1. Where do you
live? Tell us three things about where you live
that would make us want to live there too.
First of all, let me say that it's quite an
honor to be selected for interview by such an
auspicious group. I'm in awe of all that NERR
has accomplished!
OK, here goes.
I live in Fort Dodge, Iowa - population 26,000.
It's a nice rural community in the north central
part of the state. We're located on the hills
above the Des Moines River, so it's quite a
scenic little town. Most of the commerce here
involves retail sales, but gypsum mining is big
industry. The UP and CN both have routes through
town, so there's plenty of train activity. Power
on the UP is strictly UP but almost anything
goes on the CN. It's common to see CN, BNSF, SF,
and IC in the yards. I've also seen CSX,
Wisconsin Central, and others down there.
2. Do
you have any connection with railroads in the RW
- either now in in your past?
I've
never worked for a railroad, but, in my youth, I
used to unload boxcars of lumber for the local
lumber yard in my home town of Bancroft. I
suppose that doesn't count, huh? I still have
slivers come to the surface of my hands and
arms, 40 years after doing that. Souvenirs of
days gone by.
3.
What do you do in the RW? - job, hobbies,
vacations, spare time?
In
the RW, I'm a registered nurse working for the
Iowa Department of Corrections. The facility I
work in is the largest in the state. Most of the
inmates are young, with the average age being
26. We've had people as young as 14 and as old
as 70. Most of them act like they're 13, so it
makes for a challenging job. It's frightening to
see the effects of drug use on people's health.
Before I started with the DOC, I spent 20 years
at the local hospital as an RN/EMT in the
ambulance service. Dug a couple of people out
from under trains that they tried to drive
under. I suppose that doesn't qualify as working
for the railroad either. I also spent a few
years in the ICU.
As for hobbies, I've always enjoyed fishing,
photography, and gardening. I never caught the
"big one" that I've always wanted and my gardens
usually produce a wonderful crop of weeds, but I
did get pretty good with a camera. Then, of
course, there's MSTS. I've played with computers
since the days of the Ataris with 16kb of memory
and never enjoyed it as much as I do now.
My favorite place to vacation is Rocky Mountain
National Park in Colorado. Made many a trip
there. Vacationed in New Orleans once during
Mardi Gras. I think I had a good time there,
just can't remember for sure.
Spare time? What's that?
4. How
did you start with MSTS? - good and bad
experiences?
A few
years ago, I took my daughter to Boone for a
ride on the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad.
That brought back fond memories of my youth,
standing in our backyard watching the CNW at
work. The railroad ran right behind our house.
That was before diesels made their debut. I can
still remember how the house would shake when
they'd crank up those engines. And the sound! To
hear that again would be music to my ears.
Anyway, that ride re-ignited my interest in
railroads and, one day, while shopping in the
local Wal-Mart, I stumbled across a copy of
MSTS. I was captivated by the thought that I
might be able to reproduce that route through my
home town so I bought the program, took it home,
and have been hooked ever since.
MSTS took on a whole new meaning when I joined
the NERR. Gave me a sense of actually working
for a railroad. I think my favorite experience
has been the Diesel Certification Course. I
really enjoyed that challenge.
As for bad experiences, I can't say there have
been any. There have been some bumps in the road
with the Route Editor, but there are so many
helpful people out there and such a wealth of
information available, that I was able to
overcome those problems without much difficulty.
5. Are
you, or were you ever, a model railroader? If
so, what scale, and do you still have a layout?
I
played with model railroading years ago. Built a
2'x3' "N" gauge oval layout on a piece of
plywood. It was quite a sight. I still have it.
The layout is in my garage under a thick layer
of dust and the train set, a Santa Fe F7 with 3
freight cars and a caboose is in a closet. The
last time I looked at it the wheel sets fell off
the engine.
6. How
did you find the NERR? And what made you decide
to join?
I
found out about the NERR on Train-Sim. I'd tried
the Midwest Rail VR when they first opened,
thinking it would concentrate on my part of the
country. I was totally disappointed with that
experience but it gave me enough exposure to VRs
to make me think I'd enjoy being involved in one
- so I tried NERR. I've never looked back. The
people here are really what make this VR a great
place to be.
7. What
is your favourite route - in the MSTS world and
the RW (other than the Clinton Sub)? Why?
I love
Kip's and Robert's routes, but my favorite has
to be the Full Bucket. It's such a beautiful
route and so frame rate friendly.
As for the Real World, I'm not sure I have a
favorite. Used to ride the IC's Corn Belt to and
from college, but that train pulled out at
midnight so there wasn't much to see. It hauled
a combination of freight and passenger and
stopped at every little town along the way to
pick up and drop off freight. If I were to pick
one route, it'd be the UP's Boone Subdivision.
