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26 February

• There will be no further  updates  this month. And there will be no material published in March until about the 20th, as you writer will be overseas at conferences in Brighton, England, and Cork, Ireland (unless I can get a broadband connection in one of the hotels). I apologise for the inconvenience. I hope that you use the time to run extra work orders for the NERR / BRS / P&A / GL&A network - we need the revenue!

• The  Bison Rail System  has its first members-only work order available, which marks a further development in the NERR network of VRs. The work order is for the  for the Monon route, and you will "pick up and drop off wagons of Indiana Limestone at quarries around Clear Creek. It requires Bison Rail equipment."

24 February

• Has your MSTS been crashing lately? There are 1001 reasons why that might be happening, and we can't solve them all here and now. But one reason might be that your sound system is having problems handling the sounds in MSTS. Some people have had great success with the following change to one of the files in their MSTS installation. These notes are adapted from an article by Stuart Williamson on the Steam4me website.

23 February

• One  new work order  today. You can download it from the NEAWOS:

  • NEHP-256-01d -  As you climb into your GE AC6000CW, in the rain on a cold autumn morning, you read you work order instructions. "This will be a short trip on the Hoodoo Pass, transferring power at South/SE Route Extension. It will be a quick turn around, as the new engineers are ready to take over your power, and your new power is ready and waiting for you." And you think to yourself that this sounds good! And your dispatcher is thinking to herself: "Wait until he sees what I've got for him next!" It's just as well that you can't read her mind!

22 February

• The  January 2005 Engineer of the Month  was announced yesterday. The engineer awarded the personalised boxcar this month is:

• The MSTS vworld has lost another website. The European site, simulatortracks.com, closed down this week. The owners of this site produced the the Lille to Paris route a couple of years ago.

• Three  new work orders  today. You can download them from the NEAWOS:

  • NEWE-105-01 - Today on the Wupper Express 8 route, you are driving the Bombardier/Alstom Acela for a 2 hour work order from Dusseldorf to Dortmund on a clear summer morning.

  • NENC-268-01 - On a clear autumn morning on the North Coast route, you will be driving two C424 locos (#452 and #454) with 15 cars of mixed freight. On this portion of the run, you will depart Eureka at 6:45 am and head south, working your way down to South Fork. After entering siding 1 at South Fork the activity will end. This should take you about 2 hours 45 minutes.

  • BRS-MN-0001 - You are driving a Bison Rail EMD SD40-2 on the Monon Route (Middle And Southern Divisions) today. If you are not quite sure about that at the start of your run, that's because it is just after midnight! Wait for the passing quarry train to clear. If it stops at switch in front of you, then reverse slightly to show the engineer your intentions; he will then proceed. After the signal changes to yellow, proceed forward until all your train has passed over the road level crossing. Then reverse onto the branch which is now on the right of the siding where you started. Proceed in reverse to Woolery & Sons Mill and drop off your empty wagons on Woolery bypass siding (left siding). Move forward out of the bypass and then reverse up Woolery siding (closest to the building) to pick up the loaded wagons from the quarry to the north of Woolery. Drop them off at Woolery siding. Then go to the bypass and push the empties up to the north quarry. Leave the back 6 empties there, returning the others to the bypass. Repeat at the quarry south of Woolery - pick up the loaded wagons and couple them to the other loaded wagons on Woolery siding. Drop off the remaining empties at the south quarry. Pick up all the loaded wagons and head for Clear Creek where the manual switching ends. Proceed to the McDoel Yard siding on the set path. You will be notified of where to stop for the activity to complete (about opposite the engine turntable). All this should only take you about 50 minutes.

18 February

• One  new work order  today. You can download it from the NEAWOS:

  •  BRS-CGW-0001 - You are driving the BR SD24 #2407 with the NERR BQ23-7 #3085 as 2nd loco. Your shift starts at 08:30AM on a clear autumn day. The first contract on CGW has been won by BRS -  it's a weekly grain run for Williams Grain. The first run is to transport empty grain wagons from Oelwyn to Oneida, with a pick up at Thorpe's Grain on the way.

