ESU - Prevent Engine Movement Before Sound On-Revised 2023-10-16

Some LokSound equipped locomotives will allow movement without the engine sound being on. There's nothing more unrealistic than that! If you want to prevent this "feature" it can be easily accomplished on Full Throttle equipped locomotives.

Here's how. Load the appropriate sound file into the LokProgrammer and go to the Function Mapping sheet. In one of the blank lines add the functionality shown in figure 1.

Fig. 1

The functionality here is that when the locomotive is stopped and there is no engine sound (not F8), Drive Hold is automatically engaged and the locomotive cannot move. In order to remove the Drive Hold, F8 has to be pressed which will start the prime mover.

Remember that if you have your prime mover mapped to a different function than F8 then the Condition shown in figure 1 will also have to be changed.

Another Method (Revised 2023-10-16)

An additional way to accomplish the same thing, and possibly better with v5 decoders, is to set CV124 bit 2 (bit value 4). This takes effect only if speed is zero and prime mover is off. It's a startup delay that prevents the user from activating prime mover sound and then moving off while the prime mover is still cranking over. Where it is not possible to do that with the first method. It’s not a fixed time value but depends on how long the start-up sequence takes (much more realistic).

Now those operations buddies you have over every now and then can't move their engines without the sound on (as they sometimes do)!

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