I'm sure a lot of the folks here who have played Train Simulator, especially back when it was called "Railworks", will remember the Cajon Pass route. It was one of the first American routes that came with the game, extending from Barstow to San Bernardino through the California high desert. The route in real life features a fair mix of just about everything - mainline passenger and freight as well as switching in the yards and at some industries along the way. For this reason it already seems it would be a good candidate for Train Sim World, but I think it'd also be symbolic and interesting to see the changes that new technology can produce a decade after the original route was released for Railworks. The route is first and foremost operated by BNSF, but Union Pacific has trackage rights over the entire route as it was represented in Railworks and contributes a fair amount to its frequent rail traffic. Barstow Yard Barstow is home to BNSF's rail yard complete with hump facilities and a locomotive terminal. The east end of the yard is where the Barstow Amtrak station is located, a stop on the Southwest Chief on its way to or from Los Angeles. Several old pieces of rolling stock and locomotives are on display east of the station. Beyond the station to the west is where the hump yard is located, which I believe is still operational today if I'm not mistaken. This was never represented properly in Train Simulator as the technology simply wasn't capable, so I think it'd be excellent to see this feature of the yard in TSW. Further west are the car shops and the yard tower, adorned with the BNSF logo on all sides. At the very far western end of the yard is the locomotive terminal where many locomotives are stored or refueled before their next assignment. The interactive refueling we got with CSX Heavy Haul should see a return here. Just at the western edge of the yard is a busy junction where the Cajon Subdivision meets the Mojave Subdivision which is also shared with Union Pacific. The hump facilities in Barstow with some yard switchers in the foreground. In the background you can see the car shops and locomotive facilities as well. Lenwood to Helendale This stretch of track west from Barstow ascends through the California high desert in parallel with historic Route 66. Few trees in this landscape dominated by sand and scrub. The line is double-tracked all the way along to facilitate the high volume of train traffic. In between Lenwood and Helendale there's a crossover just west of Hodge. Helendale has some small sidings that appear to be used for storing rolling stock. Union Pacific's recently restored "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive #4014 pulls its excursion train through Helendale in 2019. Oro Grande Next up is the community of Oro Grande where the railway crosses over Route 66 before passing the TXI cement plant. It's served by the railway and has car loading facilities adjacent to the mainline. The nearby yard in Oro Grande seems to be used primarily for cement cars from this industry. Much like the interactive coal loading we got in CSX Heavy Haul, it'd be interesting to see the cement loading process recreated in-game if possible. A BNSF intermodal train in Oro Grande passing the massive cement plant dominating the landscape in the background at left. Victorville At a population of just over 115,000 Victorville is the largest community on the route besides Barstow and San Bernardino, and is just about the midway point of the route. Starting at the very north end of Victorville is the CEMEX cement plant, yet another facility for loading cement. The yard adjacent to this plant is fairly substantial, storing many cement cars that are made up into outbound trains. The yard tracks extend to central Victorville where the Victorville Transit Center is located. It's a combined bus and train stop for the Amtrak Southwest Chief as well as Greyhound buses. Just beyond Victorville is the frost flyover, where one mainline track goes uphill separate from the other track before crossing over it and joining back up on the opposite side. A BNSF intermodal train crossing the frost flyover while a Union Pacific train passes underneath heading in the opposite direction. Hesperia Just past Victorville is the community of Hesperia. At the north end of town are a couple of warehouses that are both served by the railway, something else that I don't recall was ever represented in the Train Simulator version of the route. In central Hesperia there's a branch line that breaks off the Cajon Subdivision that goes to yet a third cement plant owned by the Mitsubishi Cement Corporation. A BNSF autorack train with a GE ES44DC in the lead at Hesperia. Note the H2 paint scheme as opposed to the current H3 "swoosh". Cajon Summit and Cajon Pass Beyond Hesperia is the location the route is best known for - the Cajon Pass. At Cajon Summit the double track mainline briefly turns to triple before the uphill grade becomes a steep downhill grade of 2.2%. In addition to the double track mainline, a third main track breaks off part way into the pass and travels independent of the other main tracks before joining back up further south. From the summit until just south of Devore Heights, the former Southern Pacific now Union Pacific Palmdale Cutoff parallels the BNSF Cajon Subdivision. A couple