webDotTrainSim: Blog

Train Simulator 2 announcement at Game Conference, Liepzig

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:01:12 GMT

Via The Little Wheel Goes in the Back (tdragger):

Sorry it's been so long since my last post but there's been a lot happening. Nonetheless I thought you'd like to hear about what I'm up to this week. I'm in Leipzig, Germany at the massive Game Conference--the biggest is Europe--meeting with journalists to discuss Train Simulator 2. Despite the conspiracy theorists that claim we're not really working on it I've been talking to press and showing screens and videos from the game. Each one walked away with a DVD of content so hopefully you'll start seeing examples of TS2 on the web really soon.

In fact I'm in between press meetings now, which run every 30 minutes from 0900 to 2000! It makes for a very long day. Nonetheless the facilities are superb and the German staff has been amazingly accomodating. I'll try to share more when I have time. But for now, I've got more journalists to amaze...

and Major Nelson:

Today at the annual Game Convention in Leipzig, it was announced that Ubisoft has joined the Games for Windows program, with their first title 'Settlers: Rise of an Empire.' Plus, Microsoft Game Studio announced 'Train Simulator 2.' These announcements join the hardware news from yesterday. Speaking of hardware, did you know that the Microsoft Hardware division is 25 years old?

"Photos" (screenshots) on Marias Pass 3.1 (May 2007)

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 05:59:30 GMT

A new album added - SD70ACe locos on Marias Pass 3.1 taken May 2007 during an intermodal run from Shelby to Whitefish (as far as Cutbank - oops, path yet to be fixed after derailment) and an intermodal run from Whitefish to Shelby (not completed as yet - having a "rest" at Summit).

Best of U Railways Live Maps collections

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 09:50:24 GMT

Here are four Live Maps collections of lines, freight yards, some trains (should be able to find more at a later date) and towns and cities of prominence.

To find these locations, webDotTrainSim has made extensive use of excellent maps in many issues of the Trains magazine (published monthly). See www.trainsmag.com.

Best of U.S. Railways Part I - Pennsylvania and plenty of freight yards in Chicago
Best of U.S. Railways Part II - Detroit, St. Paul/Minneapolis
Best of U.S. Railways Part III - Omaha, Council Bluffs, Powder River Basin Wyoming
Best of U.S. Railways Part IV - Donner Pass, Mt. Shasta, Ports of Oakland and Long Beach (containers), Cajon, St. Louis, Long Island NY

New webDotTrainSim activities on Wupper Express 10.1

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 06:02:25 GMT

Over the past couple of weeks webDotTrainSim has put some time (again) into a couple of activities for you to try.

He's re-timed the traffic and two can be downloaded from downloads.webdottrainsim.com. You can read about them on their respective pages:

He's got another one ready to upload for you to try:

Freight service W-Langerfeld to DU-Rheinhausen

and it should be available in a day or two.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Train Simulator, activities

Microsoft announces new train simulator

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 05:06:29 GMT

Yesterday (January 19, 2007) Microsoft announced it's going to work on a new version of our well-loved (when it does what it's told; frustrating is the nice word used when tools such as the Activity Editor misbehave) Train Simulator.

The announcement is here.

There are a number of blogs by the Train Simuatlor team members:

Mavyryk's Place: mavyryk.spaces.live.com
Sim Elations: simelations.spaces.live.com
The Little Wheel Goes in Back (Mike Gilbert, Program Manager First Class, Aces Studio): blogs.msdn.com/tdragger/
TSEngineer - Rolling (Jamie Osborne, Dev Lead, programming, for Train Sim): tsengineer.spaces.live.com (no content yet, as of today)
Yard Limits (Rick Selby, Lead Game Designer on Train Sim): yardlimits.spaces.live.com.

You'll find these in the Favorites list for future reference. It's worth subscribing to feeds from each of the above so it's easy to follow what's happening.

There are links to various threads on the MSTS forums at www.webdottrainsim.com.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Train Simulator, announcement

Soapbox video gadget added

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 05:26:31 GMT

For the record, webDotTrainSim added the Soapbox on MSN Video gadget today.

The idea is to let visitors view videos from Soapbox that show some train action - he's just tried the Tags search function in the player, but didn't get any results. Let's give video uploaders some time.

If you've got your own Live Space, the simplest way to add the Soapbox gadget to your own Space is to click the + at the top right of the module on this Space and follow the prompts. Otherwise you can get it from this page at Live Gallery.