• The following story is taken from "Railway Drama", edited and written by Mark Tronson.

17 February

• On the UKTrainSim site news page, there is a report on an Train Artisan video of the current state of their replacement for MSTS. When you read the report, remember that it is a report of a video that was shown at the exhibition.

•  Handy Hint  from GaryH (ID# 100), who found it on Yuri's Steam4Me MSTS website:

• One  new work order  today. You can download it from the NEAWOS:

  •  NECS-109-12c  - On this clear summer morning in Lowden, on the Clinton Sub, you are given the Baldwin 4-8-4 (Northern) steam loco. You are continuing your way across the Clinton Sub with most all of the NERR System brass, press and invited guests on board, so you are working under a magnifying glass. Keep it smooth, keep them happy and you will be rewarded. You are back in the station on #109, waiting for the go-ahead from the station master, which will give you a couple of minutes to get it all together. The following is your schedule: Be at MP41 - 10:50-10:52 Lowden - Short wait; MP30 - 11:05-11:06 Calamus Station; MP18 - 11:20-11:21 DeWitt
    MP01 - 11:43-11:45 Clinton. All of these are crossovers with Station Sidings (45mph & 20mph) respectively, so beware.

• News item about a  train vs truck collision  in California on 15 February:

16 February

• The Old Heading article this month is an evolving document about  Track Warrants  and how they are used. Keep checking each day as we add more pieces of information. This is an RW method of track control that a number of people around the P&A and NERR are working to include in the way that we operate.

• On the  Other Downloads  page: Route-Riter version 6.2.39. From Mike Simpson, the developer - "Fixes a few small bugs, includes an updated version of TsUtils with some problems with the Merge function now fixed." The full version 6.2.16 is also on the website.

15 February

• Four  new work orders  today. You can download these from the NEAWOS:

  • NECV-256-01c - Driving a  GE AC6000CW late one clear autumn morning, you will be leaving the Wye at East End to pick up 30 reefers from Main Yard #2 at East End. Once hooked up, you will be head to Hoodoo Pass. There are 30 full grain cars at Cobbin Grain Siding - these have to be coupled to the end of the reefers to be taken on to Hoodoo Pass.

  • NEHP-256-01e - Driving an ALCo C636, you head out on a rainy autumn morning on a short return trip to Chippewa Valley. Your consist is mixed empty wagons.

  • NECV-256-01f  - Still in your ALCo C636, and still on that rainy autumn day, you head off for the continuation from Hoodoo Pass with the empty wagons. They are going to the CV Yards, and this is where your day will end, and a new crew will take over.

  • NEFB-268-01 - This afternoon, it is wet, and it is coming into winter. But you are lucky! You have a nice, warm SD40-2, with 2 more behind that, plus a caboose. And you have been called for an easy run today. Pick up your engines and caboose on the Yonder Wye. Run as a cab hop to the Thomas Mine switch. Then back up to the to the mine. Set your caboose out on the short spur on the way up and then pick it up on the way out. Oh yes, you'll be doing all this in the rain! Better take your slicker. Watch for mainline traffic. It's heavy today. The dispatcher will control all switches except those on the Thomas Canyon branch.

• On 12 February, Kip announced that he was about to start redeveloping the  San Diego & Arizona route  for the NERR. You do not have many weeks before the current version no longer exists, so why not run the current work orders on the current route? Then, when the new version of the route is released, run them again - and see the difference. It will give you an insight into how much route building has progressed since May 2003, when the SD&A route was released.

"This route extends the entire 69.9 miles from Division to El Centro, rising 1466ft and then dropping 3613ft in elevation. The line through Carrizo Gorge was operated by the SDA, which used the route to run passenger and general freight between San Diego and El Centro where the line linked up with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Desert Line: Extends northeast from the International Border (Division) to Seeley, where it joins the Southern Pacific (SP) Line from El Centro. The Goat Canyon Trestle, built in 1932 as part of a realignment of the main line following a tunnel collapse, extends for 633 feet, 185 feet high. It is claimed to be the highest and longest wooden trestle bridge in the United States." If you haven't seen the Goat Canyon Trestle on this route, you have missed one of the most impressive sights in the MSTS world!

