Chris Trains are having a Christmas Sale and everything is at 50% off until 24th Dec https://www.christrains.com/en/ts_buy.html The prices on his website have not been altered but will have 50% off at the Checkout Some of his items are available on other webshops - like Just Trains Peter
Just Trains is also having the same Christmas sale on the ChrisTrains line, for those not aware. So both locations work, and Just Trains lets you use US pricing if you are from there. At first glance these don't seem to be worth it, but there seem to be a lot of freeware routes available (and scenarios for them) that involve mainly the ChrisTrains line. Also, you can get the Retro Canvas Route, which itself includes seven of the loco packs (nine locos in all from the Readme list). Several locomotives and a plethora of rolling stock from Wilbur Graphics (nine pages discussing in the Readme) are included, too. Not bad for 25 Euros. Decent-sized route as well with 17 stops and a couple of spur lines, and sidings dotted along the way. In any case, get that pack to get seven of the ChrisTrains packs included. That will definitely save you money even with direct conversion from Euro applied, even compared to US prices at Just Trains.
I did point out "Some of his items are available on other webshops - like Just Trains" because not all are available I'm curious abut the Retro Canvas Route It is available thru the Trainworx website at the price mentioned https://www.trainworx.nl/product/retro-canvas-route/ But the pdf readme says "We are very pleased to mention that ChrisTrains will offer a special discount to our users when buying missing rolling stock from this supplier. The discount concerned has been sent to you together with the install key" So does it include Chris Trains stock or not? Peter
It does. Here is the Readme. I already asked him about this via his Support portal, and it seems the stock included is from the following packs: NS2200 Diesel Locomotive ICMm 'Koploper' NS SGM Sprinter NS Mat 64 NS IRM 'Regiorunner' NS mP3000 NS 6400 This leaves a lot of options for other scenario designers, though. For instance, trains that appear to be used a lot of Dutch scenarios include: NS DDZ / NID Passenger Train NS SNG (Sprinter New Generation) Stadler Flirt 3 Stadler GTW NS SLT Sprinter And there are even others, including the DM90 Buffel, NS DD-AR Passenger Train, Stadler RS-1, NS DH1/DH2 'Wadloper', NS Traxx 186 + ICRmh Wagons, and the Auckland model that has no home because the person developing that route quit. Would be nice if a dev did an Australia set. Melbourne to Barnsdale (terminus), Melbourne to Warrnambool (terminus), Melbourne to Albury, Albury to Wagga-Wagga, Wagga-Wagga to Canberra (a terminus), Canberra to Sydney...and that's just in the west, and not including Sydney to Brisbane with Coff's Harbour in the middle (there is even a Newcastle and Ipswich in the area). So not having a home for that model is unfortunate. That said, Chris posted some scenarios on his site, and I don't know if they are the same scenarios in the four JT packs that include them, but others on his site are for packs that don't advertise as having scenarios. So there is content to use them with. But back to the point of this post. The Dutch routes use a lot of freeware from Treinpunt.nl / SimTogether.nl, Christrains.com, Coha.nl, Dutchsim.nl, Dutchdriver.nl, Railsim-fr.com, RTVSAT.be, Railsim.de, and a few others. So if one commits to the train purchase, there are some packs that tend to be universally used with others chosen specifically by a creator. Not all are vital (typically signals and station platforms themselves would be vital, but you may not necessarily need a certain set of bushes or some models of trucks driving around). The Frison scenery packs are recommended at a minimum.as well as various UKTS packs (which many third-party content users already have). Simtogether, where you find these routes and scenarios often, has its own packs as well. And Chris says once you do this once, you're good for pretty much anything there. I am examining an Amsterdam to Rotterdam route, in fact, and that might be a nice place to feature on my list if I can get all the extra objects to appear without screwing up my computer. LOL Back to the route pack. The seven trains alone, from Just Trains, are around $50 USD during the sale that ends Thursday. 24.95 in Euros translates to $30.58 USD currently, plus Paypal "tax"...It's a good deal to get the fictional route. It includes lots of Wilbur stuff, too, and it has some 19 regular scenarios plus free roams and some Railfanning. Only 35 miles long, but again, fictional route and has some variety from what it appears. The one iffy bit, if anything, is that every scenario uses a different train. So therefore, you have to learn to drive every train on the fly unless you practice with them in Quick Drives in the UK first. But still worth it because that's a lot to play with for 25 Euros.
Thanks for the info I will give the Retro Canvas route a miss. Not paying for something I already own and I will stick with the excellent Krammerdijks Deltaland https://simtogether.com/files/file/927-krammerdijks-deltaland/ Peter
I might have come across that one in my searches. Do you have the list of freeware required? Curious if it's similar to the one for Zuid-West Nederland or whether it's less...sizeable.
Not much Payware but a load of Freeware - but I had most of it English Manual https://simtogether.com/files/file/...&t=1&csrfKey=565130875fbd8c3a1ef89af170fe6e5c If that does not work go the page linked above and click on Download which then gives you the option to just download the Manual
OK, I'll worry about that later, then. It'll be a while before I actually download the scenario pack I'm even looking at, or any freeware routes, as I plan to take my video journey to routes where I can later introduce the Dutch trains in scenarios anyway. That'll take me to the Netherlands from there.
