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 Some people just don't know how to drive ... I call these people, "Everybody But Me."

28 July

• The  Other Downloads  page has been updated with Route-Riter v6.2.75 and XTracks v3.15. Log in through NETS to get to the page.

• There is another new route over at UKTrainSim.com -  The Tunnel . You can now drive your Eurostar from Ashford in England to Lille in France, through the Channel Tunnel. The tunnel part might be a bit boring, but the rest should be excellent, if the modelling is done well. The yards that I saw on the England side of the Channel back in 2003 were huge, with a large loop to enable the trains to turn easily. The download is 5 files, each of about 14Mb. Check out this thread in the UKTrainSim forums for some screenshots.

• We have  13 rookies  going through the WCN's induction program at this time, thus keeping up the average.

• From the front page of the  Ohio Valley System VR : "The Time Slip System has been upgraded; you will notice a HUGE difference with the callboard. It's a lot easier to report runs now, with pull-down menus instead of typing in complicated activity names. And you can go in and change an activity's time if you entered it wrong. And, the upgrade isn't done yet!!! We also have a new activity database system, that will let you list all activities from a particular route, service (freight, passenger), type or model of locomotive, activity developer - you name it. It will take some time getting the information entered, otherwise it is ready to go. The new modern era steam excursion passenger coaches are now available, and the first steam excursion is in testing. This is the "weekly" run between Cambridge and Zanesville. More excursions will handle special events, and runs over other interesting routes.
  
  The PRR Middle Division route is almost ready for release. This will be a great addition to the Ohio Valley's connecting routes, providing another connection between the Ohio River Valley and the East Coast, not to mention excursions around the famous Horseshoe Curve."

• And there are  other new routes  - a small upgrade for the the Paris Metro RFSP, the Dutch Amsterdam route had an upgrade, and a new version of the  Australian Mornington route, now at V3. "The Mornington Railway (MR) is an operating railway museum based at Moorooduc station on the Mornington Peninsula about 60km south of Melbourne. A feature of the MR is that original Victorian Railways heritage equipment and rolling stock is used to support and operate train services. The Mornington railway line is a heritage item in itself, having been opened in 1889. The main operational focus of the MR is the running of steam-hauled passenger trains, but original Victorian Railways diesel-electric locomotives are used on trains occasionally. The trains run on a regular basis between Moorooduc and Mornington, a round distance of approximately 11km. The remaining unrestored section of the line between the main line junction at Baxter and Moorooduc is being restored as time and funds permit." The route is a 9.3 Mb single file download, and it uses both XTracks and NewRoads.

• The Train Artisan website has been updated with some great photos of an excursion train pulled by two spectacular steam locomotives - SP4449 (a streamlined 4-8-4) and SP&S700 (an un-streamlined 4-8-4?) .

27 July

• Some  new work orders  for you in the past few days, including a three-part series for the Dual Fictional RR route. So you can have plenty of new experiences before the end of the month (the NERR needs you to work harder!!):

  •  nedf-109-13 for the Dual Fictional RR. You will be driving an ALCo/MLW RS-18 from Klosen Ridge to Pilars Plateau in the morning for an hour, doing some pick-ups and set-outs of boxcars.

  • nedf-109-13a for the Dual Fictional RR. Again you take your ALCo/MLW RS-18 and do some drop-offs and pick-ups, this time to industries between Pilars Plateau and Jacks Meadow. On this run, you will need a helper - you drop it off at Gold Run.

  • nedf-109-13b for the Dual Fictional RR. You have abandoned the ALCo/MLW RS-18 and drive an EMD SD24 from Jacks Meadow to your finish for the day at Saratoga Springs. Your only task for this work order is to switch some wagons at Jacks Meadow 3.

  • NEFL-299-01 for the Florida High Speed Rail route. Using an EMD SD70MAC, you start in Orlando and head to St Petersburg. You are pulling passenger cars, a boxcar with National Guard Supplies, some boxcars with ice, several flatcars loaded with front end loaders, and two gondolas. You will be stopping at several locations along the way to pick up National Guard personnel for policing and clean up. A court ruling has set off some civil unrest, and rioters are burning and looting. Governor Bush has ordered out the National Guard by request of the local mayor.