•  Announcement:

Dan's achievement in just 13 months has meant that he has driven an average of about 2½ hours each day, as well as managing the WCN program for new applicants to the NERR, writing for the forums, leading the Central Division until recently and then being one of the leaders of the Bison Rail System, including repainting equipment and developing work orders (e.g. the 14-part series for the Frisco Fort Smith route). All of this in the NERR's VW, while being a full-time RW farmer and family man. Dan, your commitment and friendship has been a great example to all of us. Congratulations!

• Four  new work orders  today. You can download these from the NEAWOS:

  • NECS-109-12a -  Today, we are driving the NERR's Railbus. While the NERR's guests are enjoying themselves in Cedar Rapids on this clear summer's morning, we are taking the CEO and Officers to hand-deliver some contracts to some of our new shippers. What better way to do it than in a museum piece like the Railbus? Although the main unit will be heading East in one hour, there really is no time constraint, since they can't leave without us! Our job is just to get them around safely and accurately. Our Stops and Times are scheduled tightly. You are responsible for arriving and departing on time, since there will be no prompts to do so. However, your performance will be monitored. You have a 45 second grace period before being considered late.

  • NECS-109-12b - It's now 10.00am, the Baldwin 4-8-4 (Northern) is all fired up and ready to go, and we are continuing our way across the Clinton Sub with almost all of the NERR System brass, Press and invited guests on board, so you are working under a magnifying glass. Keep it smooth, keep them happy, and you will be rewarded. Also MR's crew is available in the RPO car behind you in case there is trouble along the way. Only four stops on fast track, so shouldn't be any problems. We're sitting at the station waiting for everyone to finish boarding, then we are on our way ... as soon as the Railbus gets out of our way.

  • NEDF-109-L04s - You and your 2-8-2 (Mikado) are taking a load of empty loggers and chippers to Cureton Logging. The yard crew has you fired, watered and ready to go, sitting on the wye tail. They've set your switches for you, just follow their lead. Should be a walk in the park, but you know how things like that go. Pick up both sets of cars on Outgoing #2. Back out of the yard and head for Cureton. CCDispatch will give you clearance when ready. Too many residents have been complaining about 'black clothes' hanging on the line, so there's a 15mph limit until after the CC Station. Dispatch says there's a big one coming down the mountain at you at around MP7, but you shouldn't have to wait long. He's not known for growing grass on the wheels. Should meet it at approximately 8:27am at the Passing Siding. You may be on either track depending on who gets the green first. Cureton - MP13.5 - Drop #32785-0-6 on CLog Holding #3, Drop #32780-0-6 on CLog holding #4, and Drop Chippers #32780-7-11 on Chip Loading track. When finished, go and pick up the loaded ones on the log loader track, where the activity will end if you accomplished everything correctly, getting ready for the return trip.

  • NEDF-109-L04as - This is the return trip from Cureton Logging with a load of lumber, chips and wastewater for points East, continuing from where we left off in L04s. You are responsible for switching until you get to the main. Backp to CLog holding #2 to pickup #32775-0-7 then CLog Holding #1 for #32776-0-10. Leave #32776-0-6 at Bulk #1, Pick up the boxes on CL Supplies, and the rest are going to Circus City then East. Should meet the Steam Excursion train at the passing siding about 10:09am or so. MP2.5 - At Buckeye Paper Mill, Pickup #32786-0-1 and take them with you. At the yard, back your train in, drop your cars, and then proceed to the coal loader where the activity will end. NOTES: Beware, the entire Buckeye installation is on a 'healthy' grade. This run is not as simple as it first looks.

• Bob and Jim did a great job for virtual railroading in their segments on the Let's Talk Trains internet radio show  today/yesterday (depending on where you live!). Click here to go to their website, where you can listen to the archived show. Bill Prieger added an excellent section to the show, when he phoned in and gave his perspective, from the point of view of an ex-RW railroad engineer. The other caller was George, from the Monon Railroad Historical Technical Socety, Inc. - he knows the developer of the Monon route that the NERR uses in our network and will talk with him about the NERR. Congratulations on a second excellent show, guys!