Trains on London lines - Live Local collection

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 10:29:47 GMT

Here's a start to my collectio of trains spotted on lines around London (it'll probably expand to include the UK if webDotTrainSim doesn't see more at the location he's currently up to).

Zoom into 25m for better viewing in Aerial view if the map doesn't come up with that resolution when it loads.

Quote

My Live Local collection

Waterloo Station, London
Waterloo will lose its status for the arrival and departure of Eurostars. Presently it's still called "Waterloo International". St. Pancras is being refurbished and will become the Eurostar terminal.

Eurostars
Eurostarts at Waterloo Station. They won't be departing and arriving at Waterloo for much longer, once Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is completed to St Pancras (just across the river).

Domestic trains at Waterloo
webDotTrainSim is not up to date with all the liveries of U.K. trains.

Eurostar?
From the white/yellow colours on the nose, this is probably a Eurostar. It'd still be running from electricity picked up on the third rail at 750V DC.

Up to here.

Live favorites added

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:32:34 GMT

There's now a Windows Live favorites module for you to more easily check out MSTS sites - and others, too, inlucding webDotWiz Online and webDotWiz Space (there's a feed on here for the latter).

More activities for Wupper Express 10

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:53:16 GMT

The three latest activities that webDotTrainSim has tested for the first time (and now require more traffic at the end of the activity) are RE6 service (Westfalen Express: Dusseldorf - Dortmund), RE6 service (Westfalen Express: Dortmund - Dusseldorf) and IC (RE1) service (NRW Express: Dortmund - Essen - Koln). For a full list of webDotTrainSim's Wupper Express 10 activities, see Activities on Wupper 10.

More photos (well, ok, screenshots)

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:32:48 GMT

More screenshots have been uploaded to expand the number of albums: RE6 Dortmund to Dusseldorf, RE6 Dusseldorf to Dortmund, IC(RE1) Dortmund to Koln, ICE 819 Dortmund to Koln and RE5 Oberhausen to Koln.

Wupper Express Route Live Local collection

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:30:17 GMT

Here is the latest version of webDotTrainSim's Live Local Wupper Express Route collection. More stations and locations have been added since yesterday. More locations now have a screenshot and some have links to the page at www.webdottrainsim.com where you can read about a particular activity, see more screenshots and get the link to download the activity. Note that the links are to Wupper Express 10.1 activities. You can click the picture for a larger view (but still only 320x240, the same as at www.webdottrainsim.com) and click the More info link to open a page describing an activity.

Quote

My Windows Live Local collection

Line to Neuss
...and then onto Dusseldorf, and from there either to Duisberg or Wuppertal.

Line to Viersen and Krefeld
...and then onto Rheinhausen (where we cross the Rhine), Duisberg, then either Oberhausen and Dortmund or Essen and Dortmund.

Viersen station
Usually there's some traffic here when we pass through.

Line to Venlo
This line is used in activities to begin some traffic to Monchengladbach and most times you pass through Viersen there'll be a train using this line.

Krefeld station
About here. The line from Monchengladbach and Viersen comes in from the south-west and webDotTrainSim uses the line from the north-west to begin and end traffic. Note: photo and link is to one of the few WE9 activities webDotTrainSim created while waiting for WE10.

KR-Oppum station

Line to Meerbusch-Osterath
This line continues towards Neuss and then joins the main Monchengladbach - Neuss - Dusseldorf line.

Line from Meerbusch-Osterath
This line is used for traffic to/fro Meerbusch and Xanten.

KR-Linn station
Approximately here.

KR-Uerdingen station
A guess as to its location. Siemens have"

Your scratch pad has been truncated.

Wupper Express Windows Live Local collection

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 10:12:16 GMT

Here's the link to a start webDotTrainSim has made to locating all the cities, towns and main industries that make up Graphics15's Wupper Express route. Watch for updates as more detail is added.

Quote

My Windows Live Local collection

Windows Live Local - great tool for Trainsimmers

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 10:23:47 GMT

We've now got a much improved version of Windows Live Local to locate different MSTS routes modelled on the real thing and trainspot from the air. For example, if you search for Waterloo station in London and zoom in, you'll see the noses of three Eurostars poking out from the trainshed and panning around, following the tracks, you'll see trains in transit. For better viewing, watch for the Bird's Eye view indicator to come up. For Australia, at present, we're not so lucky - we can only view with a resolution of one mile - hopefully it won't be long before we get better resolution. Anyway, webDotTrainSim is off to try to make a collection of places on the Wupper Express route in Germany. Currently resolution is not that great there either so we'll have to be patient.

