37418 sits at Holyhead - summer 1992. Armstrong Powerhouse Class 37 Vol.1 North Wales Coast Line: Crewe - Holyhead
As some 30+ year old schoolboys used to say: And Now for something completely different - I found Czech Railways on TS about 5 years ago but there wasn't much and I couldn't get the locos to work so I put them to oneside until now. The following pics are of a route which has the North end 3-4 miles incomplete the South end 2-3 miles with missing overheads but the central 40 + miles as in the pics. The loco I repainted from a Rail-Sim.de DR V200 as the Czechs were still using them up to 2002.
and there's more... No enhancement of any kind. The route is freeware and covers from Kolin to Havlicuv Brod. Language not easy and Google isn't perfect but I'm managing and their work is really very good.
Captures from a Western Blanch Lines (Steam Workshop Route) Sandy Bay to Westbourne-on-Sea Branch Platform passenger run QD. The loco is Wayside Works' freeware Manning Wardle K class 0-6-0 in what I hope bears a passing resemblance to GWR green. It pulls four GWR coaches. Two images at Sandy Bay: One of the run's interim station stops: Your standard moving train scenic capture: Same train, captured during an earlier run, this time on Western Branch Lines' mainline. I believe we're at Havenbrook, but don't quote me:
Two captures from a freight run on Western Branch Lines (WIP Steam Workshop Route). The loco is Wayside Works' Manning Wardle H class 0-4-0T. It pulls a small rake of coal wagons plus brake van. This particular run is one of a number of new QD options available thanks to a late Jun 2022 update. <nods> I find myself more and more drawn to smaller, older steam locos.
When I was an apprentice at a colliery in the 60s I worked for a time with the loco fitter, a man of over 6ft but slim. Once we had to go into the firebox of a Peckett 0-4-0st to check some stays. Once through the firebox door, tight for me at 5ft8 but thinnish then it was surprising how much room there was for both of us. I wouldn’t get through the “hole” now. Just in case anyone asks, yes the fire was out and the fire bars clean!!
ES64 F4 with freight during Summer rains. I am enjoying the Konstanz-Villingen line so far, a few nice surprises in the summer sale.
The brand new Class 166s have just been introduced into service but are not performing well on the Thames Valley Network so a Network SouthEast Class 47 is replacing some of the Class 166 passenger services on the Great Western Main Line.
Czech Republic, non electrified route in the hills of Bohemia near the Polish Border and there is a route on a Czech website. The route is Trat 292 Hanusovice - Jesenik (Trat means track but you'd guessed that). Here are a couple of shots of a CD class (Rady in Czech) 749 medium power diesel nicknamed in Czechia "Bardotka" (after Brigit Bardot's chest - look under the cab windows) and by British enthusiasts as a "Grumpy" (can you see the frowning "eyebrows"). All Czech TS/RW locos have a start up procedure - not easy in Czech - and I have not achieved starts in all engines yet but getting better and the Grumpy is one I have mastered. The "route" picture is about halfway on the line heading South and about a mile South of the summit. The route is about 30 miles of which 75% is 100% complete and the remaining 25% not really much done to it. The 75% is enough to get on with with small yard at the North end and a junction at the Hanusovice end with stations and sidings in between - a rural branch line really. Edit: To make it more interesting than any old country branch lines are the gradients, there are virtually no level bits they are just less steep. South of the Summit the grades are 1:30.4 max with long stretches of 1:33 (such a relief) whereas North of the Summit they ease to 1:36.4. with lots of curvature it's not an easy drive and still stay in the 40km/h ruling speed limit (goes up to 50Km/h in a few short bits). A challenge you want? this is one of them and its freeware with - obviously - dependencies.
Nothing succeeds like excess, as this collection of too many captures from a Western Branch Lines (WIP Steam Workshop Route) QD proves. The loco is a freeware Pembrokeshire Works Gen1Tank in Cambrian livery. It hauls GWR coaches that are, if memory serves, a GAD reskin of Caledonian Railway coaches. (Interiors retain Caledonian wall decoration.) Three images at Hedbury: On the move, showing a decent, if distant, view of cab interior: The run's first station-stop, which I forgot to log the name of: The road goes ever on and on . . .
Commiee: Happy to see some uncommon content! One thing, looks like overcompensating a dark screen. Hayward John: Sounds like a fun route! Certainly an interesting theme. My set got a little thematic. 33 everywhere! Also, taking my time with the 5th led to good timing: Happy Independence Day! 1) Still from the 1950s 2) A BR Blue Class 33 with an assortment of veteran vans and other wagons on BR's ECML 3) A Network Southeast Class 33 on its home lines, here the Portsmouth Direct Line 4) Gray 33 with an intermodal under gray skies on London-Faversham 5) Union Pacific pulling for United Way - back from Bailey Mine on Norfolk Southern Coal District
Your interesting reply reminded me that I installed Wayside Works W4 Peckett 0-4-0ST a while back but, to the best of my recollection, never captured images of it. (I believe mine is the higher-on-the-page of two WW Peckett downloads.) To rectify that, I threw together a short freight consist: the Peckett, in SECR green, three flats carrying autos, and brakevan. Worried that having autos abut the loco might create a safety risk, management at the last minute added a consignment of gunpowder as buffer. (The crew, which nears pension age, thinks it's kegs of salt.) I kept the run going just long enough to grab a series of images to weed through for something post-worthy:
That’ s the beast, mine was dark blue NCB colours, no brass dome and plain chimney top but that is the engine.
