Claude's Corner    
Taz's Tales
Old Heading    
Railroad Slang

   Up-to-date  Index to past issues
   Links & Tutorials
    10 May   MSTS Utilities
   27 May   Fun Page

28 May

• Less than 2 weeks ago, we re-opened the membership lists to  new applicants . So far, we have welcomed 18 new members to the NERR. Most have started to submit NERR time slips to start their NERR careers. Well done to all of them!

• A new route, or rather a heavily-revised route, has been released over at Train-Sim.com this week - the  ConRail Indy V2 . From the file: "This is the original route by Bruce Bridges. It covers the Conrail Indianapolis and St. Louis lines from Avon Yard to Marion, Ohio. The route has all new scenery, some roads have been extended and more car spawners added. Requires that all six default routes be installed, plus the latest X-Tracks and T-Section. New scenery by John Finney." No changes were made to the track from the previous versions, apart from the new texture. When the route is installed - 1 zip file to be downloaded of about 255Mb, you will have to copy some files from the Shapes folder to the MSTS Global Shapes folder. I can not find a readme file included in the zip file, and nor can I find an install.bat file. It might also need the modern track sounds file (modtrkv2.zip) from the Train-Sim.com file library. It is a great pity that  this sort of information for the user is not included in a short readme file with the download - it is not that difficult to do.

• An interesting posting over at the  Train-Sim.com forums . Bob Edwards, an active MSTS route builder wrote: "Once PIE and TMTS made their public announcement that they were stopping work on TMTS, I sent a copy of their news release to KUJU and asked that they look into stepping into the doorway opened by TMTS. I think many of you will take note of the following email I received today!" Read on.

"Hi Bob, Thanks for the mail and yes, we had already seen it – we’ve been in communication with PI Engineering for some time about their Rail Driver hardware and we hope to make an announcement about that sometime soon. Just to be clear – we’ve always seen Rail Simulator as a global product; however, at the moment we don’t have a distribution deal in place for North America. When one is finalised we will make it a major announcement. I can’t say much about routes for North America either – but I will say that we have been very happy with the approach we’ve taken to developing our German route, and that we know that if we are going to release in North America we will need some content. I’m sorry I can’t give you any more information at the moment - keep your eye on our website and the forums in the next month or two! Regards, Richard Rogerson, Studio Head - Kuju Simulation"

24 May

• As I'll be away for the next couple of days, this might be the last update for May.

• It has been good to see that my article earlier in the month about  "low use" work orders  had a couple of effects:

  • At least one of our engineers ran a few of the work orders and enjoyed them.

  • I found out why some of the work orders were in that category. Now we might be able to do something with them - maybe archive them so that they are not lost but just not visible on the database. It might be possible to do the same as we do when we "delete" an engineer from the callboard - the records go into a separate section of the database. We can dredge up those records if an engineer wants to return - as two have done this week - Dana and Terry. Welcome back. guys!

• There are lots of preserved rail lines around the world. Let me tell you something about the  Bally Hooley Steam Railway  in Far North Queensland, Australia, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Cairns. The photo to the right shows the two locomotives and four open passenger carriages that make up the equipment used on the BSR - click on it to open a larger version in a new window.

But first some general information first about the cane trains in Queensland. The Queensland east coast has a number of sugar cane growing areas where, up until the 1970s (about then) the cane was transported to the local crushing mill by train. The 2-foot gauge trains ran on light rails, some of which were portable, and were pulled initially by steam engines and later by diesel engines. We generally used to call them "engines" here, not locomotives. The rail transport was replaced by road transport in the 1970s because of speed, flexibility, safety, and cost, but the spectator sport was lost! Most of the tracks were sold off and pulled up for scrap, but a few lengths were kept in place. One of the short sections of track was near the coastal resort of Port Douglas, part of the rail system for the Mossman Mill.

The BSR operates on 4 kilometres (about 2½ miles) of this track, running from the former Port Douglas sugar port area.  It is run by 14 enthusiastic local volunteers. On the days when the train runs (Sundays and public holidays), the steam trains' four carriages are usually packed with tourists and some locals, 4 or 5 times a day from 10am. The first station on the line out of the Marina Mirage resort is Dougie's, a backpacker resort, the Country Club (near the Mirage golf course), then Rydge's Resort, then to the terminus at St Crispins. The passengers disembark there, while the  round-trip customers wait while the steam locomotive is turned on a fully-operational turntable, then couples to the other end of the train for the trip back.

