Who know what I have enjoying recently in TSW2? Taking advantage of a camera glitch which allows you go off and explore what lies beyond the invisible walls of a route. It's actually pretty simple to pull off, just drive a train into a tunnel, press 2 to bring up the boom cam, followed by 8 to bring up the free cam and just like that, you can go off and explore the outsides of a route that you wouldn't be able to see normally. Now I used this trick to explore some of the more curious areas that I have been curious to see what they actually looked like and some of those adventures, I have documented on this very forum, ranging from a variety of places that lie beyond London Commuter, uncovering what Track 3 on Sherman Hill really looked like in game and probably one of my proudest achievements on this forum (outside of making pdf timetables for the various routes that have come out on TSW over the years), being the one that discovered that part of the New Haven Line as far as New Rochelle was hidden away on Harlem Line. I have also found a way to go and explore the Flughafen branch on Riesa-Dresden using an opening in the map that I found around Dresden Hbf, but I would be doing a thread on that as that has already be covered multiple times on this forum. But what I do want to cover here is somewhere that I have been curious to check out for sometime on what the current condition of this area was, but I couldn't quite find a way to get into this area until now, and let me tell you, out of all the areas that were going to be part of a route, but didn't see the light of day, even though all of the tracks for it have been left in place, this one might be one off (if not) the most notorious, even more so than Riesa-Dresden's S-Bahn branches, because it seemed like this area was actually going to be part of this route, right up until the day when the route came out and that area is the large chunk of the Hamilton Industrial Complex on Canadian National Oakville Subdivision. So for those asking what is the Hamilton Industrial Complex is, it's a vast web of railway lines that serve various industries located around there, ranging from a steel mill to recycle plant to an oil refinery, an asphalt plant, the port itself and so much more. It's the sort of area that in theory, could offer endless potential for a variety of shunting services, to a range of interesting scenarios ranging from tasks to complete around this area to a generally just going off in foot and exploring the area on your own accord. So why do I say that this area is the most notorious of all the areas that was suppose to be part of a route, but ended up getting cut, more so than the likes of Riesa-Dresden's branches or Sherman Hill's Track 3? Well, let me put this way, say what you will about DTG handle those aforementioned situations, at least they were honest enough to tell you that... unlike what happened with this route. To try and explain this in more depth, allow me to paint you a picture here. Take the whole announcement about how the Dresden S-Bahn branches were getting cut for a second (as that was the one that had the most uproar) imagine if instead of telling you about it, DTG kept on marketing it as if if was actually going to come with the route, mentioning it in their articles and even showing those branches on the map as such, only to find out on release day that they weren't actually include at all and that the whole thing a complete and utter lie. Sounds like a rally mean spirited thing to try and pull off, right? (and to be honest, I don't think even DTG would be that dumb enough to pull off something like that). But believe it not, something like that was what basically happened with Oakville Subdivision and the Hamilton complex. Back when OSD was being marketed in the various articles put out on it in February 2020, it sounded like the entirety of the complex was going to be fully made and accessible. The articles even describe the complex as 'a route unto itself', further implying that the whole area was going to be accessible and all of the trackage for the area was shown on the map, going by a preview stream that was held in the run up to this routes release, as seen on the map down below. On a side note, if you're wondering what's going on about the language shown in the image, it's because I took this screenshot from trainsimcz's video, which was actually about exploring the entirety of Hamilton Yard. I would of liked to have shown an image like this from the preview stream, but that has for some reason, been taken down, probably from the reasons that I am about to share with you. But back in subject, was the map shown there really about of what you could explore in reality? Well, in short... no. To be fair, the Hamilton complex was accessible, but only part of it was actually accessible, leaving a large chuck of the complex that was visible on the map, but was completely blocked off. As you can imagine, this did not go down well at all with everyone who got the route at time. Eventually, in a post release update, the extra tracks that were not accessible were covered over, leaving just the accessible parts visible on the map, as seen in the image I took down below, and compared to the image you saw earlier, it's a stark contrast in what this area had the potential to be, compared to what it actually turned out. This would also lead to DTG both being more honest about what is included in a route and what is not, as well as in future routes, covering over inaccessible areas that are not relevant to that specific route (Like we saw with the Bakerloo Line, LGV Med and Southeastern High Speed). But even if all those tracks were covered over, they have never actually been taken out, which is why I really wanted to go and explore those areas to see what they looked like nowadays, but there was just one small problem... …the camera trick that I have been using to get beyond the invisible walls doesn't work here as this route has no tunnels, now high embankments or anything like that. Literally, this route for the most part is as flat as a pancake. But despite that, I was still able to find a