  • NEWC-299-01 for the Wisconsin Central route. You return from a run, when the Terminal tells you that you have to take an RS1 # 1571 to pick up some refrigerator cars on siding #2 at Whitefish and take them to the other end of the route. You’ll see at the Museum grounds that they are getting ready for the train show this weekend. Note that way in the back they are already placing them in for the show while some out front are waiting to be placed.

  • NEWH-152-08  for the Whitefish route. The power plant in Seattle is stocking up a 90-day supply of coal for the summer. ALCo 4-8-8-4 (Big Boy) with train #204 has just arrived from the Powder River Basin coal fields on its way to Seattle area. Your job today is to take it from Whitefish as far as Stryker, where you will be relieved by another crew, leaving you available to take another train back to Whitefish.

  • NEER-299-01 for the East River route. You are operating the Tamper today at Radford Army. You will need to wait for the #34 crew to go past, then you will have clearance to proceed east on the single track between Radford Army and Cowan’s. When you get to the switch, shut down the equipment, move by the switch, and reverse into the siding where the activity will end. Do not exceed 5mph during this work order.

  • NEPO-050-06a for the Pocahontas District route. If you like shifting coal, you will love this route! Behind your GE C44-9W, you will find two cuts of empty coal hoppers. Pick them up and deliver one set to the Virginia Crews Mine the other to Baystar Mines #1 and #2. Obey all speed limits (35mph along Dry Fork Branch and 25mph along Jacob's Fork Branch).

  • NEPO-050-06b for the Pocahontas District route. You have just climbed aboard the cab of GE C44-9W #621. Pick up loaded coal hoppers from Baystar #1, Baystar #2, and Virginia Crews, and take them to Auville Yard. Obey speed limits (25mph along Jacob's Fork Branch and 35mph on Dry Fork Branch). Watch for signals, as there will be opposing traffic along the Dry Fork Branch.

  • NEPO-050-07 for the Pocahontas District route. Couple your GE C30-7 to the empty coal hoppers behind you in the Devon Road and take them to the Little Boyd Coal Mine. Pick up the loaded coal hoppers at Little Boyd Coal Mine and deliver them to Williamson Yard. Little Boyd Coal Mine is on a steep grade - so steep that you will need to set retainers on at least the first eight cars in order to avoid a runaway. As you couple to the loaded hoppers, apply your emergency brakes to hold the train.

• The new  Wenatchee & Cashmere RR route  uses ScaleRail - apparently you need to download it from the 3DTrains.com website. This new version also has a lot of new sounds in it, so you might need to turn down your sound sliders. The route also has distant mountains, custom terrain textures, and talking defect detectors!

26 July

• With all the tragedy and tension that abounds in the RW around us, it is great to have a place to come and relax with a great group of people from around the world. Let's all work hard to keep our haven of peace and camaraderie strong and supportive - what can YOU do to help keep the NERR community strong?

• For the rest of this month, there will be some short news items. Longer articles and statistics will start again in August, both Claude and Bill have promised new articles in August, and things will be back to normal (whatever that is around here!), so you will have plenty to read in a week or two.

• There are some additions to the  Fun Page  - click on the link at the top right of this page.

• A lot has happened since the last update of this News page. Some of it has been in the NERR, some in the VW, and lots have been in the RW.  In the NERR and the VW:

  • the P&A, the GL&A, and the BRS appear to be progressing well - new work orders, equipment, members, and plenty of interaction in their forums.

  • More than 1000 time slips have been submitted by  P&A  members, all 55 of them. Great work!

  • The  GL&A  has been re-organising, and the 62 members sound as though they are having fun.

  • The  BRS  has 40+ members, has produced a long list of work orders, and is growing almost daily.

  •  Version 2 of NETS  has been installed and is up and running on most of the VRs - looks great. Brian has taken Bob's creation to a new level.

  • The NERR keeps on doing what it does best - help new members get the best out of their MSTS experience, have fun together even though we are thousands of miles apart, and maintain its position as the best all-round VR in the universe!

