Line news January, 2003

• <31-Jan-03>: The Australian MSTS forum, moderated by VRfan, has opened - ask questions, help fellow Trainsimmers, keep us all informed. One important post on the forum is a list of Australian links for MSTS. web•TrainSim caught up on what's in the Train-sim.com libary - here's a selection: Mike Simpson's Route Riter V3.8.27, rrit3827.zip (5.4Mb, 29-Jan-03); Acela Express bistro car by Adam Wojcieszyk, aclabstr.zip (1.3Mb, 29-Jan-03); BNSF Sweet Grass Route (V0.8), sweet08d(x).zip (where (x) is a, b, c, d; file sizes up to 30Mb, 29-Jan-03). A couple of notes to finish. Adam Wojcieszyk has designed other Acela rolling stock to a high degree of detail so it's worth searching for acla*.zip files at Train-sim.com. The BNSF Sweet Grass subdivision runs south from Shelby to Great Falls (about 100 miles) in Montana. Sweet Grass itself is on the line north of Shelby on the U.S.-Canada border (try the Marias Pass site or Multimap for more info).

• <30-Jan-03>: A reminder that there are a couple of more days remaining to take advantage of UK Trainsim's extra download limit. MS Trainstop have sets of R-wagons, totalling 40 wagons of various types and loads. At Train-sim.com, there is a set of National Rail RKLX coil steel container wagons, au_rklx.zip (345kb, 28-Jan-03), by Stuart Dix, and Astorg Bruno's SNCF Z6300 suburban electric trainset, z6300idf.zip (2.3Mb, 28-Jan-03). web•TrainSim ordered his Raildriver cab control the other day so he's awaiting its arrival. The second wait is for repairs to his phone line so he doesn't lose a day of line news!

• <28-Jan-03>: Gavin Mclaughlan has released a couple of FreightCorp 442-class locos. These Alco-engined locos are (in-)famous for their smokey exhausts and it looks like Gavin has incorporated this characteristics. Look for 44233.zip (1.8Mb, 26-Jan-03) and 44223.zip (1.7Mb, 26-Jan-03) in the Train-sim.com library. Also noticed was a DB 185 electric loco by Michael Barthels, e185_11.zip (1.9Mb, 26-Jan-03). Apologies in advance for some missing graphics and not the usual amount of news from around all sites - still waiting for the telco to bring the phone line back to a reasonable condition!

• <27-Jan-03>: Philip Chesters' final installment of Trainsimming Modern German Railways, msts_db3.zip (1.2Mb, 25-Jan-03), is now available at the Train-sim.com library. Part 3 details diesel locos and freight on Germain railways. As mentioned earlier, Philip's work is highly detailed and informative, and sets a high standard for others to follow. The first two parts, for the record, are msts_db1.zip (1.1Mb, 26-Dec-02) and msts_db2.zip (1.2Mb, 06-Jan-03). Michael Vone, the guru of route building, has created a roller coaster route, arollerc.zip (90kb, 25-Jan-03). The mind boggles at the thought of a Dash 9 on this route!

• <26-Jan-03>: Good news for Australian Trainsimmers! Auran have received a shipment of the Raildriver cab control - this is the link to their online shop. James Brook has released his Commonwealth Railways GM locos, GM32 and GM34, Au_gm_loco.exe (1.95Mb, 25-Jan-03).

• <25-Jan-03>: web•TrainSim only had a quick browse through the Train-sim.com library but spotted a N.S.W. CityRail Tulloch trailer car from the old days for your CityRail electric suburban S-Set, tultrail.zip (1.5Mb, 24-Jan-02); an activity for the NEC, Train Rescue 2, trnrscu2.zip (18kb, 24-Jan-03). Note that the Conrail Indianapolis Line update, version 1.1, is now dated 23-Jan-03: crinup11.zip (3.3Mb). After completing a trip across Marias Pass on the MP3.1 route in charge of a couple of SD60Ms, web•TrainSim decided to turn down the volume of the UK Modern Track - Modern Coach Sounds; it's a simple task - here's how. Note: web•TrainSim is waiting for faults to be repaired on his phone line, so he's not having as much online time as usual to visit Trainsimming sites, much less being able to get all the best downloads!

• <24-Jan-03>: Carlos Gomes has released ConBuilder V1.5.5 and it's available in the Train-sim.com library. Also, the Conrail Indianapolis Line route has been updated to V1.1 (you only need to have installed V1.0 for this patch to work).

