Having spend all yesterday creating and publishing a YouTube TSC episode, then much of the morning composing and submitting two YT Copyright Claim disputes, I've had little time, and less incentive, to capture TSC images. That said, once all was said and done, I auditioned another WaysideWorks steam loco; the Birchwood Locomotive Engineers "Cockatiel" class 0-4-0T. The variant I chose being light blue, I mated it to a short rake of Caledonian Railway 6-wheel Carriages. Too mentally exhausted to seek out a photogenic branch-line suited to Caledonian trains, I plopped the consist down on tried-and-true Epping - Ongar: It's a nice little loco. Like the MW class K it lacks a train/loco brake. Additionally, it has a notched reverser. Something I like about both this and the class K; I can easily see the water level in their cabs' glass gauges.
1) A BR blue Class 37 is about to rejoin the East Coast Mainline at Stevenage with a branch local 2) A gray Class 33 assigned to freight brings containers out in the country (this leg to Faversham) 3) Junk! - Two SD70Ms book-end 15 ACF coaches on a Union Pacific excursion returning from Dale to Laramie 4) A Class 67 in EWS maroon with 15 loaded MEAs from Settle to Carlisle 5) English, Welsh and Scottish - the Executive loco on an excursion from Carlisle to Settle
Keeping with my recent trend of showcasing freeware British steam locos, here are three images of Digital Traction's Johnston 4-4-4T, in weathered BR black. It is coupled to five Midlands coaches, a fitting match since DT calls this series of locomotives "Midlands Misfits". There's a red Johnston variant, but combining it with red coaches is, for my taste, a little too much of a good thing. It is seen on Lenton-on-Sea Steam Workshop route, on a passenger run between Lenton P1 and Pottisham Bay:
Nordeutschebahn Lübeck-Kiel in the process of being backdated to the 1990s, no electrification at the Lübeck end.
Been working on improving my graphics as of late, which hopefully translates into better screenshots. (I wish the images were more crisp, but that's what I get for having a 1440x900 monitor).
I've spent little time in TSC lately. None at all yesterday. These images are some days old. I'm a bit sketchy as to details, but know for sure all represent Quick-Drives on West of Scotland Lines. I believe this image to be taken at Carlisle Station. My best guess it that the loco fronting my train is a (CW) CR class 944, seen in LMS crimson livery: These two captures are easier to identify. The loco is a (CW) L&Y class 5. Image one is, again, at Carlisle Station:
A day of complete change from an LMS Class 3F Jinty on the West Lines of Scotland .. ... then moving south to take the Class 57 hauled Northern Belle along the Knaresborough Viaduct on the Harrogate Loop ...... .... and then to Wales to run an Exeter bound GWR Class 143 from Cardiff to Bristol on the South Wales Line.
1) Good morning - this EMD SW10 is soon getting readied for the day's assignments 2) A worn and battered Baldwin-built Cab Forward descends with box wagons from Cajon Pass 3) Southern Pacific is servicing the southern pacific coast line 4) New paint comes to the rescue of old paint 5) The EWS executive Class 67 takes the Caledonian Sleeper Mk3s back north on a scenic detour, seen leaving Settle
Images from Belah Experiment, one of six standard scenarios GAD created for CW's Great Northern Railway class K1 0-8-0 steam loco. These all take place on SSS's Stainmore, Shap & Eden Valley route. Though some scenarios are fictitious, they are based on the fact that, during WW1, GNR loaned NER a number of K1s to substitute for locos NER sent to the continent to support the war effort. This particular scenario sees a K1, in 1912-22 Wartime Grey, hauling empty coaching stock from Kirkby Station to Barnard Castle, to test whether the line's viaducts would support the loco. The run proved a challenge. Much of it is a sometimes steep incline. Here we see the train fairly early on, before the climb began. I believe the two locos fronting an approaching mineral train to be SSS NER class Cs, those being a requirement of the scenario pack: Adding to the K1's visual appeal, for me, is that its boiler housing hovers uncommonly high above the frame: One of the scenario's two mission requirements is to stop before crossing one of the line's viaducts and wait for an OK before proceeding. I took advantage of the situation and rebuilt PSI, which had dropped significantly during the far-from-over climb: Still climbing. By the time I reached the summit, not pictured here, PSI had again dropped alarmingly low. The train was down to 2.8mph, with regulator and reverser at max. Had the crest been only a little further away, the train would have ground to a halt, necessitating a lengthy pause to replenish boiler water and firebox coal, and again rebuild PSI: Once crested, I was able to completely replenish the loco on-the-move while riding the brake, regulator closed, on the decline: A fun, challenging scenario. My sole disappoint was discovering that scenery along a significant portion of the run is rather sparse.
