New York Division-Bergen Line

[imnew]

Fantastic work!

[minerman146]

New Release today, which is the 68th update to the Bergen Line. We are now poised to start scenery east of the RT95/Jersey Tpk and the NEC where they bisect Croxton. Scenery is at 85% from the West Side of RT95 to the Hackensack. I got myself into some scenery trouble (extra work) by adding in old spur that runs north of Croxton Yard about about a mile. This area starts to lift from 5ft above sea-level to 24ft and is very dense with warehouses. It would seem a waste of time, but someday, someone may decide to run some boxcars on this rusty old spur to Hartz Mountain Industries and they will get the full suite of OMG scenery. Speaking of Hartz, as I was researching my spur and siding (the building is now the home of the MLB Channel) I found out that the marsh and pig farms on the North Side of Croxton, were purchased by the family that owns Hartz (which you may know from their Pet Products) in the very late 1960's. In the subsequent decades this whole area got developed, which has been a great annoyance to me as I have over 60 warehouses in this area!

Below is a detail shot of a switcher pulling some cars up to Hartz.

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[OpenRailer90]

Does this route now require North Jersey Coast Line? I do not own the content as of now, maybe it can use that DLC once it goes on sale.

[BillS]

Does this route now require North Jersey Coast Line? I do not own the content as of now, maybe it can use that DLC once it goes on sale.

You should probably read from the beginning. It explains the whole thing.

added 10/10: Sorry OpenRailer90, I didn't read your question carefully.

[minerman146]

Openrailer and all others interested in how the Bergen is going to integrate the NJSL route.

The introduction of NJSL will not, in any significant way, alter the Bergen line as it has been built up to this point.

Near-term: 2 assets introduced for October 16th: Secaucus Station and a lift-bridge over the Hackensack.

Mid-Term: Tunnel Assets, Gantry and Signal Gantry, road-ribbons, bridge abutments and plate bridging.

Long-Term: Hoboken Terminal, Overhead wire assets, ball fields, gas stations, advertising and any buildings and houses I can use. Also, I will review existing stations on a case by case basis and may replace canopies. I most certainly will add NJT branded anything that is appropriate for stations.

I worked very hard to keep the assets tightly limited to Sherman and Munich - when I got desperate for bridging I had to get the Euro Assets. I was already in the stages of asking modelers to build and to assist to build the terminal. All I have is the clock tower - and it better than what we got in NJSL by the way. (Picture Below) My dream was to get to Hoboken, I was fine with just getting Croxton in and that changed for the better with the NJSL. I assure you that having the Bergen will be worth your while!

Such a shame we don't have the real McCoy!

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[jalsina]

I saw the update early today. Thank you!
I have not tried it yet.
I am one of those that will not go for the New Jersey DLC.
Exclusive passenger routes are not for me.

[minerman146]

I saw the update early today. Thank you!
I have not tried it yet.
I am one of those that will not go for the New Jersey DLC.
Exclusive passenger routes are not for me.

I am with you Jalsina - this was a tough choice. These NJSL assets will improve the Bergen overall. But let me say this, this iteration of the Bergen Line is becoming the Hoboken Division. My dream and ... well we really don't know until I actually start building it, my dream is to build the entire New York Division as it stood in June of 1974 before Bluebirds took over. Commuter traffic has existed on the NY Division for over a hundred years and they coexist on my route and in my dreams. Jalsina, take a look of a any decent areal photograph of Hoboken Terminal from the 1970s and look real close just a few hundred yards south. If, anything, HBT and Hoboken in all her gritty glory is home to our first love. HBT is one hell of a backdrop for that. I bought NJST just for HBT so as to finish my route. I just breaks me up how much of the audience just sees high speed passenger and forgets where all the money is made. I thought the same thing - where's the freight? Though they might build the Oakridge Shared Asset Yard, but they didn't.

The Bergen as it stands now has over 50 separate customers, 13 tracks dedicated to just one customer, we got spurs, sidings and track that runs all over the place for local traffic. Croxton and the other 46 miles of main line will keep you busy for a long time. I hope you will stick with the Bergen through this change.

Regards,
Minerman

[jalsina]

EDITED:
You seem very passionate when you talk about your route and your "expansion" project.
New York entire Division? Maybe you will have to learn from DTG. Small, short routes
I like it because it is a "flat route" with spurs and everything
That is a route than in the real world has mostly traffic from CSX and NS but I have seen videos with UP, BNSF, CN and CPRail in that area.

