F40PH Diesel Operating Manual
10
ACTIVATING AND TRIGGERING PASSENGER STATION ANNOUNCEMENTS
Before PFA can be heard the feature must be activated first. Activation is accomplished by
holding down the bell button for three or more seconds as described in the Activating and
Triggering The Squeaking Brake Sounds section found earlier on page 8.
Once the squealing brake feature is activated, PFA will be played the next time the engine
enters the neutral position.
In order for PFA to begin, power must remain on once the
engine enters the neutral position. At this point ProtoSounds has taken over control of your
engine and disabled the bell and whistle buttons from any further operator functions. In
addition, ProtoSounds has reconfigured the way the DCRU reverse unit functions by
disabling the reverse unit state during operation of the PFA feature. This forces the engine
to leave your station in the same direction it arrived. The following operator controlled
“events” control PFA’s actions and sounds.
Event 1 (Forward)
While the locomotive is running in forward (or reverse) PFA is activated
by the operator pushing and holding the bell button down for three or more seconds. The
locomotive bell begins chiming and can be left on or turned off without disabling PFA.
Event 2 (Neutral Before Reverse)
The operator now interrupts the transformer throttle to
stop the engine and put it into neutral. If the throttle setting was at 14 volts or higher,
ProtoSounds will play the sound of squealing brakes as the engine comes to a stop.
I. Upon stopping of the engine, the operator must immediately turns the throttle back
on as the engine sits in neutral. If the bell was not turned off after activating PFA, it now
turns off automatically.
Note:
Failure to turn the throttle back on within 3 seconds of leaving the forward
phase will disable PFA and shutdown ProtoSounds. The next time you turn power
back on your engine will be in the RESET position. See page 6 for more information.
II. After entering neutral, ProtoSounds will immediately play an air release sound
followed approximately two seconds later by an arrival message.
The arrival
message lists the train by name and the track it arrived on (the track is identified as
either track 1 or track 2, alternating each time during the current operating session).
Immediately following the arrival message, the sound of the trains’ doors opening can
be heard, followed by a conductor’s warning to passengers to “watch your step.” At
this point, various randomly activated ambient train stations sounds will begin playing
and replaying as long as the engine sits in this neutral state (Neutral Before Reverse).
The sounds include passenger footsteps as they disembark, muffled voices, baggage
being moved about, crashing sound, and whistling for a taxi. In addition, several
highlight or foreground sounds play including more conductor voices saying “watch
your step”, “have a nice day”, and “baggage to the right”.
