The puffing billy railway is a 2foot 6inch gauge heritage railway in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne Australia. I think this would be a great railway to have in train sim world as its very well known not too long (about 25km) and its hitting 2 birds with one stone with it being steam and being set in Australia with steam being a first for TSW and an Australian route being a first for DTG the line runs from Belgrave were it connect with broad gauge electric trains from Melbourne and runs to the small but cute town of Gembrook. the railway has a fine fleet of 5 NA class 2-6-2 tank engines built by the Victorian Railway's Newport workshops from 1898 to 1915 the NA class fleet includes 6A 7A A8 12A and last but not least 14A Apart from the NA class puffing billy also runs an ex Victorian Railways G class number G42 which is a 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratt built by Beyer Peacock in the UK in 1925 The railway also has few other types locomotives as well but I'm trying to get this post as short as possible Now onto the route its self So one of the things that is very neat about puffing pilly is that google maps have made a full streetview or should I say railview of the whole line from Belgrave to Gembook which I'm sure would come in handy to any dev who may be developing this route and it also saves me a lot of time trying to explain what the route it like so go and have a look for yourself at https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37...92O2MLhfg3ZFB4aFG6Tw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en So yeah that's my very very brief overview of Puffing Billy. please excuse any miss spelling as I am dyslexic. And also feel free to ask any questions.
I would love this route I don't think there is a more well known railway in Australia. I think its worth mentioning the railway also does runs with freight carriages. The railway also has several narrow gauge diesel locos.
I would be all over this. Another narrow-gauge steam route that would be great too is the Darjeeling Hill Railway in India.
Yes I think out of all of the Australian routes out there this would be the most well known well apart from maybe the Ghan but that is simply not a realistic route to make
That, and I don't think anyone wants to run on that one 297-mile stretch of straight track. It's like Desert Bus, but without the involvement.
Australia and Steam would be an excellent combination, but as others here have said, there's better choices to go with.
I'm referring to the stretch of the longest straight track in the world, which is 297 miles before you hit a slight curve.
I think i saw something on PBS one night about this narrow gauge, looks very well kept and neat - def would be a fun line to sim
Puffing Billy is so iconic. The scenery it travels around is astounding and the locomotives and equipment are superbly maintained. This would be spectacular to see in Train Sim World and it would be a great way to break the US/UK/DE route cycle we've been getting for a long time now.
In fact Belgrave Station, which is the western terminus of the Puffing Billy Railway, essentially connects to Melbourne's Metro with Belgrave Station being the terminus for metro's Belgrave line. Also got some good and willing locals capable of gathering reference material *hint hint*
Being from Melbourne, Australia, this would be awesome to see in Train Sim World, as I've ridden this steam train a few times.
Old (still highly relevant), extremely detailed, and high quality grading/pathing charts available for almost every line in Victoria are available here: https://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/gradehome.html Here's the Puffing Billy line relevant ones (warning can be up to almost 100mb): https://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/plan_section/ftgully_gembrook.pdf https://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/ufdgem.html There's also old diagrams/blueprints for both general widely used infrustructure elements, and specific elements (eg. stations, signal boxes) here: https://www.victorianrailways.net/infastuct/infastructhome.html https://www.victorianrailways.net/photogallery/index_i_m.html And here are signalling blueprints and rules & regulation books : https://www.victorianrailways.net/signaling/signalhome.html
I would definitely buy this one. There are also diesels on this line so it could be built prior to steam for TSW2 to set the bar somewhat lower . 11 minutes to Gembrook Paul
Other locomotives that could be on this route are an NGG16 129, Climax 1694 (the last climax and the only 2ft 6inch gauge climax), 986 built in 1889 and 861 built in 1886 and 1611 Peckett built in 1926. The railway also has a museum with a very interesting collection of narrow gauge rollingstock. Newly Restored NGG16 129 Climax 1694 986 Carbon 861 J.C.Rees 1611 Sir John Grice I think that these would be great to have around the route or to be used in scenarios for special events. Also I would like to add that you can change the different liveries for the NA class, 6A can wear its usual green livery but for a special event it will have its early preservation livery, a black with lined red, same with 7A. Puffing Billy is also the worlds second operating preserved railway. This would be a great edition to TSW as 1. It is a narrow gauge railway so everyone will love it, 2. It's motive power is mainly steam so everybody will love it and 3, it just has to be added.
Usually narrow gauge railways aren't my kind of thing (I prefer busy mainlines with lots of mixed traffic), this does seem interesting amd very fun! I'd also love to see a garratt .