Columbia Valley Pacific got some Geeps

First generation road switchers are right at home on Wayne Campbell's new (and absolutely magnificient!) Columbia Valley Pacific route. The route ships with an ALCo RS-1 in CVP colors, so I thought why not add a GP7 to the fleet for some more variety?

The route is of course available at RailworksAmerica's File Library.

You can get the GP7 repaints on my website.

And now please stop reading and go and enjoy this fantastic route.

Announcing the BNSF Hi-Line for TS 2020

The BNSF Hi-Line route will soon be coming to Train Simulator 2020.

This new route is a model of the east half of the BNSF Hi-Line Subdivion, which runs straight across Montana's high plains from Shelby to Havre. Its western terminus, Shelby, connects to the Marias Pass route DLC from Dovetail Games, thus completing the entire Hi-Line Subdivision from Whitefish to Havre in Train Simulator.

Rick Grout (G-TraX) and I have been working on this project for several months now and our route is now nearing completion. The Hi-Line route will be a standalone route DLC (it will not require Marias Pass or any other DLC to run) and it will be available worldwide.

The Hi-Line subdivision is part of BNSF's busy northern transcontinental mainline (Chicago-Seattle). It was originally built in the late 19th century by the Great Northern Railway (GN), through mergers it later became property of the Burlington Northern (BN) and finally the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroads.

The Hi-Line is a partially double tracked mainline with a high volume of traffic, particularly intermodal and grain traffic. Amtrak's Empire Builder passenger train also runs on this line and stops in Havre and Shelby.

High line speeds of 79/60 mph, the heavy traffic, and a sawtooth gradient profile with frequent climbs and drops of up to 1% make this route a challenge for the engineer. The route's end points at Shelby and Havre offer yards with many switching opportunities. A large and very detailed engine maintenance and shops complex can be found in Havre. Lineside grain elevators at nearly every station along the way provide numerous possibilities for fans of local/wayfreight operations.

Smoothly rolling terrain with vast areas of farmland, small towns and settlements, scattered bodies of water and small remnants of the original Montana high plains vegetation create a unique scenery. Throughout the seasons, the Hi-Line changes its colors and goes from lush green in spring to dry brown in fall, before a smooth blanket of snow covers everything in winter.

GN Train #6, The Cascadian, in 1940

Here are some screenshots from an upcoming scenario for the West Expansion of the GN Cascadian Route.

This scenario will model the eastbound GN Train #6, The Cascadian, the daily all-stops local from Seattle to Spokane. The scenario will be split in three parts, part 1 will feature the steam-powered run from Everett up into the mountains to Skykomish, where an electric engine will take over for the run over Stevens Pass.

This series of scenarios will be based on GN's 1940 Public Timetable. I'm also planning to write the return run (Train #5) and, if time permits, more passenger runs using real timetable data. In our route's era, there are several possibilities for passenger runs: the Oriental Limited, the Empire Builder, the Fast Mail, and the Cascadian.

But let's begin with #6 on its way from Everett to Sky. The real #6 probably didn't run with a mighty S-2 class Northern on this stretch, a Mountain or even a lighter engine would have sufficed. But since we have this wonderful S-2 from Rick and it's freeware...

#360 to Vancouver is 15 minutes behind schedule

Leaving Snohomish

Monroe

Sultan

Gold Bar

Flagstop at Reiter

Index

Thundering towards Skykomish

Minerman's B&O New Boxcars

Minerman's latest 40 ft boxcars have rolled in, and they are real beauties!

You can download them, together with eleven other 40 ft boxcars, on my website.

ATSF, GN & BN Cabooses (Re-Release)

Now available on my website:

ATSF Rebuilt Ce-1 Class Cabooses

GN (BN) Class X200 Cabooses

These two add-ons are re-releases of older add-ons that were previously available at Trains & Drivers which have not been available for quite some time. Now they are back as freeware.

The GN caboose pack also got a small update and now includes two cars each in GN's late Big Sky Blue livery and also in BN green. I assume due to their age these cars saw mainly yard and transfer service in their final years on the BN.

Erie-Lackawanna

Here's a little side project I've worked on over the last couple of weeks: some Erie-Lackawanna equipment! Now available on my website are an EL EMD GP7-Pack and an EL Dunmore Caboose Pack.

These go really well together with Minerman's recently published New York Division 40 ft Boxcars Pack!

One Town, Three Railroads

Welcome to Everett!

Milwaukee Road

Northern Pacific

Great Northern