Hover Cars for Locomotion

Want a glimpse of the future in your Locomotion lineup of vehicles? Have a look here for hover cars. Really cool!!!

- Al

Visit our VR Reading Room
and our new V-Scaler for beginners

MSTS Rolling Stock Converts to TrainMaster

When P.I. Engineering announced plans for developing a new TrainMaster Train Simulator, they included conversion of MSTS rolling stock to the new format as one of their goals. PIE has announced their success in this endeavor here. The new TMTS is expected to be released later this year.

- Al

Visit our VR Reading Room to further your virtual railroading experience
and our new V-Scaler to find out what it's all about.

A New Jersey Shortline You Can Simulate

The March 2006 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman has an excellent article by Stephen A. Lynch entitled "The Rahway Valley." It describes a 15-mile shortline in New Jersey that connected the Lehigh Valley, the Central of New Jersey, and the Lackawana railroads. For most of its existence from 1897 to 1992, it served as a freight-only carrier, serving industries along its route. This makes a great setup for switching activities.

The article describes the prototype through photos and track plans, and even includes a suggested model railroad plan, which could be useful for those who like to simulate model railroad layouts.

A companion article, "Modeling Rahway Valley No. 17" by Tom Piccirillo, provides a paint scheme for a Rahway 70-ton diesel switcher.

-- Al

Visit our V-Scaler introduction to virtual railroading
and our
Virtual Railroader Reading Room

Introducing V-Scaler

Today I launched V-Scaler, an introduction to virtual railroading for people who are wondering what VR is, or whether or not to get involved, or even how to get involved. Newcomers to the hobby will also find the publication interesting and valuable, as I intend to go into each major sim (and some not-so-major sims) in detail in future articles and go into ways to get the most out of your sim.

You can find V-Scaler at http://www.virtualrailroader.com/vscale.html.

-- Al

Visit the VR Reading Room at http://www.virtualrailroader.com/reading.html

North American Trains for Locomotion

We've seen great 3rd party train packs for British Rail and the Netherlands. Now we have some for North America. Specifically, Plastikman's Amtrak pack adds to his growing collection, which includes SP Daylight, Santa Fe Super Chief, and container freight. Among other things in the pack, you'll find GG1's, E44's, E60's, AEM7's, AEM7AC's, HHP8's, and NEC Amfleet coach in Acela paint. I counted 34 items in all, including non-Amtrak F7, GP7, and SD40 locos.

You can get the Amtrak pack at AMI Trains (http://www.amitrains.alpha-star.co.uk).

Meanwhile, we're eagerly awaiting the release of metalagel's Northeast Corridor scenario, which will be a perfect match for the electrics.

Great work, guys.

-- Al

Visit the VR Reading Room at http://www.virtualrailroader.com

Coming: Trainz for Macs

That's right, Trainz is headed for the Mac. The February Trainz newsletter has a request from Auran for beta testers to test the upcoming version of Trainz for the Mac. If you're a Mac fan, this has to be GREAT news! You'll need a Mac with 1GHz CPU / 32MB GPU / 512MB RAM / 1024x768 screen resolution if you want to be a tester.

- Al

Visit our VR Reading Room at http://www.virtualrailroader.com

Keeping an Eye on TrainMaster

In case you haven't discovered it, you can keep up to date on the development of the new TrainMaster Train Simulator from P.I. Engineering at http://www.trainmaster.com/tmtsnews.htm . The latest posting adds some stunning screen shots to a growing collection. TMTS is going to be a highly realistic simulator when it's released (no dates yet).

- Al

Visit our VR Reading Room at http://www.virtualrailroader.com

V-Scale in the Media

If you're a logging fan or just want to see V-scale make it to the established media, you'll be interested in Rich Blake's excellent article "V-Scale Logging: Making Layout Space in Cyberspace" in the Winter 2006 issue Tall Timber Short Lines (http://www.osorail.com/index.html).

- Al

Visit our VR Reading Room at http://www.virtualrailroader.com