As a preparation for speed profiling, we changed the decoder’s CV3 and 4 values for acceleration and deceleration to zero, or as close to zero as possible without visual loco jerk with a speed step change. But of course we like our trains to look like they have a mass and that it takes some effort to get them moving … speeding up slowly, and also braking slowly.
We probably remember from school that F=ma, or a=F/m. A higher mass, or less engine power, leads to a lower acceleration. Traincontroller can take care of this ‘mass simulation’. It controls the train’s acceleration and deceleration by sending out the DCC speed steps carefully spread over time.
This video shows how we can go about.
In the train properties window, on the ‘General’ tab there is an entry for weight. This influences acceleration and deceleration. The higher the weight, the more time it takes to get up to speed or to slow down.
On the ‘Speed’ tab, there is an entry for engine power. This also has an effect on acceleration. To make things even more realistic, at a certain point a heigh mass with (too) little engine power, also influences the maximum speed that can be reached.
Then there are two sliders called ‘acceleration’ and ‘deceleration’. Just play with those and watch the effect until you have something that looks nice to you. By the way, the deceleration is not in use when driving on a schedule. In that case the brake ramp distance, specified with the block sensor, has priority.
It is possible to create ‘train sets’, which is done by allocating wagons to engines. When both the engine and the wagons in the train set have been given a specific weight (their prototypical weights can be used of course), Traincontroller dynamically keeps track of the total train weight. If cars are added, their weight is added and vice versa. The total train weight, combined with the engine power and the acc / dec sliders now influence acceleration, deceleration, and maximum speed.
rudysmodelrailway 
Very informative Rudy. I’m wondering about two things – how does this work when shunting automatically? Does the software know when trains are added or removed because of uncoupled somehow?? Also, and maybe you have covered this in a video as well (?!?), if you leave wagons in a siding, does the software keep track somehow, how does it show this on the screen, and how does it handle this in terms of occupied blocks? Happy to see the right videos if you have done this! Many thanks! John
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Posted by johnpw22 | October 28, 2017, 21:09InGold there is the possbility to work with train sets, a lcoc and a set of cars, and if I remember reading the manual well I thought these can be dynamically changed. I never used this so far and if at all possble, I have no idea how exactly this works and how good it is.
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Posted by RudyB | October 29, 2017, 22:30Having recently purchased Traincontroller Bronze version I was very keen to watch your videos. Thank you very much for the time you have put in to make them. Just one negative, not all the features that you have on the Gold version is available on the Bronze version.
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Posted by alan2605 | August 1, 2015, 06:16Thanks for your feedback Alan. Indeed the video’s are made with TC Gold. Some features miss, or have less options, in Silver or Bronze. It would be too time consuming to me to figure out the exact differences. It would also make the video’s quite confusing / unwatchable when all the differences would be pounted out.
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Posted by RudyB | August 1, 2015, 07:19