• <23-Jan-03>: There is a further update to the Raildriver software (now V1.2.9.0); you can download it from Raildriver's site. Some of the more recent MSTS U.K. trainsets, e.g. the c2c Class 357 Class357c2c.zip (4.1Mb, 12-Nov-02), from UK Trainsim require the UK Modern Track - Modern Coach Sounds, UKMT_MCS_v1-0.zip (14-Nov-02, 1.7Mb). Read through the readme to see what is installed and other ways they can be used in your rolling stock. web•TrainSim has these sounds installed but may lower the volume a touch so they're not quite as intrusive.

• <22-Jan-03>: web•TrainSim seems to have lost some days somewhere - it's probably all the fun he's having checking his locos and wagons with ConBuilder and making some fixes that MSTS itself has never worried about but may solve the problem of the Activity Editor wanting to mail home whenever he tries to access the Player service. You'll find some of the fixes that have been made on the Small Fixes 8 and Small Fixes 9 pages. For more detail, have a look under these headings in the Ops Docs. web•TrainSim has just tried a short run in the 8048; he strongly suggests ear-plugs!

• <19-Jan-03>: For Australian Alco fans, Gavin Mclaughlan has given us two FreightCorp 80 class locos, 8029.zip (1.4Mb, 17-Jan-03) and 8048.zip (1.4Mb, 17-Jan-03). Both these locos require the Alco sound set in archive alcosnd.zip (973kb, 18-Aug-02). You'll find these downloads in the Train-sim.com library. Meanwhile, web•TrainSim continues his search for the cause of not being able to access the service editor in the Activity Editor without getting a Please mail home.

• <18-Jan-03>: In looking to solve a problem with Activity Editor - it doesn't want to allow web•TrainSim to edit or create any services - a few errors popped up when checking various consists and locos with ConBuilder, even though MSTS doesn't seem to mind. Well, that's usually the case until you try using these locos or trainsets in an activity - that's when MSTS can get upset. So it's probably best to fix things before that happens. The problems relate to the sound sets of the Meridian Express Class 222, the First Great Western Adelante Class 180 and the EMD 645E3 loco sound set. So get WordPad, or your favourite Unicode text editor, warmed up and set to work.

• <17-Jan-03>: Looking through some of the Small Fixes sections, you'll see where web•TrainSim has suggested some alternative file names and folders into which sounds and cabs might be installed. Examples are the 645E3 sounds and the N.S.W. class 81 cab. web•TrainSim is one of those who believes in self-documentation and one of the easiest ways to achieve that is to name files and folders so that these names clearly describe their contents and/or use. So if there were a electric trainset called ATSOL, the cab should be named atsol.cvf and sounds named atsolcab.sms and atsoleng.sms, even if the Acela cab and sounds were used, for example. Then when repaints of ATSOL are done in different liveries for different companies, it's easy to set up Common.Cab and Common.Snd sub-folders using the ATSOL name to tie these sounds and cab to any ATSOL trainset. In the Train-sim.com library, web•TrainSim noticed some locos designed by James Hunt: UP Dash 8 updash8.zip (8.5Mb, 15-Jan-03), Southern Pacific SD45s spsd45jh.zip (3.7Mb, 15-Jan-03) and Santa Fe SD45s sfsd45jh.zip (1.7Mb, 15-Jan-03). Note the archive file of the SD40-2 cab with digital speedo mentioned yesterday is named sd402ca"one".zip. Finally, the ATSOL trainset is, of course, purely fictional; you've worked out why?

• <16-Jan-03>: If you haven't already downloaded Philip Chester's Trainsimming Modern German Railways parts 1 and two, then take the time to get them; Philip has set a new standard in presenting a railway's history and working for trainsimmers. These documents are well set out and full of information: signalling, locos, trainsets and carriages are all detailed, with pictures accompanying the information: msts_db1.zip (1.1Mb, 26-Dec-02) and msts_db2.zip (1.2Mb, 06-Jan-03) from the Train-sim.com library. Alex Hall has another version of his SD40-2 cab, this one with a digital speedo, sd402ca1.zip (4.7Mb, 14-Jan-03), and Steve Nicklin's Blackpool Balloon double decker trams, #711 and #712, bt711.zip (1Mb, 13-Jan-03) and bt712.zip (1Mb, 14-Jan-03), are also available from Train-sim.com.

