The Skier’s Limited heading into the White Mountains.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! This special winter offering includes free, as usual, downloadable route and session. The route has been taken from my Portland to Boston route (see VMRJ 15 March 2004, which has been at the Trainz Download Station (DLS) for a number of years. This condensed version has been modified for TRS2006. There are no scenery or rolling stock items on this route that are not included in TRS2006 and it includes a session so you can immediately start enjoying the route. It is the largest route I have made for Virtual Railroader, and I hope Al Barten can cram it onto our website for distribution [No sweat! – it's here. Ed.].

In order to make the route my “under-the-tree gift” for you, I eliminated the Portland yard area and the route to Boston sections of my original creation, and left only the area from Fryeburg Maine through the White Mountains. Of course, I added snow, LOTS of snow! Even with those areas deleted, this is still an extensive route.

The two-track mainline from Eastern Maine to western New Hampshire uses portals to generate traffic along that route, while the single track Skier’s Limited route goes north from Fryeburg Maine, and then winds and climbs to Sugar Loaf Mountain far into the White Mountain range. The White Mountain Winter route is a fictional route designed to give a flavor of travel through the area between Maine and New Hampshire. As the tracks climb up into the mountains there are passenger stations and industries along the route for operations. Here is the TrainzMap diagram of the route:


White Mountain Winter route.

I rotated the map views of Fryeburg yard and Sugarloaf station to a horizontal view to fit them onto the page better:




For the included session, I used a speeded up clock for the trip, which takes about a half hour of real time, but runs from 4 PM to about 1 AM simulated time. The trip starts as the sun is setting and then becomes a night run. Be sure to use the camera tracking option for some real nice snowy winter night views. The route uses Canadian National Railway equipment since that comes standard in TRS2006.

The Skier’s Limited is a short passenger train that starts from below Fryeburg. When the session starts, I have it wait for 30 seconds before proceeding to Fryeburg station. This is to allow you to set your views of the train and get to the camera tracking mode. I suggest for your train view that you set the camera position slightly above and behind the locomotive with the first passenger car in view. The portals are also preprogrammed to generate traffic that will travel east and west via the two-track mainline through Center Conway in the valley area. I use F unit trains for the passenger trains that will be generated by the portals on a ten-minute interval schedule. In addition, there will be a CN 4-8-4 steam locomotive, also generated by the Eastern Maine portal that will travel from Maine to New Hampshire, which will stop at Fryeburg yard for 30 seconds then proceed. [Continue]

Prev | 1 | 2 | Next

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

More Articles:
[Visit the VR Reading Room.]

If you want to be notified when a new article arrives, join the VR-News group at Yahoo. This group is purely for notification. Anyone can join; only the moderator can post.