Thank you for the feedback. What exactly do you mean? Does it look to have too much exposure/brightness on your end? Is that the case for everyone with my screenshots? Looks fine on my second computer. Arlbergbahn ÖBB 1016
Yes, it's about brightness, gamma, contrast. Histogram of your first Linz-Passau image: The actual feel may depend on the pic but in this one, even the shadows feel light gray. Histogram of your lovely pic with the Taurus approaching St. Engen: Histogram of my 5th picture this week, the Union Pacific: Histogram of decrepitts' shot with the cars on flats: I just remember you mentioned fiddling with it and your pics are actually really nice, so wanted to mention. My two years old TV is just a little but noticeably darker, supposedly to save energy and the eyes; also different technologies have different blacks, all my old scans (viewed on CRT) feel foggy and washed out, while LCD screens can't have true black, promoting overly dark shadows. Case in point, the original image is one thing, device settings (particularly trying to tone down the full-on white Win10) influence it. For the (bad) record, old TS settings were funny (ECML, Up For The Cup):
Thank you for the data! I guess it's the unavoidable outcome of having to compensate for the problematic default gamma/contrast/brightness settings, especially when you consider that if you make adjustments through ReShade, one aspect of the image is improved in clarity/balance of shading but then another starts looking too unnatural (e.g. loco body contrast/brightness vs sky). And then you also have the unnatural shading for dark/nighttime scenes - and excessive blooming on lights - that come with default settings and is sometimes made worse by ReShade settings that otherwise make daytime visuals look better.
DRS Class 66/4 on the WCML Trent Valley. Stormy & wet start to the morning... Then lighter showers & clearing...
Glad to be back. Summer is always busy and I spend summer weekends in the countryside away from my PC.
DPUs from the grain train in the above post, running on Sherman Hill. I like when rear DPUs can have their lights lit, which many engines don't support. This was a Free Roam scenario which also does provide a little more freedom, but it still comes back to the engine and what functions can be used.
New desktop background(s) just dropped. I've been thoroughly enjoying Machine Rail's Western Maryland H9 since it came out last week. This thing is gorgeous!
We remain on Western Branch Line's (Steam Workshop Route) Hedbury (Main) to Westbourne on Sea P3 (Main) QD. This time I traveled the entire route, a solid hour's drive, station stops included. The loco is a (CW) L&Y Class 5 2-4-2T, in weathered BR livery. It pulls three ubiquitous AP Mark1 coaches. The Class 5 is a perfect fit for this run, able to reach and maintain line-speed (usually 60mph) for several minutes between stops. The run began at 0600 under clear skies, the sun not far beyond the horizon. A bit too dark to grab images at Hedbury, these first two captures are from either stop one or two. Whichever, my mind tells me they were taken at roughly 0620, scenario time: An oddball camera position at another stop. (Most of my moving-train captures weren't fit to post.) A glimpse of cab interior. The Class 5 comes with a controllable cab light, which came handy during this early daylight run. It grows brighter: A somewhat longer-than-average station stop to replenish low boiler water: Two on-the-move rural scenic captures:
Heaps of Foreign Power on this BNSF manifest. Clearing heavy showers were the forecast. (Stevens Pass)
1) Class 101 on Settle-Carlisle 2) Ballast train near the west end of North London Line 3) Fans of the Cab Forward gather for its final run, leaving Reno westbound 4) Southern Pacific Surfliner 5) UP 3300 collects tanks (and else) from around the Wycon plant
Four images from an initial attempt at one of Western Branch Line's new QDs; freight delivery from Battlelea Yard to Hedbury Yard. The train consists of a (CW) L&Y Class 23 pulling a rake of (CW) L&Y wagons and brake van. The train just after joining the mainline. I suspect something is amiss here. By this point the train has missed its opportunity to switch to the left track for some time to come: More views of the train on the wrong track: I never found out if the QD corrects itself. Not two seconds after capturing this final image the game froze, eventually terminating due to Out of Memory Error:
The first of a two-part series of images captured during the West Somerset Railway standard scenario "Demonstration Goods", provided by Digital Traction with its L&Y Class 23 steam locomotive. I like the Class 23, its one debit being, in my opinion, lack of custom cab lean-out cameras. In this case it matters not, the train travels tender-first. The scenario provides over an hour's driving time, so long as one keeps to line-speed which, if memory serves, seldom if ever exceeds 25mph. The challenge for me was not speeding during the drive's several lengthy, not always gentle, declines. A situation made worse by the train being unfitted, with no brake lapping ability. This being a bona fide scenario, all images are presented in the order taken:
Start of a Fish Delivery on West of Scotland Lines, one of the standard scenarios provided with CW's CR812: There's little point to this image other than to show off one of the tractor color variants provided with two new CW releases - LNER wagon pack 3 and the GER wagon pack: