Line news June, 2003

As we're getting our Newark-Philadelphia SEPTA E60C service underway after a stop, a Philadelphia-bound Acela screams past.

• <31-Jul-03>: Robert Fontaine's Amtrak P42DC locos are now available from the Train-sim.com library, either individually or as a pack. These locos are numbered #802, #804, #808, #811, #820 and #821, so you can download just #821, amtiv821.zip (749kb, 30-Jul-03) for example, or all six in one archive, amt4pack.zip (4.2Mb, 30-Jul-03). Note you need Robert's tan coloured cab, p42tan.zip (920kb, 26-Jul-03), and the Maple Leaf Tracks GE sounds, gesounds.zip (3.5Mb, 01-Sep-02). The Dragon Railroad Company diesel railcar, dr_gw_rc.zip (1.3Mb, 30-Jul-03), and the NS SD40-2 #3397, ns3397.zip (8Mb, 30-Jul-03) are other downloads of interest. Note with the latter you should install it in a folder named ns3397-sd402 which corresponds with this loco's ENGine file name. The payware London Brighton route has been publicised lately - there's a review (with disclaimer) at UK Trainsim.

• <30-Jul-03>: There are a couple more routes at Train-sim.com: Bear Mountain Pass, bmp4a.zip (11.1Mb), bmp4b.zip (13.5Mb) and bmp4c.zip (8.7Mb) (all 29-Jul-03), and Chicago Elevated Railway, version 0.6d special edition, l1_0_6d1.zip (2.7Mb, 29-Jul-03). At Trenomania.it there's a new cab for the E645 - Prima Serie electric loco and a number of new activities for various Italian MSTS routes.

• <29-Jul-03>: Mark Smith and Gavin Mclaughlan have teamed together to give us some N.S.W. Class 442 locos in various states of wear and tear, e.g., 44234.zip (1.2Mb, 28-Jul-03), along with a set of sounds, 442snd.zip (839kb, 28-Jul-03) at the Train-sim.com library. Xtracks version 3.7 is also available from Train-sim.com, one version for route builders, xtracksr.zip (18.7Mb, 28-Jul-03), and the other for end users, xtracks.zip (3.6Mb, 28-Jul-03), with a convenient installer to remove the pain of manual installation. For a change from the usual, 3irty-5ive is a small route set in the UK steam era with just four yards for plenty of shunting - it's in 35-r-v10.zip (13.7Mb, 29-Jul-03) and there are activities, too, 35-a-v10.zip (145kb, 29-Jul-03), using default UK rolling stock. Take a look at AllFreeNet.it where there have been a number of updates in various download sections as of 27 July.

• <28-Jul-03>: Keep a watch on the Train-sim.com library for the next version of XTracks (version 3.7). Build 20 of the Standardised TSection.dat file is already available, tsection.zip (95kb, 27-Jul-03), and XTracks will be available as a zip archive or self-installer for us mere mortals and there'll be the usual special edition for route builders. By the way, XTracks now has its own site at www.xtracks.tk. Also at Train-sim.com, Eric Swenson has some sight-seeing activities for the Italian routes, Bolzone-Brenno-St Michele and Via Trenomania AV, es-acit1.zip (288kb, 27-Jul-03). Both these routes can be downloaded from Trenomania.it or AllFreeNet.it (look under Scenari).

• <27-Jul-03>: Brighten up your day with a Sea View Freight Lines pink and purple SD40-2 from the Train-sim.com, sv1305.zip (1.95Mb, 26-Jul-03). Then follow that with Robert Fontaine's re-designed P42DC cabs, one in tan, the other in grey, p42tan.zip (920kb, 26-Jul-03) and p42_3.zip (838kb, 26-Jul-03). Savostyanov Oleg has contributed a model of Russian electric loco SNTK VL60_698, vl60_698.zip (2.3Mb, 26-Jul-03). Michael Sinclair has a small fix and some tips for his sounds, sinclair.zip (3kb, 26-Jul-03). Apropos of nothing, the world speed record for diesel traction is claimed by a Spanish RENFE Class 355 at 256.38 km/hr but that record is surpassed by loco TEP80-0002 at 271 km/hr claims the research department at Moskva (Scherbinka). The TEP80 is rated at 6,000hp and powered by a V20 Kolomna motor (Today's Railways, March 2003, page 17). It's easy to know when web•TrainSim is going ok with creating and testing an activity: there are plenty of pics! Here are the latest of his Newark to Philadelphia activity he's testing.

