Powertrain 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, maintain frontal orientation to help it cool faster at speed.

Powertrain overheating commonly occurs when a vehicle is overloaded, such as from hauling too heavy load , going uphill , accelerating too hard, forgetting to release brakes , or excessive dynamic braking . Following the efficiency guidelines helps bring overheating to a minimum.

Apart from ensuring that the train is properly set up and not overly heavy, overheating can be prevented by monitoring respective temperature gauges ahead of the troubling track sections, anticipating them and spreading the load on the powertrain over a longer period of time.

Yellow range of the powertrain temperature gauge is the warning stage. The heat is building up, but little to no damage occurs yet. If the needle goes into red, damage may occur. Immediately reduce load on the powertrain, and let it drop back into yellow.

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

The rate at which a vehicle generates and dissipates heat depends on the outside temperature .

Depending on the session difficulty settings , overheating can result in catastrophic damage .

Having an overheating protection gadget installed can significantly lessen the risks associated with overheating.