St. Louis Area - 1950s

Discussion in 'Route Suggestions & Proposals' started by Buynot, Mar 15, 2020.

  1. Buynot

    Buynot Well-Known Member

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    Though Chicago is known by many as the "Rail Capital of the World." St. Louis comes in a VERY close second to that. This route proposal once again coincides with my concept for a hotspot routes. The route would be centered around St. Louis Union Station, and would branch out for up to 60 or so miles out in each direction, following most of the major railroads that served the area.

    While Chicago saw many of the Western and Eastern/Midwestern roads interchange with each other, St. Louis saw many of the East/Midwestern roads interchange with the Southern roads. Some of the major railroads that served St. Louis include: The Nickel Plate Road, New York Central, Pennsy, Louisville & Nashville, Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis, Missouri Pacific, Illinois Central, Frisco, Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, Cotton Belt, Southern, Burlington Route, and the Rock Island railroad, as well as many other short line or regional railroads. In total 22 railroads served St. Louis Union Station. I do realize that it would be an extremely daunting task to add all 22 roads into the game, so instead I suggest that perhaps only 4 or 5 are included, and perhaps other roads are added in later as a route extension.

    Motive power in the diesel department would consist of your standard first generation diesels, EMD F-Units, and ALCO PA's for passenger duties, and then some EMD GP's and ALCO S's for freight duties. Steam might be a bit difficult to add in, seeing that most railroads had unique designs for each of them. For some roads, preexisting steamers can be repackaged with the route (much like how it was done for the Wasatch Grade route). This can only go so far, though, which is why I suggest that USRA locomotives be used as they are very flexible in that they can be re-skinned into different road names, given how common they were. The only problem with this is that while the USRA loco's could get the job done, they were pretty small by late 40's to early 50's standards, which is why I believe we'd need some larger locomotives be added such as a 4-8-4, 4-8-2, or 2-8-4. But again, the issue arises that each road had a distinct design...or did they? After watching several videos taken in the St. Louis area in the 50's I realized that many of the railroad's larger locomotives had a very similar look to them: centered headlight with number-boards, a cab that was slanted in the front, smokebox mounted bell, etc. (see pictures below). Instead of creating individual locomotives for each road, just make a "generic" locomotive with the style mentioned above, much like a USRA loco and use it to represent different railroads.

    Rolling stock isn't anything too special. For freight, the usual 40ft box-cars, cabooses, tank cars, hoppers, etc. For passenger, pullman green heavyweights and some stainless steel lightweights for the high end passenger trains.

    What do you guys think? Too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? Just right? I look forward to reading your replies!
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    Examples of lookalike 4-8-4's:
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  2. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    I believe a lot of these midwestern 4-8-4s are ALCo-built if I’m correct. (I usually refer to them as Alco-Standards). And Union Pacific FE-3 Class is also Alcohol-built. Perhaps we can ask Mike Rennie (when he’s done with his Big Boy if course). If he’d like to modify UP 844 into midwestern 4-8-4s.
     
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  3. Buynot

    Buynot Well-Known Member

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    I decided to look it up just now, the Frisco and Missouri Pacific's northerns were built by Baldwin, while the Cotton Belt's were built in-house in their Pine Bluff Shops in Arkansas, though it is possible that they were all based off an ALCO design.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2020
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  4. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Oh ok then, I guess I was thinking of CBQs 4-8-4s.
     
  5. LastTrainToClarksville

    LastTrainToClarksville Well-Known Member

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    Although Matt stated during a recent Twitch session that a TSW steam engine is unlikely due to different approaches to driving them in a sim*, as a native of St. Louis (well, South County), I'd also like to see a DLC based on Union Station and adjacent yards as they were in the '40s & '50s when I was growing up in the area.
    *Some simmers like to manage all the complex operating details of a steam loco, while others just want to drive it simply. Quite a few steamers available for TS offer suitable alternative driving methods that can be selected via a simple hotkey, however. Perhaps something like that could also be implemented in TSW?
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2020
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  6. Random Railfan

    Random Railfan Well-Known Member

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    I love the idea! The hustle and bustle of so many now-defunct railroads would be lots of fun, especially during the dieselization period.
     
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  7. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    Man talk about a beehive of activity. New term! Beehive route: A route consisting of some much activity, one can easily compare it to a busy beehive. Spot on with these suggestions. If this gets made, I wouldn't be able to get enough of the route, same as your Fostoria suggestion.
     
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  8. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    Just thinking about the sheer amount of unique action in this route, if it gets made, just makes me absolutely giddy.
     
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  9. LastTrainToClarksville

    LastTrainToClarksville Well-Known Member

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    Unless I'm mistaken, no one has yet mentioned that passenger trains had to reverse into Union Station so as to be ready to depart again without the delay of reversing. I remember being fascinated by this maneuver when, as a six-year-old traveling with Mom and Dad, I returned to St. Louis from a journey to San Francisco that included taking the scenic route on the way home.
     
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  10. jedi247

    jedi247 Well-Known Member

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    Lots of possible loco ideas from multiple railroads. Some of the locos could be DLCs and a few could be included. I'd like to see a route with some well-known fallen flag railroads.
     
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  11. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    Oh yeah. That'd make for some interesting switching scenarios.
     
  12. trainboyerik

    trainboyerik Member

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    agreed if I had to give this route suggestion a rating from 1-10 it would get a 20!
     
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