| A Lionel Layout for Virtual Railroader (D'Angelo, 9 April 2009) |
Step back in time to the glory days of Lionel electric railroading with this modern day simulation in Trainz. The layout and session for TRS2006 with SP1 are included.
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| All Aboard the Broadway Limited (D'Angelo, 22 April 2010) |
With a bit of ingenuity, you can build the Pennsylvania's flagship train, the Broadway Limited, in Trainz.
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| Bearpaw Lumber Company for TRS 2006 (Barten, 8 August 2007) |
THE BEARPAW LUMBER COMPANY ROUTE is a simple switching layout designed to demonstrate the workings of Trainz dynamic industries. You may find it addictive.
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| Boston's M-Line in N Scale and Trainz (Barten, 2007) |
An expanded sequel to Dogbone Traction, this route fills a single Trainz baseboard and adds plenty of scenery and action. Read the description here and download the route.
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| Building the Canal at Windsor Locks (Barten, 2007) |
Second in our NEW Hartford & Springfield Street Railway series. This article describes playing in the sandbox and arriving at a solution for building a canal in Trainz 2006.
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| Building The Island Rapid Transit System (Barten, 21 Jan 10) |
*** SERIALIZED ARTICLE ***
This is an ongoing series of installments describing the building of a rapid transit / commuter line in TRS2006.
Day 1 - An Idea Is Born (21 Jan 10) [HTML]
Day 2 - The Test Bed (21 Jan 10) [HTML]
Day 3 - A Few Sketches (23 Jan 10) [HTML]
Day 4 - Breaking Ground (1 Feb 10) [HTML]
Day 5 - First Run (10 Feb 10) [HTML]
Day 6 - Interactive Stations (10 Feb 10) [HTML]
Day 7 - Double Tracking (2 Mar 10) [HTML]
Day 8 - Placing The Bascule Bridge (13 May 10) [HTML]
Day 9 - Adding Some Interest (8 Oct 10) [HTML]
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| Catskill Coal (D'Angelo, 4 December 2008) |
John D'Angelo describes his latest coal hauling route featuring lots of interactive action. Catskill Coal route and basic session are for TRS2006 SP1 and are available at the Downloads page. No additional content is required.
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| Central States Scenario for Locomotion (Barten, 2006) |
Central States scenario for Locomotion covers mid-America, spanning north-south from Chicago to New Orleans and east-west from Cincinnati to St. Louis and Atlanta to Houston. You'll find plenty of industries and passenger business to keep you going for a good many years, though you may complete the goal in relatively quick time. I've set the cities on the small side, to avoid growth so rapid that it chokes the landscape. The level of play is Easy, with only one competitor which doesn't get started until 12 months have gone by.
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| Chicago to Jackson in Five Years (Barten, 2006) |
In case you haven't guessed from my earlier articles on Locomotion, I'm still in exploration mode, learning the ins and outs while seeing if I could develop specific themes. I began with trams-only layouts, then built and wrote about interurbans in Ohio and comprehensive systems in New York City that extended well beyond the confines of the Big Apple. This time I'm exploring freight by rail. PDF
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| Creating a Living Rolling Stock Display (D'Angelo/Trenena, 7 December 2008) |
John D'Angelo comes up with another innovative idea for having fun with Trainz. This time it's an interactive "display case" for viewing collections of Trainz rolling stock. The VR Trainz Display Case route and UP session are for TRS2006 SP1 and are available at the Downloads page. No additional content is required. File size is 13 KB.
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| Colorado Narrow Gauge: Rebirth of an Old Friend (Barten, 14 October 2007) |
An update to John D'Angelo's Black Canyon route, adding Portals and interactive logging, lumbering, mining and passenger service.
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| Creating the Virginia & Truckee for Trainz (D'Angelo/Trevena, 15 June 2007) |
Collin Trevena describes progress on a Trainzer group project: The Virginia & Truckee Railroad. The Trainz route currently stands at 1000 baseboards.
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| Go West, Young Man! (D'Angelo, 2006) |
This Christmas season we received a big treat from some of our very creative contributors to the Trainz Download Station (DLS). Elvenor made a batch of new items for those of you who love to model narrow gauge operations and/or enjoy modeling the old west of the United States. Bdaneal also made some great old time narrow and standard gauge locomotives. Combining these items with the great old west equipment by Cowboy and Prowler really can help you create excellent western scenes. PDF
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| Into the Hills of the Himalayas, an Exotic Adventure (D'Angelo, 2006) |
The Himalayan Mountains, India, Darjeeling tea; these are words that make me think of novels written by Rudyard Kipling. There is one word that I would use to express the feeling I get when I read those words, and that is Exotic. Along with those words there is also a railway that is one of the most exotic little railways you can find. HTML
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| Jamesport, A Seaside Railroad Railroad (D'Angelo, 11 August 2007) |
JAMESPORT IS A FICTIONAL SEASIDE SWITCHING RAILROAD that can be used in modular fashion to be added to any route or operated on its own using portals.
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| John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid Railroad For Trainz (D'Angelo, 4 March 2009) |
This article describes the transformation of John Allen's three layouts into Trainz versions. The routes and related sessions are available for free download. TRS2006 and SP-1 are required; no additional downloads are needed. You can discuss the article and routes here.
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| Lincolnpin Rail Road Expansion (Barten, 6 March 2008) |
LINCOLNPIN RAIL ROAD has been expanded from 1 baseboard to 6.
