SUPER Rural Trolley Route for MSTS

If you like trolleys, you will LOVE this new route (just released) by Paul Charland for MSTS. It's a realistic simulation of the Springfield Terminal Street Railway in Vermont set in the early '50s. The prototype was covered in the April and May 1999 issues of Railroad Model Craftsman. You can get the route at Train-Sim.com, where you will also find a full roster of STR locos and combines.

The STR is perhaps the most famous - certainly the largest - of New England's rural interurban trolley lines. To have a true simulation of this classic is a great gift from Paul and those who contributed to his effort.

THANK YOU!!!

-- Al

MSTS 2 Postponed for Indefinite Period

It's official. TSInsider has acknowledged that the next version of MSTS is on hold indefinitely. The announcement goes on to say that MS game developments are being focused on Windows - Live, a free online gaming service.

My guess is that's the end of the road for development in any form of MSTS as we know it by Microsoft. If I were a developer - and I'm not - I would consider developing an advanced train sim that was backwardly compatible with MSTS. There are over 214,000 third-party freeware items available at Trains-Sime.com alone. Then there's the British counterpart, UKTrainSim, and the many individual sites around the world. Any newcomer sim developer is going to have to offer far more than a few routes and some rolling stock to be of any interest to me. It would be a tough hill to climb without acknowledging the huge amount of investment in time and interest that's already out there. Since I don't think MSTS 2 had any promise of being backwardly compatible, it's maybe not such a bad thing that progress has stopped. It also makes me wonder of MSTS didn't already realize this when makingtheir decision to stop work.

The good news is that the old girl, MSTS, still has plenty of life left in her and those of us who aren't planning to upgrade our hardware anytime soon will not have to worry about being left out in the cold in these difficult economic times.

Cheers,
-- Al

Exploring the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton

It's Ground Hog Day and the sun is shining. I welcome the break from sub-zero nighttime (F) temperatures, but not the thought of 6 more weeks of winter.

Oh well. Snuggle up and do some reading at the VR Reading Room . The newest article is on an MSTS short line, the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton. MSTS fans need not be disappointed in the pending work stoppage of MSTS 2. The original still has plenty of life in it, as this route shows.

Cheers and stay warm!

-- Al