RE5, Rhein Express, Oberhausen to Koln activity ready

Thu, 11 May 2006 09:32:06 GMT

webDotTrainSim's RE5 Oberhausen to Koln activity can be downloaded from the downloads section of webDotTrainsSim.com. The RE5 Koln to Oberhausen activity is the next one to be created and tested. Hopefully testing will go as smoothly as for Oberhausen to Koln (would you believe only one test run was needed).

Graphics15 new locos

Thu, 11 May 2006 09:24:39 GMT

Graphics15 have added a download section to their ">site and the first items are revisions of the three electric locos that were part of the route download and another three new locos. webDotTrainSim has had a quick look at one archive and is going to just update the texture files because he's already made revisions to each ENGine file and doesn't want to over-write his changes. File names and sizes are in the Line News for May 9 at www.webdottrainsim.com.

Activities available as of 27-Apr-2006

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:51:42 GMT

Here's the most up-to-date list of webDotTrainSim's activities for Wupper Express 10.1:

ICE Service #747: Koln to Dortmund - Ready as of 08-Mar-2006.

RB33 service (Rhein-Niers-Bahn: Mönchengladbach - Oberhausen) - Updated 23-Apr-2006.

RB33 service (Rhein-Niers-Bahn: Oberhausen - Mönchengladbach) - Ready as of 25-Apr-2006.

RB40 services (Ruhr-Lenne Bahn: Essen - Bochum - Witten - Hagen) - Ready as of 26-Mar-2006.

RB42 & RB43 services (Haard Bahn: Essen - Gelsenkirchen - Wanne-Eickel/ Herne Castrop-Rauxel - Dortmund) - Testing 20-Feb-2006.

RE2 services (Rhein-Haard Express: Wanne-Eickel - Essen - Monchengladbach) - Ready as of 12-Feb-2006.

RE3 service (Rhein-Emscher Express: Dusseldorf - Gelsenkirchen - Dortmund) - Updated 08-Feb-2006.

RE3 service (Rhein-Emscher Express: Dortmund - Gelsenkirchen - Dusseldorf) - Ready as of 16-Feb-2006.

RE4 service (Wupper Express: Dortmund - Monchengladbach) - Trial version ready as of 19-Mar-2006.

RE4 service (diverted) (Wupper Express: Monchengladbach - Dortmund) - Trial version ready as of 19-Mar-2006.

RE10 services (Niers Express: Krefeld - Meerbusch-Osterath - Dusseldorf) - Ready as of 12-Feb-2006.

RE16 services (Ruhr-Sieg Express: Hagen - Essen) - Ready as of 23-Mar-2006.

S2 services (Dortmund - Castrop-Rauxel - Herne - Duisburg) - Ready as of 28-Feb-2006.

S6 services (Essen - Ratingen Ost - K-Nippes) - Ready as of 04-Apr-2006.

S6 services (K-Nippes - Ratingen Ost - Essen) - Ready as of 05-Apr-2006.

S9 services (Bottrop - Essen - E-Steele - Velbert-Langenberg - Wuppertal) - Ready as of 01-Feb-2006.

Activities - what's available at the moment

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:17:31 GMT

webDotTrainSim has been somewhat slack at updating here - however he's been creating and re-creating WE8 activities for Wupper Express 10.1 and here's the latest list (all of which can be downloaded from the webDotTrainSim downloads page:

ICE Service #747: Koln to Dortmund - Ready as of 08-Mar-2006.

RB42 & RB43 services (Haard Bahn: Essen - Gelsenkirchen - Wanne-Eickel/ Herne Castrop-Rauxel - Dortmund) - Testing 20-Feb-2006.

RE2 services (Rhein-Haard Express: Wanne-Eickel - Essen - Monchengladbach) - Ready as of 12-Feb-2006.

RE3 service (Rhein-Emscher Express: Dusseldorf - Gelsenkirchen - Dortmund) - Updated 08-Feb-2006.

RE3 service (Rhein-Emscher Express: Dortmund - Gelsenkirchen - Dusseldorf) - Ready as of 16-Feb-2006.

