Upcoming Release Mbta Commuter: Deep Dive & Steam Pre-order

For a cab-over car, it looks pretty good!

 

Yeah, I love it. Bulky, flat-faced cab cars are thr best. They look so silly that it's great.

 

I And I really like such square ones)

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

(I take no sides on this cab car design)

 

Will the single level cab cars have incoming air brake sounds they only release air but when applying the brakes no pressure is heard

 

Many thanks to you and Joe!

 

So I wasnt really fussed about this route as I was under the impression (dont know why) that there wasnt any freight on this. but also I wasnt really a big fan of the MBTA stuff on Boston Providence. I mostly play the Acela or ACS64 services. (or free roam a 66 and the odd bit of us rolling stock lol) But the freight has raised my interest somewhat. So i look forward to it. One thing I liek about travelling on the railway is going past sidings and yards and seeing rolling stock (coaches, locos, and wagons etc etc). This is something i look forward to seeing in a route. Obviously if the yard sidings in the time period the route is set in are no longer used then thats a bit of a dissapointment, but I think creators liscence could be used.

I would love to see Tees Valley remastered and hopefully make use of alot of the sidings along the line from Darlington to Saltburn

Cheers
Hentis

 

So, similar to antony.henley, I wasn’t all that interested in the route but the mention of some freight intrigues me. I have all of the rolling stock indicated here:

…except for the BNSF SD70. I was under the impression that the dynamic brakes were somehow bugged on her, so I never got her. Is that still true? Are there any outstanding issues with the BNSF SD70 (apart from thundercab etc.) or were those fixed?

 

Pretty sure the BNSF SD70 is only needed for its Centerbeams and TOFC cars, I don't think the loco would appear in CSX territory for this route.

 

Not sure about this one. Will make a decision after watching the stream I think.

 

I would’ve considered getting this, but it’s release is quite close to WCML, I’ll wait for a sale I think. Looks nice though

 

Probably. If I do end up getting the SD70 though, I’d also want to get some use on CJP out of her. That’s why I wanted to ask.

 

Sorry, but I don't understand your issue or how creating a new profile would help you with it? You don't want to buy this route, because you don't want to spend time doing the collectibles, so you want to create a new profile to do so anyway? Or what?

 

sorry wrong thread

 

I have the BNSF 70ace it works fine for me..

 

Glad to hear it. In the meantime, I think I found the issue I dimly remembered here:
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/cajon-pass-downhill-problem.70042/
Seems the dynamics on the BNSF SD70 don’t work in MD/DPUs unless you do some window acrobatics. That sounds like a real problem. Was it ever fixed?

 

LOL LOL but that is how it is in real life

 

Not related to the route but to the train itself

 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_Dr3_IESLTU?feature=share

 

Is there any consideration of adding the HSP46 and CTC-5 cab car to Boston-Providence's timetable at any point?

 

That's not something I am privy to. Maybe it'll get answered in today's preview.

 

gotta say I used to not really like US passenger diesels, as some are just repurposed freight ones, but modern ones like Siemens Chargers, F125 or this HSP46 look quite cool ... just had a run with F125 on San Bernardino yesterday, and while it took almost 2hrs, it was enjoyable, nice, chill run, learning the dynamic brake shenanigans

 

Is the HSP46 horn sampled by the actual locomotive

 

Sounds are all from the real thing

 

I really hope it happens same with the MPI-36 and bilevels for antelope valley.

 

Matt mentioned on the stream last night that it is something that he would like to do eventually, but no plans have been made yet. They will be available via Free Roam Spawn in the meantime.

 

I just still don't understand why it's something that needs to be done manually. For german and english routes substitution works automatically without any issues. I mean you can choose pretty much any of the red DB locos for your freight or passenger trains with little limitation. You can also use any Class 66 on any route. Yet here we can't use one MBTA train on another MBTA route automatically? Or one Metrolink train on another Metrolink route?

What is the reason for that? Is this on purpose? Or US rolling stock is just set up worse compared to european ones? We never got any answers for that. They said they MAY add the HSP46 for Boston Sprinter to make it work. But why doesn't it work automatically like on literally every other european route?

 

Im not sure if anyone has brought it up but all of the CTC-3 cab cars seem to be incorrectly numbered. In the preview stream, they are numbered in the 1800s (same as the CTC-5), when they should be in the 1500s. Not sure if there is anything that can be done to fix this as it is less than a week before release but it would be great if that was fixed! Otherwise, this route looks amazing! I'm excited to check it out!