  • The  Wenatchee & Cashmere RR route  has been upgraded to version 1.2 with about 120Mb of new files. I haven't tried them out yet, because I don't know if our BRS work orders will run on the new version. I'll keep you posted if I find out any more in formation about the new version from other forums. Version 1 was a great shortline route, so I'll be really keen to see what the developer has included in this one. And that's the only new freeware route that I can find since mid-June (apart from a beta version of a route over at t-s.com).

  • The BIG NEWS!! A new TS package called  Rail Simulator  has been announced by Electronic Arts and Kuju Entertainment - for release during 2006. From their website: "Rail Simulator is the all new train simulation game from Kuju Entertainment! Published by Electronic Arts, the world's largest publisher of computer and video games, Rail Simulator will bring the railways to life for everyone from the casual train fan to the dedicated enthusiast." It appears to be closely linked with the TS community in the UK - "Kuju are pleased to announce their involvement with leading community sites UKTrainSim and TrainSimUK."  We await further news with eager anticipation. It will be interesting to watch the reaction of the MSTS people in the various forums.

  • More  BIG NEWS!! From the t-s.com website: " Two standalone railway sims  are on the Just Trains autumn timetable. Trainz Railway Simulator 2006 is the latest version of the popular Trainz, developed by Auran. The entire program has been re-worked from boiler to guard’s van to keep it at the top of the virtual railway charts. Meanwhile, down in Somerset, another railway sim is building up a head of steam. Train Driver, developed by Railwaves, is a stand-alone simulation of the West Somerset Railway. It uses the Trainz software ‘engine’ to bring this vintage line to life on PC. The diesel and steam engines, all 23 miles of track and the ten accurately modelled stations are all included and ready to drive – straight from the box! As a bonus, owners of Trainz Railway Simulator 2006 and Passenger Edition can use Train Driver as an expansion and add the West Somerset Railway to their existing Railway Simulator operation."

  • And just today, a new route was released on UKTrainSim - v1.0 of the  Dorset Coast route , from Southampton to Weymouth on the south coast of England - 10 files, each of about 16Mb. There is also a new Italian route - from Napoli to Caserta - on Trenomania, all 373Mb of it - a huge download!

  • There has been an updated version of  Route-Riter  released recently - it's now up to v6.2.75. It will be available on the Other Downloads page of this website in the next few days - log in through NETS.

  •  Maple Leaf Tracks , the payware company, has released another locomotive pack: "These locomotives of the Canadian National Railroad were easily recognized by their unique bright orange cab, also called the "Wide cab", "Comfort cab" or "Safety cab". This pack reproduces these special locomotives built in the early 1970's, delivered in large numbers, and still found on the entire CN system today. This pack contains 4 locomotives and 1 caboose. All the models are high detail and have high resolution texturing. Also included are detailed cabviews and custom sounds. The locomotives included in this pack are: CN GP38-2w, CN GP40-2w, CN SD40-2w, CN M420w, and the CN Point Saint Charles Caboose."

15 June

• You can now download the  updated language packs for TrainStore 3.2  from the Other Downloads page on this website - log in through the NETS login screen. The link above to the right will take you there.

• And which Divisions have the most numbers of their own engineers in the  top 5 workers  (according to the number of time slips submitted) in their division? Here is the score so far this month:

  • The South East Division has 1 SE engineer in its top 5.

  • The Central and North West Divisions have 3 of their engineers in their top 5.

  • The North East Division has 4 NE engineers in its top 5.

  • The South West Division has 5 SW engineers in its top 5. Congratulations!

• We currently have  8 rookies  in the WCN induction program. Their ages are as follows:

  • 11 - 20: 3.

  • 21 - 30: 2.

  • 31 - 40: 0.

  • 41 - 50: 1.

  • 51 - 60: 2.

• Two  new work orders (one from a few days ago):

  • NEFB-268-03a for the Full Bucket Line Subdivision - it's a cold winter morning, and you have a work order for the local freight - almost 3 hours' work. take the 3-GP38s plus 30 that make up the thrice-weekly local from Mount Oliver to Fort Fairfax. This is part 2 of 2, continuing from Lake Hurst. There are a considerable number of pick-ups and set-outs along the way, so try to keep up with all the work and stay out of the way of the moderate traffic. After picking up the ballast cars at Lena's Mining, you are limited to 40 mph due to the open top loads.

