Well this is something I wasn't expecting to see today. This post was inspired by a image I saw on the unofficial editor thread by trainsimcz, and I recently saw image that was of the editor map, which was of Tharandter Rampe, but among it was what appeared to be the tracks for the Dresden Park Railway, hidden far, far away from where the route is. At this point, I immediately had to go into this route and find out whether these tracks actually existed in game, and I can safely say that they do, and I have a couple of images to share with you to confirm this. Now before going anywhere, I would like to say that these images where taken on Tharandter Rampe, but this secret railway also exists on Nahverkehr Dresden (aka Riesa-Dresden) from having also looked over there aswell and finding it in the same condition. Now when discovering this, I found oiut that while the tracks are there, they are mostly submerged below ground, making it hard to track where they go. The only times the tracks go above the surface are in these following examples. But I can confirm that all of the tracks for the Dresden Park Railway exist here, as I was able to get my camera below the ground in order to find all the remaining tracks hidden below. I have to say, I'm so glad when I found that this indeed existed from having a look at that editor map. Out of all those hidden away tracks that I explored in TSW, this has to up there as one of my favourites, even moreso than the Flughafen Branch that's on the same route as this (in Nahverkehr Dresden's case). Simply because it's so faraway from the route, you wouldn't even relise this existed unless you modded you way out of the route, or gliched the camera in order to get out, like I did in this case. It really makes you wonder why on earth these tracks exist here in the first place... ...and it's on that later part, why I think the chances of this ever being instated are very, very low. Don't get me wrong, something like this could actually be quite amusing to see in TSW, but it's just the fact that it's quite a small railway for TSW at only 3.5 Miles (5.6 km) long. Plus, because it's located so far away from the route, how you even get to it? Would youe even be able to walk between the two locations? and which route would get it aswell? As this is located on both Tharandter Rampe and Riesa-Dresden. so would one get it, or would both get it? I don't know, that's on you to decide. But the biggest thing of all here is how on earth would do a 15 gauge railway in TSW? Like I've said, a concept like that would be quite fun and amusing to see here, but it's something that hasn't really seen in something like TSW or even TSC before. So how you go about doing something like that here, I have no idea. It's alway's good to suggested the idea of having the Dresden Park Railway in TSW, but I don't think we will see this get added any time soon, but I would love to be proven wrong aswell.
The official name is Dresdner Parkeisenbahn I assume that laying the Track is done by an AI with Google Maps, I can't explain it any other Way. Why else would DTG build something like this into the Game. I can't imagine DTG planning a DLC in this direction Dresden Hauptbahnhof is Southwest of the "Großer Garten", Two Tram Stops from Lennéplatz (bottom left on the map).
You see stuff like this all the time in other games. Like for example, you might be able to glitch through a wall and into a building in an FPS game, and there's a semi-modeled interior with furniture and stuff, even though you're "not supposed to be in there". There was obviously a concept in the beginning there but it never came to fruition, and there was no need to remove the assets I guess? Idk, I'm not educated on this game dev stuff. Or you might glitch into another part of a map and see a famous landmark that's semi-modeled but that area never made it into the game, etc. Would just be interesting to know how/why that stuff happens.
It would be a fun little route to add in. Maybe there is a tram line that links from the Hbf or one of the other stations that could also be modelled. Now that would be far more interesting than the same old A to B runs!
But remember that the trains and speeds are scaled down as well. From a development perspective, there are lots of advantages to doing a miniature railway...
There is one direct Connection with the Tram (Line 10) from Dresden Main Station to the starting point of the Parkeisenbahn at Straßburger Platz and there is a Tram Line 9 to the Dresden Zoo where is also a Train Station.
Interesting and when one looks at the Dresden Park railway German Wiki article the two Electric locomotives were built by RAW Dresden which is the Rbf Dresden Friedrichstadt Repair Shops. From what I can see the Dresden Park Railway can open the possibility of other Minature Railways in TSW 3. Also, a list of Pioneer Railways within the GDR on the German Wikipedia has them for Chemnitz and Leipzig
Another good one, not in Germany though, is the Children’s Railway in Budapest. I keep meaning to try and build that on Trainz!
This was originally meant to be a bit of an Easter Egg route within a route with Dresden Riesa, unfortunatley time ran out and there were more pressing matters with the route (like finishing it ) than the easter egg. The line was actually a bit more progressed than it is currently shown and had its own unique foliage (which probably as it turns out wouldn't have helped with the routes memory issues), and one of the locos was also part built. I think we discussed on ways to get you to the railway, I think one of the ideas was have a poster on Dresden station somewhere which you could interact with to teleport you to the railway. Alas it wasn't to be. There were a few technical issues as well, I think the track renderer wasn't too happy with such a small gauge and tight radiused points, although that may have been fixable.
So could that be the reason for the many crashes on these two Routes. Why was that never removed, wouldn't that help against crash at least a little bit?
Nah, its such an insignificant amount of track its memory usage is minimal, no the track renderer not being happy can be seen in the above pictures like this one, where the rail on the section of point is being layed by it incorrectly.
Interesting... Does that mean other narrow gauge routes could be inhibited by the same issue? Obviously metre gauge okay per Arosa, but that could put a big dent in the hopes of those of us who would love to see Welsh Highland/FR, Talyllyn or the Yugoslavian narrow gauge (!) ( JZ index (penmorfa.com) ) in TSW.
I don't know, it is 15" gauge which is railway minimum gauge, however most of the assets like the rails are still standard guage rail proportions in the above, they may work better if they had properly sized components. It may work, it might not, there may need some work done to the track renderer if such as small gauge was ever attempted, but until it is tried properly it cannot be said for certain. Should also say it works fine for the majority of the park, it was just a few incredibily tight radius points that it didn't entirely like.
Oh this would have been so good. What happened to the airport line? Seems like that was constructed as well. I found a secret train station north of Bischofsplatz. Radebeul Ost has some narrow gauge track. And on Tharandter Rampe I found more narrow gauge with rollingstock. Potschappel And at the station before this as well towards Freiburg--- Freitel-Deuben
I just found a tonne of videos on youtube for the Dresden Park Railway https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dresden+park+railway
Ukraine has a number of "Children's Railways" as well, as they were a reasonably common feature of major cities in the Soviet Union. Ukrainian Railways still uses them for their original purpose, ie. as an educational entry point into a railway career path. They are in 750mm (2'6") narrow gauge and use similar rolling stock (perhaps better maintained) as other 750mm railways in Ukraine, including one or two steam locomotives still in running condition. One of the more notable ones inhabits a park in Kyiv.
It would still be nice to see the Dresden Park railway brought to life in a little offshoot supplementary DLC.
Could be a nice idea if they want another christmas-themed DLC (like Holiday Express). They do (or used to?) special advent rides before closing over winter. https://www.parkeisenbahn-dresden.de/?advent14&desktop=true#top They could release it as a standalone DLC while DRA/DCZ get the improved scenery as an update with the new rolling stock layering in from the standalone DLC. I don’t know, might be a nice idea
Looks like we need a loco to haul those green passenger carriages above... wonder if it is rusting in an hard drive some where or maybe archived for future possible release? But I don't have any information on the railway for these green passenger carriages. Does anyone know?
