It's Mother's Day in the UK so I treated my wife to a romantic day out, to the local steam railway. At Frome Market under a rather ominous-looking sky we see one of Bulleid's finest coach designs, built for crack expresses from London to/from the West Country and Dorset, hauled by his magnificent Merchant Navy Pacific locomotives. Where is the engine? Ah here it is. A slightly more hum-drum Ivatt 2-6-2 tank engine, which will haul us for 6 miles over the Mendips to Radstock. Nonetheless this is a beautifully kept and cared-for locomotive. It is a relatively quiet day, perhaps the possibility of rain has put people off. Or maybe other people take their mums and wives out for Sunday dinner? Getting ready for the 'off'. It's nice to see proper SR discs being carried, which goes well with the first coach. The remainder are the usual maroon BR Mark 1 fare. For some reason my wife decided to get comfy and wait in the train, perhaps she was cold. About 35 minutes after departure we arrive in Radstock (North). Only a few pax alight from the train, hopefully the railway is doing better business on other weekends. 5 coaches for a Class 2 tank engine over the 1:48 gradients up to Mells Road certainly provided it with a workout, I suspect load 4 would be more comfortable. I was explaining this to my wife but she was distracted by something interesting out of the window. (It may have been the local solicitor's firm.) Anyway lets leave it there, I'm hoping to surprise her with a spin round the Radstock Museum before we head back. Route: NSR - The Mendip Line (GA Developments) Loco: BR Ivatt Class 2 (Steam Sounds Supreme) Stock: Bulleid (SSS) and BR Mk1 (AP) coaches Mods: Various AP sky, lighting, track packs etc.
Marsdonshire Railways HST approaches Portkeane on 25th April 2021 as the train is about to terminate its 22:30 working from Cairnlochross:
For anyone who remembers Class 309 'Clacton' units in the Midlands/North West in the mid-late 1990s, does this bring back any memories? An AP Cl.411 in NSE colours provides a passable substitution from certain angles. These trains generally worked local electric services out of Manchester Piccadilly (replacing the ancient AM4 units withdrawn in 1995) but also had a peak-hour working to Birmingham New Street, an early-morning North Staffs semi-fast from Stafford-Manchester and, on occasion, the 0650ish Preston-Birmingham New Street vice Cl.158. Which I've pictured here after arrival from Preston at 0840hrs.
Installment 18 in a multipart chronological depiction of an Autumn morning stopping passenger QuickDrive on Golden Age Developments' freeware West of England Mainline, phase 2, which extends tracks further eastward to Yeovil Town. Our journey begins there, stopping at all stations until the drive terminates at Exeter. Our train is powered by Caledonia Works' rendering of the LSWR 415/0415 class 4-4-2T steam locomotive, commonly known as the Adams Radial Tank. It is seen in Adams Brown livery, pulling six LSWR coaches. This installment. sees us between Whimple and Broad Clyst. En route to Broad Clyst: as above: as above: as above: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds TO BE CONTINUED . . .
A bright and sunny morning run along the picturesque Furness Line from Barrow. It's 1989 and a pair of 'nodding donkeys' is working the 0835 all-stations to Preston. Hold on to your giblets! Pausing for custom at Roose... Before rumbling across the Leven Viaduct... Awaiting departure time at Grange-over-Sands... Followed by a scenic crossing at Arnside. Finally at rest on arrival at Preston at 1007.
Installment 11 in a multiset chronological depiction of a cloudy Autumn morning passenger run QD between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Picadilly (via Warrington Central). The train consists of Caledonia Works' LNWR Webb Coal Tank No. 1054, in preservation livery, pulling AP MK1 coaches. Most mages are manipulated via Paint.NET (freeware image editor), Wondershare Filmora (payware video creator/editor), or both. This installment sees us stopped at and departing from Padgate. At this point in the journey, black & white, sepia, and "damaged" images are less prevalent but do not disappear. Most if not all images continue to receive subtle or not-so-subtle manipulation. Padgate Station Platform welcoming scene: Padgate Station: Padgate Station platform scene: Departing Padgate: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Miniblog. I have been resisting post-processing until now, for reasons. The NJCL pic above made me think, though, that I should edit some. I've been ditching a lot of potentially nice ones as well, in random slideshows, when they were comparatively weak. That said, here is an example. This is from the pool that would be shared here, eventually. Depends on the screen, but on my TV this is rather gloomy. My laptop uses a different HDMI encoding with my monitor, which applies a significant gamma. So, how would it look nice on my TV? Well, something like this: Of course, bad layout pictures are trash bin material, but probably a lot of stuff could be salvaged. Instead of shooting just a very few weathers (and trying the rest but ditching them), it could be possible to document and keep these scenarios. That's what an actual photo streamer would do, right? Sure, AP weather is the same line of thought. I keep a collection of photos saved from the interwebs and I have set up a couple scripts to start random slideshows. Within TSC it helps weeding out the bad ones (when the entire scenario is dark, I tend to forgive and force, like the above), but looking at actual photos before weeding TSC can help by setting a baseline.