The Monon Route is also known as the Hoosier Line. For those who don't know what a "Hoosier" is, you might like to check out this website. From the MSTS Monon route description: "Main Lines are the Milwaukee Road, Latta (Jasonville) to Bedford (60 miles), and the Monon Lafayette to Louisville (210 miles). Branch Lines are the Monon - Smithville Branch (old main), the  Harrodsburg to Clear Creek (8 miles), the Monon - Wallace Junction Branch, the Wallace Junction to Victoria (57 miles), the Monon - French Lick Branch, the Orleans to Cuzco (25 miles) - French Lick to Cuzco is Southern Railway."

From the Monon Society website: "The Monon was Indiana's home railroad, the shortest line between Indianapolis and Chicago, and connection to Chicago for Indiana's fine universities. Though the founders envisioned the railroad as a facility for interchange with steamboats at New Albany on the Ohio River and at Michigan City on Lake Michigan, the railroad's principal function proved to be northbound freight haulage from southern rail connections at Louisville. Founded in 1847, it had poor physical plant, which handicapped it relative to its main rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. John W. Barriger III dieselized the railroad, streamlined the passenger fleet and attempted to upgrade the physical plant. Barriger was only able to make two major betterments in the railroad. These improvements allowed the Monon to survive some difficult periods until the final merger into the Louisville & Nashville in 1971."

BTW, a hoosier is a person born in Indiana.

• On the  Other Downloads  page: ConBuilder version 2.3.28 - now available. "What has changed? Changed the shape file errors to be more readable (understandable), added a shape section to the CBhow-to.chm file, with some examples. Changed the Cb-SYS-chk tool to look for more items to help us help you while troubleshooting."

• Some  new work orders  today. You can download these from the NEAWOS:

  • NECS-109-12: Today you are driving the NERR's Baldwin 4-8-4 (Northern) on a clear summer morning on the Clinton Subdivision. You have been "chosen" to make the inaugural passenger run for the newly-acquired Clinton Subdivision. All the NERR System brass, Press and invited guests will be on board, so you are working under a magnifying glass. Keep it smooth, keep them happy, and you will be rewarded. Also, MR's crew is available in the RPO car behind you in case there is trouble along the way. The fuel facility where you are had the fuel oil needed for us. You've been fired, watered and are ready to go. You need to pick up your cars on Yard Track #5, then back out so you can make a 'grand appearance' at the station for all the press and dignitaries. From then on, everything should be smooth and rather mundane. However, you are a low priority since revenue earners come first, so there may some waits. Dispatch will take care of all your switching.

  • NESD-018-2: Climb into your USRA 2-8-2 (Mikado) for a run  of about an hour on a clear summer morning on the San Diego & Arizona Subdivision. You're shuttling equipment and materials between Dos Cabezas and Tunnel 15, where work crews are shoring up track after an unexpected summer storm. Dos Cabezas is the staging area for supplies coming from El Centro. Tunnel 15 has no passing track, and the spur there is just too short to bring up everything needed at once. Get these empties back to Dos Cabezas, where you'll pick up more materials for the work crews. You can take a break when you get back here.

• Some  new work orders  today. You can download these from the NEAWOS:

  • NENE-235-01a-d - Part a is the first part of a four part series of work orders. Pick up your power (3 GE AC6000CW) for today at the fuel track in Eckington Yard and proceed to Mack Trucks siding to pick up 19 flats loaded with 1 USMC vehicle to each flat. These flats are to be delivered to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. It is a beautiful clear summer morning. In the second work order in this four part series, you depart Mack Trucks Siding with 19 flats loaded with USMC military vehicles. You are going to MT. Winans Yard to pick up another 7 flats loaded with 2 military tanks to each flat, and then continue your journey to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. In part 3, you are continuing the transporting of military hardware from the Washington DC area to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. This part of your run is sort of a ho-hum drive. In the final part, you make drop-offs at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Drop flats #11-21 on track 1 and flats #3-10 on track 2. Make the drops about 20 feet from bumpers - they like it that way. Then turn the train on the wye and drop the tank flats on track 3. The dispatcher will throw the switches for you. Continue on to Girard Point Engine service to put the power to bed.