• <15-Jan-03>: Those who have purchased Raildriver's train cab control can download updated software. The update includes a new manager, calibration tool and cabmaker. Australian trainsimmers, you can express an interest in purchasing the Raildriver control by pre-ordering (no payment required) from Auran's e-shop; you'll be emailed when units become available. Note you'll need to firstly register (free) at Auran before submitting your interest. Now's the time, especially if you live in Australia, to get some of those files you've be wanting for ages from UK Trainsim. You needn't get up too early - 0700 Australian Eastern Summer Time - to take advantage of the extended 3GB daily limit during January. The Meridian Express class 222 DEMU, Setup Meridian Express.exe (2.15Mb, 13-Jan-02), is a good download; you'll need the Voyager cab, voyagercab.zip (4.2Mb, 12-Jun-02) to go with it (unless you've already got the Virgin Voyager class 220/221 trainset). In the Train-sim.com library, there is Bob Boudoin's V4.5 loco physics update, phyv45.zip (488kb, 13-Jan-02), for about 70 U.S. locos. Note the archive contains generic ENGine files so you can't just replace a loco's ENGine file with one from the archive without problems; in particular, you run the danger of destroying the original loco builder's lighting layout. So, if you're comfortable copying and pasting into ENGine files in WordPad or your favourite Unicode text editor, follow Bob's instructions to update various locos in your roundhouse to more prototypical performance.

• <14-Jan-03>: web•TrainSim has been trying to get organised; well, not too much. Under Activities by web•TS, there are write ups of his activities, just as found in each activity's readme but with the convenience of links to various sites from which to download required rolling stock. In relation to the web•TrainSim Modern England activities, he's making every effort to show off Australian MSTS rolling stock. At present, the Modern England route is the route he's got installed that best represents the grades and distances for some mainline running (There is far too much greenery and rain considering the drought, however. Ed.) The latest addition is an XPT service from Cardiff to King's Cross (see web•TrainSim Downloads). The download archive includes web•TrainSim's modifications to Michael Greenhill's Countrylink XPT (updates to horsepower, tractive effort and friction, one power car convered to head-end power) and the HST cab and sounds have been aliased and set up to be installed in the Common.Cab and Common.Snd folders respectively.

• <13-Jan-03>: Ronald Kappel's A Small World Signal test route gives you the chance to test the behaviour of AI trains on branch lines with signalling and automatic points (switches); it's in aswtest.zip (8Mb, 11-Jan-03) in the Train-sim.com library. There's also some rolling stock to go with this route. There's also an activity for the North East Corridor route, wxpress.zip (130kb, 11-Jan-03) (unfortunately the readme doesn't specify whether this activity is suitable for the NEC 2 route).

• <12-Jan-03>: Michael Vone, author of the book on route building, has released his highly detailed protypical Swiss mountain route, Albula Line 2, mvalb2.zip (18.7Mb, 10-Jan-02). When browsing the Train-sim.com library, web•TrainSim also noticed the Rhaetische Bahn pack, containing about forty pieces of rolling stock for the Albula Line, rhbpack.zip (18Mb, 10-Jan-02); there's a small signal scripting fix for the Marias Pass 3.1, mp31fix3.zip (42kb, 10-Jan-02); and Steve Nicklin has now upgraded his 6xx Blackpool trams to run under 6.1 metre catenary, bt6xx2p2.zip (861kb, 10-Jan-02).

• <11-Jan-03>: At the Train-sim.com library there's a patch for Joseph Realmuto's Scale Rail Track shape, fr_patch.zip (98kb, 09-Jan-03) and an updated version of the complete package with any bugs having been fixed, fr_ver2.zip (1.6Mb, 09-Jan-03), for those who haven't applied version 1. The Scale Rail Track Shape adjusts the rail width to 0.075 metre which is more prototypical. Blackpool Balloon double deck number 710 is available in bt710.zip (997kb, 09-Jan-03). Note that this latest version of Steve Nicklin's Blackpool trams runs under a catenary height of 6.1m (20 feet); he's going to remodel his other trams to run under this height. At web•TrainSim Downloads, the LGV Med 2 activities now unpack properly after convincing the Activity Editor to save everything properly. Just in case, the Valence TER activity has been repackaged too. web•TrainSim is slowly documenting his activities so they'll read the same as the readmes so you can preview the activity's description and rolling stock requirements; check under Activities in the Op Docs on the right of the page. For loco specs, have a look at the GE Loco Analyser site. To start you'll need to get the specs of one of their locos and after that you can view various specs of other manufacturers' locos.