The driver of the Philadelphia-bound Acela Express looks askance at the trial ALe426/ALe506 TAF unit under trial by SEPTA as he pulls in at Wilmington.

• <26-Jul-03>: Some more freight packs at Train-sim.com, these being 89 foot bi-level and tri-level autoracks: the first is made up of 37 different Thrall wagon bi-level automobile racks, bilev_1.zip (9Mb, 25-Jul-03), and the second, 22 Thrall tri-levels, trilev_1.zip (5.5Mb, 25-Jul-03). web•TrainSim thought he'd try creating another activity on NEC 4 (Newark to Philadelphia) and this time is having more success by limiting the activity time to about an hour. There haven't been any rear collisions so AI trains are observing the signalling rules. Today he tested an Italian Railways ALe426/ALe506 TAF trainset in place of the SEPTA E60C.

• <25-Jul-03>: There is a variety of downloads from the Train-sim.com library today: Rich Garber and Dick Cowen have teamed up to produce activities and rolling stock packs for the Canton Pass route (payware): ctnap_v1.zip (193kb, 24-Jul-03), ctnap2v1.zip (190kb, 24-Jul-03), ctn_eqm.zip (16.6Mb, 24-Jul-03) and ctn_eqm2.zip (2.7Mb, 24-Jul-03); Alco fans have something in Ken Rodgers' Long Island Rail Road ALCO FA1 power pack #618, lirrfa1.zip (5.2Mb, 24-Jul-03); and Michael Simpson has put together some interesting sound packs, such as those of a wide gravel-bed stream, str1.zip (2.9Mb, 24-Jul-03). At UK Trainsim web•TrainSim noticed a tutorial on getting the most from the InstallMaker tool, Install Maker.zip (1.2Mb, 24-Jul-03). A reminder that if you're looking to see what MSTS French rolling stock is available, a check at Matériels français sur Internet is worthwhile.

• <24-Jul-03>: A brightly painted yellow Sea View Freight Line GP35, svgp35fx.zip (1.8Mb, 23-Jul-03), a patch for the Crewe to Liverpool route, patch1-1.zip (6kb, 23-Jul-03), and a modification to the default Innsbruck - St Anton route to convert it to the Spanish RENFE system, isarenfe.zip (16.5Mb, 23-Jul-03), are the downloads the caught the eye of web•TrainSim at Train-sim.com today. Note the Innsbruck - RENFE route requires particular rolling stock if you want to run the activities. If you want to catch up on some railway technical information and browse through specifications for French rolling stocm, Florent Brisou's Rail 21 site is very detailed and comprehensive. Use a service such as Babelfish to translate pages of your choice from French to English or other language.

• <23-Jul-03>: At the Train-sim.com library, there is a pack of six Automotor Electrico Sub-urbano modelled in 3D with interiors and passenger views, efe_aes.zip (16Mb, 22-Jul-03). Also, there's a set of four contemporary BNSF boxcars, bnsf_fp1.zip (2.4Mb, 22-Jul-03). At TrainSimFrance.net, you can find a couple of SNCF's latest trainsets, the SNCF X 73500 ATER, ater.exe (9.8Mb), and the ZR 20900 en livrée Transilien, packzr2n.exe (1.96Mb). Specs for the X73500 / 73900 ATER can be found on this page at Rail 21. web•TrainSim has scanned a couple of scribblings he does in preparation for creating activities - see NEC 2 activities documentation and NEC 4 activities documentation.

• <22-Jul-03>: Fans of the Schnabel wagon will like ULTX tank car, used to haul 200 tons of hazardous material - it's in download jumbo1.zip (457kb, 21-Jul-03) at the Train-sim.com. Also, Robert Reedy has another set of activities for his ADFRR route, adfbrl02.zip (82kb, 21-Jul-03). web•TrainSim has been reading through, and editing, some of the material he put together in Getting Started in the Ops Docs about 12 months ago - those of you starting out with MSTS should find something of interest.