RE4 service (Wupper Express: Dortmund - Monchengladbach) - Trial version ready as of 19-Mar-2006.

RE4 service (diverted) (Wupper Express: Monchengladbach - Dortmund) - Trial version ready as of 19-Mar-2006.

RE10 services (Niers Express: Krefeld - Meerbusch-Osterath - Dusseldorf) - Ready as of 12-Feb-2006.

S2 services (Dortmund - Castrop-Rauxel - Herne - Duisburg) - Ready as of 28-Feb-2006.

S9 services (Bottrop - Essen - E-Steele - Velbert-Langenberg - Wuppertal) - Ready as of 01-Feb-2006.

S2 activity - Dortmund to Duisberg

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:40:00 GMT

Testing has finished for the time being and the S2 Dortmund to Duisberg activity will be available for download as soon as webdottrainsim.com comes alive again (after changes on the hosting server). There are some photos from the activity in the photo albums.

webDotTrainsim.com offline - back soon

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:37:30 GMT

www.webdottrainsim.com is offline due to DNS changes on the server hosting the site (if you don't know anything about DNS settings, don't worry but when changed, they take a day or two to propagate around the 'Net and let us access the site).

Wupper Express 10.1 Activities

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 11:04:58 GMT

You can see where webDotTrainSim is up to with his WE10.1 activities by visiting his main site, specifically his Activities on Wupper 10 page.

Photos of S9 service on Wupper Express 10.1

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 11:00:35 GMT

I've added some photos (well, we call them "photos" even though we all know they're really screenshots) taken while driving the S9 service on Wupper Express 10.1 from Bottrop to Wuppertal and Wuppertal to Bottrop.

Wupper Express update now available

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 08:26:27 GMT

Graphics15 have released the update to Wupper Express 10 to fix track database problems. For info on where to download from and help with installing, see webDotTrainSim's Line News for 25-Jan-06. Activity creators should take note of webDotTrainSim's manual method of installing the update so as to be sure previous work is preserved. However, note has to be taken of the need to re-create new services and perhaps re-create paths that are broken as a result of the update.

Lost his ISDN connection

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:23:01 GMT

webDotTrainSim has lost his ISDN internet connection and won't be looked at until Tue 23-Jan by a technician so he's offair until everything is fixed. The only other bit of news that webDotTrainSim needs to mention is that he hasn 't seen the update for Wupper Express 10 so he's still waiting until that appears before going on with any new paths and services for future activities. Hopefully the patch appears soon.

Wupper Express 10 is installed

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 02:17:15 GMT

Both the route and activity/rolling stock pack are downloaded and the route is installed. webDotTrainSim has to get on with checking his wDTS paths from WE9 and creating new ones where needed so hasn't time to indulge himself in the WE10 activities from the Graphics15 team.

webDotTrainSim downloaded from Kim-trains and the readme is in German but installation is as for WE9:

make sure the six default routes are available (i.e., if you use Train Store, unstore them)
extract wuppex10.exe from the zip file into the Routes folder and run the program (check that the installer is pointing to the correct folder in which WE10 will be placed - it will be ok however)
go to the WupperExpress10 folder, find Installme.bat and double-click it to start the copying process of files from the six default routes (if you use MS Antispyware - you should be if not - a warning will pop up about running a BAT file - click Allow. Sometimes you can be a bit slow at responding, so double-click the Installme.bat again and be prepared this time to Allow)
when the copying process finishes, Wupper Express 10 is installed.
even though you haven't installed the rolling stock/activity pack as yet, paths are in the route so you can start MSTS, wait for the buffer generation process, and do some exploring.

NOTE: if you have rolling stock from WE8 and/or WE9, and you've made changes to ENG and WAG files (you might have done some of the tune-ups recommended by yours truly), then run the activity/rolling stock installer so everything is unpacked to a temp folder.

Wupper Express 10 is now downloading

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:18:20 GMT

webDotTrainSim has started downloading Wupper Express 10 (1004 Australian Eastern Summer Time) from Kim-Trains. The-Train.de is too busy to see whether or not it's available from there as well. The route download file is 65Mb and the rolling stock and activities file is 15Mb. Being on an ISDN line, it's time to go for a cuppa (and probably a sandwich for lunch later on).

