A Short Line You Can Simulate

The April '05 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman includes a description of a nifty 10-mile granite hauling line in Northern Vermont. This a line you easily model in a train simulator in true scale. You could also base a fictional route on the proposed model railroad layout included with the article, though you might want to stretch it out a bit.

The article, "The Hardwick & Woodbury: A Vermont shortline" by Robert Jones, features history and a number of informative shots of this line that was built in the 1890s and lasted till the mid-1970s. It's prime movers were Shay locomotives. The line connected to the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad at Granite Junction, VT, and included 7% grades and a switchback. Having been built after the excitement of narrow gauge fever, the H&W was standard gauge, but certainly would have been plausible in 3-ft narrow gauge. If modeled in Trainz, the true-scale route would require 20 baseboards. Thanks to Rich Blake, there is already a 3-ft gauge Shay available at Sirgibby’s TrainZONE (http://www.trainzone.co.nz/download.htm). You will also find standard and narrow gauge Heislers and Climax’s at Sirgibby’s. Microsoft Train Simulator users will probably find similar models at the train-sim.com file library.

Al

Buyer beware

Buying previously owned games can be a way to save money. In the case of Trainz, it can lead to disappointment. Auran does not permit Trainz registration to be transferred. Once a copy has been registered, it cannot be registered again. The significance is that without registration you cannot access the Trainz Download Station, thereby cutting yourself out of about 35,000 free, downloadable items by third-party creators. That's hardly worth the $10 or so you might save by buying a previously registered copy.

-- Al

We've got a lot of explaining to do!

I just returned from a weekend at the biggest annual train show in Northeastern US. It's clear that we in the train sim community have a lot of explaining to do. Three buildings, hundreds upon hundreds of vendors and exhibitors, 21,000 visitors, and not one single copy of Microsoft Train Simulator or Auran Trainz for sale. Not even a display, unless you count the loose-leaf binder filled with the two most recent issues of Virtual Railroader that I snuck onto the corner of the museum's display table where I was helping out.

It's clear from chatting with various vendors, exhibitors, and visitors that train simulation is at best a fuzzy concept in the minds of most. Let's get the word out guys and gals! If you want the creators of our favorite sims to keep at it, we need to get the word out – and fast!

Feel free to refer people to my www.VirtualRailroader.com web site. I've added a Frequently Asked Questions section for newbies. I'll keep adding to it, and maybe throw in a few pics, but we need to lose the complacency before it's too late!

-- Al