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| Lincolnpin Rail Road Extension 2 (Barten, 29 June 2008) |
LINCOLNPIN RAIL ROAD has been expanded from 1 baseboard to 6 and now to ten.
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| Modeling Prototype Freight Operations in Trainz Using the Car Movement and Traffic Management System (Petersen, 15 January 2010) |
Here's a terrific freight operations modeling system for use with Trainz.
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The Hither & Yon route for TRS2006 referred to in this article is available at the VR Downloads page here.
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| Modelling the Isle of Wight in Rail3D (Goodspeed, 2006) |
The Isle of Wight is an island about 24 miles east/west by 12 north/south just off the south coast of England. In Victorian times it was a popular holiday resort area and from the 1860s a number of lines were promoted on the island. PDF
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| New York Railways 86X Crosstown Route (Barten, 2006) |
This is a project I began in 2002 and am just getting around to finishing. (I suppose this is another justification for never throwing anything away!) It began as an attempt to build some Third Avenue Railway System (TARS) convertible streetcars using Rail3D. At the time, R3D was best known as a 3D isometric-view railway simulator with DirectX capabilities. I enjoyed laying track and setting up automatic running transit systems using some of the rolling stock that is no longer available (and, apparently, I DID throw away). The new R3D is all DirectX now, but I still enjoy the old format. I also get a kick out of building rolling stock with nothing but a text editor (Notepad will do, but the R3D Stock Editor includes a handy preview mode).
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| On the Road to Darjeeling (D'Angelo, 15 April 2007) |
John D'Angelo brings us an update on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway simulation project underway from Trainz Railroad Simulator.
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| Operations at Wayward Junction (Barten, 8 December 2008) |
A busy junction on a 30-inch gauge common carrier route for TRS2006 with SP1. This article describes the route and operation, both of which are available for free dowload.
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| Operations on the Rockbottom & Beatte 2007 Railroad (D'Angelo, 8 June 2007) |
Here's a Trainz layout with loads of action. It's based on an HO gauge layout but takes advantage of the features that only virtual railroading can provide.
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| Operations on the Lincolnpin Rail Road (Barten, 11 February 2008) |
LINCOLNPIN RAIL ROAD was designed to take advantage of Pecil42's new 30-inch gauge equipment for Trainz.
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| Steam Locomotive Cab Simulator, Part 1 (Johnson, 2007) |
Doug Johnson builds a 3/4-size working steam locomotive cab simulator for use with MSTS and RailDriver.
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FEEDBACK letter here.
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| Steam Locomotive Cab Simulator, Part 2 (Johnson, 9 June 2009) |
Doug Johnson completes his P-scale (aka Prototype scale) steam locomotive cab simulator for use with MSTS and RailDriver.
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| The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway for Trainz:
The final Spike (D'Angelo, 14 March 2008) |
AFTER 31 MONTHS of group effort, the full-scale 50+ mile long railway with about 200 baseboards filled with over 2,000 custom items has been completed.
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| The Hampton Subway: Creating a Model From a Myth (D'Angelo, 25 November 2010) |
John D'Angelo brings fiction to another level with his Hampton Subway for TS2009.
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| The NEW Hartford & Springfield Street Railway (Barten, 2007) |
Part one of a series describing the building of this new route for Trainz.
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| The Trainz Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Project: First You Build a Mountain (D'Angelo, 2006) |
As I write this article, Bill Slack is virtually sitting on a very steep hill in the Himalayan Mountains waiting for a map to arrive. Rest of paragraph. Or should I say Bill is sitting on a virtual reality Himalayan hill waiting for that map! Right now he is trying to figure out the best route to continue laying 2' narrow gauge track, and he really does need that map. Hopefully, by the time I get to the end of this article, he will get the map he needs. If you're confused about all this, don't worry, we'll just go back in time a bit.
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| United Central 2008 (D'Angelo, 19 January 2008) |
John D'Angelo upgrades his United Central and provides a free download at the VR Downloads page. The route requires TRS2006 with SP-1, but does not require any additional assets.
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| Using SCABs for the Darjeeling Himalayan Model Railway Project (D'Angelo/Pardoe-Matthews, 2006) |
"The model of the route Bill Slack created is over 50 megabytes in size and the large size created problems when it came time to share the file for detailing. It just is not easy to send and receive a 52 megabyte file amongst a group of different people. Something had to be done to create a system where folks could work on sections of the route, then contribute that work to the main body."
This article describes a creative solution to the problem of collaborative work on LARGE routes. It is being successfully employed by the Trainz Narrowgaugers on their DHR project.
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| Wayward Junction 2: The Update (Barten, 15 February 2009) |
This article describes the update to the original Wayward Junction. The route and three sessions are available for free download. TRS2006 and Sp-1 are required.
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| Winter on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad (Eckard, 2006) |
Work continues on the layout for the next version, which will include the line from Strong to Bigelow. I thought it would be fun to release a winter version of the layout, and I also wanted to write a description of a typical freight run on the Sandy River. I believe it is important to imagine how a freight run would happen in real life, and then use that storyline to perform the operating session on the Sandy River layout. PDF
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| Working at the Federal Street Yard (D'Angelo, 27 July 2008) |
John D'Angelo describes his latest switching layout, the Federal Street Freight Yard. This route for TRS2006 SP1 is available at the Downloads page and requires no additional content. HTML
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