Introduction Hi, welcome back to my series "Improving Lineside Industry". I'm going to be looking at various routes in Train Sim World and highlighting what we have, and what we could have, in regard to railways that serve the various industries along them. I find these to be very interesting, and I think maximizing opportunities for players to use them in TSW would greatly enhance our game. I've tried to limit any suggestions to what is just about already within the scope of the route, and might just need some extra modelling of scenery, and perhaps a few new wagons. It must be said that I haven't been a railway fan for very long, and I'm from Australia, so I'd love for you to add your knowledge about these far-flung routes and correct anything I get wrong. I have speculated at times, as information can be hard to come by. (Some of the screenshots here of the in-game map are rather poor-looking as I couldn't do any better with their resolution when zoomed out. Some areas do not have 3D buildings on Google Maps so only some locations will have those images included.) Route In this post, I'll be looking at Cajon Pass. I believe the route is set in 2022. Here is a map of the route as represented in game, numbered with each location that I will be highlighting. Industries Location 1 Beginning in San Bernadino, Archer-Daniels-Midland is a cereal and oilseed grain processing company with a transshipment facility in the southwest of the city. Players could deliver tank cars for and unload them with the game's interactive hose function. Location 2 Inter-Rail is a service provider at automotive-related railroad terminals. At San Bernadino, they unload cars from incoming trains. Players could shunt bi-level auto rack cars to the unloading ramps here. Location 3 BNSF Railway's San Bernadino Intermodal Facility deals with the transshipment of containers and semi-trailers between trucks and trains. Players can currently bring in trains of Maxi Stack IV cars and trailer-on-flatcars. Location 4 Red Collar Pet Foods (a subsidiary of Mars Petcare) has a pet food factory in northwest San Bernadino to which trains deliver ingredients. Players could shunt covered hopper cars here for unloading. Location 5 Ardent Mills is a flour mill that is capable of producing 1.8 million pounds (816 metric tonnes) per day. It receives grain by train from California, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, North Dakota and South Dakota. Players could shunt covered hopper cars over the unloading pit and conveyor system.
Location 6 In Hesperia, Brent-Wood Products has a rail spur that serves their packaging and distribution business. Players could deliver loaded box cars, center-beam flatcars and bulkhead cars. Location 7 In Victorville, Church & Dwight (the leading producer of sodium bicarbonate in the US) has a warehouse that accepts trains. Players could shunt covered hopper cars to the site for unloading. Location 8 The Nutro Company (another subsidiary of Mars Petcare) has a pet food factory that uses train-delivered products. Players can currently deliver covered hopper cars here. Location 9 CEMEX has a large plant in Victorville that receives limestone from their quarry at Black Mountain nearby to make cement. Players can currently shunt covered hopper cars around the site. Location 10 In Oro Grande, CalPortland has two facilities, one for cement manufacture and one for aggregate production. Players could run trains of covered hopper or aggregate hopper cars to and from here and load them underneath tipples. Location 11 Amerigas is a propane vendor that uses trains to bring gas to Barstow for loading into trucks. Players could deliver tank cars here and remove them once unloading has been completed. Location 12 [Please scroll down due to image limits.] Conclusion I hope this was interesting. Please feel free to add to this and let me know what I've got wrong. Thanks for reading!
You didnt mention A&R Transport's yard on the West End of San Bernardino. Not sure if any services moves cars in or out of the area, but it looks like they load or unload cars directly into Pneumatic trailers. Also as someone who actually works in the propane industry (And has actually unloaded tank cars where I work) It wouldn't be a viable thing to do ingame for 2 reasons. 1. We don't have the proper equipment. The cars we have in game are for Ethanol and are sized and labeled as such, (UN 1170) Propane tank cars are a bit larger (At around 33,000 gallons) and are placarded UN 1075. The domes are also configured differently than the cars in game. 2. It takes roughly 5-7 hours to offload one car at work IRL.
Excellent idea overall and speaking of this Is there a DOT117 post Lac Megantic Québec crash standards that is designed for Propane LPG transportation via railroads or not? For German routes you are looking at its equivalent the Zags for Propane transport via railway.
Don't overestimate TSW's capabilities. They didn't even add the Borie Cutoff on Sherman Hill which is present in TSC. All of this can be done in Run8 - not only do you have the huge joint network from Bakersfield to Seligman including Mojave and Cajon subdivisions. You can play endless sessions and can freely configure all the industries yourself. Deliver empties to Industry A, pick up loaded cars and bring them to Industry B, C etc. You can specify an amount of time when the cars will be loaded/unloaded again. Cars get tagged automatically so have to figure out yourself what to deliver where. Spawn in AI trains to deliver trains to sort for you at the yard. I can really recommend Run8 if you're into that type of unrestricted gameplay. There's no better simulation of US freight railroading, with highly accurate physics and details down to partially opening anglec*cks when connecting hoses to prevent PCS trip.
Location 12 A&R Logistics (a part of Quantix Supply Chain Solutions) in San Bernardino is a transport company that specialises in serving the chemical industry. It receives covered hoppers and tank cars whose loads are transferred into trucks with dry bulk trailers. Players could deliver full cars and take away empty ones.