• <21-Jul-03>: The Australian Add-ons to MSTS site has version 2 of Mike Simpson's Blue Mountains route, AU_BlueMountains2_Full_MSTS1_Setup.exe (73.1Mb, 13-Jul-03; bit of large download for dialup users!) and there's an update from version 1 to version 2, AU_BlueMountains2_Upgrade_MSTS1_Setup.exe (9.75Mb, 13-Jul-03) (Blue Mountains has been at Train-sim.com since the end of May but in zip files - some may prefer the self-installer packages). James Brook's Victorian Rail for MSTS site has updated physics to all carriages and wagons, but not locos yet, in wag_files_update.zip (121kb, 19-Jul-03). At Train-sim.com, Keith and Geoffrey Fair have their Sea View Freight Line GP35 loco, sv_gp35.zip (2.7Mb, 20-Jul-03).

• <20-Jul-03>: Keith Fair has done some repaints of freight cars into the Sea View Freight Line livery; for example, a 40 foot boxcar, sv_mfi1.zip (878kb, 19-Jul-03) and a tanker, sv_chem.zip (490kb, 19-Jul-03). Some may be interested in the Train Cleaner tool, version 1.0.4, available from the Guida/Tools section at AllFreeNet.it: Programmino che analizza e sistema le Activity (sorry, but haven't translated).

• <19-Jul-03>: A couple of interesting downloads at the Train-sim.com library today: firstly, Joe Smith's utility for fixing problems with the Activity Editor (including cleaning out registry keys to return everything to normal), mstsscrz.zip (375kb, 18-Jul-03), the DragonRail-liveried Alco RS-3, dr_rs3.zip (1.9Mb, 18-Jul-03), and last but not least, the web•TrainSim 86 foot boxcar, with special thanks to Jim England, wdtsbox.zip (405kb, 18-Jul-03). The latter gave web•TrainSim some motivation to finish off a couple of write ups on some small fixes: the EU11-003 cab, the FS D445 loco sounds, and installing the latest 3D model of the FS ETR480 Pendolino trainset.

• <18-Jul-03>: In the Train-sim.com library, web•TrainSim noticed: Chinese Jianshe steam locomotives, jssteam.zip (9.1Mb, 17-Jul-03), with a couple of screenshots in the forum; Denver Rio Grande Western EMD FT A-B-B-A set, repainted by Jim England, rgft.zip (1.0Mb, 17-Jul-03); a package of twenty 3-bay ACF grain hoppers, 3bacf_1.zip (10.7Mb, 17-Jul-03). At AllFreeNet.it there are a number of new locos (e.g., FS ETR200 pack, FS E656-091, FS GR746 V2, FS E428 4a Serie), cabviews (e.g., E645 II Series, FS ALn663), and the Catania to Messina route is complete (a 150Mb download, however). A special thanks to Jim England to taking the time to repaint an 86' hi-cube boxcar for web•TrainSim (it should be available for download from Train-sim.com in a day or two).

In the cab of Italian Railways E405.003 (formerly PKP EU11-003) on test at San Bovio on the Via Trenomania AV route.

• <17-Jul-03>: Chris Bogley has produced another handy reference, What Runs Where Guide, wrwguide.zip (5kb, 16-Jul-03), currently only for U.S. and Canadian routes but he's looking for more information for a further edition. The Grand Trunk Western Holly Sub, holly_a1.zip; (1.4Mb, 16-Jul-03) is available in seven files for download. Phil Skene has released another fictional route, the Dragon Bay Route, available in two files, d_bay_1.zip (7.2Mb, 16-Jul-03) and d_bay_2.zip (13.2Mb, 16-Jul-03). Phil advises anybody with an addiction to Railroad Tycoon to try Dragon Bay. The cab in the pic above is Cabina di collaudo generale by Renzo Omodei, based on the Acela cab but with many extras, available from Trenomania.it. The EU11-003 electric loco can be downloaded from AllFreeNet.it - seach the Locomotiva section for EU11.