way to get my camera out of the map, using the following steps. Spawn into the route walking at Strathearne Avenue Climb onto any wagon you can find Enter the free cam (press 8 key) Fly as far away from where you are as possible Press 2 to take the camera back to where you are Quickly before the route has a chance to load, enter free cam and fly it underneath the route. From there, I was able to go off and explore the outsides of the route as I would normally do for the previous two occasion and so I was able to go and get the images of the inaccessible parts of the Hamilton complex that you are about to see. So I think I've done enough talking here, is it time that we showed what those inaccessible parts actually look like nowadays? Line leading to Hillyard/Evans McKeil Street So we're going to start this by looking at the tracks leading out North of Industrial Sector C and specifically this branch leading towards what appears to be a maintenance shop around Hillyard/Evan McKeil Street (Can't seem to find what that area is actually called in real life). First, a general view of where various lines branch off in front of a massive industrial building There is also this siding that branches off down here Now lets head down this branch lead to Hillyard/Evan McKeil Street Track disappears below the surface for a bit (right in front of some industrial buildings) The track reappears on the other side Something that you'll see quite a lot in these areas are buildings/building sets that are badly placed across the tracks, like in the image below Coming into the yard …and that's concludes the section down to Hillyard/Evan McKeil Street. Again, I don't what this area is really called in real life, but it seems to be so kind of freight car repair shop from what I could observe. So lets go back to where I took the first image and go and explore another branch coming out of Industrial Sector C Industrial Sector's M & N Going back to where we started, there is this whole section heading up north towards the port just waiting to be explored. So we start this section with another section where the track sinks below the ground... …which again reappears on the other side Now I did see that in this sunken below ground section, there is a small spur leading towards on the steelworks buildings. I don't have any images of it as like I said, it's below ground and out of my sight. But moving on, lets carry on going up the yard Part were the tracks splits. We will be taking the path on the far right for the next bunch of images, Wide shot of a tight curve (with a spur coming straight off it) A pair of tracks leading towards dead end points (above and below) Another wide shot of a curve from the other path coming into this area. We will continue explore this area on next post...
Track continues this way, so lets see where it goes to. We arrive at this yard in Industrial Sector N, which I believe is part of the steelworks in real life. (Also, of you wondering what up with the track curves, it's just the fact that the tracks haven't rendered properly at this distance). This area also has some extra tracks that are not connected to the main route So that concludes that tracks leading out of Industrial Sector C, lets move further down the yard and see what other tracks are hiding away nowadays. Extra tracks around Kenilworth Avenue Now before going further, I wanted to share with some of the extra trackage hidden away around Kenilworth Avenue, located a stones throw from McAnulty Yard. One is this spur siding located just to the west (above and below) The other is actually located round the back of this whole facility, where a whole extra set of tracks are located. Inaccessible set of tracks right behind it (above and Below) Another thing worth noting here is that I found that this area actually has far more tracks in real life, spreading out in Industrial Sector L. But those tracks haven't been represented here at all, not even as tracks hidden away on the map (Probably because I'm not quite sure that they get used much any more, from looking at them at a glance). Now with all that out of the way, we have a big one coming up next, so let's move on to that. Industrial Sector J/Parkdale Avenue We now move to the spur of track which goes off from chemical plant at Hobson Street towards more inaccessible areas, and there's quite a lot to go through here, so let's get into it. Track leading away on the right just goes towards a dead end right in front of a massive building Lots of building placed badly across the tracks round here Exploring a few of the spurs round here, including one that stops right in front of some raised land (above and below) Continuing on... Wide shot of another tight curve... Leading towards more buildings placed over the tracks The end of this part of the complex More on the next post...
We now head back to this spur of track heading North One track leads to a dead end on one side of a marina The other track leads to... Hamilton Beach This is the most northerly point of the entire complex in real life. What also makes this part interesting is the fact that it crosses over a small stream on it's way into the area. In this route, the track crosses the stream, but there is no bridge to hold it up Getting into the area itself, it mostly consists of building placed across the tracks again You can just see a small siding appearing on the right of the image above you …and here we are, at the most northerly point of the whole complex, looking out towards Lake Ontario (above and below). But we are not done quite yet, we will now head back to McAnulty Yard, because there something else that I want to show you. Industrial Sector G Located north of McAnulty is this (almost) dead straight piece of track leading away from the yard. Let's see what's down there shall we? Selection of spurs that don't really go anywhere Randomly placed house (that's sinking into the ground) placed on the tracks, right in front of a small siding The track doesn't go much further on from that. So now we've seen that, let's move on to what I think is one of the more fascinating areas to explore on the next post...