I've been de-electrifying Lübeck in the Norddeutschebahn route and backdating to the mid/early 1990s and realised that although Lübeck depot didn't have any BR294s it did use some Hamburg allocated BR291s (later to become BR295s). I set about a renumbering excercise which lead to different liveries and before I knew it I had realised why the 1990s was so interesting - colour variation. You could see the 1964 Altrot (old red), the late 1960s Blaue/Beige, the early 1990s Neurot (new red) and the 1997 livery (now everywhere) Verkehrsrot (traffic red). Here are a couple of shots of the lineup. It was only after 1997 that a concerted effort was made to finish a corporate image as previously repaints were started before the previous livery was fully implemented on the DB, the DR only had one colour Bordeaux red. 25 years later and they have achieved uniformity. L-R BR290 Altrot, BR290 B/B, BR291 Altrot, BR291 B/B, BR291 Neurot, BR294 B/B, BR294 Neurot, BR295 Verkehrsrot, BR291 Verkehrsrot and BR294 Verkehrsrot. For this project the BR291/295 are my priority so I have missed out some combinations. A lot more colourful than today.
Southern Pacific manifest with U33C and U30C power, on the Mount Shasta Line: Dunsmuir - Klamath Falls.
Several random screenshots from my recent sim activities. It's the mid-1980s and 6115 Scots Guardsman has been let out of Dinting to work a Scarborough Spa Express, seen here pausing at Knaresborough on the evening circular run via Harrogate. (86mph was achieved on the descent through Cross Gates and the driver is feeling rather pleased with himself!) Jump forward to the mid-1990s and we see the 0705 Rugby to Hednesford (on the left) passing the stock for the 0946 Birmingham International to Bangor (on the right.) The driver of the 150 clearly couldn't be bothered to find the correct destination and just went for the nearest equivalent! Four minutes later we see the Hednesford train departing Marston Green in some nice springtime morning light. This was a real train worked (unusually) by a Tyseley DMU rather than a Soho EMU, which the regular commuters won't have appreciated. It's 1990, and all three of train, station and branch line are counting down their final days. A 2EPB pauses at Croxley Green. There was only one person on the train but they thought it would be funny to open all the doors! Guard will be cursing.
Now we're into slightly fictional territory. A preserved 60009 Sir Nigel Gresley takes a preserved rake of Pullman coaches southwards along the ECML somewhere between Reston and Berwick, perhaps it is the Queen of Scots Pullman returned in railtour form? Either way those tickets will have cost a fortune. On another occasion, the same Streak is seen pausing in the loop at Blea Moor for a water stop, having finished the long southbound climb to Ais Gill summit before traversing the 'roof of England' through Garsdale and Dent. Crossing back to the West Midlands, two shots of a Wizzo on the Severn Valley Railway - at Hampton Loade and Highley. And finally - the unmistakeable atmosphere of a French main line terminus, Marseille St Charles. Engineering leviathans at rest.
Four images of a (PW) Gen1Tank in Cambrian livery pulling a rake of 6-wheel GWR coaches on South Wales Main Line. I realized from the start that the Gen1Tank was almost certainly too under-powered for this particular run, which proved to be the case. It pulled acceptably on more-or-less level track, at well below line speed. When it hit the first long upward gradient, sayonara:
Having a cheeky drive of the LNER Y6 up the Weardale & Teesdale Network Totally didn't look away and forget about the consist in front, Y6 like to party apparently EDIT <---- I tried adding another screenshot and broke this, let it be pinned and let shame be upon me
4th's Games - When you want to take a screenshot, press F4-8-Pause in a quick sequence. 1) Base color galore - Baureihe 628 on Koblenz-Trier 2) Coal for Kaiser Steel descends from Cajon 3) A GP40 leads Comet IVs on the outer section of the NJCL 4) Class 47 with Mk2 coaches during the Network Southeast times, on the PDL 5) The claret Class 67 005 takes the royal train through scenic countryside from Carlisle to Settle
A (DT-DTG) BR Standard 2MT tender loco seen on the Crabenmore Branch (Steam Workshop): A (SSS) GWR Manor-Class skirts the seawall on Riviera Line in the Fifties: (I swear I've seen screenshots (by others) where the red cliff ground-texture has more detail. On the other hand, waves breaking on the shore look super nice here, yet water quality is set a notch below max.)
Thanks to a post elsewhere in these forums, I revisited Backdatedtrainsim and discovered that I now meet all requirements for The Trawsfynydd Branch Line, an ex-GWR line in North Wales. Here are a few captures from two incomplete maiden runs. At Conwy Valley Station. The train consists of a Wayside Works Manning Wardle H class 0-4-0T in Cambrian livery hauling four six-wheel GWR carriages: Not long into the drive I decided I wanted a loco that struggles a bit more than the H on inclines, so switched to the Manning Wardle K class 0-6-0T, in striped green livery. Carriages are unchanged. The below image shows the train climbing out of Conwy Valley: View from the cab (custom lean-out): The decline:
Kiel - Lübeck Route There is a long siding east of Eutin. This is the remnant of a line to Neustadt on the Baltic coast between Puttgaden and Lübeck and was retained until recent years to serve an Army base not far out of Eutin (and this is in the game) with end loading and side loading facilities. I have assumed that this is an armoured regiment and thus generates traffic as the screenshots. The lok is a renumbered Kuju 294 repaint, the wagons and vehicles are relabelled Chris Trains items, Leopard Tanks and M109 Howitzers. First picture shows the train pulling out of the endloading siding, the second where the barracks line runs alongside the Eutin to Bad Schwartau line into Eutin.
