New US Route

[micaelcorleone]

I think I got it. There's another route in Wyoming, that's more famous then the Powder River Basin.
(...) Sherman Hill!

Heck, I didn't even think of Sherman Hill.
The first thing that came into my mind when thinking about Wyoming and railroading was the Basin.

I can't argue with your logic, but I am having trouble envisioning scenarios along such a route that would be fun to play. Pulling a long heavy coal train for a few hundred miles with no stops or any other activity sounds kind of dull.

That is definitely true, but there could also be scenarios with switching operations. There also was a BN loco and car maintenance facility especially for the Basin which means more scenario oportunities.
I do not know if this facility still exists, but if you are interested in BN's operations in the Basin back in the late 80s, I recommend the documentary "This is Coal Country" on Friends of BNSF (best part is when the conductor talks about his job at 14:18).

What I think is more problematic: the tripple track mainline together with the long trains
Imagine a meet of three long coal trains - performance hit ³

[mdurdan]

Big Boy, Challenger, DD40X, a Turbine would complete the [U]nlimited [P]ower.

Actually the BigBoy and Challenger are from IHH and the DD40X is from DTM

[MattW]

I'm going to break from the trend here and guess a California route, my first choice is the route of the Altamont Commuter Express, but my second would be a Caltrain route, and my third is Amtrak's Capitol corridor. Any of those would allow an F40 to be quite happy.

[PapaXpress]

I'm going to break from the trend here and guess a California route, my first choice is the route of the Altamont Commuter Express, but my second would be a Caltrain route, and my third is Amtrak's Capitol corridor. Any of those would allow an F40 to be quite happy.

I would not be happy.

[Hack]

Sorry, the route's NOT in California!

FWIW, I believe this one represents "...hill of beans".

[Hack]

I can't argue with your logic, but I am having trouble envisioning scenarios along such a route that would be fun to play. Pulling a long heavy coal train for a few hundred miles with no stops or any other activity sounds kind of dull. That's part of the problem with some of the Donner scenarios - lots of pretty scenery, but the scenarios are kind of dull. Or at least they were until I found out about using EnableAsyncKeys and Control-Shift-5 to speed the thing up.

You should read up on operations there, as there's more to the hill than trains going from Cheyenne to Laramie (and beyond). For starters, you have switching in both yards (Laramie switches locals, while Cheyenne has some classification duties), and there's one industry between those towns that sees a couple of daily trains.

For locals, Cheyenne has Frontier Oil to the east and Dyno Nobel Chemical a few miles to the west. Within the yard you have Nortrak, Orrison Distributors, Capital Lumber, Cook-McCain gravel, Agridyne, Hills Bros Chemical, Musket Corp, Wyoming Liquor Commission, Chief Oil, Puma Steel, plus a handful of BNSF-served industries along the Reed Street corridor and one more UP-served location adjacent to BNSF's Cheyenne track. In Laramie you have Mountain Cement, Big Horn Lumber, Entegra Gas, as well as UP's rail facility. Finally, there's the BNSF interchange and a dozen or so miles west of Cheyenne you have the Martin Merietta gravel quarry, which supplies ballast on much of UP and BNSF mainline in the area (1 or 2 dedicated unit trains daily).

So you see, there's quite a bit more going on than long trains grinding up and down the hill, which BTW number between 40 and 60 in a 24hr period.

[Chessie8638]

I think Toonces was referring to a Powder River Basin route. Not a Sherman Hill route.

[Csxgp38-2]

"Bound from Omaha to Portland through Cheyenne and Laramie, we'rea headed west for Boise on the mainline to the sea...."
Maybe they're doing it as a tribute to the UP 150 anniversary?

[ozinoz]

I am going to pump for something radical - how about the old Antonito - Santa Fe line - "the Chili Line". Gone by the early 40's I know, but what is not to love about DRG narrow gauge steam :) Failing that, Sherman Hill would be a fantastic "consolation prize", just as long as there is steam, I mean all that needs to happen is some vintage rolling stock and maybe an 800 class in a couple of variants and bring the Big Boy and Challenger to RW3 standards. Easy~peasy :)



G

[dcushing]

Well, after reading Marc's discreptions of the Cheyenne and Laramie areas, then taking a quick tour on Google Earth, i think I'm going to be upset it it's NOT Sherman Hill. Not much for the Commuter enthusiast but a whole world of freight possibilites.\

Duncan

[Rich_S]

I am going to pump for something radical - how about the old Antonito - Santa Fe line - "the Chili Line". Gone by the early 40's I know, but what is not to love about DRG narrow gauge steam :) Failing that, Sherman Hill would be a fantastic "consolation prize", just as long as there is steam, I mean all that needs to happen is some vintage rolling stock and maybe an 800 class in a couple of variants and bring the Big Boy and Challenger to RW3 standards. Easy~peasy :)



G

I agree, I'd love to see the Rio Grande Chili Line along with the dual gauge between Antonito and Alamosa or the Cumbres Pass line from Antonito to Chama. But I'm also hoping for the C&NW's Cowboy line but to be realistic it's probably going to be the Sherman hill line, so all we can hope for now is they will model the route in the Steam to Diesel era and include a few Big Boys


Regards,
Rich S.

[Hack]

I think Toonces was referring to a Powder River Basin route. Not a Sherman Hill route.

Ah, so. My mistake.

[Toonces]

Two more hints are up on twitter:

[micaelcorleone]

The new hints make the Powder River Basin more than likely.

The first guy is Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Campbell_%28poet%29

Campbell was at this time regularly employed on the Star newspaper, for which he translated the foreign news. In 1809 he published a narrative poem in the Spenserian stanza, Gertrude of Wyoming — referring to the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania and the Wyoming Valley Massacre — with which were printed some of his best lyrics.

The second picture shows James Mitchell Ashley, former Territorial Governor of Montana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mitchell_Ashley

---> Route in Montana and Wyoming: Powder River Basin

[glenn68]

Both gentelmen have something to do with Pennsylvania. James Mitchell Was from Allegheny County Pa. (Pittsburgh).
But both had something to do with Montanna and Wyoming.so I have to say Powder River, since RSC has their paywares (SD70MAC and ES44AC) which is used in the powder river basin.