Eastbound local leaving Union Station.

LABOR DAY IS OVER and the young folks are going back to school. When I was young, I spent my summers at an old hotel on Long Island. My mother, sister and I stayed there from July through Labor Day and my dad would come out on weekends. When summer was over we returned to our home in New York City and I immediately ran to my favorite toys. I had an American Flyer layout. I loved to run those trains and I had made a station with multiple platforms and lights. I always enjoyed looking at the illuminated station platforms with the little figures on them as the Santa Fe Chief and my version of the20th Century Limited came through.

My Union Terminal route is a Trainz model of that type of station and the action centers on the station and the junction with the mainline. Union Station is the only station on this route and the route is an “Out and Back” design. Trains are generated by portals for express and local trains, they stop at their assigned platforms, load up passengers then head onto the mainline, going north or south, then return to the station and finally head out on return portals. The mainline is a large 4-track loop with 3 interlocking towers marked with track marks to help keep traffic moving smoothly. On the mainline, tracks 1 and 2 are for southbound trains and tracks 3 and 4 are for northbound trains. Since the visible action centers on the station and junction, the large loop has minimal scenery, although there are cameras placed so you can enjoy watching your favorite train run.


The Union Station route.


Union Station and junction detailed.

You can download the route CDP (Union Terminal Route) for free from Virtual Railroader and I have included a session CDP (Union Terminal Session) that has all trains preprogrammed, so that you can get things up and running immediately. Well, ALMOST immediately.

I normally create these routes for Virtual Railroader without any custom material so that you will not need to download additional material. For this route there are three items that are custom made, and which are available from the Trainz Download Station (DLS). I have added them to this route to enhance your enjoyment. They are all parts of one unit called a “Signal Box with Interior View.”

I wrote an article in the 1 May 04 issue of VMRJ entitled “Thinking Inside the Box” that details the use of the Signal Box. It might help to read that article and get an understating on how the Signal Box is installed and used. The Signal Box was first created by Jetstreamsky and then updated for TRS2006 by Alex23. The KUID numbers below are for the updated unit.

Signal Box With Interior View

kuid:193148:1198

SignalBox Interior

kuid:193148:1196

Signal Box Telegraph Office Clock

kuid:193148:1197