• <16-Jul-03>: Some downloads that caught the eye of web•TrainSim in the Train-sim.com library include a repaint and re-arrangement of the windows of Gaetan Belanger's VIA passenger cars into the late 2000's scheme, vianew.zip (3.9Mb, 15-Jul-03); for Alco fans, an improved cabview for LIRR Alco RS1 461, lirs1cvf.zip (4.6Mb, 15-Jul-03); and, a Union Pacific GP40-2 pack, up_gp40s.zip (2.8Mb, 15-Jul-03).

• <15-Jul-03>: Keep an eye on what's happening at Australian Addons for MSTS: there's the Coal to Newcastle route on the way and a couple of people are working on updating the physics of various pieces of Australian rolling stock - downloads should be available soon. web•TrainSim has been going back over some pages he wrote more than a year ago, in this case Hints & tips. One piece caught his eye: he'd written that the first rule for testing an activity was to run MSTS and see what happens! He did mention ConBuilder, but now we have a more refined way of checking an activity's rolling stock, with both ConBuilder and Route Riter to help out with any problems before MSTS gets a chance to faint.

• <14-Jul-03>: There are more of Jim England's repaints at Train-sim.com and a pack of 8 activities for the NEC 4 route, nec4pak1.zip (10.4Mb, 13-Jul-03), for those who like shunting (switching). web•TrainSim has been reading an article in the May issue of Modern Railways about the re-signalling project for the Victoria Line in London. It is an interesting article, detailing how modern technology will be used to manage every aspect of train control. However, the article should win the prize for the number of new acronyms: APR, ATO, ATP (not so new), ATS, DTG-R, FBP, FCU, LSC, PAC and SMS. If only the MSTS AI dispatcher would more closely follow ATO procedures by making proper recognition of a train's APR so all trains would receive ATP on any trainsimmer's LSC and elimiate the SMS so frequently needing to mail home.

• <13-Jul-03>: The PRR I-1SA 2-10-0 Decapod steam loco has appeared in the Train-sim.com library, i-1pack.zip (16.1Mb, 12-Jul-03). You may remember Road & Track did a road test some time ago of the Baldwin Decapod. It corners as if on rails, began R&T's report. There are more of Jim England's repaints of 86 foot hi-cube box cars, such as Aerosmith, aerobox.zip (537kb, 12-Jul-03).

• <12-Jul-03>: Gavin Mclaughlan has a number of activities for The Coal Road route, including four activities in one pack, coalact1.zip (938kb, 11-Jul-03); you'll need to see the readmes for rolling stock requirements. There's the Mountain Mixed Freight activity for the default Marias Pass route, mtmxdfrt.zip (4kb, 11-Jul-03), from Essex to Glacier Park. The Merseyside Railways - Crewe to Liverpool route is also another new download available from the Train-sim.com library, in four files of a reasonable size for dialup users, the first file being mersey.zip (7.3Mb, 11-Jul-03). At UK Trainsim web•TrainSim noticed a version (updated?) of the NSW Tangara electric suburban trainset, AU_Tangara_Setup.exe (1.2Mb, 11-Jul-03); watch for this download from other sites.

• <11-Jul-03>: Jim England has a couple more 86 foot hi-cube box car repaints and web•TrainSim liked the ones of Kiss and Batman: kissbox.zip (547kb, 10-Jul-03) and bmanbox.zip (453kb, 10-Jul-03) respectively. Dave Dandy has another rail grinder set, this one a road/rail combination, brandt.zip (3.3Mb, 10-Jul-03). Builders of Australian routes should keep an eye on the Structures section of the Australina Add-ons for MSTS site for new objects as they come along. Vince Cockeram, author of the NEC 4 route, has passed on some background info to the NORAC signalling system and the reason for MSTS not behaving itself in a some activities - see here.