It's basically the same route as the Clinton
Sub, but it runs through the western half of the
state - the Clinton Sub runs through the eastern
half of the state. Highway 30 runs right along
the track for most of the distance from Boone to
Missouri Valley on the Nebraska border, and I
used to drive that route frequently. It was
quite a sight to watch all those trains running
up and down that route. There were times when,
if I wasn't in a hurry, I'd hang out in Carroll
until a westbound came through and "race" it to
Missouri Valley. If traffic wasn't heavy, the
train would usually win!
8. What
is your favourite loco? Why?
My
favorite loco is the AC6000 simply because it's
big and powerful. Nothing better than hauling a
mile long train down the track at speed.
9. What
made you decide to build your own route? Where
did the idea to model the Clinton Sub come from?
Why did you choose that particular
route/location?
My
first attempt at route building was that line
through my home town. When I look at that first
attempt now, I have to laugh at myself. I ran
track all the way from Bancroft to Fort Dodge
and then just quit working on it. The track I
laid was so poorly done that it resembled a
roller coaster running over flat land. Couldn't
see myself enjoying a route with a speed limit
of 10 MPH anyway.
10.
Tell us about the process that you went through
to build the route - who influenced you, advised
you, helped you? What frustrated you? What kept
you going? Where did you get the information to
help you with the route details? Will you
develop a version 2 of the route?
When I started the Clinton Sub, my real
intention was to do the Boone Sub. When I
started to work on the route, I discovered that
it and the Clinton Sub were part of the same
system here in Iowa, so I thought, why not
combine them both into one big route. I started
building in Clinton and then realized just how
much work was going to be involved. I pared back
my plans to just doing the Clinton Sub since I'd
already started that. After spending about 3
months on it, I cut back to what you see today.
Even that took me a year and a half to do.
As for influence and advice, most of that
initially came from the Route Builders forum at
Train-Sim. Once I got involved with NERR, I
tended to look more to Robert and Kip for
advice.
The thing that kept me going, more than anything
else, was the encouragement that I got from Mike
Martin and later, Ron Real, who used to live in
the Cedar Rapids area. Those two gents are great
people to know. Ron is not involved in VRs -
says he got a bad taste in his mouth from a
couple of VAs he played around in and was no
longer interested in committing his time to
something like that. Too bad he hasn't come by
NERR.
I built the route almost entirely from what I
could see in USA Photomaps. Every farm and town
along the way actually exists along the route.
Can't vouch for the appearance of those places,
but they're there. Didn't have track charts
until late in the game.
Probably the most frustrating thing was seeing
how inaccurate some of my work was once I got
those track charts. I backtracked through the
route and rebuilt a couple of the yards to match
the yard schematics. I had to be as accurate as
I could make them. It wasn't 'till after the
route was released that someone sent me a book
that included schematics of the Clinton yards,
and other people who had worked for CNW on the
route started offering information about how
things worked.
Based on what I have now, I've stripped all of
the interactive stuff out of the route and am
going to rebuild Clinton, rework the crossovers
to a prototypical state, and extend to Boone.
That'll all take place in version 2. The next
version is probably a long way off. Right now,
I'm reworking the signals for the P&A's and
NERR's use. The track won't change until the
next version.
11.
Will you build another route? If not, why not?
If yes, what might it be based on?
I've
dabbled with a fictional route similar to Full
Bucket, being mountain and desert scenery, based
on terrain from around Salt Lake City, but don't
know if I'll ever get serious with that.
I do want to build the Boone Sub but won't start
that until the Clinton Sub is finished.
12. If
you could improve one thing in MSTS, what would
it be?
There
are lots of things about MSTS that could be
improved, and I'm hesitant to pick one thing
that's more significant than others.
I do feel that, for all it's faults, MSTS is an
amazing program when one considers all that it
can do, especially since it's only had one
version. In my opinion, most first version
programs are far less functional than MSTS.
13.
What 3 pieces of advice would you give to
someone about to start building a route for the
first time?
First,
get Michael Vone's book and read it from end to
end.
Second, Take the time to gather the resources
you need to do an accurate job building your
route.
Third, Backup, backup, backup!
14. Where do
you see yourself in 5 years' time with MSTS /
NERR?
It's
hard to say where the train sim world will be in
five years, especially given the recent changes
taking place (MLT for example). Perhaps a better
simulator will arrive and replace MSTS, but I'll
always have an affinity for this program.
As for NERR, I can't imagine any group of people
that I'd rather be associated with now or five
years from now. I'm planning on sticking around
and , hopefully continue to contribute in my own
way.
15. Is
there anything else that we should know about
you - family, likes / dislikes, dreams, ...?
I have
a wonderful 7 year old daughter who, to her
credit, doesn't seem to mind too much that I
spend my free time on MSTS. I have raised her by
myself almost from the day she was born, and she
is my pride and joy. Now if I could just teach
her how to lay track..... |
And I'm getting to know the switchbacks really
well.
