Hello there! Now I know there are so many BNSF routes, American routes, etc but I feel like this would be a great route for train simulator. If you are a railfan in colorado you know exactly what this route is. 1. The Route This route is about 126 miles, and goes from Sterling, Colorado to Denver, Colorado. "The line starts near Denver's Union Station and follows, and eventually crosses UP's Greeley Sub. The line continues northeast, paralleling Interstate 76. There is a yard at Hudson/Keensburg. At Fort Morgan is an Amtrak station. At Brush is a junction to the Akron Sub. The line continues north and ends at Hillrose/Messex, and connects to the UP Julesburg Sub in Sterling." (from a railfanning wiki). Here is a website of a BNSF map, just type in one of the following towns (make sure to put Colorado after the town) and you can find / follow the route http://www.acwr.com/economic-development/rail-maps/bnsf (sorry for the inconvenience about the map, I was going to do a fancy map using "Google's My Maps" but it wasn't liking me for some reason.) Passes through the following towns: Denver - Commerce City - Brighton - Hudson - Keenseburg - Roggen - Wiggins - Fort Morgan - Brush- Hillrose - Merino - Atwood - Sterling. It starts as a major industrial, residential areas when you leave Denver but quickly turns into the plains, prairies along the line as you head for Sterling. 2. History "The Brush Sub was first built in 1882 by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad. In the 1980s, after the merger of CB&Q, Colorado & Southern, and two other railroads, the line was now owned and operated by Burlington Northern. Today, it is owned by BNSF and is mainly used for coal trains in the Powder River Division." 3. The Traffic The route claims to see over 20 trains a day, but most of the time you are able to see 8-10 trains during the day time (very active line at night as well). The trains consist over Coal, Intermodal, Oil, Gravel, Manifest, Locals, and the Amtrak California Zephyr passes through, and has a train station in Fort Morgan, Colorado. (This gives many scenarios DTG and players could do / make; Could do at least 13 scenarios like 2 coal scenarios, 2 Intermodal, 1 oil, 1 gravel, 2 manifest, 3 locals (one local could be switching cars for the Great Western Sugar Co-Op in Fort Morgan (make sure you bring nose-plugs for that scenario!)), and 2 Amtrak ones (Amtrak passes heading West once and then returns East, not really a time cause it just shows up whenever it wants too). 4. Equipment: Could easily do a BNSF ES44AC, BNSF SD70ACE, BNSF GP38-2, BNSF SD40-2. 5. Older Power: As mentioned earlier the line was built by CB&Q, so I believe at some point there could be a add-on pack for this route that includes trains such as CB&Q, and at one point Burlington northern. so there is another add-on pack. CB&Q: F7's, GP7's, E5's, U25C's, even some steam if you wanted too like Chicago, Burlington and Quincy class O-5 4-8-4 BN: SD60M, F45, GP50, GP39, GP20C, F9-2 A and B units. 6. Why I believe this line could work in train simulator: It includes something for everyone who is into American railroading and BNSF. It has major cities and industrial areas, empty plains and fields for fast trains to fly through. If they enjoy passenger you have the amtrak, manifests for the freight lovers, switching jobs for the local lovers... you get what I mean. I apologize if this thread is all over the place, its my first time making one so I wasn't sure where to go so I just added as I went along. All photos are from Eric C. Lindgren, I take no credit at all for them.
Unless DTG restores their BNSF license, it would have to be done by a third-party dev, and then released in two versions. That way, US customers can get their trains, and we get "wishful thinking models" in the rest of the world. Normal practice with routes like Montana, Raton, Arizona, etc. Of course, I've been calling for the BNSF license to be restored for a while, so it's a bit of wishful thinking imagining an American DTG route that features it. Maybe someday. I'm also concerned that 126 miles might be too long. Even Donner Pass, at 140 miles, is a good 5-6 hour drive or so. Smaller routes are more likely today.
Oh thanks for letting me know, I didn't know the issue regarding the BNSF license was still an ongoing, and I will admit it makes more sense for a third-party dev to make something like this so the rest of the world can get some decent models. And I completely understand about the route being too long, Amtrak claims its only about 2 and a half hours since trains are able go 50-65 mph since its mostly country, but I assume that smaller routes are more likely since they smaller which means it doesn't take forever for someone to complete one scenario, and it's easier for the DTG devs when creating the map (pc-load wise). Again, thanks for letting me know!
On an old video on his channel, Matt stated that 90 minutes is DTG's maximum target. This is a change from the days of a three hour jaunt on Donner Pass - which can't even be done to time in Career form. Funny, that.
I think a BNSF GP60, GP50, or GP38-2/GP39-2 would be perfect for locals and switching. An SD40-2 is necessary. For heavy freights, I'd like an ES44AC/DC/C4 or ET44C4, SD70ACe/SD70ACeT4, SD75M/I, SD70MAC, C44-9W, C40-8/C40-8W, B40-8/B40-8W or SD60M. An Amtrak Genesis with the CZ is also needed. BNSF is my favorite railroad, and this route should be made.
If DTG ever renews the license, I'd love to see more BNSF stock. The thing is, don't shut the world out again after a year or two, that's where the issues with content availability started in the first place. Stuff is always being reskinned around BNSF trains and some of us just can't use them.
Is there a reason why they aren't renewing the license like is Bnsf and DTG unable to come up with an agreement or?
Would be something DTG would have to answer. Only from the inside can that be seen for sure. Though I'm sure there are efforts to get the license back, and I know I've tried to bolster that case given that the content is STILL used to this day for other works (Marias is heavily used in the Workshop, and both that and Stevens have usage on routes, so either they would both need a BNSF-free version or the license gets renewed worldwide).
Looks like they just announced the worldwide BNSF license this morning. https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-simulator/articles/article/bnsf-routes-releasing-worldwide Your idea is now a possible request. Though I still can't say it will be a quick project, but we'll see. They may be looking for BNSF routes for ideas.
Sounds good perhaps by next year we can get more ATSF/BN content including routes and locos personally I'm looking forward to a BNSF/ ATSF Dash 9-44cw Livery Pack
Probably not for a while. Right now they can slowly release the old BNSF routes and milk them like they are the new ones. I'd be surprised if we get any more in-house North American routes next year.
From the time the idea is taken, the route would take a while to come out anyway. They can work on a new route while releasing other content. I suggested multiple good routes and have seen none of them yet, and the question remains whether we will. Very few ideas get picked up here.