  • NELV-047-03 for the Lehigh Valley Subdivision - it's autumn in the Lehigh Valley, and both the mines and Bethlehem Steel want to inventory as much coal as possible before winter makes unloading coal that is frozen in the hopper cars too difficult to handle. Bethlehem Steel converts coal to coke in coke ovens, and the blast furnaces have a huge appetite for coke - 24/7 - 365 days a year.
    
    Power has been stretched to the limit, which is why you have to pull this drag with 5 old Fairbanks Morse Baby Trainmasters. You're under powered, but the suits said that your skills as an engineer better get the job done with the motive power available - or else. Your train is heavy and long. Use sand, and don't let the wheels slip. If you do, you won't go anywhere. Stay ahead of the braking, keep your train under control, and watch the slack, especially when coupling up to the empties.
    
    Traffic is heavy, and the dispatcher will be in radio contact with you as necessary. Pay close attention to his instructions, and don't forget to Tab for permission to pass any reds. You will be told where to stop your train in Packerton Yards, where your work order will end. Good luck!

14 June

• Tony Formoso has done it again! He has just released  version 3.2 of TrainStore , his utility that allows us to have a large number of MSTS routes and the associated work orders and equipment installed at the same time. You can download it from the Other Downloads page of this website - log in through NETS. If you don't use TrainStore yet, you should!

His notes on the new release are:

SUMMARY - Train Store V3.2 now allows you to build multiple lists of Consists and Stock Items. A viewer  to show Consists and Stock Items is now included. Maintenance Mode Path Lists are now available, and there is a facility to unstore All Stock in Maintenance Mode. The screen handling has been enhanced to support Large Fonts and also prevent problems with Windows XP during lengthy processes. There are additional command line options, and additional filtering is available to show items 'in error'. Czech, Danish, Dutch, French and German Polish and Spanish versions of the software are also released. See the Getting Started PDF for installation details and Getting Started information.

NEW FEATURES:

1. There is a facility to use multiple lists for Consists, Stock and Paths. All list processing now allows the user to create multiple lists within any Route. This was an often requested facility allow lists to segregate different types of stock. The facility exists in all lists. It is automatically activated (on a Route per Route basis) when an additional list is created within any Route. The lists can be named according to the user's preferences. Once activated, the user can Activate or Deactivate individual lists at any time. The 'Include' checkboxes on the control pane still control overall whether lists are used are not. If multiple lists are not set up then the operation of Train Store is unchanged.

2. Integral Stock and Consist Viewer. Train Store now includes (on systems which have Paul Gausden's SVIEW viewer installed) an integral viewer which uses Paul Gausden's OCX control. Clicking on the icon for any Stock item or Consist in the main Train Store tree will open a viewer and display the model. The complete model will be displayed irrespective of the storage status of the individual items. A similar facility exists on the list editor pages. The viewer does not start the SVIEW program, and multiple models can be viewed simultaneously. (there is an option to use instead SVIEW for the viewing of Stock Items only).

3. Maintenance Mode can Store Paths and Maintenance Mode Path Lists are available. There is now the facility to use Maintenance Mode Path Lists. These are only used when the 'Partial Route' facility in Maintenance Mode is used, otherwise all of the Paths defined for a Route are unstored when the Prepare button is clicked. This facility is introduced to help Activity writers using Routes with very large number of Paths defined. If a Maintenance Mode Path list is defined, and the Partial Route checkbox is clicked, any Paths in the relevant Maintenance Mode Path list will be unstored. (Depending upon where the selected Paths have been used, this may trigger the unstoring of any associated Activities, Services and Paths when the Prepare button is clicked, to ensure that all of the referenced files are available together.)

4. Maintenance Mode All Stock option. For users who are not comfortable with the concept of Maintenance Mode Lists, there is the additional facility to include all items of Stock when Preparing a Route in Maintenance Mode. If checked, this will ensure that every Stock Item in the installation is unstored, irrespective of its need to be unstored. (This will obviously make handling of lists in Activity Editor much slower and more cumbersome if it is used).

