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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 1675364" data-attributes="member: 6957">The reason I referred to Improved Speed as a 'masterworking' was to imply that it is not something that you add to an existing engine - it is rather something that must be built in and then maintained. Sorry if that was not clear. And as I put in the description for Hand Cart there are no modifications available except for Headlight. (Armor a hand powered vehicle? Oi! me back!)*EDIT* Hmmm, the word 'only' seems to have disappeared from the Hand Cart entry, but it is in the original document... Ah well, I put it back in.*EDIT* Clarified Improved Speed entry, and added cost of rebuilding the engine to the price of the modification in the event of a retrofit.You are correct on referring to 'Cannonball' on the travel times, when I wrote the original version of Improved Speed I had called the improvement 'Cannonball' then changed it to avoid confusion... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /> Boy, that worked... I may go back and change one or the other. At any rate I will add a line in regards to the Heavy Load Engines, which should indeed cost more to masterwork. (Though they still end up only being as fast as a standard engine.) And indeed clarify the 'Cannonball' = Improved Speed issue.*EDIT* Fixed above.And yes, the braking (or deacceleration) on a train was increased over time, the pressure to the brakes was increased gradually in order to avoid the horrible consequences of an engine stopping while the carriages continued. Without this precaution the carriages pile up around and over the engine cab, generally killing the engineer and stoker. Air brakes sped up the process, and that is what I refer to as Improved Brakes. Likewise acceleration was added gradually to limit stress upon the carriage couplings.*EDIT* Modified the price of the Improved Brakes for the size of the vehicle, and added a per carriage cost as well. Added note as to acceleration/deacceleration times.And emergency brakes, well, that (among other things)  is exactly what improved brakes are. I could have called them air brakes but felt that went into too much detail. (Emergency stopping with airbrakes was only done when they failed from being used at the engine. Then some poor schmuck would have to climb along the roof of each carriage manually turning the brakes... When (if) the train crashed said schmuck usually ended up messily dead.)Though it was possible for an engine to weld itself to the tracks by applying the brakes too swiftly. (When you see sparks flying from the wheels of a steam engine while it brakes in a movie or an old tv show that is exactly what they are risking.) Plus that could only be done for the engine alone, not with cars. (Again the pile up.) Which is why when you see that scene in a movie they only show the engine, cutting away afterwards to show it with cars after it has stopped, implying that the carriages were attached when the train stopped though when they filmed it it was with the engine alone. In essence Improved Brakes are brakes on each of the carriages, not just friction or traction brakes on the engine alone. I was for the most part aiming at the early to mid 19th century in regards to technology. Plus, I want the possibility of a train crash to be a horrible likelihood. I grew up on songs like 'Wreck of the Old 97' and 'Casey Jones'.The Auld Grump*EDIT* Just be glad I avoided the whole issue of 'Railroad Time'! The time at any station along a route was the same as at the home station for the rail line, regardless of actual time in the zone that the station happened to be in.</blockquote>

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