SNCF BB-15000 Beta Version 1.01 PLease read carefully!! 2010, january 31th

Authors: BB25187 (3D, textures) Kriss44 (3D of the initial BB-7229) BJPaul (Prametrization of .ENG files) http://BB25187.eu/

History

Model

Installation

Usage

Copyrights

Thanks

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History

The class 15000 of SNCF were the first french engines which made use of the technology of power semi-conductors. They resulted from nearly 30 years of research and protoyping. They aimed to haul fast (160km/h) and heavy passenger trains between Paris and Strasbourg. The engineers targeted a maximal power of 4500 kW, and a speed of 180 km/h.

To limit the cost, the body and bogies of those machines were derived from those just developped for the brand new CC6500. The luvery of the five first units was based on a classic green. The next ones were all painted in a nice TEE livery, which mixed up metal grey, orange and so called "Capitole" red. Those colors were chosen to create homogenous consists with "Grand Confort" passenger cars. Different variants and small differences existed between the different units, depending mainly on their relase dates. In any cases, the serie was one of the most reliable of the SNCF. It was used to define new maintenance rules for modern engines.

In fact, the technical principle of this series were reused to build two more series, i.e. BB-7200 for direct current, and BB-22200 for both alternative and direct current.

Bibliography:

• Voies Ferrées n°11, mai-juin 1982
• Le Train Spécial n°43, mars 2005
• Rail Passion Hors Série "Génération 4400kW", juillet 2006

The model

I have been planning for a while to build a model of this nice serie of machines. This idea was mainly motivated by the really outstanding model of BB-7229 developped by Kriss44. Unfortunately, Kriss44 never completed this model, which remained a very good basis, even though BB-7200 and BB-15000 differ from each other by numerous details.

The table below lists all the variants available in this pack.

Name	Vue	Livery	Description
SNCF_BB15001_PA		Original green livery	First years of service (1971-1975)
SNCF_BB15002		Original green livery	First years of service (1971-1975)
SNCF_BB15001_PA_Stanislas	-	Original green livery	Same as SNCF_BB15001_PA, frontal plate for TEE train "Stanislas"
SNCF_BB15002_Kléber	-	Original green livery	Same as SNCF_BB15002, frontal plate for TEE train "Kléber"
SNCF_BB15003_PA		Green livery	From 1975 to 1982
SNCF_BB15004_PA		Green livery	From 1975 to 1982
SNCF_BB15005		Green livery	From 1975 to 1982
SNCF_BB15004_PA_Stanislas	-	Green livery	Same as SNCF_BB15004_PA, frontal plate for TEE train "Stanislas"
SNCF_BB15005_Kléber	-	Green livery	Same as SNCF_BB15005, frontal plate for TEE train "Kléber"
SNCF_BB15006or		Original TEE livery	First years of service (1972-1973)
SNCF_BB15006		Original TEE livery	From 1973 to 1982/83
SNCF_BB15009_PA		Original TEE livery	From 1973 to 1982/83
SNCF_BB15010_PA		Original TEE livery	From 1973 to 1982/83
SNCF_BB15006_Kleber	-	Original TEE livery	Same as SNCF_BB15006, frontal plate for TEE train "Kleber"
SNCF_BB15006_Stanislas	-	Original TEE livery	Same as SNCF_BB15006, frontal plate for TEE train "Stanislas"
SNCF_BB15009_PA_Stanislas	-	Original TEE livery	Same as SNCF_BB15009_PA, frontal plate for TEE train "Stanislas"
SNCF_BB15010_PA_Kleber	-	Original TEE livery	Same as SNCF_BB15010_PA, frontal plate for TEE train "Kleber"
SNCF_BB15012		TEE livery, "concrete" grey	From year 1982 to the middle of the 90's
SNCF_BB15014_PA		TEE livery, "concrete" grey	From year 1982 to the middle of the 90's
SNCF_BB15015_PA		TEE livery, "concrete" grey	From year 1982 to the middle of the 90's - machine withdrawn in 1994
SNCF_BB15008		TEE "ciment" RG	Late 90's and 2000's.
SNCF_BB15013_PA		TEE "ciment" RG	Late 90's and 2000's.
SNCF_BB15014cas		TEE "ciment" RG	Late 90's and 2000's.
SNCF_BB15007_PA		Multi-service	Late 90's and 2000's.