• <10-Jul-03>: At the Train-sim.com library, there's an updated version of ConBuilder to version 1.63b, cb163b.zip (275kb, 09-Jul-03), to eliminate an error for those who edit the Name parameter in ENGine and WAGon files. Australians are well-looked after with another repaint by Jim England, this one being a Victoria Bitter 86' box car, vbbbox.zip (526kb, 09-Jul-03). The BNSF Kootenai River Sub has been modelled in the Whitefish 2 route, whtfsh2.zip (80Mb, 09-Jul-03), covering all the 180 miles from Whitefish, Montana, to Sandpoint, Idaho. TrainSimFrance.Net have put up a post that MSTS 2 will leave the USA in Decemeber and should be localised to French by the middle of February.

• <09-Jul-03>: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and other bands are all rolling into town on a MSTS train: Pink Floyd Rock Band 86' high cube boxcar pfydbox.zip (513kb, 08-Jul-03), Led Zeppelin Band 86' high cube boxcar lzepbox.zip (579kb, 08-Jul-03) and Van Halen Band 86' high cube boxcar vhbox.zip (615kb, 08-Jul-03) from Train-sim.com (all these, and others, are repaints by Jim England). Other downloads that caught the eye of web•TrainSim include Joseph M. Fortier's MBTA route, now at version 4, mbta_v4.zip (57Mb, 08-Jul-03) and the Train Store v2.0 French language pack, trnst2fr.zip (1.8Mb, 08-Jul-03) (Train Store 2 must be first installed).

• <08-Jul-03>: For those enjoying the warmth of summer, refresh yourself and crew with a range of 86 foot boxcars from a choice of popular software drink companies at Train-sim.com. Dave Dandy's Grinding Train has a small fix so that its cab now aliases to the MSTS GP38-2, hiromfix.zip (4kb, 07-Jul-03). BLLW have announced their Pennsylvania I-1SA 2-10-0 Decapod loco and tender. At UK Trainsim, there's a new version of the Bounding Box Editor, bboxv1_2.zip.zip (240kb, 07-Jul-03).

• <07-Jul-03>: Two famous trainsets are now in the Train-sim.com library: 1955 SP Daylight and 1949 California Zephyr in downloads spdaylt.zip (12.6Mb, 06-Jul-03) and 1949cz.zip (27.7Mb, 06-Jul-03) respectively. Both these trains required FunitCab.zip (6.3Mb, 02-Feb-03). ConBuilder has been upgraded to version 1.6.3 in conbig.zip (275kb, 06-Jul-03) and can now cope with as many as 6000 wagons/carriages and 4000 locos. The Chicago Elevated Railway v2.0 by Chris Cyko and Antony Larionov is available in l1v2.zip (4.2Mb, 07-Jul-03) and requires the CTA 2966 rapid transit cars, cta2966.zip (3.5Mb, 06-Nov-01), 2966rev1.zip (8kb, 11-Dec-01) and grafcta2.zip (5.2Mb, 29-Mar-03). web•TrainSim has written up (At last! Ed.) some info about his NEC 4 activities, including the two that don't work as they should so haven't been packaged. See Activities by web•TS in the Op Docs over there on the right.

• <06-Jul-03>: A couple of downloads to watch for at Train-sim.com: a 1949 California Zephyr trainset, with F3 locos in Rio Grande, Burlington and Western Pacific liveries, and stainless steel carriages (derived from Gaetan Belanger's freeware passenger cars). Secondly, there will be an update to ConBuilder to bring it to version 1.6.3. Route builders might be interested in the release of Michael Vone's environments from his Albula route, al21envs.zip (7.6Mb, 05-Jul-03), containing such innovations as raindrops on the water, lightning in the skies and snow drifting across frozen water. See web•TrainSim's downloads for his three activities for NEC 4 (he's still driving them in his sleep after many, many trials to get the traffic to behave itself - that AI dispatcher will not co-operate, regardless!).

• <05-Jul-03>: The Keystone Works have released an Alco RS1 Megapack for all the Alco enthusiasts. It's in download nysw_rs1.zip (8.5, 04-Jul-03) at Train-sim.com. The package contains seven RS1's with custom sounds in various liveries of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway. The colourful Canada Holiday 52 Foot Boxcar has been updated, cdn-2003.zip (634kb, 04-Jul-03). web•TrainSim is now reasonably happy with his MARC Baltimore to Washington and MARC Washington to Baltimore activities on the CSX division of NEC 4 - thus far he's only put up some screenshots and the required rolling stock and tomorrow he'll package them when he's more awake.

