Written by: Gary Dolzall. Union Pacific’s famed route through Utah’s Wasatch Range – re-created in the steam-to-diesel transition era of the 1950s – is coming soon to Train Simulator! READ MORE
That looks like a beast of a DLC. Three engines, liveries, loads of wagons and a load of developed yards... shame I don't buy US stuff, but I'm sure "big steam fans" will love this one
Inhales YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY! A NEW STEAM ERA ROUTE! MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!
Looks amazing! The steam/diesel transition is an underrepresented era for the US, so it's nice to see some new content in that area. This will also go great with the new Smokebox Big Boy whenever that gets released. Just a note for Gary - the over/under flyover is called "Curvo" and not "Curvco" as stated in the article.
Definitely looking forward to this one, as well as adding the FEF Northern for even more operational variety. One criticism is that I would've liked to see at least one or two smaller steam engines or diesel switchers on the route to work the yards and whatnot. More than likely though this will route will work for the different eras as well, maybe even modern.
Cracking to see some more scenic lines from the States especially in the transition from steam to diesel. I am a little disappointed that Train Simulator continues to focus on the massive American steam locos, what about a 4-6-0 or UP 4-6-2 or a 2-8-2? These engines continued in secondary goods traffic. A quick search reveals UP’s elderly 1243, a 4-6-0 working into the 1950s. The scenery looks splendid but I would like to see some new engines, not just the same F7s and Big Boys, and some small American steam. Except the Smokebox Consolidation and the B&LE 0-6-0 there is no “standard American Steam”, it is all large express engines like the fabulous FEF-3, GS-4, Berkshire, and other 4-8-4s, something which would go nicely with this route alongside Big Boys.
I agree, we need some mid-size steam! I think some USRA locomotive designs would be nice to have, and since they were mass produced for multiple railroads, they would be able to go with alot of other routes in addition to this one!
The Britkits set of USRA locomotives, while somewhat dated, are still pretty good. It would be pretty nice to see some other steamers other than the USRA types, though.
We really do. Right now most of the American steamers that are available in Train Simulator are t h i c c so something different is welcome. I do enjoy large steamers but still that definitely isn't the only kind of steam locomotive in the United States. How about a 2-10-0 Decapod or a 1900's-1920's 2-6-0 Mogul? Just another great reason for the addition of the Strasburg Railroad if you're in it for the rolling stock it seems.
Having a 2-6-0, would be nice. If there was a dynamically numbered version of #89 I could see it getting use for some steam era shortline routes on the workshop.
That would be cool. It might be a pain for scenario creators trying to use it in Strasburg Railroad scenarios though.
I would love this route. Big Boys and Challengers all the way. Plus, the route has both UP and SP Black Widow F7s. If any DLC is made for this route, I'd like a UP 4-12-2, SP or UP SD7/9, or GP7/9. An SP FM H-24-66 Trainmaster could be great, too.
I agree with you, especially on the 4-12-2. Those were three-cylinder beasts that were hard to service, but hard pullers.
I can not recommend this route -- While the route itself isn't bad - the Big Boy and Challenger are old, old models that have severe problems that have been long withstanding. I ran the first scenario for the Big Boy and when apply in the brakes with only a 15 PSI reduction to slow down to 35 mph speed zone - once I released the brakes - the whole consist sling shotted ahead and gained another 15 mph and also racked up a horrendous penalty for drive quality. Rest of the scenario I had to manually apply car brakes to slow down to avoid repeating the same actions. I applied the physics and some texture fixes from RWA which did improve the driving and visual appearance of the BiG Boy somewhat, but on the second scenario, I had a perfect score up to the next to last task which was to stop at a coaling tower to refuel. I came to a complete stop (0.0 mph) but was about 1/2 car length short. Even applied a bit of loco brakes, but when releasing the train brakes the whole consist sling shotted ahead and hit 10 mph before getting the beast under control. Not prototypical behavior methinks . So avoid this route unless you are like me and want it to swap out engines for the FEF or want it for the future release of SmokeBox's much anticipate Big Boy. Or you just want some comic relief driving a broken locomotive.
This route would also be the perfect one for the gas turbines. I'd like to see the gas turbine that was included in the Sherman Hill route a while back re-released as a stand-alone loco.
