Well, I did some additional trial runs, and found that the brakes do actually work - however, it does take quite some time to slow down a train weighing over 6,000 tons. Thinking about the matter, I believe that this behaviour is, in fact, rather realistic. Judging from my observations, I tend to believe that you will have to expect an average braking distance of about 3 kilometers to slow down a consist of an IORE double unit and fifty UNO hoppers from a velocity of 60 kph to a complete stop. In any case, I just built a simple activity to check out this engine even more thoroughly, and will report back if I should make any significant additional observations.
Maybe I've just been spoiled by the trains I used to drive in TS so far so that I could not immediately appreciate the accurate physics of Michael's IORE <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle> ...
Cheers,
Dominik
In omnia paratus