Departing Washington Union at the controls of our F59PHI. On the far left, a Washington Metro service is heading to New Carrollton, the closer service is heading to Greenbelt and ahead on the right an Amtrak service is heading to Baltimore on the NEC.

• <04-Jul-03>: Chris Jennings has released an update to his CityRail V-Set electric suburban trainsets, vset14.zip (6.7Mb, 03-Jul-03), at Train-sim.com. If you have version 1.3 of Chris' CityRail V-Set, you only need download the update patch, vset14up.zip (76kb, 03-Jul-03) to apply some ENGine file tweaks a working passenger view. Chris has also updated his CityRail S-Set to version 1.3, ssetce13.zip (7Mb, 03-Jul-03). If you'd like more information about CityRail's V-Sets, see the Intercity Platform site. And web•TrainSim looks like he's conquered the vagaries of the AI dispatcher and succeeded in getting through all the traffic from Washington to Baltimore on the CSX division with his MARC service.

• <03-Jul-03>: Just a couple of pieces of rolling stock which caught web•TrainSim's eye today in the Train-sim.com library: the ten-unit consist grinding train, consisting of grinders and extra wagons, with its own cab, hiromg.zip (7.1Mb, 02-Jul-03); and the Norfolk Southern GP40 master loco and RP-E4D road slug set, nsslugs.zip (5.6Mb, 02-Jul-03) by Kurt Kaminer (new cab included). One day soon web•TrainSim will have some good news that he's finally got an activity for NEC 4 that doesn't end in a derailment, a red that won't change, a...

• <02-Jul-03>: Edouard Staniczek is working with other French MSTS modellers to redesign DJPascal's RTG (Rames à Turbines à Gaz) trainset; keep track of progress by checking the Project ESK site under Projet En Cours / Avancement. Trenomania.it have a number of new locos, both diesel and electric, including an ALn663 diesel railcar with cab by Kenji Kimura. This page is not a bad resource by the way for photos of some Italian rolling stock electric locos. For a piece of colourful rolling stock, try the Canada Holiday 52 foot boxcar, cdn-2003.zip (623kb, 01-Jul-03), at Train-sim.com. And, finally, if you're wondering what the NALW team are up to, here are a few of the items on their to-do-list.

• <02-Jul-03>: Edouard Staniczek is working with other French MSTS modellers to redesign DJPascal's RTG (Rames à Turbines à Gaz) trainset; keep track of progress by checking the Project ESK site under Projet En Cours / Avancement. Trenomania.it have a number of new locos, both diesel and electric, including an ALn663 diesel railcar with cab by Kenji Kimura. This page is not a bad resource by the way for photos of some Italian rolling stock electric locos. For a piece of colourful rolling stock, try the Canada Holiday 52 foot boxcar, cdn-2003.zip (623kb, 01-Jul-03), at Train-sim.com. And, finally, if you're wondering what the NALW team are up to, here are a few of the items on their to-do-list.

• <01-Jul-03>: Route Riter version 4.1.03, rrit4103.zip (6.2Mb, 30-Jun-03), is now available from the Train-sim.com library. Gavin Mclaughlan's Coal Road Activity Pack has been withdrawn for the time being - there were a few missing paths - so watch out for an update in the next day or two. Alex Hall has a revised SD40-2 cab, khp2cab.zip (5.1Mb, 30-Jun-03), this one having a wider view through the front windows, as well as digital readouts. Michael Vone has another roller coast route, this one being the MegaCoaster, with six roller coasters reaching a height of 2000 metres and enabling a maximum speed of 600 km/hr. AllFreenet.it has a model of the EU11 electric loco which is to become the E405 power car for Italian high-speed trains.

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• Email me at info@webDotTrainsim.com if you have questions or comments. I'll try to answer as best I can. Certainly post me if any step-by-step instructions on various how-to pages need clarification.