The original line was opened in 1900 and consisted of a yard / station / wye/ workshop complex at the Port Douglas end. The early wagons and boxcars were supplied by Hudsons of Leeds, along with the passenger carriages, and by the German firm, Orrenstein and Koppell. The latter supplied the "Douglas" compound Mallet locomotive, in addition to the wagons. More wagons were supplied by Walkers Ltd., Maryborough, and from a works in Ipswich, both cities in Queensland. These accounted for about half the wagon stock. The remainder were built in the railway's own shop. The locomotive was named the "Faugh-a-Ballagh", from Fowler's in Leeds, her builder's number being 8733 of 1901. The photo to the right shows the train at the Port Douglas station in 1902.

23 May

• Well, the announcement about the indefinite cessation of the development of  TMTS , one of the new-generation rail simulators, did not really cause much of a stir in the MSTS world. Most people seemed to take the view that they had not really expected to ever see it on the market. It seems that a number of people have dusted off the projects that they had stopped work on and will now complete them for the current MSTS. The position of the payware companies seems to be unclear (from what I have read, and I have no inside contacts whatsoever), and nothing public has been heard from them. And even this comment from one of the people closely involved in TMTS in one of the other forums has changed people's opinions: "Thought I would put my head around the door- nothing really changes that much, the Train sim world may eventually benefit from this move in the long run though, it will supply a needed breathing space for developers too, as the guys have stated above, we are still building TMTS its just not going to hit the shelves, who knows, you may see it later on, just not right now." from Tim Court.

• Train-Sim have had a large number of locos and stock items for the  Monon line  in recent months. Someone might now why this line has had a sudden growth in popularity. If you want to run prototypical equipment on the Monon route that the NERR has in its network, you have a great in the T-S.com file library.

• And there is even a  Thai MSTS website !

• Have you looked at the other  Virtual Railroads  lately? Here's a bit about each of them and their activities recently:

  • NERR - you know all about that one, or you should! Probably the biggest news is the re-opening of our membership lists for new members. In the past week-and-a-bit, we've had about 25 applicants, 10 of whom have already graduated from the New Engineers Orientation (NEO) program to the main VR. Most of those have started to earn money on the main callboard. A couple of former members have rejoined through that program, and it is great to see them back 'home' with us.

  • Great Lakes & Allegheny RR - it is still active and accepting new members. They have work orders for their 8 payware routes and an active set of forums. This VR is closely associated with the BRS (see below).

  • Pacific & American RR - it is still active and accepting new members. They have work orders for their 9 routes, mainly payware, and an active set of forums. It is rather quiet at the moment, as some of their leaders are off doing other MSTS things.

  • Bison Rail System - it is very active and accepting new members. They have a growing list of work orders for about 15 routes in 3 sections - North America, Europe, and Australia. They have a very active set of forums, an activity writers training program, an  evolving historical rail section, and a new vAmtrak section.

  • Ohio Valley System - it is still very active and accepting new members. They have a growing list of work orders for their 4 main routes and 4 connecting routes - mainline, shortline, electric, with some payware added into the mix. They have an active set of forums, a training/certification section with a range of courses (basic, advanced, steam, passenger, activity development - the largest, longest-established VR training section around), and even an attached virtual airline.

    They recently updated the information on their main website page, which they do every couple of months, or more frequently if there is some breaking news: "May 22, 2006: The rosters have finally been updated on the Ohio Valley Aviation site. Voyager moved to a new host, causing the delay. All aircraft can be downloaded now. We are once again flying charter service for the Cleveland Indians and Akron Aeros baseball clubs. Other teams can be easily added. Also coming soon are "Sportsman Specials", unique charters to very interesting destinations.
    
    If you are interested in running Sand Patch, Conrail Indy, Hamilton Norfolk, and/or PRR MIddle Division, let us know. We are considering deleting our "connecting route" program.
    
    Work on the new Ohio Central Route continues by Austin Yoder. This route, if found acceptable, will make a great addition to the Ohio Valley. Connecting at Zanesville with Ohio Rail, it provides access to Columbus, Ohio, a connection to the P&WV route at Mingo Jct, and runs north to Brewster, Ohio. Austin previously released the popualr Pocohontas Route, so we know he does great work.
    
    Rich Garber is back to work on the Cumberland Route. Based on the L&N prototype, the Cumberland route again stretches the limits of MSTS route design. Word is Andre Ming also has the construction crews busy on an all new route."

  • Cascade & North Western RR - will open for members for the first time on 5 June 2006, but you can check out the website. It will use a specially-developed, updated and enlarged version of Robert Reedy's Dual Fictional route. This VR will run a bit differently from the others described here. The automated dispatcher system will sequence the work orders in a set order, and engineers will be able to access only the next in the series and the associated equipment to run it. Keep watching this space for more information.

