Subpar Productions

By John D'Angelo

Happy New Year!

Here�s hoping that 2007 is a heck of a lot better than 2006 for everyone. For the start of 2007 I figured I would visit an outside site for our railroading goodies. The site for today�s article is a great little place called �Subpar Productions.�

Subpar Productions brings back other great beat up old names, such as Gorre & Daphetid, Rockbottom Railroad, Belfast & Moosehead Lake and others.

These short line, out of the way, and sometimes fictional railroads all had one thing in common. They all were using old steam equipment in rustic areas that gave a wonderful old-timer look to the operation.

Subpar Productions has a wonderful collection of locomotives that would fit right in with this type of railroad. They come in all sizes and shapes, standard or narrow gauge. They are the creation of Ben Neal, and he has done a masterful job in creating the proper �look.� Take for instance this baby:


Union Pacific 4-4-2.

The 4-4-2 was a high stepping passenger locomotive that first thrilled passengers by running at high speeds. It�s the perfect locomotive for that high speed Pullman run, and Ben has created a very nice looking model.


Baldwin Light 2-8-2.

The 2-8-2 �Mikado� configuration was an excellent freight hauler in the early days, and Ben captures the essence of this beauty. Note the nice detail on the boiler.


2-8-0 Consolidation.

I think the venerable 2-8-0 was one of the most popular locomotives in those early days. It handled both freight and passenger duties, sometimes even did switching duties in the yard, and it just fits right in if you want to create an old dusty turn of the century short line.


The human element.

One thing that Ben does very well is to add the human element. He places figures on his locomotives wearing period clothing such as the plaid shirt on the fireman. He also placed a firemen on the tender of a number of locomotives to add that extra touch. Nice job Ben!

I have a special softness for the Gorre & Daphetid (pronounced Gory and Defeated) and recently downloaded a model of it from the Trainz Download Station (DLS). This model is of the G&D; at the first stage of construction when the original 5x9 foot railroad was created by John Allen. The G&D; grew from this original, but it always remained embedded in his later additions. If you would like to get the G&D; from the DLS to run these beauties on you can get it in two versions:


G&D; routes.

Tokkyu40 created a model of the original G&D; that was on the 5x9 board. SuperFudd made a model of the expanded Gorre & Daphetid. I do have to say that although Tokkyu40�s version is only a single baseboard in size, it has tons of detail.


Tokkyu40�s version of the G&D.;

I have found out that although his version is smaller than SuperFudd�s model it actually was tougher for me to run smoothly on my Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz machine with 512 megs of RAM than the larger route. That �comes with the territory� in Trainz. You can�t have it all. You need to balance the detail requirements against the ability of your computer to perform. I only have 512 megs of ram, so it looks like I�ll need to go to a Gig of ram if I want to run Tokkyu40�s version, which looks so good, properly. Se La Vie!

Full steam ahead for a happy new year!

John

Article and screen shots �2007 John D'Angelo. All rights reserved.