Line news 07-Jan-06

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:22:13 GMT

One day to go (well, plus 10 hours to be exact when the international time zone is taken into account). The Train-sim.com library has Thomas Luetke's Swiss tourist route, the Einsiedeln, going from Rapperswil at 410 metres altitude to Einsiedeln at 882 metres; the two files to download are einsied1.rar (187Mb, 06-Jan-06) and einsied2.rar (227Mb, 06-Jan-06).

Line news 06-Jan-06

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:20:49 GMT

Two days to go. Route Riter has been updated to version 6.3.63, RRit6_3_63upd.zip (2.23Mb, 06-Jan-2006), because Mike Simpson wasn't happy with the way a couple of things weren't working as he'd like. For a good list of MSTS routes from around the world, see Who Says MSTS Is Dead??? MSTS has 400 plus routes avail..." on the Train-sim.com MSTS forum.

Line news 05-Jan-06

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:19:20 GMT

Three days to go. Looking good.

Line news 04-Jan-06

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:17:44 GMT

Four days to go. Version 1.3 of Ajouts à Train Simulator's Le Canari - Train Jaune de Cerdagne version 1.3 can now be downloaded, SNCF_CANARI.zip (4.7Mb, 25-Dec-05). For a route to run this historic train on, there's version 2.01 of the Ligne de Cerdagne route, Ligne de Cerdagne V2.01.exe (69Mb, 02-Jan-06), which can be downloaded from Simtrain-fr's routes page. Amicitreni has a new G2000 diesel loco in Del Fungo livery, DFG_G2000.rar (3.04Mb, 02-Jan-06), and a set of UIC-X 78-80 carriages, Uic-X_78-80.zip (6.41Mb, 02-Jan-06). There's a Virtual Railways forum on The Railway Forum and it might be worth keeping an eye on it.

Line news 01-Jan-06

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:16:24 GMT

Happy new year and all the best for 2006. While things are quiet and nothing much can be done when it's 40 degrees C, web•TrainSim has been preparing some pages for activities for Wupper Express 10. It's quite amazing the scope for activities that WE10 offers so have a quick look at the pages that are ready by going to Getting ready for WE10 activities or look under Activities by web•TS on the right-hand menu.

Line news 29-Dec-05

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:13:24 GMT

If you're having problems with the New South Wales Central West route, check out Got A Problem With A Certain Route but any problems may be solved by checking you've got XTracks V3.16 and NewRoads V3.2 both installed. The Train-sim.com library has a number of new and upgraded Amtrak baggage carriages by Alex Stroshane and Superliner coaches by Matt Doti. Alex's passenger carriage sounds look good, pass-snd.zip (270kb, 26-Dec-05). The-Train crew were having server problems but they're back on the air but the download area doesn't seem to be operational at the time of writing.

Line news 26-Dec-05

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:32:07 GMT

Chris Nelson's New South Wales Central West Route, AU_nsw_CenWest_v1_MSTS1_Setup.exe (49.2Mb, 24-Dec-05), can now be downloaded from its Australian MSTS Add-ons page. The route models the line from Orange Fork to Dubbo via Wellington and Orange to Dubbo via Molong for a track length of approximately 330km. At Train-sim.com Daniel Anderson has a set of timetables and maps from the 1950s of the Central West, nswcwdoc.zip (2.4Mb, 25-Dec-05), to go with the NSW Central West route. Also in the Train-sim.com library are Asher Jebbink's AMG GM42 and GM44 locos, arg_gm42.zip (8Mb, 24-Dec-05) and arg_gm44.zip (8Mb, 24-Dec-05); there's a large collection of Rhatische Bahn rolling stock, including the Arosa Express, rhbarosa.zip (3.9Mb, 25-Dec-05), a set of loco sounds, rhbsound.zip (10.8Mb, 24-Dec-05), and a set of RhB Ge 4/4 III locos, rhbgeiii.zip (17.4Mb, 24-Dec-05). Finally there's Chris Helfrick's Strasburg Railroad route, strasbrg.zip (163Mb, 25-Dec-05).