5. Change in Screen Handling. Because of the sensitivity of Windows XP to programs which do not respond within a suitable time, the screen handling in the lengthy processes within Train Store has been changed. During these processes the screen is updated, and maintains contact with the operating system, but to maintain integrity during the process, additional commands and button presses are ignored until the process is complete.

6. Changes in File Validation. Additional validation is included to provide Warnings or Errors (as appropriate) of conditions which are caused by differences between file names and the underlying file configuration parameters. These conditions can sometimes cause MSTS to either fail to Explore, or fail to reload a Saved Activity. In addition most of the error reporting has been moved to the store/unstore process, so that the Error/Warning messages do not appear as part of the normal tree refresh.

7. Handling of 'Large Font' Display Settings. Previous versions of Train Store did not display properly on systems where the display setting was set to 'Large Fonts'. This version addresses that issue, and all forms should now be visible correctly, allowing all of the facilities to be used. (There may still be some slight differences in layout caused by the lack of space when using Large Fonts) .

8. Additional Command Line Options. There are additional options available at the Train Store command line. These provide :-
Start Train Store Classic
Start Train Store Classic (Maintenance Mode)
Start Train Store Easy Explore
Start Train Store Easy Activity
Start Train Store and run 'Unstore Everything!'
The installation kit contains a set of shortcuts for these options which can be placed on the desktop.

9. Additional 'In Error' Filter in List Editors. There is an additional category added to the Status filter in the List Editors. This is 'In Error'. If this filter is selected, then only items which were either flagged as 'error' items, or which were contained in 'error' items, will be displayed in the Available lists. The 'Error' items are highlighted with a strikethru, so that they are visible even if no status selection is made. The additional processing to provide this highlighting is done at the time the list is opened and takes a few seconds. If you do not want to use this facility, there is the option to suppress it (Tools/Options/Suppress Error Highlighting) This facility is intended to allow you to more easily track problem items within the configuration.

MINOR IMPROVEMENTS:
1. The background image in Easy Train Store is the Loading ACE file from the Route selected.
2. If duplicate files are found, the user will be notified earlier, and not just when storing files.

ERRORS FIXED :
1. Very long dialogue boxes have been modified so that the Yes/No button is always visible.
2. Very large numbers of Warning/Error messages used to cause a problem with the Information pane.
3. Fixed the handling of any error dialogues when starting in automatic mode using a Scenario.
4. Fixed the display of Splash screen when autoloading a Scenario.
5. Fixed an error in validation of conflict TSECTION.DAT processing which allowed 0 Activities to pass.
6. Fixed a problem with reporting folder names beginning with 'n'.
7. Fixed a bug preventing editing of lists from Easy Train Store if last Classic used was Maintenance.

13 June

• The list of North American railroads has altered many, many times over the years. One example: the  Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad  system is made up of a number of other railroads - a whole series of mergers and takeovers that occurred in the century-plus that led up to the latest creation in 1995. Here are  most of the events that led to the present day situation:

  • Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company - created on 22 September 1995, when Burlington Northern bought AT&SF's parent company. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway merged into Burlington Northern Railroad on 31 December 1996, and the BN was renamed the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

  • Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway - chartered in 1859 as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.

  • Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway - its first predecessor, the Peoria & Oquawka Eastern Extension, began construction in 1855, three years after its charter. It was renamed the Toledo, Peoria & Western in an 1880 reorganization. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Pennsylvania Railroad each bought 50% of the TP&W in 1960. The ATSF bought PRR’s half after 1976. The TP&W merged into the Santa Fe on 1 January, 1984. The railroad's main line was sold by AT&SF on 1 February 1989 to new investors, who reused the TP&W name. It was acquired by RailAmerica in September 1999; it is still operated as the TP&W.

  • Burlington Northern Railroad - was created on 1 March 1970 by the merger of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railroads.

  • St. Louis-San Francisco Railway - began operation in Missouri in 1853 as a branch of the Pacific Railroad. Its name was changed from the Atlantic & Pacific to The St. Louis-San Francisco — "Frisco" for short — as part of an 1875 receivership action. It was acquired by the Burlington Northern on 21 November 1980.

  • Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railroad - the Carrollton Short Line Railway was chartered in 1897. Its name was changed to the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern in 1906. The AT&N was purchased by the St. Louis-San Francisco on December 28, 1948, and was merged into the SLSF on 1 January 1971.

  • Colorado & Southern Railway - the Colorado Central opened a standard-gauge line from Denver in 1870. Several predecessors, including the Fort Worth & Denver City, consolidated as the Colorado & Southern in 1898. The CB&Q gained two-thirds control of C&S-FW&DC in 1908. In 1951, the FW&DC dropped the "City" from its name to become the Fort Worth & Denver. The C&S was officially merged into Burlington Northern in 1981, and the FW&D merged into the BN in 1982.

  • Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway - was incorporated by James J. Hill in 1905 as the Portland & Seattle. Its name was changed to the Spokane, Portland & Seattle in 1908. The SP&S was financed and owned jointly by Hill's Great Northern and Northern Pacific. It was absorbed in the 1 March 1970 Burlington Northern merger, along with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Great Northern, and the Northern Pacific.

  • Northern Pacific Railway - construction began in 1870, six years after charter as the land-grant Northern Pacific.

  • Great Northern Railway - the Minnesota & Pacific was chartered in 1857. Its successor, and others, were renamed by James J. Hill to the Great Northern in 1881.

  • Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad -the  Aurora Branch Railroad was chartered on 12 February 1849. It was renamed the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy on 14 February 1855. Control of the CB&Q was acquired by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific in 1901.

• 4 years ago, at about this time, MSTS was released in the U.S.A. Soon after that, t-s.com started to make add-ons available to vscale fans. Some of the  first few utilities  that were written were these:

  • MSTS MakeAce Interface - mstsmai.zip. Size: 107,354. Date: 08-16-2001. Downloads: 3296. A Windows GUI for makeace.exe. Includes a readme.txt file with usage instructions.

  • MSTS Route Buddy - mstsrb.zip. Size: 3,900,626. Date: 08-13-2001. Downloads: 1864. A utility to aid in the compression of route files for easy distribution. Requires WinZip command line module.

  • MSTS Auto Marker Utility For USA - convert3.zip. Size: 38,025,153. Date: 08-12-2001. Downloads: 2639. An upgrade of the earlier Auto Marker program which contains much more detailed information for the contiguous United States, courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Includes highway and railroad data and incorporates several bug fixes.

  • All Tools For MSTS - alltools.zip. Size: 13,378. Date: 07-05-2001. Downloads: 5099. A batch file that will put all the shapes files, terrtex files and textures into your route directory saving the need to copy all over separately.

  •  MSTS Trainset Importer v0.99a1 - ti099a1.zip. Size: 153,193. Date: 06-17-2001. Downloads: 4391. An early version of a utility for importing custom engines and stock into Microsoft Train Simulator.

4 June

•  MSTS was released  at about this time in 2001 - 4 years ago! The first freeware 6 routes that were released through t-s.com (and that are still listed in their file library) are listed below. Do you remember them? Very small file sizes by today's standards!

  • Edited Europe 2 Route - file name = new_eur2.zip. Size: 26,024,770. Date: 07-05-2001. Downloads: 5755. It was an edited version of Europe 2 Route that came with MSTS. All switches have been made manual.

  • First original route was MV Challenge - Cliff Hanger - file name = mvclfhgr.zip. Size: 436,969. Date: 07-19-2001. Downloads: 8484. A mountain route for the fearless: those with vertigo should stay away! This fictional mountain route tests your driving abilities, the performance of the rolling stock in difficult conditions, track laying methods and steep terrain shapes. Includes complete but undecorated route; route map; simple activities. By Michael Vone.

  • NewWorld Route - file name = 2nded.zip. Size: 4,099,044. Date: 07-26-2001. Downloads: 5777. The route is about 40 miles long and has a couple of good freight yards in it, as well as a couple of mountains and tunnels. It is an imaginary route which was designed just as an experiment in route building, and to act as a break from the routes that came with the game. It originally started out as a Montreal - Toronto Route, but due to difficulties with the editor it became what it is today. By James Hunt.