[jalsina]

I believe I goofed.
I thought I had the Munich Augsburg route but no. I have another Munich route. I have several European routes that I seldom use, therefore my confussion.
I realized that as you had mentioned you used "bridges from the German route". I had thought the lack of bridges was unfinished work.
Pity!
Here are a couple pics from my last run a few minutes ago:

[ex-railwayman]

Hello Adam, you've done a magnificent job so far, I was going to ask if there were any plans to extend the The Paskack Valley line past Wood Bridge towards Teterboro Airport, and beyond, please? I don't mind where you build it's all wonderful to me, although, I haven't obtained the New Jersey route either yet, I'll probably get it in a sale at Christmas, or, next Easter, you'll have finished this route off by then presumably and I can enjoy what you've done with all the bits from the NJCL DLC.
I've currently cloned the route as it stands today and made it a standalone layout, so, I can play on it and add my own personal features and scenery items at my own leisure. Huge thanks for this freeware layout, it's gobsmackingly gorgeous and worthy of any Payware route offering we've ever had in this game.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman. (Steve).

[minerman146]

EDITED:
You seem very passionate when you talk about your route and your "expansion" project.
New York entire Division? Maybe you will have to learn from DTG. Small, short routes
I like it because it is a "flat route" with spurs and everything
That is a route than in the real world has mostly traffic from CSX and NS but I have seen videos with UP, BNSF, CN and CPRail in that area.

Jalsina,

I am, most certainly, very passionate about the Bergen Line. I say that I am extremely motivated to work on this route. Work is Sunday through Thursday every single week form 740am-9am and then after 930pm to midnight. If there is some free time on the weekend, a rainy day or just inspired, more work is done. The thread is the story of the route and why its being built. I have a deep personal bond with the whole route and the area that it operates in. I asked for advice here and elsewhere, for how to proceed with the route, given the changes to the real world place after the 1970s ended, after Conrail and the rise of NJ Transit and Metro North. I concluded, that to reach the most people, so they can see this work, was to move to the modern era. Ex- Railwayman who has written above knows what I am up to as he was part of that conversation here.

I see that you are missing the Munich-Augsburg assets. There is such a blend of the two assets packs, that the route is still passable with just Sherman Hill. That still surprises me. On my steam page, I keep track of when the DLC is on sale and have links to the required routes at all times plus if they are on sale.

Doing the route at the Hoboken Division now and then doing the New York Division, fully, later may be a good move. What has been built today is 45% of the line. To complete the route, I need to add 19miles of the main from Secaucus to Hawthone and then add 44 miles of track (the Graham Line) to the division point in Port Jervis, NY. This is rural and much easier to do than urban North Jersey. So, I keep all the track go to 4 track form Ridgwood to Suffern, Add the Main Line to Patterson, NJ and run the remainder from Highland Mills to Port Jervis. Then I turn the clock back 40 years and run my 20 freights a day, plus commuter and local traffic and Boom, we got ourselves a Class 1 Railroad. It would take a year from where I am today to complete.

And there you have it.
Regards,
Minerman

[minerman146]

[quote="ex-railwayman"]Hello Adam, you've done a magnificent job so far, I was going to ask if there were any plans to extend the The Paskack Valley line past Wood Bridge towards Teterboro Airport, and beyond, please? I don't mind where you build it's all wonderful to me, although, I haven't obtained the New Jersey route either yet, I'll probably get it in a sale at Christmas, or, next Easter, you'll have finished this route off by then presumably and I can enjoy what you've done with all the bits from the NJCL DLC.
I've currently cloned the route as it stands today and made it a standalone layout, so, I can play on it and add my own personal features and scenery items at my own leisure. Huge thanks for this freeware layout, it's gobsmackingly gorgeous and worthy of any Payware route offering we've ever had in this game.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman. (Steve). [/quote

Steve,
Doing the Pascack line was a complete lark. All I had to really do was just fake out enough of the track so it looked like something and continue to Secaucus. Looking at the terrain, I wanted to round out East Rutherford and extend the scenery north and south so if your coming form Croxton - across the meadows you would see all the houses along the hill. Looking at the terrain more, and all the switching opportunities, I decided to go north. It was a grind to get to Wood-Ridge and the all those sidings, I spend 8 weeks there when it should have been 2. There are still freight opportunities for several more miles of the Pascack beyond Teterboro. I will revisit the area, perhaps in this iteration and seriously consider it in the next. The Pascack goes so far north it is actually parallel with Suffern - I believe its over 20 miles of heavy sub-urban tract. This is a very visually interesting line and would add another 15 stations. Again, a route no one would ever bother to build and so right up my alley.