Line news 24-Dec-05

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:30:53 GMT

Seasons greetings to one and all. Mike Simpson has an update to Route Riter to bring it to version 6.3.57, RRit6_3_57upd.zip (2.23Mb, 12-Dec-05), to add better error messages and update the TK.MSTS.Tokens.dll file. The Tunnel route by Frank Thomas can be now downloaded from http://hawkdawg.com/ (104Mb, 23-Dec-05). Peter Newell's Coals to Newcastle route is being further developed; for a preview, see what's new in version 5. Amicitreni has two new models, loco FS E444-048, FS_E444_048.rar (6.08Mb, 20-Dec-05), and Seatrain ALN776 FC, SEATRAIN_ALN776_FC.rar (18.8Mb, 20-Dec-05). UKTrainsim has good 'ol Australian ARG GM42 and GM44, Au_ARG_gm42.exe (7.66Mb, 22-Dec-05) and Au_ARG_gm44.exe (7.66Mb, 22-Dec-05). And from a few days ago, Trenomania now has: E656 navetta livrea old (two locos) (11Mb, 17-Dec-05), G2000 Railion (3Mb, 17-Dec-05) and Treno IC livrea 'old' (21Mb, 17-Dec-05).

Line news 21-Dec-05

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:58:51 GMT

To prepare for Wupper Express 10, there are couple of downloads you need so check if you have the following:

ICE3 403 trainset by Stefan Pufler: STP_DB_ICE3_403.zip (19-Aug-03, 7.335Mb) from The-Train.de. See web•TrainSim's Small fixes - ICE-3 403 tune up.
ICE3 403 update by CRS: STP_DB_403-CSR.zip (0.363Mb, 12-Oct-05) from Update for STP_DB_403 by Stefan Pufler (if you've changed the ENGine files to your preferences, back it up before copying the udpates). There are still some other fixes required after you've copied over the new ENGine files - see Small fixes - ICE-3 403 tune up.
DB Talent 643.2 by Mapic (Matthias Pichler) DB_Talent_643[1].2.zip (3.463Mb, 02-Dec-05) from The-Train.de download page.
- BR 643 cab by The Cabmaker (Markus Schaufler) cab-BR-643.zip (2.1Mb, 26-Oct-05) from The-Train.de BR 643 cab download page.

Line news 19-Dec-05

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:54:49 GMT

Train-sim.com has a number of Dick Cowen's steam locos reskinned into Great Northern vintage steam locos by Michael Stephan, one example being Great Northern 4-6-0 No. 1024, gn_4-6-0.zip (3.2Mb, 15-Dec-05). Dwight Mitchell and New England Backshops have a generic GE 25-ton cab, 25tcab.zip (1.9Mb, 16-Dec-05), and the TS-Grid might be a handy tool for route builders, ts-grid.zip (900kb, 15-Dec-05). Trenomania nas a night-time E402A cab (1.17Mb, 16-Dec-05). web•TrainSim has another Wupper Express 9 activity for you to try, Freight service, Krefeld Hbf to Bockum Hbf (0625 depature).

Line news 16-Dec-05

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:53:31 GMT

web•TrainSim has a bit of catching up to do. The Train-sim.com library has a loco creation tutorial by Brian Piotrowski, naltutor.zip (9.8Mb, 12-Dec-05); there's a shape file patch for the CLW AS-616 locos downloaded before 11-Dec-05, as616pat.zip (1.6Mb, 11-Dec-05); and there's an activity pack for the LP&S route, lpsrr456.zip (690kb, 13-Dec-05). web•TrainSim has been trying out Windows Live Local and came up with these three quick "tours": RE2 Monchengladbach to Essen (WE9), RB33 Monchengladbach to Oberhausen and Shelby to West Glacier on Marias Pass (the scratchpad has limit of ten entries). At last view, Germany hasn't yet got the aerial view - Australia has but it's at a 20-mile zoom scale so not very good for detail - and it'll be good to view the real thing when all countries (those with MSTS routes anyway) have a high-resolution aerial view and, better still, the bird's eye view. However, web•TrainSim has been doing a test of a freight activity on Wupper Express 9 and that should be ready in a day or two.

Line news 10-Dec-05

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 04:13:53 GMT

Amicitreni.net has version 2 of the FS E402A loco Pack D, FS_E402a_Pack_D_V2.rar (15.4Mb, 06-Dec-05), and the E402A cab by Mauro Ciociola, CabE402a.zip (4.22Mb, 06-Dec-05). The E402A loco set is also available from Trenomania.it. Georg Dissen's BR 480 Berlin S-Bahn trainset is available from Michael Krege's cabs site (6.5Mb). web•TrainSim has uploaded his Evening (2021 departure) RE2 Service Monchengladbach to Essen Wupper Express 9 activity to web•TrainSim Downloads.

Wupper Express 10 due January 8 2006

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 22:38:52 GMT

The Graphics15 team have announced that Wupper Express 10 will be available on January 8, 2006. A good New Years present!

Some screenshots added

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:44:32 GMT

There's now a Wupper Express 9 album and there are half-a-dozen screenshots thus far of the RB33 Monchengladbach to Oberhausen service and RE2 Essen to Monchengladbach service.

webDotTrainSim activities for Wupper Express 9

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:39:08 GMT

There are two activities for Wupper Express 9 as of today:

Links above are to the description pages or you can go directly to webDotTrainSim Downloads and get the zip files (the activities have been packed using Route Riter).

There are a couple more to be tested and then webDotTrainSim will convert some of his Wupper Express 8 activities over to WE9.

The Graphics15 team have announced they are progessing more quickly than expected with Wupper Express 10 and it could be ready in January '06 - then the real work will start as WE10 will almost model the complete Rhein-Ruhr railway system and provide the scope for a whole range of passenger and freight activities.

Line news 05-Dec-05

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:30:13 GMT

Train-sim.com has Austin Yoder's Norfolk Southern Pocahontas District route, running from Bluefield West Virginia to Williamson West Virginia. The download file, pokeyv1.zip (255Mb, 04-Dec-05), contains a self-installer for the route and includes route maps. Daryll LeCroy has programmed a MSTS utility he's called M.A.L.T. (MSTS Auto Loader Tool) to aid the loading of the MSTS Editors; M.A.L.T. can be downloaded from this page and there's a discussion forum for any help you require. Mike Simpson has already warned about using Route Riter on the Berlin Subway route; Tony Formosa also points out how to be careful when using Train Store after an installation of the Berlin Subway on the Copy/Restore Problem with Berlin Subway Addon thread on the Train-sim.com forums. web•TrainSim has two activities for Wupper Express 9, Afternoon RE2 service Essen to Monchengladbach and Early morning RB33 service Oberhausen to Monchengladbach. The activities are packed using Route Riter and can be downloaded from web•TrainSim Downloads.

Line news 03-Dec-05

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:29:09 GMT

John Hopkins has contributed all possible variations of cab design for Dash 8 and Dash 9 locos to the Train-sim.com library: left-hand or right-hand drive, day, night, imperial or metric measurement units. For example, the U.S. right-hand drive day cab is in download d8-am-us.zip (2.2Mb, 01-Dec-05) and the left-hand drive day cab is in d8-amimp.zip (2.2Mb, 01-Dec-05). Cameron Lashley of Columbus Locomotive Works (CLW), and with help from North American Locomotive Works, has modelled the Baldwin AS-616 (All Service, 6 axles, 1600 horsepower; the link is to those used by Union Pacific but there's a good description of the class) - the download files are el_as616.zip (17.5Mb, 01-Dec-05) for the Erie and Erie Lackawanna models and co_as616.zip (11.1Mb, 03-Dec-05) for models in Chesapeake & Ohio livery. Paul DeVerter of the Port City Car Company has his Narrow Gauge Mulecar No. 7, mulecrng.zip (630kb, 01-Dec-05), and Bob Boudoin has an updated ENGine file for the CSX ES44DC No. 5528 DC loco, csx44dc.zip (8kb, 02-Dec-05). web•TrainSim is working on a couple of activities for Wupper Express 9 and should be uploading them in a day or two once he's completed another test run (and, fingers crossed, the timing for the traffic does what he wants).

Line news 29-Nov-05

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:28:13 GMT

Good news from the Graphics15 team - work on building Wupper Express 10 is going better than expected and the route could be completed in January '06. Mike Simpson has re-compiled Route Riter so that the latest full install is now version 6.3.55, RRit6_3_55full.zip (13.0Mb, 27-Nov-05), but there's an update for those with version 6.3.10 or later, RRit6_3_55upd.zip (2.05Mb, 26-Nov-05). Most of the updates apply to route builders but there's also a better shape viewer module that gives fuller thumbnail pictures of rolling stock. The latest full version is also available from the Train-sim.com library in file rr6355.zip (13Mb, 27-Nov-05). Frank Musick has several sets of ALCo DL-109 locos, such as New Haven Nos. 0701-0700, nh0701-1.zip (2.2Mb, 27-Nov-05). Both Amicitreni.net and Trenomania.it have electric loco FS E633-006 (8Mb).

Line news 26-Nov-05

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:27:03 GMT

Mike Simpson has an update for Route Riter, RRit6_3_53upd.zip (2.04Mb, 23-Nov-05), to fix a couple of problems that route builders might come across. The Graphics15 team have posted more screenshots of Wupper Express 10 (use the Screenshots link under Wupper Express on the left-hand menu). Hugh Reilly has ENGine file replacements for a couple of his locos to update the physics to Bob Boudoin's version 4.7 parameters: Norfolk Southern Dash 9-40CW, hrnsfx1a.zip (200kb, 24-Nov-05), and BNSF Dash 9-44CW, hrbnsfx1.zip (215kb, 24-Nov-05). To explain why web•TrainSim has to painfully rebuild all his Wupper Express 8 services (SRV files) so he can move his Wupper Express 8 activities over to Wupper Express 9, see this short writeup on his webDotTrainSim Space.

Moving activities to an updated version of the route

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:37 GMT

Here's what webDotTrainSim has had to do to move his activities from Wupper Express 8 to Wupper Express 9:

Because new track added to the original route forces the Route Editor to generate new location IDs for each platform stop, all Services must be re-created. You can see this from the following snippet from an SRV service file

  StationStop (
   PlatformStartID ( 3555 )
   DistanceDownPath ( 452.222 )
   SkipCount ( 0 )
  )
All SRV files in the route's SERVICES folder must be moved out otherwise the Activity Editor will put up lots of error messages as it reads through any SRV files. If you have lots of SRV files, you'll be there for ages clicking "Ok" before the AE starts. webDotTrainSim had about 150 service files in Wupper Express 8.
In a word, ALL SRV services will need to be re-created. This means you'll need to check the consist, path and platform stops in the original service from the old route. webDotTrainSim is using EditPadLite to call up his WE8 services and re-enter the data.
Paths for the route are ok so you can leave the PATHS folder as it is. However you'll need to check your paths especially if you know of likely culprits. Load up a dummy service frame and use the drop down list to check - any problem paths will be marked with broken path in the display name and they'll have to be re-built. For WE8 to WE9, webDotTrainSim has only got a handful of broken paths.
TRF traffic files in the TRAFFICS folder will need checking especially the timings of various services once new services are re-created.
Add back the ACT activities files into the ACTIVITIES folder and start testing.

Line news 24-Nov-05

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:29:27 GMT

Amicitreni.net has Riccardo Gennari's pack of all models in the FS ALe 801-940 series trainsets, FS_ALe801-940_Pack.rar (29.7Mb, 19-Nov-05). Trenomania.it has Renzo Grassi's Set treni old per la Leopolda 3 (37.1Mb, 22-Nov-05) and Elettromotrici di prima generazione (8.4Mb, 22-Nov-05). Route Riter has been updated to version 6.3.52, RRit6_3_52upd.zip (2.04Mb, 20-Nov-05), to fix a couple of bugs but more importantly, Mike warns that RR should not be used on the Berlin Underground route. The-Train.de has a pack of twenty activities for Stadtbahn U79 version 3, U_79_V3_Actpack.rar (320kb, 23-Nov-05). By the way, it seems the Graphics15 team's Güterwagen Königs Pilsener and Güterwagen Rlmms wagons are included in wup7ap1.zip (2.5Mb, 22-Sep-03) also at The-Train.de. The Seaboard Air Line route rolling stock packs have been changed and there are new versions now in the Train-sim.com library: salrspk1.zip (40Mb, 22-Nov-05) and salrspk2.zip (27Mb, 22-Nov-05). Hugh Reilly has contributed more ENGine file upgrades for various Dash 9-44CW locos using his photoreal textures: hrbnsfx1.zip (215kb, 22-Nov-05), hrbnsfx2.zip (139kb, 22-Nov-05) and hrnsfx1.zip (203kb, 23-Nov-05). Craig Kawahara has produced track charts of the London and Port Stanley Railway route in booklet form, lps_diag.zip (164kb, 21-Nov-05) and Tim Muir has modelled a Hagerstown & Frederick steeplecab, hf_ge12.zip (7.9Mb, 21-Nov-05).