  • NECV-256-01 - A single Day in the Central Division, pickup and dropping off, to various sidings around Chippewa Valley and Hoodoo Pass. In this work order, you will move Reefers from East End to the Chippewa Valley Yards with a GE AC6000CW. It is a clear autumn morning, so you won't have any problems with the weather.

  • NECV-256-01a - There are thirty empty 100-ton grain hoppers at Dierker Grain sidings, 10 each on sidings #1 to #3. They need to be moved to Cobbin Grain Siding. You can pick the cars in any order you wish. Once all 30 hoppers are hooked up, you can head out towards Cornell. The hoppers are to be dropped of at Cobbin Grain Siding. Once you have unhooked, head to Cornell Wye, then reverse back into Cornell Power #1. It should take you about 50 minutes. Your motive power today is aGE AC6000CW. It is a clear autumn morning.

  • NEFB-045-1966 & 1996a - This is Part 1 in a series of 3, where you have been selected to deliver a new SD40 loco to Simonville and conduct load trials. In Part 1 you run from Fort Fairfax to Yonder with a local freight and pick up the SD40 which was delivered to Yonder last evening . In Part 2 you run from Yonder to Simonville with the SD40.

•  Route Development Announcement  - NERR's San Diego & Arizona 1.0:

• And here is our interview for February.  Claude Thibault  (ID# 23), one of our Canadian members, is an F-Team member and a lively participant in the NERR forums. Claude is also a superb beta tester of anything that is added to the NERR - he can find bugs in anything. He is also an excellent dinner companion and quaffer / connoisseur of red wine, as Brian, Cedric and I found out in Ottawa in February 2003, when we met up there for dinner at one of the first NERR International Conventions.

