Meanwhile, I am not sitting still, and want to make it worth the wait. So, here is another train I am working on; the NS DDM1.
Earlier, I added a single DDM carriage to the simulator, but that will be replaced by a newer build, and additional carriages are added, including the driving carriage, from where the NS1700 locomotive on the other end of the train could be controlled. At the end of 2019, these trains were taken out of service.
For the simulator, I'll provide these carriages:
- Bvk (2nd class, doubledeck, endcar)
- ABv (1st and 2nd class, doubledeck)
- Bv (2nd class, doubledeck)
B = 2nd class
v = verdieping (meaning here: and extra floor, so dubbledeck)
k = koprijtuig ('head-carriage' / endcar)
A full consist on the tracks: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbeldek ... _Poort.jpg
(Model exterior by Arman Y., interior, animations, and modifications needed for the simulator by me)
Follow-up series of these trains would usually run in shorter consists of 3 or 4 carriages, but DDM-1 ran with 6 carriages (although in their last few years, shorter consists were also seen, and obviously they could reach better acceleration with fewer carriages).
The endcar had a lower roof above the rear end; this was to provide space for a pantograph. This pantograph was not ment to power the train for driving, but to keep the systems on the train functional if the locomotive was uncoupled. Back then, the Dutch railways also ran freight trains (this is now done by other rail operators), and they wanted to park the DDM1 trains at night, and have the locomotives run freight trains until the next morning, when the locomotives could be returned to passenger service. While the locomotive was away, the pantograph on the endcar of the DDM1 train could be used to keep the onboard systems going (like the heating, and the compressors for the airbrakes). I do not know how common this was actually done.
Later series of these doubledeckers did have the lower roof on the endcars, but no pantograph installed. So the practice of uncoupling the locomotives for other duties must not have been very operationally succesfull.