• <10-Jan-03>: There are some worthy downloads in Train-sim.com library: firstly, an activity for LGV Med 2, Storm on the LGV, in lgvstorm.zip (182kb, 08-Jan-03), Union Pacific SD70M U.S. flag unit up_4770.zip (1.6Mb, 08-Jan-03), Peter Harvey has made available a utility to calculate cylinder volume for steam loco designers, cvcv1.zip (157kb, 08-Jan-03), and XTracks standard V3.4.1 (including build 12 of tsection.dat) with a few corrections xtracks.zip (1.6Mb, 08-Jan-03) (route builders need the full version).

• <09-Jan-03>: Better news today. web•TrainSim's activities for LGV Med 2 are now repaired and available from web•TrainSim Downloads. The problem? Well, it was a rogue path causing all the hassle and it just took a long time to get the Activity Editor to re-save paths and services so that the troublesome one was purged from the activity files. At this stage of the day there isn't much other news until web•TrainSim has had a look at what's in the various libraries. He is off to check out, though, GE Transportation's site where there's an online feature to compare various locos, including other makers, and get technical details such as tractive effort and brake force graphs.

• <08-Jan-03>: It hasn't been a good day - it's all to do with that Activity Editor! Thinking that all was well with three activities for the LGV Med 2.0 route and uploading them to web•TrainSim Downloads, things haven't worked out. Those who have downloaded these activities have found that, on unpacking them, an error pops up telling us all that the package is damaged. So, for the xth time (where x is large), it's back to the drawing board! The activity causing the problem seems to be the L'Estaque to Marseille local which, according to MSTS, still contains a path named "". Hopefully when you return tomorrow there will be good news. web•TrainSim also made a resolution today to begin by writing up a web page for each of his activities, in particular listing the required rolling stock, and then copying the text from this web page to create the activity's readme, rather than the reverse process which is messy to say the least.

• <07-Jan-03>: Here are some useful downloads seen in the Train-sim.com library: Southern Pacific and ATSF warbonnet SD40-2 cabs spview.zip (2.2Mb, 06-Jan-02) and atsfview.zip (1.9Mb, 06-Jan-02); Philip Chester's second part of his Trainsimming German railways, detailing carriages, liveries ICE sets and more, msts_db2.zip (1.2Mb, 06-Jan-02); and an interesting tool from Clem Tillier, the Scale Gauges unit to check dimensions of rolling stock, scalgaug.zip (131kb, 06-Jan-02).

• <06-Jan-03>: In the web•TrainSim downloads section, there are two more activities for the LGV Med 2.0 route, Marseille to L'Estaque and return and Valence TER station to Valence TGV station and return. These activities are my excuse for today's late line news. Meanwhile, at the Train-sim.com library, web•TrainSim has his eyes on the latest Modern City Tramway T8Ds, ngt8dgre.zip (2.6Mb, 05-Jan-03) and ngt8dblu.zip (2.6Mb, 05-Jan-03), and a useful utility, RapidShot, to take and organise screenshots in download rapid12.zip (3Mb, 05-Jan-03).

• <05-Jan-03>: Edouard Staniczek has two activities for LGV Med 2, Lack of power and Couplers (Manque de puissance and Rupture d'attelage) in lgv2apk.zip (48kb, 03-Jan-03) from the Train-sim.com library. There's a path fix to one of the MP3.1 activities, All the Way West, in mp31fix2.zip (50kb, 04-Jan-03). Still at the Train-sim.com library, steam fans will enjoy the East Broad Top Railway Heavy Mikado #15 2-8-2, ebt_15.zip (1.9Mb, 04-Jan-03). web•TrainSim hasn't yet had a chance to enjoy these activities because the pressure is on him to create some himself - he's got two ready: commuter runs from L'Estaque to Marseille and from Marseille to L'Estaque on LGV Med 2. See the web•TrainSim downloads section. But web•TrainSim is getting organised to create more activities on LGV Med - here's what he's done so far.