 

I now plan on getting the route since i own all the required freight dlc .At least there is some attempt starting to be made on freight ,its a start at least hopefully more impovement on it to come.kudos to Joe for his help and knowledge of the freight operations on the route ,hopefully DTG will enlist some more people that knowledgeable on freight operations for future improvements to it.

 

When i watched the route stream tues i enjoyed DTG Harrys reaction to how long US freight trains really are and Matt explaining that they regularly 100 to 200 cars .And they were talking about the record long ore train that ran in Australia. Also they were talking about the horns on US engines vs UK and they are louder and more variety of different sounding horns 3 chime 5 chime etc. The horns on the MBTA CSX are Nathan Airchime K5LA or K3L and K3H models SD70aces have K5LLa and GE gevo models K5HLL s.

 

The new trains won't layer into Boston Sprinter, but will the new versions of the F40PH and CTC-3 be selectable there?

 

I doubt it. If they were, then so would the new ones as well.

 

Maybe, but there might be a difference between a new timetable with the new trains and just being able to use the new ones as substitutes

 

it might seeing as the SB Cab car and EMD can sub for the old ones on AVL

 

It does? Didn't know that, lol

 

heh, on the topic of horns, imagine living in an area near tracks with a lot of crossings in the US

 

Don’t most urban areas in the US, as elsewhere in the world, ban horn usage during night time hours except in an emergency?

And I can never quite understand the insistence on two long, one short, one long plus that annoying bell particularly with crossings in close proximity. One blast for each crossing ought to suffice and reduce noise pollution and forget the bell.

 

I believe on one transport-oriented channel, on topic of commuter trains in the US, the guy mentioned this... like those horns can be heard like 3 miles away... and yes, some neighborhoods filed petitions and either banned the horns outright, or the drivers can only use half the power of those horns... and why? cos US is no exception to fools trying to run a crossing even with train in sight, thats why

 

Here in the US the only way to get your area declared a "quiet zone" is file a request with the railroad in question. Not many are granted so horn sounds are all over the US. Another interesting thing is that there are many types of horns in use and you can hear the difference. I live about 2 miles from a crossing on CSX and can hear the different types. Amtrak tends to use the same horn on all its locomotives, but not the freight railroads, they use whatever comes from the builder. A single type can sound different if its bells get clogged with dirt, remember most American loco horns are on the roof open to whatever comes its way. Also, the different types have different numbers of bells, anywhere from 1 to 5. There are individuals who are horn collectors and they go to meets to display what they have. All horns go by different letter designations depending on how they are made and a collector can tell you every type by these letters and what it means.

 

A must - have for US players. A route featuring a variety of services from passenger to freight. Definitely day 1 purchase for me. I would still though preferred some improved sounds for the american freight locos.

 

I can understand that they have to use horns and bells at unguarded crossings, but why at the ones with barriers?
i guess too many ignore the barriers?

 

those meets must be... horn-y

 

yeah i use the updated suspension one for the burbank runs since i cant be bothered to do 2hrs of driving.

 

My understanding is that the granting of " quiet zones " to communities lies with the Federal Railroad Administration.

 

Crosstie, you maybe correct, it is the FRA that the request goes too.

 

There aren't any quiet zones on the Framingham/Worcester Line, note how in this video, the train blasts the horn 4 times for each crossing


Generally, most of the quiet zones on the MBTA are on the North Side, although some towns on the south side, as well as the entirety of the Greenbush Line are quiet zoned

 

I kinda noticed that the consists on this MBTA line are similar to this peculiar Austrian train (often called Camel Hump - OBB 1144 + Wiesel dosto + 3-4 CityShuttle coaches + Wiesel dosto control car), usually running REX services on the old Westbahn from Wien Westbahnhof to St. Polten:

 

Hmm, three single levels sandwiched between two bilevels, we do currently have some sets exactly like this, where a restroom-equipped bilevel would be right behind the locomotive, followed by 3 or 4 single levels, and then a bilevel cab car at the end. In general most of these sets are hauled by F40s, with the HSPs usually being given heavier sets.

 

I am not sure why the consist is the way it is, but judging by my experience riding it from St.Polten (a joyride pretty much), I am assuming it also has to do with weight distribution - a lot of tight curves, often on cliff/valley edges or on high embankments (stunning vistas of villages/towns and forests tho) (e.g. there is a particular curve near Neulengbach with super-low speed limit and high cant)... tho I am not entirely sure