only thing I could figure was that the flywheel had come loose.  In exchanging emails with Scott Mann, he confirmed that might be the problem.  The flywheel was slipping on the motor shaft.  Scott recommended a military spec bonding agent that I could only find in bulk, so I roughened the end of the motor shaft and the inside of the flywheel and used JB Weld.  After a couple of days, I ran the engine and the flywheel seemed to still be slipping a little.  Since I didn't have time to deal with it, I put it aside for a week or so.  When I ran it again to check the problem, it ran perfectly.  Apparently the JB Weld just needed a little more time to bond.  It has run great for the last couple of years.  The flywheel might be worth checking.

Gary 

If the engine is equipped with the old EOB system, have you tried adjusting the Pre-Pulse and Background Pulse settings? Depending on these settings, the engine can sort of stutter at low speed or jump quickly from stopped to the first speed step. It's a lot of trial and error to find the compromise between these settings to get the engine to run well at slow speeds.

Ken

My suggestion would be to replace EOB with the newer ERR Cruise Commander.  ERR does not rely on a tach signal from the flywheel and has 100 speed steps.  It also works very well in "conventional" mode as a traditional electronic E-unit.

My experience with 3rd Rail locos in general is that they are geared low enough to maintain a steady and realistic speed even without cruise control.  If your Big Six is binding on curves and switches, you might check that the wheels are gauged properly, also the side rods and valve gear.

As a last resort you could install a larger pulley on the lower drive shaft.  You would sacrifice some top speed, but the extra RPM and torque will help keep things going when the going suddenly gets tough.  My $.02.  -Ted