Panhard Scout Car

Panhard Panzerspähwagen (178-P204(f)) - Armored Scout Car (Railcar)

HISTORY

In 1935, the French Government ordered the Panhard Scout Car for their army. On occupation of France, the Panhard was renamed: Panzerspähwagen Panhard 178-P204(f) and in June 1941, 190 were issued unmodified to German units. Of these, forty-three were converted to railway protection vehicles with rail wheels installed. Most saw service in Russia and Yugoslavia, and after the war Czechoslovakia used some until the mid 50s.

Although each of these rail cars are self propelled and could run independently, they were strictly used for train defence by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Occasionally, though - they did operate independently or in small numbers, as battle conditions and fuel shortages dictated.
The Panhard Scout Cars given to the Deutsche Reichsbahn weighed approximately 8.5 tons, with 15mm armor plate. They were powered by a gasoline, water cooled 105-HP Panhard motor which was able to move the heavy little car up to 45 MPH.

Some liberties have been taken to make the cab user friendly, and some innovation was necessary where there were no documents to guide us, and to insure adequate operation in the MSTS environment. The paint color is our best estimate.

Additional details are set forth in the .eng file, which you may also access by using the F11 key.

OPERATION

The Panhard includes reasonably accurate controls, but the horsepower has been increased to handle the MSTS terrain and also a trailer or two. The maximum speed of the Rail Car has been set to 75 KPH, as was the prototype. The various levers are set to resemble and operate in the familiar MSTS world.

We have placed, you the driver - looking out the front viewing slit. But we suggest you use using your keyboard from the turret view for greater visibility. The passenger view (key 5) initially places you in a position to run the car from the keyboard, while you look over the front gun. It also provides a superb view from the turret. You may pan to other views by using the arrow keys. If you do not wish the passenger view, which will preclude a passenger view in trailing cars, instructions for disabling are found in the .eng file, which should only be opened in WordPad, to preserve the Unicode format.

BRAKES - APPLICATION
Considerable time has been spent on the brakes, and they have been adjusted to mimic those of the era. There are only four positions: Release, Hold (or Lap), Service Application, and Emergency Application. These brakes do not provide graduated release. You will soon get the hang of it, and you will be emulating the driver or operator of this equipment.

LIGHTS
The headlight is a regulation search lamp of the era. It has been adjusted to provide forward light in the dim - and scenery lighting in the Bright position. There is no night view texturing.

LEGAL
Because this program is royalty free, it is provided WHERE IS, AS IS, WITH ALL FAULTS, and WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE or any other warranties. There is no liability by the authors in your use of this program, instead all liability is assumed by the user.

Skins

Colors: Olive green camo or red-brown with chips dirt and rust.

Note: in the absence of good documents and color pictures, some initial liberties have been taken. We understand the Germans painted their WW2 armored trains using the same guidelines as for their Panzers. If your planning to reskin these models, for what you believe is greater accuracy, please send us a copy for our files. - Thanks.

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

FREEWARE

Please Download this model from Train-Sim LIBRARY - key word "Panhard.zip".

If you are having a problem downloading - please contact us.