Instead of my scheduled continuation of the Kyle Line/Jones Goods QD, I break to present captures from my first drive on [GA] West of England v2.0 BETA, installed yesterday evening. It's a short run, from Veovil Town to Veovil Junction, both within the new extension. Motive power is a new acquisition, CW's Adams Radial Tank, purchased during its still-ongoing sale. Come to think of it, the LSWR 6-wheel coaches are another recent CW purchase. The drive begins. Building boiler pressure at Yeovil Town station: Pulling out of Yeovil Town station: Rural image: Rural image: Yeovil Junction station: Yeovil Junction station: RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2 + Cloud Pack
Moved on to the Baldwin RF-16. Blazin shared a set about it recently. It's probably the shortest amount of scenarios in the entire game - about an hour across the three. As usual, ups and downs. On the positive side, it's a rare subject, brakes are easy, comes with interesting stock. On the flip side, sounds aren't great (bugs aside I'm curious how realistic it is). Worth a mention, there are many liveries available elsewhere. I chose this one from the first scenario for the Christmas vibe. This scenario takes us to a little yard next to South Fork, and involves a major weather shift from cloudy summer to a sudden snow. I totally failed the timings during the first run - fortunately did a rather messy quick drive (on Colton & Northern, through every single siding, 15mph switches) which taught me the brakes (minimal reduction is at 50%, allows fine tuning for downhills). The next shot is of a similar era, age and quality - When Cyclone published that we can just move over the scenarios of the three retired routes to their workshop versions, I had to try and run the E18 (and 151) pack. Did. Mood-wise it's perfect for this time of year. The story is about taking two DB green locos to the shops for repaint, pretty much all downhill - Dissen is the peak of Seebergbahn. Continuing the trend, after completing the Class 33-47 run on the PDL, I felt like running a bit in moody weather. Nothing better than warming your backside in the sun. Even if you are a donkey. 101 on the PDL. Pretty standard shot, but! It was a great experience to run the 101 on this versatile route, often at top speed, but also struggling on some climbs.
Winter Holidays Special with Prussian T14 by Wilbur Graphics. Route: Aerosoft's Koebiltzer Bergland; Snps wagons by 3DZug, MDy van by PolygonZug.
Route: Wakayama & Sakurai Lines, North London & Goblin Lines, Salzburg-Muhldorf, Semmeringbahn. Train: DB BR 247, DB BR 245, JR Class 103, Class 172, SZ Class 541. Random picture compilation! 1) Land of the rising sun! 2) Yard departure. 3) Star surprise! 4) The alps! 5) Uphill power.
Part 4 of my chronological depiction of an Autumn morning stopping passenger service QD, from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh on Just Trains - The Kyle Line, a route purchased at the tail end of Steam's Autumn sale. The train consists of a Caledonia Works Highland Railway "Jones Goods" 4-6-0 tendered steam loco, seen in radioactive yellow livery, pulling four AP MK1 coaches. According to (link) Rail Map Online - UK & IE Railways (link) Kyle Line was, during the pre-grouping era, part of The Highland Railway, making it a suitable match for the loco. Approaching that railway favorite, the "S" curve, at slow speed: I added the following image to my Win10 Desktop Background folder: Garve Station: Garve Station: RWEnhancer2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2 + Cloud Pack TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Icy sunset is coming above this bulk goods train. Loco by DTG, Uagnpps wagons by Wilbur Graphics. Route: Aerosoft's Brennitzer Linienstern
Suburban Glasgow Northwest: Springburn - Helensburgh The excellent Gold Star Trains Modern HST Cab Pack.
Fluff. Sometimes physics are off a little. Believe it or not, this is an actual train. The buffer in the bottom right corner belongs to the loco, which is at this point a secret. The good news is, once reaching track speed, hardly any power is needed, so it looks fine.
Set 1 of a multipart chronological depiction of a just-ended (as of yesterday evening) mid-summer stopping passenger service QD, from Carlisle to Settle, on DTG Settle to Carlisle route. Primary motivation for the run was to check out AP's recently installed Veggie Pack. Also, it came to me that I've never featured Donington's Midland Rwy reskin for CW's GERT26. According to Rail Map Online, Settle to Carlisle was, in pre-grouping days, part of MidRwy. That, plus an absence of bona fide MR steam locos in my roundhouse, made the reskin a logical choice. At Carlisle Station: Our first glimpse of Veggie Pack greenery: Part 1 containing but three images, I supplement it with a capture of CW's LSWR Adams Radial Tank, seen in a fetching Adams Brown livery, paused at minuscule St. James Park Halt, first stop out of Exeter on GAD's West of England Mainline. RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2 + Cloud Pack + Veggie Pack Carlisle to Settle run TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Suburban Glasgow: Airdrie Route Extension AP Class 318 AP Track EP AP SWEP 2.0 AP Clouds AP Vegetation
Going for a jaunt up the Pegnitzelbahn in the DB BR612 My version uses AP weather and my reshade preset, however doesn't use the track or vegetation as there's no patch for that just yet.
Well done with the above. My fav is the middle one. This week's roll is almost perfectly thematic - Resting at the rail yard. Here is the front of a Baldwin RF-16 doing some Night Switching at Johnstown. The switch indicator lights add to the atmosphere. A Class 33 duo at Woking. This BR 101 is clearly between resting at yards - traveling from Hagen to Siegen. Good morning! Blue hour at Golden, British Columbia finds a yawning crew sipping their coffee before shifting some wagons around. NJ Transit roster shot at Long Branch with an F40, a GP40s and an ALP-45DP peeking at an arriving Bay Head shuttle.
Not sure if it's just me, but that red looks really desaturated and dull here. Shouldn't they be a bright, vivid red?
Interesting. I guess having a Vision impairment doesn’t help. I’ll increase the saturation on the red, and also possibly the brightness
I think your photos are perfectly enjoyable - they have a slight "faded newspaper" feel to them. Following and summarizing your posts I think you're striving for a balance where everything looks fine, overall: foliage, trains, rails, skies... TSC visuals are all over the place, as you can tell from my intentionally default captures. You'll always run into funsies. Some advice I received: Evolve your style and configuration to express yourself and meet your own goals. Accept feedback but only react if you agree with it.
Eizo ColorEdge 12bit hardware calibrated screen here that can show the entire AdobeRGB1998 gamut, so unlikely. Even if it was, numerically, it's almost brown. I'm getting the same results as Andrew. I think your screen is over-saturating colours if this looks OK to you. Unless you just like it of course, which is fine... it's all about personal taste if it's just for your own use, but you are offering this as a "Realistic ReShade Preset" for download, so I thought you'd appreciate the feedback.
Yes, my monitor has HDR for gaming so it might look different. I’ve offered it for download, but have also mentioned to those who do download it to modify to suit their systems. in fact, my preset was actually based off yours.
Part 5 of my chronological depiction of an Autumn morning stopping passenger service QD, from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh on Just Trains - The Kyle Line, a route purchased at the tail end of Steam's Autumn sale. The train consists of a Caledonia Works Highland Railway "Jones Goods" 4-6-0 tendered steam loco, seen in radioactive yellow livery, pulling four AP MK1 coaches. According to (link) Rail Map Online - UK & IE Railways (link) Kyle Line was, during the pre-grouping era, part of The Highland Railway, making it a suitable match for the loco. I added the below to my Win10 Desktop Background folder, despite the missing fence post: RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2 + Cloud Pack TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Yeah, that jumped out at me too. The near ground texture also has some yellow to it. This route tends to have decent ground textures, for the most part. At least when viewed close up or at medium distance.
WCML South AP Class 87 with my own cab texture pack. Just Trains Voyager Advanced 2019 AP Track EP AP SWEP V2.0 AP Cloud pack AP Signals EP AP Vegetation EP
While walking across the 207st bridge at University Heights, I spotted a local Metro North M7A bound for Croton Harmon
The M7 pack at Croton Harmon. Inbound local getting ready to start it's journey towards Grand Central Terminal
Due to a few M7A's getting their wheels trued at Arch St shop in LIC, a few spare M8's are put into service on the Hudson Line.
To further muddy the waters, I begin yet another TSC route/loco showcase with his the first installment in a multi-set chronological depiction of an Autumn morning stopping passenger service QD, from Newport to Shrewsbury, on Welsh Marches Line - Newport to Shrewsbury, which makes use of AP's recently released Veggie Pack. Motive power is provided by a Caledonia Works GWR 3031 Achilles class 4-2-2 tendered steam loco, commonly known as a Dean Single. Resting in the shade at Newport Station, pre-departure: RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2+CloudPack+VeggiePack TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Sunday Times... In the last Baldwin RF-16 scenario, we assemble a long train of empty hoppers. ICE 1 from Koblenz to Köln. The frosty grass is a nice touch on this route. Side by side. Only one type of ICE on this capture of a Trier to Koblenz run. Back when Southern Pacific was operating on the Pacific Surfliner. Black Widow F7s and ACF coaches. Class 101 towards Portsmouth.
Set 2 of a multipart chronological depiction of a mid-summer stopping passenger service QD, from Carlisle to Settle, on DTG Settle to Carlisle route. Primary motivation for the run was to check out recently installed AP Veggie Pack. It also came to me that I've never featured Donington's Midland Rwy reskin for CW's GERT26. According to Rail Map Online, Settle to Carlisle was, in pre-grouping days, part of MidRwy. That, plus an absence of bona fide MR steam locos in my roundhouse, made the reskin a logical choice. RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
6000 horses overtake 410... The 1500 SX Kings Cross-Glasgow Central 'Scottish Pullman' is a mere 3hrs into its journey when it overtakes the 1714 Newcastle-Chathill local stopper at Wooden Gate, just south of Alnmouth.
Set 1 in a multipart series chronologically documenting a mid-Autumn morning stopping passenger sevice QuickDrive, from Crewe to Holyhead, on North Wales Coast Line route, acquired during Steam's Winter 2023/24 sale. Having belonged to LNWR in pre-grouping days, I power the train with a favorite steam-era loco, Caledonia Works' LNWR "Greater Britain", No.3435 "Queen Empress" to be exact, seen in Lilac & Cream livery. Though Greater Britain looks to be a conventional 2-4-2 tendered locomotive, it is an actuality a 2-2-2-2 compound loco. It pulls four LNWR coaches, the last of them an observation coach, which I failed to get a decent capture of. On display are AP's Vegetation, Weather and Clouds Packs, as well as RW Enhancer 2. In shade at Crewe Station, circa 0755, pre-departure: Departing Crewe Station: RW Enhancer 2 (partially gimped due to serz.exe error), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
I’ve been taking an extended break, as I sometimes do with the game. Mid December though a cyclone hit north of my city, followed by drastic and catastrophic flooding as a result which broke decades worth of records for the place in a few days. Luckily I went on holiday the day the major flooding begun, as the day after the airport closed. Got back a week later and repairs were underway etc, still quite a bit of damage but much cleaned up now and the roads reopened. There was extensive damage to our 2ft gauge sugarcane rail system in the flood affected areas, including a 70m+ long rail bridge built to resist floodwaters practically just disappearing, as it was almost entirely swept away during the floods, with only debris on either side of the river bank and intact rails showing it was ever there. Lots of other 2ft gauge rail areas around that are still there, but covered in lots of sand, mud and debris and overall heavy damage. Luckily the 3ft 6in gauge government owned railway nearby wasn’t too badly affected, except for the section headed into the mountains where 20km worth of rail has experienced a total of 60 landslides and will not be reopened until an estimated February 11th. It provoked the first ballast dedicated train to be sent up to there in over a decade, as usually hi-railer trucks are enough to transport small loads of ballast but with the damage an entire train was required. Sorry for going dreadfully off topic, but I wanted to expand on why I’ve been gone as it has been a very interesting time for the place I live and the railways around here that I love so much! For now I’m just participating in the unofficial screenshot competition by posting screenshots I’ve already had on hand for a while that I keep in a dedicated folder, currently unsure when I’ll return to playing the game as I’m getting busier and busier as of late. Just a friendly correction, my shots didn’t include the Baldwin RF-16, they were of the Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2 (its nickname was the Baldwin Centipede due to its absurd amount of driving axles and wheels and is named as such on the steam store instead of it’s technical classification which I often prefer to use) They look similar from a memories glance, but comparing photos of the two types of diesels show they are vastly different and both very interesting locomotives.
Many nice captures, including great ideas this week Nice to scroll through. Blazin, sorry to hear about the weather troubles. I hope that busier life means something good for you And thanks for the correction. Nice fail at trying to show I pay attention And here is my weekly. Some troubles while uploading, hope it shows fine. TSC dashboard meets Don Coffey - A green Class 47 moving a Class 158 set. The run was originally intended for the last screenshot contest of last year, but I didn't make it in time. Don has a recent shorter video with a Class 47 on route learning / refresh duty, noting it's easy for a 47 to haul a 158 set. This is my first session ever photographing this loco-livery. The chances of random rolling the same Class 158 livery and layout were not nil. This is one section of the old ECML, between Northallerton and Darlington, that looks fairly nice. With the recent foliage pack bringing it into focus, I noticed how these old ones are actually better than those above and since. A Class 67, by now in DB Schenker red, with a short military equipment train from Didcot to Reading. This capture has so many little things to look at. The various building types, trees, fields, roads. Rule 283: Let's keep at least one photo from each scenario, for variety's and documentation's sake. Comparing grass with the next below doesn't help the scene, but... do you guys have good captures, ideas with this setting? One of the oldest from the pool, a BR 189 duo on Koblenz-Trier. Kept them because I like its intensive colors, and I also have fewer German shots.