• <04-Jan-03>: In the Train-sim.com library you'll find a steam loco which has starred in many Paramount films, the V&T 4-4-0 standard Baldwin #22, Inyo, vtinyov1.zip (3.1Mb, 02-Jan-03). Yesterday the 3D Trainstuff SD70 locos were mentioned as a source for SD70 loco sounds or any EMD loco fitted with the 710 motor. This particular loco download is no longer available but you can get the sounds in airbsnd.zip (9.4Mb, 24-Jul-02). Note that you'll also need airbsnd3.zip (549kb, 07-Aug-02) otherwise you'll think you're sitting right on top of the compressor.

• <03-Jan-03>: You may have seen media reports that the first commercial Maglev passenger service opened in Shanghai the other day - if not, here's one report. A thread on the Train-sim forum the other day asking about which sounds to use for various EMD and GE diesel locos prompted web•TrainSim to have a think about what he's got availble in his Common.Snd folder. A wider range has become available from theTrain-sim.com library over the past months. Here are some which web•TrainSim has downloaded:

• 645e3_10.zip (829kb, 15-Oct-02): EMD 645 (e.g., SD45, Freight Australia G-class, NSW Class 81)
• emd40snd.zip (2.6Mb, 17-Nov-01): re-packaged sounds for GP and SD locos (the self-installer creates the Common.Snd folder for you if you haven't already got one)
• emd567.zip (153kb, 11-Sep-02): EMD 567 (locos such as F7s, Australian B- & S-class)
• gesounds.zip (3.5Mb, 01-Sep-02): GE P42 sounds (by Maple Leaf Tracks)
• gp40_snd.zip (3.2Mb, 22-Jan-02): EMD GP sounds (as for emd40snd, these sounds will be installed into Common.Snd)
• sd40_rx.zip (1.5Mb, 09-Sep-02): replacement sounds for SD40-2 and other EMDs (this package includes the sound of the engine changing revs between notches).

Other sound sets are installed as part of a loco's installation. For example:

• NALW's Genesis pack (GE P32 and P42 sounds)
• 3DTrainStuff's SD70 pack (EMD 710 engine sounds).

Putting together the short list above prompted web•TrainSim to get organised so now there's a page of Good Sounds with more detail, including the steps to follow to alias sounds to different locos, power cars and trams.

Oh, no...

• <02-Jan-03>: web•TrainSim finally downloaded all the Marias Pass V3.1 files and installed it according to the installation instructions without any problems. If you haven't installed XTracks, remember you need that as well (the latest version, V3.4, is xtracks.zip, 1.5Mb, 08-Dec-02 from the Train-sim.com library). While at the Train-sim.com library, you'll notice some British Rail rolling stock: Mk 2 Manchester Pullman cars, mk2pullm.zip (2.7Mb, 31-Dec-02), BR 86/0 electric loco, e3101.zip (391kb, 31-Dec-02), and BR Vulcan Heritage Class 86/2 electric loco, 86228.zip (447kb, 31-Dec-02). At Australian Add-ons to MSTS, there is a set of ANR CL-class locos by Graeme Smith, AU_anr_CL_Setup.exe (8Mb; requires the S-class cab) to go at the head of the Indian Pacific carriages and an updated VR X-class, X37, AU_vrX37_Setup.exe (1.42Mb) by Gavin McLaughlan. By the way, the pictures above show web•TrainSim in charge of the 1630 L'Estaque-Marseille MI79 commuter service departing St Louis platform. With a clear signal showing, the last thing that he was expecting was a TGV Reseau to cross his path when about to move back onto the main track.

• <01-Jan-03>: Happy New Year! UK Trainsim have increased their daily download limit to 3GB per day for January. Australian TrainSimmers, you can have a longer sleep-in (a UK Trainsim day begins at 2000 UK time - that's 0700 Australian Eastern Summer Time). web•TrainSim has started again, from scratch, to organise himself to create some activities for LGV Med 2.0. This time he's keeping track, so to speak, of his arrival/departure platforms, paths and services in some tables to eliminate conflicts (In truth, the real reason is because of his poor memory. Ed.) - see Documentation for wDTS's LGV Med activities under Activities in the Op Docs.

About | Contact

web•Train Sim was, until recently, part of my web•Wiz Online site at http://webdotwiz.tripod.com. Due to a reduction in free web space by Tripod, these pages have had to be posted at their own site, http://webDotTrainSim.tripod.com. Not such a bad thing because there's now 20Mb for Train Sim!

• 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.