  • Rocky Islands - file name = mvrckisl.zip. Size: 796,715. Date: 08-19-2001. Downloads: 6661. This fictional route combines coasts, mountains and underwater tunnels. A mainline coastal route connects to a single-track island route. A fairly complete tour takes about two hours, but there are many routing options and spurs to explore. Includes complete but undecorated route; route map; simple activities. By Michael Vone.

  • Edited Marias Pass Route - file name = new_usa2.zip. Size: 6,178,924. Date: 08-09-2001. Downloads: 2724. An edited version of the Marias Pass route that comes with MSTS. All switches have been made manual. By Mike Cooper.

  • First European route was Hoogdam Line - file name = hoogd171.zip. Size: 4,341,925. Date: 09-20-2001. Downloads: 4553. Drive with all the NS trains from Chris Longhurst on this fictional route from Wrenfield CS to Hoogdam CS and vice versa. Some features include: 3 underground stations, 1 elevated station and 6 'normal' stations, many AI trains driving their own schedule, 2 big and 2 small cities to explore, 2 big tunnels and 1 big bridge. This file fixes missing ace & sound files many people had in v1.7, readme file has been updated as well. By Wouter Nijhof.

• Wow!  Over 2500 people have visited  this News page since the counter was added about 6 weeks ago! Thanks to everyone who has been here. Your support makes the work worthwhile.

• 3  new work orders  for today:

  • NEDF-109-12f for the Dual Fictional Railroad - Take an EMD SD24 diesel from Jacks Meadow to Bailey. There are some pick-ups along the way, and remember that there is a 5mph speed restriction through the loaders. You may have to go forwards slightly before crossing the main to let the Express go on by - the Express's new driver might be a little nervous when he sees your train there!

  • NEDF-109-12g for the Dual Fictional Railroad. This is a continuation from the previous work order in the series. You and your EMD SD24 go from Bailey to near Klosen Ridge. Your train has 120 cars, is 6,271 feet long (over a mile!!), and weighs almost 4,400 tones. You have 16,800 horsepower to move this monster, but at just 3.8 hp/ton, you have the bare minimum power for this part of the route. Read the briefing carefully and note the speed limit changes. Good luck!!

  • NEDF-109-12h for the Dual Fictional Railroad. This work order instructs you to continue your work from the one above. Your EMD SD24 power and you work from East of Klosen Ridge to Valley Mining and drop some of your cars. Then you can set your switches back to the right side and see-saw back to get to the Diesel Fuel Track and wait for your ride. The Yard boys are going to take care of the remainder of the helpers and cars. In this work order, sand is your best friend, and momentum is both your best friend and worst enemy! Use both wisely! If your locomotives can't handle this many cars, you can cut where they are at, but you will not make the guy who writes your evaluation report happy, since they will not be there to trigger the 100% clear run. However, you will still be marked as completing the work order, so you will still get paid.

31 May

•  Handy Hint:  If you find a locomotive without a head-out view (e.g. the default Gp38-2 diesel), you can add that feature yourself. All you have to do is to add one line to the  .eng file. For example, to add a head-out view to the default GP38-2, do the following:

  • Open the .eng file with a Unicode editor such as WordPad. You can probably find the file in the following place -
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\TRAINS\TRAINSET\GP38\gp38.eng.

  • In the file, look for the line that defines the cab view file - CabView ( gp38.cvf )

  • After that line, insert this: HeadOut (1.8 3.7 5.1 ) - this new line adds a head-out view and defines the coordinates
    of the location in the cab at which you are sitting. The three numbers are the x, y, z coordinates from the center of the locomotive and can be adjusted if desired. The first number is the distance to the side of the locomotive. The middle number is the height in meters from the rail height.  The last number is the distance from the locomotive's centre line. You can adjust these as you like - take care, or you can get some weird results!

• So how did the 5 Divisions compare last month in terms of their  Top 5 Engineers ? The list below shows that results for May. And what does it mean for the NERR? I have no idea. Did you know that 73.45% of all statistics are made up on the spot? But would we do that around here? Just trust us!

1 June

•  Top Work Order  table for May 2005 - previous month's ranking shown in brackets: