It's a Small World
Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:36 amI've been working on the DTG Livonia Division - Monroe Sub DLC as it annoys me to see lots of spurs, sidings etc in the game not marked that could be used to increase the traffic in the game, add to the switching and increase the potential enjoyment (at least for me). In doing this I have done some research, looking at maps, Google Earth, companies etc to find out what the spurs, sidings etc could be there for. Many are no longer in use but backdating to the 80s/90s widens the scope yet again. In doing this I came across the Arkansas Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad. It was a subsidiary of Georgia Pacific in the timeframe that I am looking and I wondered what the livery could be. I found that it is now a subsidiary of Genessee and Wyoming and is still in service. Here's where the small world comes into it.
The G&W website for the ALM mentioned a DRAX woodpellet service from Bastrop (a few miles North of Monroe) to interchange with the UP at Collinston. This Woodpellet train is taken by UP to Baton Rouge (passing through Monroe en route) where it is loaded onto ships for export. I live, in the UK only 300 yards away from the railway as it passes through Mirfield to DRAX Power Station (30 miles to the East) and 2 loaded trains pass through from Liverpool Docks to the power station with those self same wood pellets originating in Bastrop! I even hear one each way most nights rumbling up/down the valley. I was aware the loads originated in Liverpool Docks but not where it came from to reach Liverpool. Some of my electricity driving this computer while I type this is created usung wood pellets from forests around Bastrop only a few miles north of Monroe, what a small world this is.
The G&W website for the ALM mentioned a DRAX woodpellet service from Bastrop (a few miles North of Monroe) to interchange with the UP at Collinston. This Woodpellet train is taken by UP to Baton Rouge (passing through Monroe en route) where it is loaded onto ships for export. I live, in the UK only 300 yards away from the railway as it passes through Mirfield to DRAX Power Station (30 miles to the East) and 2 loaded trains pass through from Liverpool Docks to the power station with those self same wood pellets originating in Bastrop! I even hear one each way most nights rumbling up/down the valley. I was aware the loads originated in Liverpool Docks but not where it came from to reach Liverpool. Some of my electricity driving this computer while I type this is created usung wood pellets from forests around Bastrop only a few miles north of Monroe, what a small world this is.