of Union Pacific widecab GE's haul a priority intermodal train through the pass Some EMD for a change is this SD70MACe acting as the rear DPU along with a GE at Blue Cut in Cajon Pass. The SD70MACe is an SD70MAC that has been rebuilt with new electronics. A shot of the westbound Southwest Chief in the Cajon Pass with its consist of P42DC's and double-decker Superliner cars. San Bernardino By far the largest community on the route, San Bernardino lies at the bottom of the grade from Cajon Pass. In terms of freight operations, it's home to a massive intermodal loading and unloading facility for BNSF. It was fully functional in Train Simulator, and it'd be interesting to see the operations of this facility in TSW. Adjacent to the yard is the former Santa Fe depot, yet a third stop on Amtrak's Southwest Chief in addition to Metrolink commuter trains. The station follows a typical Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial style design and was built in 1918 after the first station burned down. Southwest of the yard is a dedicated automobile facility where many autoracks seem to be either loaded, unloaded or both. West of the yard is A&R Transport where the contents of several dozens of rail cars appear to be unloaded onto trucks. A high-priority intermodal train passing the intermodal facilities, at left, and the station, at right. All of these locomotives are the GE widecabs you'd commonly see on this route, though three of them are leased units. In Conclusion For the reasons listed above, I think the Cajon Pass would be an excellent addition to Train Sim World, and one that I'm sure both new players and Train Simulator veterans like myself would enjoy. The varied operations and frequent number of trains truly provide something for everyone. The sparse desert scenery, especially in relation to densely forested routes like Sand Patch, will likely help in optimization. If Dovetail is interested and wants to research locomotives that could come with the route or be developed separately later, Virtual Railfan has a free livestream in Barstow that you can find here. Additionally, a particularly interesting snowy day timelapse between Hesperia and Cajon Summit. The video displays the time of day at the top, take note of just how frequent the trains are!
Whoops, it appears that most of the images didn't come through for whatever reason. Here's the links to them in order: Barstow https://i.redd.it/ilf8jcnh3gp41.jpg Barstow, again https://www.railpictures.net/photo/567453 Helendale https://www.railpictures.net/photo/712538 Oro Grande https://www.railpictures.net/photo/603599 Victorville https://www.railpictures.net/photo/737184 Hesperia https://www.railpictures.net/photo/701357 UP at Cajon https://www.railpictures.net/photo/740969 BNSF SD70MACe at Cajon https://www.railpictures.net/photo/730544/ Amtrak Southwest Chief at Cajon https://www.railpictures.net/photo/624966/
Cajon was one of the very first TS I played. I wanted to create a scenario of running the Southwest Chief from San Bernardino to Barstow. I could never get it to work right. I wanted to add AI trains as well. I'd love to see Cajon on TS2.
You know, every time I always see or mentions of Cajon Pass. There is that one tiny question that I sometimes pondered. And yes, I know it is a BNSF line, but the other question is; does DTG have to get permission to use the line from BNSF. Since you know, railroad properties and all. I'm not saying it's a bad idea of a route. But, it's just a thought.
Yes, I was worried about that too until I gave it some more thought. Worst case scenario is that anyone outside the US will have to get a different version without the BNSF logos on locomotives, just as Dovetail has done with recent Train Simulator DLC. I understand this may have been a deal-breaker for some if it were the case in Train Simulator, but now TSW2 is getting a livery editor I think that should clear up any concerns in that regard.
Well, I'm not saying the locomotives themself (I know that's a license thing). What I thought about was the actual track itself. I mean sure, UP does have the R.O.W on it, which makes it an easy candidate for the line. But it isn't their actual track to begin with. You know what I'm getting at right?
The track itself has little to nothing to do with the BNSF brand, which is the only problem here. Even after the whole licensing issue in Train Simulator they still released the Raton Pass route, they just gave us Non-US customers a version without the Santa Fe logos, since BNSF still has the rights to that.
I would totally buy this route. I really want a BNSF ET44C4, Genset Switcher, and Amtrak P42DC Genesis or SC44 Charger. A BNSF SD40-2, GP60, GP39-2, and/or SD75M/I could be great DLC. We could also get UP diesels. I want the ET44AH, SD70ACe-T4, GP60, and Genset. We could also get this route with ATSF diesels. For transition-era route, I want an F3 or F7 A-B-B-A set in both Warbonnet and Blue/Yellow Freight liveries, a GP7, GP9, GP20, SD24, or Alco RSD-15 Alligator. A 1980s-90s version of Cajon could include a GP39-2, SD45-2, SD45, F45/FP45, U30C, or SD40-2. If this route is made, I really want the restored ATSF 4-8-4 #3751 and some passenger cars for excursions.
This proposal is very well written. Very informative and detailed. I definitely agree that this is a good route candidate for TSW2.