• I am not a great fan of most payware. Don't flame me, it's just my opinion. I appreciate the effort that goes into payware, and I know that they have to make commercial decisions. But one of the smaller payware organisations does get my vote. Andre Laming's  V Scale Creations  has two routes on the market now, and another one at least in the development stage, plus 4 equipment packs. The routes are brilliant (the St Louis & North Arkansas [steam era] and the Arkansas & Ozarks [diesel era]). Gaetan Belanger is now providing the locos for the routes, and his work is among the best around. Together, they make a great team producing great packages for us "play" with. Real big boys' toys!! And I'm not on a commission for this shameless plug.

20 May

• The  BIG news  today is in the following box. You can also read about it on their website. So that leaves just Kuju developing a new train simulator package. There is now some speculation that Electronic Arts, the major company bankrolling Kuju, might be looking to cut projects like Rail Simulator. There is always speculation, so we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. Maybe they will broaden their route and equipment base to include North American material in the hope of capturing that market. Who knows? Watch this space.

19 May

• Sorry for the lack of news updates. We've had 10 new members graduate from the  NEO welcome/induction program  to the NERR in the last 4 days, with another 14 still undertaking the program. It has been great to see the current members - old and newer - giving the new guys a great welcome in the forums. Thanks for doing that! I hope that you can keep it up for the next couple of weeks until the rush finishes - maybe. Most of the new members have also submitted more NERR time slips since they graduated, so we now that they are keen to get going. Great to watch!! As NEO Manager, I am having a great time. Brian has ironed out the few remaining glitches in the self-paced program, and it is going well now - thanks again to his superb programming skills.

• If you have been waiting for more prototypical stock to run on the  South Australian route  called Adelaide and Hills, a new batch has just been released over at the Steam4me site. The SAR700 class loco is shown on the right - click on the picture and a larger version will open. From the site: "The long-awaited and stylish SAR 520 class by Joseph Spinella and team-ALCO is now available for your immediate download and installation. Player and AI-versions of this magnificent beast are included. More South Australian Railways rolling stock as we release further models by Alexander Jamieson: the SAR Country Passenger Carriage set, featuring 500, 600, 700 series and Centenary carriages, some with passenger and guard views. Team-ALCO has re-vamped the SAR 700 class 2-8-2 with upgraded physics and AI versions of the locomotives."

• My news item on 10 May about the work orders that have been submitted 5 times or fewer elicited an excellent response in the NERR forums. Read this thread to find out why some of those work orders are on  the 'Low Use' list . I have edited the table in the 10 May item to show the work orders mentioned in the forum thread. But there are still a lot of the work orders for which the low use has not been explained. So why not run some of them and find out what they are like?

• There will soon be another VR in the MSTS vworld - the  Cascade & North Western . Another part of the vision of Bob Artim, the C&NW will be a bit different from the NERR. Engineers will have to follow a designated "career path" as they are allocated work orders to complete by the railroad dispatcher - just as in the rworld. You can check out the website, but they are still in testing mode, so don't try to join up yet. The opening date is set down as 5 June 2006. Watch this space (and the NERR forums).

• Over at Train-Sim, there have been some activity packs released this week for the  CSX Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac line  from Fredericksburg to Washington route. I have not run this MSTS route, but I'd be keen to hear from anyone who has. There are a number of activities and plenty of equipment for the route, so someone must like it.

16 May

• There has been a rush of  new members  to the NERR today. We've had 22 applicants, with 5 graduating to the NERR already, 1 leaving, and 16 undertaking the New Engineer Orientation (NEO) program. Some of these guys have been waiting very patiently for several months to be able to join the NERR, so they are really going through the tasks in NEO very quickly. On the main front page of the NERR website, you can see who the 5 most recent graduates have been, plus the number of rookies still in the NEO program. We are publishing  a welcome message to the new graduates in the Human Resources Department forum in the NERR forums, so go over and welcome the new engineers.

• Two  new work orders  for you today. They are:

  •  NEDF-067-06A for the Dual Fictional Railroad route. On a clear summer morning, you climb aboard the trusty old EMD SW1500 switcher at Ada for a work order that should take you between 1½ and 2 hours. Your task is to assemble a train in heavy opposing traffic in Ada's industrial areas. Timing is critical. (You need 16 equipment files to run this one.)

