Drivetrain Overheating

Depending on the powertrain type of a motorized rail vehicle, its various components may overheat. The most common component to overheat is the transmission. If a vehicle has a frontal radiator, make sure to maintain frontal orientation. This will help cool it down faster at speed.

Powertrain overheating commonly occurs when pulling too heavy a load up a grade, or accelerating too hard. It can also happen from excessive dynamic braking. The driver needs to follow the efficiency guidelines more closely to reduce this occurrence, such as to ensure there is enough tractive power for a given train weight, but also use the momentum of the train when approaching positive grades.

Overheating can be prevented by monitoring the respective temperature gauges ahead of the troubling track sections, anticipating them and spreading the load on the powertrain over a longer period of time.

If the transmission temperature needle is in the yellow range, this is a warning stage. The driver should be aware that the heat is building up, but little to no damage occurs yet. Reducing load on the drivetrain will help reduce the heat buildup. If the needle reaches into the red range, the driver should stop overloading the powertrain and let it cool down to prevent damage escalation.

Depending on the session difficulty settings, failure to prevent overheating into the red range can result in some, or even catastrophic damage to the vehicle.

If a train is unable to overcome a grade without overheating, sometimes it is necessary to reverse and try again, either with better momentum utilization, or with more pulling power, even if it means replacing, or adding new locomotives.

The rate at which a vehicle will generate and dissipate heat depends greatly on the weather conditions and the outside temperature.

Installing an overheating protection gadget allows automatic mitigation of overheating, which can help avoid catastrophic failures.