As of the last update I stopped perfectly to allow installation of Secaucus and to begin introducing NJCL assets to the Bergen. In the coming weeks, I will be finishing out the Croxton/Jersey City area. So there is still more for you to put aside in another copy of the route. Reach out to me for updates and I will keep you and anyone else abreast of the assets I am putting in and where. In my 1970s version - Secaucus and the track that leads to it after HX does not exist. The Bergen line of the 1970's runs to the south of Croxton yard in a bee line form HX to the West End. about 80% of the warehouses will disappear as will Harmon Cove Tower and be replaced with more marsh and meadow.

About "Gobsmackingly Gorgeous" - thank you - that means the world to me. You and Jaslsina and others who are so far away and never been here can tell the Bergen is a real place. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED This is a wonderful honor to be able to communicate visually my love for this land, its industry, its people and my beloved Erie-Lackawanna to you and yours. Let me say this and promise I will do everything in my power to make this a single download, a DLC so that as many people as possible can enjoy and feel the love that poured into this project. This, I have taken steps to do already - they are watching this route. I will also build my New York Division and that too will become DLC.

And sometime - in the near future my father and I will sit together and ride "Croxton 99" together, just like we did in 1974. A time I will never forget. Him as the engineer and me in the fireman's chair. And even, even if, I cant finish, and I am trying so hard to... I will always remember the whine of the turbo chargers, the smell of the diesel and that beautiful roar of those SD45's running through Waldwick Curve. And I will remember my father, young, vibrant and blissfully unaware of the impression he made on me.

Cheers to you Steve.

Regards,
Adam

[BillS]

And sometime - in the near future my father and I will sit together and ride "Croxton 99" together, just like we did in 1974. A time I will never forget. Him as the engineer and me in the fireman's chair. And even, even if, I cant finish, and I am trying so hard to... I will always remember the whine of the turbo chargers, the smell of the diesel and that beautiful roar of those SD45's running through Waldwick Curve. And I will remember my father, young, vibrant and blissfully unaware of the impression he made on me.

Adam, your above goal, with your Dad, brought back memories when I was 10 years old. My Grandfather worked for NYC, and one day we were at Montgomery Wards, and out at the freight docks was a switcher moving cars. I'm not sure what it was, (I think it was an S-2), but my grandpa knew the engineer. They chatted for a couple of minutes, and the next thing you know, I was boosted into the cab, and was there for a long time as the engineer went through his switching routines. Though not really a big deal, it was something that has stuck with me for more years than I want to remember.

BillS

[minerman146]

Bills,
It just sticks with you forever. Nothing else to do but let it come over and fill your mind.
Montgomery Wards, shopped the store, and remember the catalogue.
Good Times.
Adam

[jalsina]

..........
I see that you are missing the Munich-Augsburg assets. There is such a blend of the two assets packs, that the route is still passable with just Sherman Hill. That still surprises me. On my steam page, I keep track of when the DLC is on sale and have links to the required routes at all times plus if they are on sale.
...................

And there you have it.
Regards,
Minerman

Minerman,
What are you really using from the Augsburg route? I ask because I just ran again (a few minutes ago), along a part of Bergen and I see it very populated. The only I miss are some bridges (you see an overhead road with no bridge), but not all. I also miss water in certain rivers and below a structure bridge that certainly should have a water texture.
I mean, the route like I see it, is fairly playable.

Anyway, keep going on. You are doing a great job.

I have thought many times (even before TS2015) in doing myself a small route centered in the Fostoria crossing in Ohio. You can see there trains from all major freight companies in US plus CN and there are several yards around plus the Fostoria Amtrak station.
I do not have experience whatsoever in TS2015/16. I built a small route in MSTS, named "First Route" that it never went published and I used it for testing: