Welcome to the Unofficial Screenshot Competition! This is a fun and friendly alternative to the official Screenshot Competition run by DTG. Here you can share your weekly themed TSC screenshots using any 3rd party / post shot editing etc. creations which are not allowed in the official competition. Rules: TSC only shots allowed. Screenshot should be in some way (can be very tenuous) linked to the theme. Otherwise anything goes. You can enter up to 3 screenshots, posted as separate posts. You can delete and replace if you wish. 3rd party content / Reshades / Reskins etc. are welcomed but are not mandatory. Previous week's winner to decide winner (can't enter themselves). The winner chooses the new theme for next week (and becomes the new judge). The Judge of the week's decision is final. We strongly discourage any negative comment or criticism of another entry by a fellow contributor, this is a light hearted & fun contest! This is a major "we are all friendly" thread and we hope it will always remain so. Please keep chat to an absolute minimum. Entries will close at 9PM GMT on Friday, February 14th 2025 and will be judged by me - Blazin In the event of this weeks winner not responding by 17:00 on Sunday 16th February, 2025 a new thread will be created using the results of this weeks poll. The theme for this week is: Tough Climb Feel free to interpret the theme however you wish.
Saluting Salada Grade. Pulling into Salada, North Carolina are Southern GP38-2s, long hood forward with a consist of loaded coal hoppers coming up Salada grade. At 4.9% this is one of the steepest main line standard gauge climbs in North America. GP38-2 by JCornell, Railcars by VRC, and SCLJim.
Hmm very little submissions this week! I have been thinking about what triznya.andras suggested the other week, and that we should extend the deadline to the end of Sunday so people have time over the weekend to submit / play TSC to grab screenshots if they don’t have any? I’m starting to see why simply wrapping up at the end of a busy work week is a problem for this contest and can cause time crunches. I’m open to any other thoughts and suggestions though, if people think otherwise I’m happy to denote a 1st and 2nd place to malikrthr and OldAlaskaGuy for their excellent submissions this week.
I was going through my shots yesterday evening and realized I didn't run a single mountain in the last year. Except HSC but that wasn't photographed. And the one shot below. I'm also really fond of malikrthr's capture, would be a worthy winner. I do think that Sunday could help a little but it's more about many regulars leaving. Apparently the monthly schedule did help the official, so maybe biweekly could work, too. I suspect that for reasons people lost some interest, the standard screenshot thread is drying, too. Maybe add a poll to the next competition and run it for two weeks or some other rule like minimum 10 entries. I always felt - and it was somewhat open - that many people were showcasing AP, a mix of happiness and promotion. (It was never exclusive and dominant, but a motivation nevertheless.) Another one, the shiny new toy effect. These sources have mostly dried up. I'm having fun as before, I don't care so much about "2025 fidelity-quality". Also, this place isn't the very best to showcase our work. Guests are limited to thumbnails, etc. Here is something I could offer: Soldier Summit is a hard climb for just three SD9s, but the SD9 is a hard climb for these three aging workmen, too.
ps1: West Highland Line is full of "hard climbs" except trains are sensibly short so it doesn't convey. ps2: I'm technically past the deadline so let's consider these off-comp. Plus I've had the chance recently. Typing that I just remembered. Seebergbahn, Semmeringbahn! So here is a BR 151 on the latter. Photo charter. Don't think there are any captures making the climb visible, but you know.
The last pic to make it 3, another oldie. I could possibly find one that shows it more, but if you played Castle Rock you know that this section is a Hard Climb: Coming out of the yard at Monument (south), there is a short 3% grade or so easing to a casual 1.5% until the hilltop. What makes it a wee bit awkward is that you have to hold the 15mph until joining the main. Weardale and Woodhead have similar sections where due to UK stock configuration the top speed is 21mph.
Happy to be discounted (or counted, either way is fine ) but I thought I'd share this one regardless, as it is definitely a hill-climb: Carnforth's preserved 8F no.48151, latterly carrying the name 'Gauge-O Guild', slogs away from Ribblehead (or Batty Moss) Viaduct on the short single-line section to Blea Moor, the final leg of the northbound Long Drag. Steam obscured the view of the viaduct that I was hoping to catch but the watery winter lighting makes up for it IMO.
Hi to you all, please accept my sincere apologies for being absent from this thread of late. My father who has been suffering from dementia for the past few years sadly passed away last week at the grand old age of 92, so my focus has obviously been elsewhere, as we (as a family) have had to deal with inevitable detail, paperwork, etc. etc. alongside the emotional side of things which has been a bit difficult for us all. I promise I will return to this fold as soon as I am able. Please continue to support and help, to keep this wonderful thread alive. My very best wishes to you all, Craigie-C
Don't worry mate, I think we change things up a little and have the weekly contest wrap up on the end of a Saturday to still have it end at the end of the week while still giving time of an off-day for people to post as well as having the following Sunday for the new theme. If there are too little submissions I think in those cases the deadline should be pushed to the end of Sunday instead. If anyone has any objections to this idea please do let me know. No need to apoligise Craigie, we are very sorry to hear that. Please take all the time you need and do not pressure yourself to participate in a competition thread for screenshots of a train videogame when you have serious real life and personal responsibilities to attend to. Best of luck with everything mate.
I meant to quote this in my previous post above but for some reason wasn't working properly. I disagree with the monthly / bimontly idea. The official thread still had little submissions for being open for an entire month and it received backlash from participants so I personally don't think that is the right direction to go. For the unofficial comp at least I think it's a matter of life responsibilities on who is able to participate and that's fine. Some regulars may not participate for a week or two, then come back afterwards and such. I haven't been keeping an eye on the screenshot thread or posting with my new shots there primarily not because I have lost interest in screenshotting but posting there ended up becoming a bit limiting for me. For example I felt as if I had to post screenshots of every run; and limiting said runs to only 5 shots only for a single post which I felt limited my creativity a bit. That is a problem with myself and not the thread itself though. At the end of the day people may showcase whatever they want here as long as it adheres to the theme; to see how it matches up against others shots of a similar theme and seeing how other people may undertake their shot styles as inspiration or simply to admire. Me personally I also don't mind running or screenshotting practically anything as long as it's worthwhile; I often enjoy still doing scenarios that date back to the early 2010s in the early day of TSCs life. Others have different preferences. Up to the poster what they want to show off; and if they want to show something that doesn't adhere to a theme they are of course welcome to the screenshot thread itself if they so desire.
You don't have to replace the old one Three pictures by entrant allowed each week. Previous one was nice, too.
Slippery Slope It is a wet windy morning as Colorado Southern #70 with a mixed consist, makes the 3.8% climb out of Beaver Brook with the help of a little sand.
Help Thyself Leading a manifest freight that includes 9 AC4400CWs for power and 3/4 mile of railcars, is Utah Belt # 4448 leaving Helper up the 2%.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this week and had no objections to an extension to a Sunday ending to get some more submissions. Without further ado, here are the results! 3rd Place goes to OldAlaskaGuy with a vibrant shot of a Utah Belt freight service traversing the slopes of the Soldier Summit. Love the unique railroad operator; I haven't seen the Utah Belt in this game before! I searched it up and it's a fictional company used in a model railroad layout from what I can tell? I love that it has been translated into the game; that's unique and I haven't seen something like that before! In 2nd place is triznya.andras with this wonderfully framed shot of a DB Class 151 navigating the Semmeringbahn. The colour and scenery meshes together really world with a nice sort of warm feeling despite the high altitude. In 1st place is malikrthr with this incredible shot of a Northern Pacific Railway freight service on the Bozeman Pass. The lighting is great; the climb is so steep that the angle can roughly be seen just from this shot despite the train being on a relatively straight piece of track and the surrounding steep hills and mountains nearby and in the distance really sets the feel of the shot. Well done! Looking forward to how you lead the next contest malikrthr
Thank you for the placement after a long week. Coming out of the hole, until next contest, notch 8 and plenty of sand.
Many thanks for the 1st place win Blazin and congratulations to all the winners for the week 6 screenshot competition . This week's screenshot competition will be up shortly.