  • NECG-075-02 for the Chicago Great Western route. To complete this work order on a clear autumn morning, you will be using a GE C44-9W - our NERR #9022 - for about 1½ to 2 hours to complete this work order. "You have been given the privilege of taking the first shipment of grain for this harvest season from Oelwein to Dubuque. I know you will do us proud. Just follow the path. Pick up the grain cars and be on your way." (You need 55 equipment files to run this one.)

15 May

• The  major announcement  for today is:

We have had 9 applications for membership since NEO re-opened just about 36 hours ago, without having to advertise it at all. 1 of those has already completed the welcome program and is now a fully-fledged Active NERR engineer on the callboard.

1 other rookie decided that, although he had completed most of the tasks in the NEO program, including the first work order, the NERR was not for him and resigned. I asked him by email what had caused him to " become very frustrated and not enjoy this at all", so that we can see if the problem was at our end or his. I hope that he replies. The other 7 rookies are working their way through the process at varying speeds. A couple of them have failed the first attempts at the first work order because they went too fast in the yard at the start of the work order.

I have also contacted the 20 or 25 people who have left their email address on the website to express an interest in joining the NERR. I hope that some of them join us.

• Note from the website owner over at UKTrainSim: "I'm extremely pleased to report that one of our most popular CDs, Tim Court's  Mid-East UK  route is now back on the CD ordering screen! This is essentially the same route as the original version, and it now comes fully patched and ready to go (previously you had to install the route and then manually apply a few patches that were on the CD). It's got self-installers and an auto-run menu - the same as our other CDs. The changes to the route are simply the scenery replacements to comply with the permissions withdrawal previously in the year and a couple of other minor swap-outs to improve the look of the route.

Mid-East is set in the British Rail Blue 80s period, and the stock included on the CD matches that period. The route does not have overhead gantries. What we have done is to go through the stock and upgrade it to the current versions that are available.

Mid-East has always been a popular route, but as one of our oldest CDs, its included stock has always been quite old. Not the case anymore! Lots of brand spanking new stock on there, including the very nice new HSTs. Note: This route is NOT the upcoming "Mid-East PLUS", that's not due out for a while yet."

The price for the CD, posted by first class airmail to anywhere in the world, is GBP4.50. This includes 1 month of premium membership of the file library. It is a great bargain, if you are at all interested in UK routes and railways.

• As you know by now, if you have not been living totally under a rock, there are two major rail simulators currently in the development stage. One of those is by Kuju, the original developers of MSTS before they passed it over to Microsoft. They have several updates on their progress over at their  Rail Simulator  website. The latest updates have been about their Track Tool and the support for the AGEIA PhysX Processor in their program.

• Train-Sim has released lots of rolling stock in the past few days, including several packs from the Arkansas Locomotive Works and others from Australian modellers, together with some more activities for freeware routes (e.g. the Pocahontas route). It is great that more activity developers seem to be sharing their work. Those of us who can't/don't develop our own activities really appreciate the time taken to produce good quality activities.

10 May

• The latest update to  Train Store, V.3.2.2 , is now available as a 946Kb download from the Roster section in NETS. It is easy to install - just open the zip file, double-click on the exe file inside, check that it is pointing to the folder where your installation of Train Store is, and then let it run. The only file that is changed is the Train Store exe file. It does not change any of your settings or any of your stored files. From the readme file: "This update fixes a number of small errors in Train Store V3.2, and adds some additional features. The update is an update to the TRAINSTORE.EXE file only. The update is compatible with all existing V3.2 files (including all language packs) and with V3.2.1."

Train Store is the program that kept me in the MSTS world when I was ready to uninstall MSTS for the second time because it was taking forever to load the sim, if it ever managed it without crashing! I still use it only for the storage of the routes or work orders that I don't want to run for the time being - I usually have only one or two unstored routes. But it keeps me sane - if that's what you call my state of mind! If you are not using Train Store, why not?! It has never crashed for me, and it has never lost a file for me. Even when I changed computers without unstoring everything, all I did was to copy all the Train Store storage folders into my MSTS installation, and all my routes and work orders were back and running again. Tony Formoso has produced the "perfect" program - IMHO.

• The table below shows the  69 NERR work orders  that have had 5 or fewer time slips submitted for them since NET started. I though that I would look at each one and see if I could identify the reason for the apparent lack of interest in running these work orders. The reason that I decided on is in the right hand column. Some reasons, such as for the 958 to 960 series of work orders, are obvious; others are not so obvious; and others, such as those shown as "???" are for reasons that I can not ascertain. How about you running a few of these work orders this month? Some of these work order developers must be starving, if they are trying to live off the royalties that they are earning for these work orders!!