Parkview Spurs This is not actually in the Hamilton Complex itself, but rather on the stretch of main line leading away from the route towards the AI spawn point (and in real life, towards Niagara Falls). This stretch is actually has two industrial spurs located on it. The first is this small one just at the eastern end of the Strathearne Avenue Yard (above and below) The other is this much bigger one located close to the AI spawn point that actually goes quite far from the main route. Passing loop here Which eventually leads us to this small yard with a pair of tracks next to each other. I also believe around here in real life is a storage tank that has the a Muriel of the globe painted on it. But with that out the way, there's just one more thing I want to show you all before we wrap this up Track leading away from Birmingham Street Yard Now out of all of tracks that ended up getting covered over, this one I personally feel should have stayed being shown on the map, not because it's accessible, but rather to show that it's there, as it passes underneath the main running route as it head off towards in real life, CP's Kinnear Yard, as you will see. Edge of this section of the route (where the invisible walls are) Where the line passes underneath the main line …and before anyone asks, all this leads to is an AI spawn point and the endless AI runoff (above and below) Which leads me to the point I want to make here, as much as I think DTG did the right thing in the end by covering over the inaccessible parts of the Hamilton Complex, I do also think that too much was covered over in that patch. In my eyes, tracks like this, as well as track leading away from a route towards an AI spawn point, should at least be shown on the map, both to show that it does exist and (and this something I will get to in a thread latter down the line) as a reference point to show what point of the route it is. But with that aside, that concludes this exploration of Hamilton Yard. Overall, even though I'm not the biggest fan of this route in general (even ignoring this whole chestnut) I found this to be quite a fun experience to finally go and see those inaccessible parts of the Hamilton Complex and seeing what they look like nowadays. In the end, from having a look round these areas, I feel like that the main reason these parts never saw the light of day was for the same reasons as for why we never saw the likes the likes of Riesa-Dresden's S-Bahn branches (before one of them was reinstated) and Sherman Hill's track 3. It's the fact that I feel like DTG did originally want to implement the entire complex in full and make it accessible, but didn't get enough time to do so. The main difference here being that with the likes of Dresden & Sherman Hill, at least it was said that they were cut during development, compared to here when it just continually advertised as being part of the route, right up until the day the route was release. I honestly feel like this should serve as a reminder of two things: 1. Of how far we have all come since this route got made. 2. Even when we do have cases when DTG slips up every once a while, a reminder of how things could have easily been so much worse. But you know what, as much as there is probably a slim chance of this ever happening, I could see a scenario where DTG comes back here to finish off these areas and make them accessible like they should have been right from the start. But why do I say this? Well let's go back that whole saga of Dresden's S-Bahn branches getting cut. We did end up seeing one of those branches come back in a post release update a few weeks after that route came out. I know circumstances came together in order for that to happen, but I think this should that nothing is impossible and that maybe, just maybe one day in future, we could see a situation were the Hamilton Complex is finished off in full and made accessible like it should have been from day 1. But do I think this will happen any time soon? Honestly, probably not For the same reasons as to why Sherman Hill's track 3 is probably not happening any time soon. Even if that situation arises, a lot of work would be necessarily in order to polish these area out and install all of the accurate buildings that are located round these areas in reality. Also, after this route being out for over two years, there would need to be a good reason to come back here and finish theses areas off. It's one thing to make these areas accessible, but what would you do with them? What ideas could you come with for services/scenarios that use these areas? And more importantly, how would you go about the job of implementing these areas in the first place? Would it just be a free update? Would this be for a loco add-on that utilises these areas? Would it be for an expansion pack that comes with this area? Who knows what would end up happening if this would ever to happen, but to end this all off, I feel like the answer to that question is something for your hearts to decide on that one. Speaking of you all, what do you make of all this? Would you like to see these areas opened one day? Should these areas be opened up at all? and more importantly how much of these areas would you like to see opened up? I look forward to see how you all respond to this all down in the replies below.
Who knows, maybe that 'HUGH' remark on the roadmap listing will include some of this industrial park, though I do not hold my breath on this.
This is kinda interesting. Especially if i look at the whole Hamilton complex which is just tons of sidings, and some yards.