Now for a trip back to 1980. For several years the Hope Valley line was blocked for engineering works until 1600hrs on a Sunday afternoon and as a consequence the 0945 Manchester Piccadilly-London St Pancras (itself a historical oddity) was diverted to run via the Woodhead route. Initially a regular Peak turn, from 1976 onwards it became a Class 47 duty. Under a pleasant but chilly April morning sun, we see 1M51 winding its way up the Woodhead pass behind boilered 'Duff' 47109. The steam heat does not appear to be switched on, despite the cold temperatures. Shortly thereafter, Woodhead tunnel is approached... ... and 1M51 is swallowed into its depths. The portals here are reminiscent of Alpine railway tunnels, with the now-redundant (and rather hellish for footplatemen) single-bores over to the side. Approximately 25 minutes later, 1M51 pauses in a derelict Sheffield Victoria for some reason. The station was long-closed and the service was not booked to stop here, instead stopping 3/4 mile further on at Woodburn Jn where a pilot locomotive would attach to the rear and drag the train down into Sheffield Midland via Nunnery Junction. It was then normal on Sunday for the train to depart northward, pass through Woodburn Junction a second time and proceed to Chesterfield via the 'Old Road' and Barrow Hill.
Installment 10 in a chronological pictorial depiction of a stopping passenger service faux heritage rail-tour QuickDrive on AP's Wherry Lines - Norwich to Greater Yarmouth & Lowestoft, a somewhat recent purchase when these images were captured during mid-late April 2024. To it is added AP's route enhancement pack. This is the most consistently visually appealing primarily rural route in my possession. So pleasing that I drove and captured images of four passenger runs in rapid succession. This series showcases the first of those runs, from Norwich to Lowestoft. Motive power is Caledonia Works' "Single-Wheeler" GER P43 4-2-2 tendered steam loco, another recent acquisition when this run was driven, seen in its super-heated coal-burning variant. The train is, admittedly, not ideally suited for stopping passenger duty; the P43 primarily an express locomotive, the consist overlong for the route's often small station/halt platforms. (Coach count is reduced for the remaining three runs.) This installment finds us between Reedham & Haddiscoe. Not far beyond Reedham Station: En route to Haddiscoe: as above: as above, with great grass coverage: En route to Haddiscoe: Fireman-side cab leanout: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds+RouteEnhancementPack TO BE CONTINUED . . .
My first footplate run over the magnificent 'West of England' freeware route from Golden Age Developments. I was rather pleased to discover that I already possess all the payware requirements for the route. The requirement for 1.4GB hard drive space meant some difficult choices, for now my rather full PC is exclusively for TSC! The final months of Southern Railway operation sees a Maunsell V class 'Schools' no.926 Repton in charge of a lightweight Waterloo-Exeter express at Yeovil Junction. Booked non-stop to Exeter Central in an hour, this will be an interesting test for a medium-sized locomotive. IMO the Malachite Green livery is the best that the class ever carried. The rolling stock is newly-built Bulleid vehicles of steel construction, equating to about 210 tons gross. Preparing to depart Yeovil Junction just after midday. A tinge of exhaust as the fire is built up for the climbs ahead. Bursting out of Honiton tunnel at the summit of the line. A wonderful detail is the overland route that the signalling telegraph wires take! Rolling down into Exeter Central, with the down-side carriage shed on the right and St James Park halt just visible in the distance. And finally at rest, at Exeter Central, in 58 minutes from Yeovil Junction. The locomotive will now be serviced and turned, in preparation for a late-afternoon stopping service back to Salisbury. The coaching stock will continue on to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe behind one of the modern streamlined West Country Pacifics. A note on the running, mainly for my own enjoyment but hopefully others too! After departing Yeovil the regulator was in the first valve with cut-off about 40% while the fire was built up; speed was maintained at about 50mph up the initial ascent to Crewkerne. Once preparations were complete, Repton was opened up to about 70% regulator and cut-off reduced to between 27-33%, varying with the gradients. In this fashion speed was maintained in the mid-70s, with Axminster passed at 73mph with a full boiler in preparation for the long hard 1:80 climb to Honiton Tunnel. After Seaton Junction the regulator was advanced to 89% with eventually as much as 48% cutoff; the minimum speed was 41mph into Honiton Tunnel with steam pressure around the 210psi mark. The locomotive could have been worked a bit harder but the driver felt this was unnecessary given the relatively light load. After exiting the tunnel at the summit, steam was reduced back into the first valve and cutoff reduced to 23%. In this condition with the falling gradients a maximum of 83mph was attained in the dip between Axminster and Whimple, 79mph at Whimple itself and a further maximum of 82mph near Broad Clyst; at this point a distant signal was momentarily sighted at caution and subsequent running was more restrained. Steam was shut off passing Pinhoe at 50mph, with a natural reduction to the 30mph restriction at Exmouth Jn and a gentle coast down the bank into Exeter Central with the fire nicely reduced ready for servicing, a full glass of water and steam around the 200psi mark.
Installment 19 in a seemingly endless, multipart, chronological depiction of a mid-autumn morning stopping passenger service faux Heritage Railtour QD, from London to Peterborough, on ECML London - Peterborough route. Motive power is Caledonia Works' GER T69 4-6-0 tendered steam loco, seen in LNER B12 Lined Black Livery. It hauls what QD terms the 1936 Queen of Scotland Coach Set. As such, I selected Queen of Scots for the loco's headboard. We travel the "slow" track, allowing stops at all stations en route. This installment finds us en route to, at, and departing St Neots. En route to St Neots: Stopped at St Neots: as above: Departing St Neots. By TSC standards, we see one heck of a fine-looking coach passenger at screen right: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
BR Prototype Class 210 DEMU crosses over Appleford LC while working an afternoon Oxford to London Paddington service in 1984:
We take a flight of fancy where the Woodhead line survived closure but despite that it's electric operations are still facing uncertainty. On a Chilly autumn morning 1983 sees just that. At Torside Crossing we see 56115 working an eastbound petroleum empties back to Immingham This is then followed by relatively new 58004 on a MGR working to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station which would normally be worked by a pair of Class 76s on this section.
Continuing with the late 1940s theme - a brand new Modified Hall is deputising for a Castle on the prestigious Torbay Express, seen here at Kingswear, Paignton and Newton Abbot. I think the sound set for the Hall is the best of any steam loco model currently available.
Installment 3 is a multipart collection of images captured during a QuickDrive driven in late June of 2024, chronologically depicting a faux British stopping passenger service from Carlisle P3 to Castle Kennedy on a snowy winter day. Our train consists of two Caledonian coaches pulled by Caledonia Works' 2023 remake of its CR123 4-2-2 single-wheeler steam locomotive with tender. To my happy surprise, the use of Winter cloudy-snow transformed the route's visually dated landscape into a thing of beauty. The result is possibly my largest screenshot series and a personal favorite. This installment finds us en route to and at Annan, and between Annan and Cummertrees. En route to Annan: Stopped at Annan, an image added to my Win10 Desktop Background folder: At Annan: Not far beyond Annan Station, en route to Cummertrees: En route to Cummertrees: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clounds TO BE CONTINUED . . .
In 1953 Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad Class 280-157 '204' sets off on a cold moonlit Winters night hauling 8 box cars and a caboose from Rose Yard of Altoona, Pennsylvania in the United States of America away from the home territory of '204'. The train will be traveling the slippery and difficult journey into the nearby mountains heading southwest for Cresson on what is now known as the Pittsburgh Line. I struggled a lot with this run, I tried to drive it with the "Snow" conditions of adhesion set but after an hour of trundling between 5-10mph at best I could barely take it anymore and set the adhesion setting to "Dry" conditions so I could complete the run in a timely manner. I would assume I was simply driving it wrong but the scenario is only meant to be a ~50 minute run according to the duration and by the time I was an hour in I hadn't even reached the iconic Horseshoe Curve yet. Alongside that, the tasklist description stated I would probably be running at 20mph for most of the journey yet I only got to 10 mph once, and was mostly running between 4-8mph with constant issues with managing the wheelslip even with the Sander. I am fine with slow and difficult runs but I clearly wasn't really getting anywhere and it was frustrating at times. Regardless, it was overall still nice driving a relatively obscure locomotive such as this one as I really enjoy USA steam and feel it is under-represented ingame. Motive Power: AT&N Class 280-157 Route: Horseshoe Curve Scenario: [Lima 2-8-0] (Adv) Slippery Slope (Career) Enhancements: Armstrong Powerhouse Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 + Armstrong Powerhouse Cloud Enhancement Pack, ReShade
Currently working on a new U.S route upgrade. The route itself is nearly 10 years old and a lot has changed in that time in the world of scenery. Here is a new industrial complex that I've just added to the local freight branch line.
Installment 18 in a multipart pictorial depiction of a mid-Autumn morning stopping passenger service faux Heritage Rail Tour QuickDrive, from Crewe to Holyhead, on North Wales Coast Line, 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, in actuality, a 2-2-2-2 three-cylinder compound loco. It pulls four LNWR coaches, the last of them an observation coach, which I failed to capture adequately. This short installment sees us depart Bangor and en route to Llanfair, which we arrive at next installment. Departing Bangor Station: Within Bangor: En route to Llanfair: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Just hit me like a battering ram, but how good does this age old game still look in 2025? Admittedly there are additional 3rd party weather etc. tweaks involved but the core game still stands proud. Long may it continue.
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad D1B Class '505' (incorrectly labeled as a D1A Class ingame) begins light engine on a cold Winters morning at the yard of North Bessemer, Pennsylvania in the United States of America. It is tasked with gathering multiple loaded and unloaded coal hoppers around the area and 36 coal hoppers with a caboose are eventually all coupled up for a 15 mile run northwards to Butler Yard. Motive Power: B&LE D1B Class Route: Pennsylvania Steam Scenario: Butler Turn Pt 1 Enhancements: Armstrong Powerhouse Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 + Armstrong Powerhouse Cloud Enhancement Pack, Reshade
British Railways Standard Class 4 4-6-0 '76027' hauling 3 coaches is seen operating a northwest bound service from Darlington to Penrith for Ullswater Lake, England in the United Kingdom during a lovely clear Summers afternoon. After pulling into Barnard Castle on the Stainmore Line for a stop the train will continue 23 miles over the Stainmore Line to Kirkby Stephen East stopping 3 times in between for passengers at Lartington, Bowes and Barras. After the stop at Kirkby Stephen East the train joins the Eden Valley Railway headed 21 miles to Clifton Moor stopping 6 times in between at Musgrave, Warcop, Appleby East, Kirkby Thore, Temple Sowerby and Cliburn. After that the train simply joins the West Coast Main Line for the remaining 3 miles of the journey to Penrith for Ullswater Lake having traveled roughly 48 miles in total. Motive Power: BR Standard Class 4 4-6-0 Route: Stainmore, Shap and Eden Valley Scenario: Darlington to Penrith Local Enhancements: Armstrong Powerhouse Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 + Armstrong Powerhouse Cloud Enhancement Pack, Reshade
Installment 6 in a multipart chronological pictorial depiction of a faux "heritage" stopping passenger run QuickDrive, from Southampton to Bournemouth, on Dovetail's South Western Main Line: Southampton - Bournemouth. Motive power is Caledonia Works' LSWR 700 class 0-6-0 tendered steam locomotive. It pulls a short rake of LSWR coaches, which, if memory serves, are from GAD's LSWR 6-wheel Carriage Pack 1, sold through CW (but don't quote me). This installment captures us at Ashurst New Forest and en route to Beaulieu Road. Ashurst New Forest Station: as above: as above: Departing Ashurst New Forest: En route to Beaulieu Road: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds+Veggies TO BE CONTINUED . . .
An oldie but a goodie, here we have a Northeast Regional featuring Amtrak AEM7-AC units stopping at Metropark along the NEC
Installment 19 in a multipart chronological depiction of an Autumn morning stopping passenger QuickDrive on Golden Age Developments' freeware West of England Mainline, phase 2, which extends tracks further eastward to Yeovil Town. Our journey begins there, stopping at all stations until the drive terminates at Exeter. Our train is powered by Caledonia Works' rendering of the LSWR 415/0415 class 4-4-2T steam locomotive, commonly known as the Adams Radial Tank. It is seen in Adams Brown livery, pulling six LSWR coaches. This installment. sees us at Broad Clyst and en route to Pinhoe. Approaching Broad Clyst station: Stopped at Broad Clyst, with the loco and first coach "off the platform": as above: En route to Pinhoe: RWE2 (gimped), AP S&W2+Clouds TO BE CONTINUED . . .
