Run 8 Train Simulator

Run 8 Studio's Run 8 Train Simulator and The Depot plus is not for the faint of Heart. But if your looking for Railroad Operations that closely follow Real World practices and a challenge that is sure to bring you back time and again then read on. The Depot is an online Multi-Player community that has a Public server where players who are new to Run 8 and multi-player can learn and hone their skills. It's a great way to get acquainted with this virtual hobby.

Here I will share with you the runs or assignments I do using Single Player Run 8. I'll show you what I do, the mistakes I make as well as the enjoyment I derive from Run 8. So here we go!

Lately I've been doing Single Player as I have become fairly proficient at setting things up to run the way I want. What I have notice are two things actually. First, I've set up AI Trains at every entry point, that is to say Seligman,  Fresno, Los Angeles coming out of the Trench as well as UP's Yuma Sub which has enable a good amount of Traffic but not too much OTTO, Run 8's AI Dispatcher, gets over whelmed. Occasionally, the Chief Dispatcher (that's me) will have to go in to lend a hand but this is on rare occasion as OTTO for me, just saying for me, does a pretty good job of keeping things moving. It's always a good idea though to keep an eye on things. 

The other thing I've noticed is depending on where I'm working, OTTO will direct traffic to that area making for a good challenge of having to wait for Trains to get by so I can complete my work. The Dev's really did a great job with Run 8.

L-CAL1161 Cadiz Local

This Train poses quite a challenge as it must travel East 100 miles on BNSF's Southern Transcon to Cadiz, CA. while stopping along the way to work Industry at several locations. Sounds easy but the Transcon can be a very busy Railroad with heavy traffic in both directions making for quite the challenge to get your work done and get back to Barstow before the Law goes dead on you.

Leaving Barstow, I had heavy traffic going thru Dagget which is pretty typical in Real Life at time at this location but the DS was able to get me thru Dagget and to Newberry Springs where my first setouts and pick-ups were to occur.

Waiting for two at Newberry Springs

After completing my work at Newberry Springs, it was off to my next location which was Tetra Technologies near Amboy, CA. Hector is the next siding where BNSF will sometimes use this siding to store Baretables (empty double stack cars).

Passing thru Hector on my way to Cadiz

Coming into Amboy, CA. and Tetra Technologies

In the above picture, night time is moving in fast and I'm coming into Amboy, CA. and Tetra Technologies which you can see on the right side of the picture. I had parked my Train at Ash Hill the night before for a Crew change which brings up a point in that when you run a Train in Run 8, plan on taking some to complete. I've had Trains or what I like to call Assignments that have taken days or even weeks to complete. 

Night time in Run 8 makes your assignment even more challenging as getting to know the "Lay of the Land" can be quite the challenge. 

Arriving West Cadiz on Main Track 2

Cadiz is where the Arizona & California Railroad interchanges traffic with the BNSF. I've made a Custom Spawn point on the A&C so as to bring in traffic to the interchange. In real life, sometimes the BNSF will have to wait for the A&C to arrive or vice versa. Sometimes, depending on time constraints the BNSF or A&C will just drop off it's cars and leave (for BNSF I believe it's the small yard there at Cadiz and for the A&C they will drop off it's cars on the siding track that parallels the A&C mainline). If you know otherwise, please leave a comment below as I am always wanting to learn how it is done in real life. 

Doing a Roll-By of a westbound Grain Train at Cadiz, CA.

9/8/24: The MRVWC 05

The MRVWC 05 about to go over itself on Tehachapi Loop

The MRVWC 05 diverging onto the Palmdale Cutoff

I originally crewed this Train at SACO siding just North of UP's Bakersfield Yard. I had work to do upon arrival at Bakersfield as I had 14 cars to setout and needed to take some of the cars for pick up and there was plenty those. Now this is where I really get into all of this as I would be making more pick ups in Mojave and I had to keep my Train under 8'000 feet. I picked up 15 cars in Bakersfield based on my calculations of each car being 70' in length. Also, I figured Bakersfield had more room for outbound cars than does Fleta siding which is the only siding outbound cars are placed for pickup. 

I left Bakersfield at 10,333 tons and 5,835' and after adding one loco to the head end consist I had 2.6 Horse Power per Ton which met the minimum requirement of  2.3 HP/T. It was slow going over the Tehachapi's at 15 mph and twice the Dispatcher put two Z Trains in the hole as He/She didn't want to take any chances of my Train slowing down or stopping on the Hill and chancing a break in two and clogging up the Railroad so the DS kept me moving all the way to Mojave. Don't worry, the Z Trains didn't have to wait long. 

BTW, what I have found useful in getting up a long steep grade with a Train with DPU's is to have your head end lag about two notches below the DPU's. This goes for multiple DPU's as well. For example, say you have a Train with a 4x3x2 configuration (4 locos on the point, 3 locos working mid train and 2 locos shoving on the rear end). I will "Fence" both sets of DPU's from the headend and let the DPU's do most of the work by having them run 1, preferably 2 notches above the headend. So if my headend is in notch 6, my DPU's will be in notch 8. The opposite is true when in Dynamics when going down a steep grade. I will have my headend 1 to 2 notches above my DPU's while doing a minimum set (6 Lbs.). Remember, you must manage your air just as in real life so do a minimum set with Dynamics when your Train first starts down a steep grade, see what happens and work from there incrementally. The physics in Run 8 are very true to life and you will be challenged but that's part of the Fun!

I arrived Mojave, did my setout then took my Train to Ansel Siding where I marked off for the night. The next day, I took my power back up to Fleta Siding where I grabbed 20 cars to take back with me to West Colton Yard. These were loaded Borax cars which topped my Train out at over 13,000 tons, 7,038 feet and needing 2.0 HP/T to get over the Railroad to West Colton, I left Ansel Siding with 2.1 HP/T, just barely enough. My concern was not being able to reach the Summit at Highland but rather, going down the other side of Cajon Pass. Would I have enough Dynamics to keep this Monster under control? Turns out I reached Highland and as my Train began to rotate, I gave it a minimum set and then went into Dynamics. This kept my speed at a steady 20-22 mph all the way down the hill as the speed limit was 23 mph. 

I reached Slover Siding where I went into the siding to wait till they could take me in the Yard at West Colton. It was late at night but I eventually got my Train tied down on Receiving Track 107. What a FUN assignment this all turned out to be. Oh, and this was all done on the Depot+ Multiplayer server.

Lessons Learned: I couldn't figure out why the Depot didn't service the industry PPG that connects to Fleta Siding as Fleta is used for storage of outbound cars that are to go back to West Colton Yard and yet, how in the World is a crew suppose to work PPG with outbound cars on Fleta Siding. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the industry PPG is no longer in business so Fleta Siding is used exclusively for storage of outbound cars. This is Real World practice btw.