1. Where do you live? Have you moved around much during your life? What is your RW job or business? Born and raised in Montréal, Québec, I bought a farm in a small town called Yamaska (pop. 1500) in 1976. I was a high school teacher for 32 years, before retiring 4 years ago. I have 2 greenhouses (6000 sq ft) in which I grow and sell annual flowers and vegetable plants. This keeps me busy from March to the end of June. The rest of the year I take care of my 2 horses ... and play MSTS. I’m also involved in the theatre world as an actor. I’ve played in approximately 15 different productions in the last 10 years. Semi-pro… half-paid half the time! I even played in a movie a few years back…. Bit part, no dialogue, tiny check. I’ve built a world for my family in the country. Planted trees, built facilities for the horses, a big patio, swimming pool, a wooded lot, etc. I don’t dream of things I would like to do….. I do them! I took all my dreams and made them real. Now don’t go thinking I’m rich…. I’m not! I just put the little money I have into my dreams… that’s all! 2. How did you get interested in trains (assuming that you are interested in trains!) Do you ever ride on RW trains? When I was a child, my father brought home a picture of him seemingly driving a Canadian Pacific steam engine. I thought he was an engineer. Actually he was a layman for the RR company, but I was too young to realise that and was sure he was the one driving the big machine. That’s where my love of trains began. Ever since, if a train passes by me as I’m driving, I become a menace. I forget the road ahead and keep my eyes on the locomotive, trying to see if my father is driving It. I rode on trains a lot in my childhood but have not done so in many years…. I still believe it is the best way to get from point A to point B but… maybe this summer! (If I can find a horse-sitter ). 3 (a). How did you start with MSTS? What were some of your early experiences - good and bad? When I saw the box containing MSTS on the shelf, I think I almost fainted! A train simulator ... my dream! 3 (b) What did you get out of MSTS? Played every activity on every route (6) then, bored, put the game away. 4. Did you have any experience with other VRs? (You can name names here!) I discovered ACR through the MS site. I was hooked - a new world was opening. There was this fellow, Artim, who was really the heart of ACR. I loved his work, and when he announced he was leaving, I thought that would be the end of train-simming for me, and then…. He announced NERR, and I jumped right in, the first day. 5. Why do you stay with the NERR? NERR is the only VR for me. I love the people and everything going on. The forums are great, the work is fun. 6. What part of the VR world and MSTS do you enjoy the most - running trains, doing work orders, or ...? F-team work is No. 1 for me. 7(a). Where do you think / hope MSTS will be in 5 years' time? Third shelf on the right, just beside Links!!! No, seriously, I really don’t know. I’d like to see an update but…. 7(b). Where do you think / hope the NERR will be in 5 years' time? I hope NERR stays like it is - fun people who respect each other, for ever! 7(c). Where do you think / hope that you will be in the VR world in 5 years' time? I hope my imagination doesn't let me down, so I can still keep my column in RR lively for years to come. 8. If you could add or change two things to the VR world and/or to the NERR, what would they be? Combine MSTS, Route-Riter, XTracks, Train Store, etc. in one big user-friendly, no-bug, program. 9. What is your favourite type of activity / work order? Why? Depends on how I feel. Tired…….. give me a quiet passenger activity. Gutsy, bring on the yard work, in between, freight from point a to b. 10. Is there anything else that we should know about you - family, hobbies, likes (e.g. red wine, Marie, ...) and dislikes (e.g. people who are nuisances)...?! I have 2 daughters - one a chemist and the other is completing a masters degree in agriculture, one wife, one dog, one house cat, 12+ barn cats. I have written different columns in different publications in the last 30 odd years, but I must admit that the one in the Roundhouse is the most demanding. It’s like walking on eggs, knowing you are writing for people from different nationalities, different beliefs, different ways of living….. I spend most of my column-writing time auto-censoring myself. 11. If you have any photos of where you live, or your flowers or horses, or ... (whatever really!), that would be great as well - would add to the interview (like the photos of Bob at work). I think I suffer from a rare disease. I can’t bear the past; I only look ahead. I have photos but never look at them. I hate pictures of my little world, because pictures show me things like they were before, in the past, for example if I look at the picture of my girls when they were 4 or 5 years old, I get all mushy because I miss those little girls. Same thing with pictures of travels I have made. I’m a little nutty when it comes to photography of my world. I have a film of every play I acted in. They are all on a shelf in my office. I never, even once, looked at them. I have no souvenirs of places I’ve been. Theatre posters, newspaper clippings, casting pictures - I never keep anything that reminds me of things that were. I am really nuts! Even the magazines in which I wrote, I never look at. I think I'd better stop now before an analyst reads this and decides to put my case in a curriculum for shrinks!

• Do you have problems with MSTS crashing when you start it. The following information, collected from a variety of sources, might explain what goes on when MSTS loads:

• Are you a fan of the  Alco diesel locomotives ? Well, today is your lucky day! Train-Sim has a pack of 16 of these noisy, smelly beasts! From the readme file: "7 RS-11 : #339 and #346 are improved versions of the previously released engines (nw_rs-11.zip). Improvements are shape file corrections (blurry frame sides), more effective LOD's, easier brake handling, improved lights and improved shape file management for better cab views. #339 runs long hood forward. #386 was rebuilt with an RS-36 style long hood after an accident. Runs long hood forward. #396 and #404 are newer RS-11's and have different air intake arrangements. #396 runs long hood forward. #2562 and #2567 are ex-NKP engines without dynamic braking and additional headlights still present but unused. #2562 runs long hood forward.

4 RS-36 : #408 and #411 are rare high-nosed RS-36's. #408 runs long hood forward. #2869 and #2873 are low-nosed ex-NKP engines without dynamic brakes. #2873 is an improved version of the previously released engines. Improvements are the same that the RS-11s show, plus an engineer's bay window. #2869 still has additional NKP-headlights but they are unused.

3 RSD-12 : #250, #252, and #256. #250 runs long hood forward, all engines are former NKP engines and don't have dynamic brakes.

