I heard that the Black Mesa and Lake Powell electric railroad was discontinued went out of business in August 26th, 2019. It was the only electric railroad to run in freight service in the western side of the USA. This route was over 70 miles long and it used the GE E60s, Just like Amtrak used the E60’s in the Northeast Corridor from 1971 to 2003. Can you make this route? The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad? Make sure the E60’s maximum speed is 100 MPH so it can also run on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
Sounds cool. I'd like this route for Train Sim World, but TS2019 would be able to get the full route.
Honestly I think it would suck in TSW. I can't really describe it, but TSW's driving just feels boring.
I wonder if people realise how isolated this line is 78 miles of basically single track line with no connection to any other railway. A mine at one end and a power station at the other and that is it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa_and_Lake_Powell_Railroad Personally I cannot see the interest of just driving one type of loco pulling one type of train over a single track. Peter
Yeah it's odd. I think it could either be super boring or really interesting. Maybe if they made the locomotives pro they would actually be somewhat challenging to drive and the route wouldn't be so boring to run. For example how the Class 86 and 87 don't have a normal throttle and you have to tap it to notch up, which adds challenge. Maybe the brakes could be hard to use or something. I'm not familiar with the E60, so I don't know if they have any challenges when it comes to driving them.
The control stand is a standard EMD/GE one, with an 8-notch throttle and dynamic brake handle. It looks almost exactly the same as something like an SD40-2 except for the speedometer being below the cab window and there being what look like tractive effort gauges for both sets of trucks. This was taken at the Wilmington Shops in the early 90s. I think the BM&LP could make it as a route, but desert routes never seem to be hugely popular - I for one would rather see BC Rail's Tumbler Ridge Subdivision in British Columbia. I would say the scenery is much better, and it's more Canadian content, with the added plus of having slightly more unique engines. There were only 7 of the GF6C locomotives built, and the coal hoppers used on the line were custom built just for that run. There are also two mines on the route, and a hand-off siding at the lower end for the run to the coast for overseas export.
