My Crewe to Llandudno steam-era route is now available. It is based on the brilliant North Wales Coast & The Conwy Valley Branch - BR Blue Period route (which I highly recommend in its own right) by Andy Freeman, Nick Hudson and Xavier Guerra who have all given support to this project, and allowed their own work to be freely used for it. The infrastructure of the main line (mostly four-tracked), and the branch to Llandudno, is complete, although there are all sorts of detail features I will want to improve over time. But the line from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog has not yet been fully backdated - that is my next project. There's nothing to stop you driving up there, but many signal boxes, passing loops and goods sidings are currently missing. I have also included scenarios that I have made for the route, but please read the "small print" on the page concerned before using them. The work converting this from working with an obsolete Holyhead route to the one currently available has been a time-consuming and hazardous task but I am hoping I have got it right. If there is anything that isn't, don't be afraid to let me know . . . through the support page on my site is the best way and you can attach screenshots or documents there. The files are available on my web site, link in my signature line below. Have fun! John
Good morning. Version 2 of this route is now available from my web site, this includes the Blaneau Festiniog branch in full detail. This is a further updating of Xavier Guerra's backdated route, and none of this would have been achieved without his fantastic route. Also available are two DMU scenarios to get a feel for the line. It has a surprising amount of freight traffic which you will see during the scenarios - there was still an amount of slate traffic being brought down at this time and length of trains were limited in both directions by the steep gradients. It is an interesting piece of railway - originally intended to only run as far as Betws, with a narrow gauge line collecting to Festiniog, but a change of heart meant that there are two contrasting parts of the line - shallow gradients and a ruling speed of 50 mph versus very steep gradients and a maximum speed of 30 mph. The latter certainly works DMUs hard and they were probably quite hot and smelly by the time they reached the top - a shame smellovision still hasn't reached us! There are also a few small changes which most will not notice, but one significant change is to substitute some signal post brackets which called for scenery assets from another route. Link for downloads below. Have fun! John PS - please check the requirements list - there are two additional small downloads required for this version
John - thank you for all of the hard work you do. Just a crazy thought? Is there any easy way to port the TSW Cathcart Circle into TSC? I see you have the beginning spur on your Glasgow to Carlisle route. Thx again!
If only . . . If only I had the intelligence to do such things - you credit it me with more in my little grey cells than will ever be there. Best regards, John
With deepest apologies to all, version 2 of the route omitted some of the required scenery assets - the most noticable being the station and signal box names along the Blaenau Festiniog branch. Please download version 2.1 from my site and overwrite existing files. Best regards, John