2 T-6 : #38 and #24 running cab forward. These units have animated windshield wipers but no custom cab view." You will still have to download other files from the file library for the cab view and the sounds. You can also view other packs that the developer has produced at his website.

• As far as we can find out, there are only four active VRs left in the English-speaking world - NERR (freeware), the P&A (subsidiary of the NERR, payware with some freeware), the GL&A (subsidiary of Virtual Railz, payware with some freeware), and the OVS (freeware with some payware). Bison Rail (freeware) currently is available only to engineers from the Central Division of the NERR (and NERR admin members) and so is considered to be part of the NERR for the purposes of this article. None of the other known VRs in North America are currently operating fully.

It appears that the VRs that were operating in the UK (e.g. N W Trains and the Alternative Network) have ceased operations, and there do not seem to be any left anywhere else. This means that there might be some fertile ground there for an enterprising, well-organised group of people to set up a VR using UK routes and aim it specifically at people in the UK.

There are some excellent  UK routes , available either as freeware downloads from UKTrainSim (largest freeware website in the UK), or as payware(e.g. Severn Valley, Cambrian), or by buying "Community CDs" from UKtrainSim. These Community CDs cost GBP4.50 for each route, which usually includes equipment and associated activities. The cost also covers airmail postage to anywhere in the world and one month's Premium Membership of the UKTrainSim library (unlimited access - normally GBP3 per month). I ordered 4 routes on 3 February. The packet was postmarked on 4 February with a postage cost of GBP2.80, and I received an email advising me that the CDs had been posted that day. The packet was on my desk today - 9 February. This is very good service, from both UKTrainSim and the two postal services used!

One of the routes that I ordered was the  Thames-Mersey route  - covering the line from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street that used to be operated by the London North West Line - several hundred miles of track. The route installed using an automatic  menu system on the CD: Route-Riter found no errors (about 550Mb). The activities (50 - diesel, electric and steam, freight and passenger) and equipment (about 400Mb) installed using another item on the same automatic menu system: ConBuilder and Activity Analysis found no errors. MSTS started, I selected an introductory work order, the terrain buffers were generated, the work order loaded properly, and I ran a few miles with no problems. Too easy! I have not explored enough of the route to give a full review of it, but the bit that I saw had good track work and great scenery, but with very variable frame rates on my computer (8-50fps) - and hundreds of sidings of all types!

And there are lots of others - including some suited to fast electric and diesel mainline running (large routes like Thames-Mersey, Warrington), others set up for steam (Cannock Chase), and others with a quiet branch line atmosphere (Thaxted). From running some of these during the past couple of weeks, there appear to be some real differences between the UK and North American routes and activities, and differences in what people seem to want from MSTS in the two areas of the world. These include:

• Passenger activities are a much more important part of the UK MSTS scene. Example: there are many series that form a morning's or afternoon's timetable work on the route. This is probably because railway travel has always been a more important part of people's lives throughout the UK than in North America. And so DMUs and EMUs are a very important part of MSTS equipment in the UK.

• There are lots of shortline routes, many of lines that are closed - Talyllyn, Rye & Camber - or preserved - Alston, Severn Valley. There also seem to be fewer fictional routes in the UK scene than in the North American MSTS world.

• Speeds on many of the UK routes are slower than on North American routes - makes the shorter routes feel longer!! I have run some activities on the West Highland route in Scotland - very nice route, but the speed limit is 45 mph and less, with some stations but not many sidings - makes a 2 hour activity seem very, very long.

• Steam seems to be a much more important part of the UK MSTS scene - even taking into account the steam fanatics that we have around here at the NERR!

• The UKTS forums contain a forum especially for MSTS beginners, where they get very patient, ongoing help and support - like they get here at the NERR, but unlike the situation in another major North American forum, which can be very variable.

Try some UK routes some time if you want a change of pace and scenery - you won't be disappointed. You can pretend that you are taking a vacation overseas!!

• There are currently 25 rookies undertaking the  WCN program . We have had 4 new graduates to the NERR in the past 5 days. New applicants are coming in every day or two.