Dec 11, 2015

New Signals

It's been a while since our last post here. We have been doing a lot of work "under the hood" lately, which was a bit difficult to capture with a screenshot.

One result of this process of tweaking, updating and fixing is that we now have completely new signals on our route. New models, scripts, the lot. This allows us to simulate the real New Haven RR's signaling rules much better than before.

New Dwarf Signals: used mostly in yards or where yard/industry tracks join the mainline. These could display the three aspects Stop, Restricting and Slow Clear on the NH, and so they can on our route.

Combined Tall and Dwarf Signals: used at certain interlockings, for example yard leads off the mainline or slow (15 mph) crossovers. The dwarf signal acts like a third head on these signals and controls the Restricted or Slow Clear paths through the interlocking.


New Gantry Signals for the elctrified territory: with their bulky gantries obstructing visibility, the NH had to use these slim signals and hang them between the overhead wires.

Oct 25, 2015

Real World Terrain...

...Connecticut's gently rolling countryside is one of the greenest states in the union.
 




Oct 10, 2015

Cedar Hill Engine Terminal

Two roundhouses, several maintenance tracks for diesel and electric engines, an abandoned concrete coaling tower (not yet included in our route)... servicing engines for the Shoreline, the Springfield Line, the Air Line, New York City and Maybrook, and of course Cedar Hill Yard. Little of the engine facilities remains today,  but back in the day it must have been a tremendously busy place.



Oct 2, 2015

Completed construction of the Berlin Station. 
Soon to be installed as Michael has brought this region up to standard.
 
 

Sep 17, 2015

Sep 4, 2015

Berlin Station, before and after

Scenery work on the route progresses nicely towards New Haven. Here's a new screenshot from one of the towns along the way, Berlin:


And here's how it looked like a few months ago:


Aug 27, 2015

A request for support from the NON US community regarding the BNSF licensing issue


Found this on RWA this morning:
Hi all

As some of you might already know, DTG has withdrawn an additional 8 packs from the store for non US players. As you might now DTG no longer is allowed to sell BNSF content due to license issues outside the USA and they have withdrawn as a result two vital routes for the game, Marias Pass and Stevens Pass. A lot of uproar already has been on the steam forums and a petition to BNSF and DTG has been created on change.org asking them to get back negotiating to resolve this issue. the text reads

We, the players of Train Simulator 20xx by DovetailGames urge both DTG and BNSF to renegotiate and ultimately reintroduce the BNSF branded content to players outside the USA. At least 2 of these add-ons (Marias Pass and Stevens Pass) are key and vital components for the game and are widely used in workshop scenarios and routes effectively rendering the bulk of the workshop unusable for the non US player
We urge both companies to go back to the negotiation table and find a solution that is acceptable for all parties involved.

The petition is ment for Paul Jackson CEO of DTG, Stevan B. Bobb Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at BNSF and Roger Nober Executive Vice President, Law and Corporate Affairs at BNSF​

you can sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/roger-nober-st ... de-the-usa​ and it would be nice if, even if you are not affected by this BNSF ban youself, to help you fellow simmer by signing it

Much thanks in advance to anyone supporting this

Mavadelo
The full topic at RWA is here: http://railworksamerica.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14557
The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/roger-nober-stevan-b-bobb-paul-jackson-a-request-to-bnsf-and-dtg-regarding-the-use-of-bnsf-branded-products-outside-the-usa

Jul 6, 2015

On our way south

A few more screenshots as scenery work progresses.

The Springfield Line near New Britain, CT

New Britain, CT, in the distance. The Springfield Line bypasses this town entirely.

Newington Junction

Jun 24, 2015

New Wires

We are currently adding new telegraph wires on the route, using the new Train Sim autogantry system for their placement.



Jun 15, 2015

The Plan

Just a quick glance at what we have planned for our route project.

Red = Version 1
Orange = Version 2
Yellow = Version 3
Green = possible future expansion


Jun 3, 2015

Cedar Hill Yard

Phew! It is done. Cedar Hill Yard, the by far biggest railroad switching yard we've ever tackled in a train sim, has been placed.

Cedar Hill Yard was the main yard of the New Haven Railroad, and also among the largest yards built by any U.S. railroad. The whole complex served three mainlines (Shoreline, Airline, Springfield Line), consisted of several arrival and departure yards, two classification yards, an LCL terminal, a material storage yard, and various other facilities. It had almost two hundred yard tracks of a combined length of over 150 miles. Over ten thousand cars could be handled in it.

A few in-game screenshots, flying along the yard from northeast to southwest:

A view of the northeastern entrance to the yard: material yard on the upper left, creosote (tie treatment) plant to the right. The tracks in the middle are the northbound departure tracks (to Hartford).

This view is a bit further west: in the center is the north- and eastbound classification yard. The stub tracks in the foreground are the coal storage tracks.

Adjacent to the NB/EB classification yard is the LCL terminal (the spread-out complex in the center of the picture). The tracks to the left of it are the Shore Line departure yard, to the right of the picture are the Air Line receiving and Southbound receiving yards. The spread-out yard on the upper-right hand corner is the West- and Southbound classification yard.

Moving further west, here's a closer view on the west ladder of the WB/SB classification yard on the right-hand side of the picture. The tracks running diagonally through the middle of the picture are the Shore Line receiving yard, to the left of it are the west ladder of the Shore Line departure yard and most of the New York & Maybrook receiving yard. The NY & Maybrook departure yard is across the river.

The 2D map, zoomed far out

Jun 2, 2015

Progress in Hartford

Hello all,

Scenery work is progressing nicely south of Hartford and is now mostly complete from Union Station to Newington Junction. Only the final 'layer' of clutter objects and a few custom building models are still missing.





May 20, 2015

Springfield Line Progress

Here's a quick update on what has been happening on the route lately. We don't have anything ground breaking to report at this point, we just wanted to show that the route is still being worked on.

Working our way south from Hartford, around MP 36:
  • road building has reached Quarry Jct (just north of Meriden, MP 20)
  • signaling, markers and speed limits have been placed up to North Haven (MP 7)
  • rudimentary scenery is in place to Newington Junction (MP 31)
A couple of screenshots of our recent work are below.

Berlin, CT, looking north

Meriden, CT, and its small yard, looking south

May 17, 2015

Boston & Maine RDC Now Available

The Boston & Maine Budd RDC Expansion Pack is now available at the Golden Age of Railroading website.

This add-on consists of RDC-1, -2, -3 and -9 models in the 'McGinnis' livery of the B&M railroad. It is a free expansion pack for the payware New Haven Budd RDC Pack #1 from Trains and Drivers that  is available here.





May 13, 2015

Coming soon: B&M Budd RDC

We will soon release the Boston & Maine Budd RDC pack that some of you have been requesting for a long time now. The B&M pack will include four cars, RDC's 1, 2, 3, and 9 in McGinnis colors.

The B&M cars will be a free expansion pack to the existing New Haven RDC Pack that is available from Trains and Drivers.




May 10, 2015

"Night Freight Make-up", New Scenario by Tom Pallen

Tom Pallen has released a new scenario for the New Haven Springfield Line at RailworksAmerica.
"Description: A freight train departs Hartford for
Springfield every night at 9:00 PM. Tonight, you
have the honor of putting that train together."
 You can download the scenario in the file library at RailworksAmerica.com.

May 6, 2015

New Scenario: Amtrak Train 143

You can download a new scenario for the Springfield Line from the Golden Age of Railroading website, in which you will be in charge of Amtrak Train 143, the Northeast Regional (Springfield - Washington, DC), from Springfield to Hartford.

Playtime is approximately 40 minutes and the scenario uses the real world Amtrak timetable of 2015.

The New York - New Haven and P42 DC Empire Builder DLCs are required to run this scenario.