All together, this pack thus includes 24 variants of those machines.

Please notice that:

• The polycount is about 29000 (including the freigntanim). The LODs currently implemented are quite minimal, but help to limit the graphic load. MOre aggressive LODs may be implemented in next versions,
• You can send remarks or suggestion exclusively by MP on the ASW forum. I will do my best to take them into account if possible.

Furthermore, I strongly recommend to make use of the MSTS undocumented feature which allocates more memory to the game. This can be enabled by just adding option -mem:xxx to the MSTS alias/shortcut, with xxx being the half of your RAM capacity.

For instance:

• If you have 2Go de RAM, use -mem:1024,
• If you have 1Go de RAM, use -mem:512.

Installation

No sounds, no cab!!

The installation is not fully automatic. Namelly, contrary to my former models, the BB-15000 pack does not include any sound nor any cab. You must download and install those items separately. All the machines will be installed in a TRAINSET sub-folder named SNCF_BB15000_VL.

Chose your sounds

You can mainly use two different set of sounds:

• if you own the pack named "Trains de Nuit Vol. 1" by Sylium (payware), then you can reuse the sounds of the locs BB22200/BB7200,
• you can also use the freeware sounds by Belphégor, which are available on his website (http://belph80001.free.fr/). Search for the pack named "Ambiance type 22200-7200".

In both cases you will have to:

• either change the path to, and names of the .SMS files in the .ENG files (line "Sound"), so they match the one you want to use,
• or create a local "Sound" sub-folder in "SNCF_BB15000_VL", then copy and rename there the sounds above mentioned. SMS file names are "BB15000eng.sms" and "BB15000cab.sms" respectively.

This will be your first contribution to complete the model!

Chose your cab

Warning: the cab of the first BB-15000 was quite different from the next ones. In fact, they were very close to the ones in place in the CC-6500.

You may want to use either:

• the cab included in the freeware pack of CC-6500 and CC-72000 by Bruno Terrien (visit http://www.trainsimfrance.net), or
• the cab available in the payware pack named "Train de Nuit", or
• the cab for "nez cassés" which can still be found on several websites (visit http://activitysimulatorworld.net), or
• any other cab you can find which suite the one needed...

This will be your second contribution to the completion of this model. Of course in any case you will have to fit/adapt the name of the cab in the .ENG file (line "Cabview")!

Usage

Driving a BB15000 is not that complex. Though, you will have to get used to the way the .ENG have been parametrized!

Engine brakes

Be sure to release the engine brakes when starting an activity!

FAMAD - Train brake

BJPaul reproduced the behavior of the so called "FAMAD" in the .ENG file. The "FAMAD" is a brake that can be progressively tightened and released. This is now the same with MSTS! Be sure to act by short and successive pressures on the brake command. It becomes quite easy to maintain a given speed, and to reach a precise location while stopping a train in a station...

Electric brake

Electric brake is available on all BB15000 units. It is to be preferred at highest speeds especially.

Staring and increasing speed

You should start aith 0,15 to 0,20 of the maximal power (15% to 20%). You can go further, but take care not to slip! In normal conditions, the amperemeter should not reach the maximal possible value...

History of versions

As a conclusion...

Copyright

• Those engines can be used as freeware. None of the components (3D, textures, sounds, ...) included in this pack can be used for commercial transaction.
• Please do not modify, distribute or reuse any of those components, even partly, without my explicit approval.
• Using this pack in commercial transaction is prohibited!

Contributions and thanks

• I would like to thank the persons below:
  • Christian, alias Kriss44 who was my TSM teacher, and also for his technical advises,
  • BJPaul, for his outstanding work on .ENG files,
  • Peter Hanslip who gave me the information about PolyMaster that can make such a model working in MSTS,
  • Franck and Philippe, for the test of the vehicles.

Contact

Website: http://BB25187.eu/, personal messages on the following forums: ASW.