Durango & Silverton
Rocky Mountain Narrow Gauge
Rocky Mountain Narrow Gauge
Wikipedia wrote:The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) is a narrow gauge heritage railroad that operates 45 miles (72 km) of 3 ft (914 mm) track between Durango and Silverton, in the US state of Colorado. The railway is a federally designated National Historic Landmark and is also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
The route was originally built between 1881 and 1882, by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, in order to carry supplies and people to and silver and gold ore from mines in the San Juan Mountains. The line was an extension of the D&RG narrow gauge from Antonito, Colorado to Durango. The last train to operate into Durango from the east was on December 6, 1968. The States of New Mexico and Colorado purchased 64 miles of the line between Antonito and Chama, New Mexico in 1970 and operates today as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The trackage between Chama and Durango was abandoned and rails were removed by 1971.
The line from Durango to Silverton has run continuously since 1881, although it is now a tourist and heritage line hauling passengers, and is one of the few places in the United States which has seen continuous use of steam locomotives. In March 1981, the Denver & Rio Grande Western sold the line and the D&SNG was formed.
Some of the rolling stock dates back to the 1880s. The trains run from Durango to the Cascade Wye in the winter months and run from Durango to Silverton during the summer months. The depot in Durango was built in January 1882 and has been preserved in original form.
Some WIP screenshots:
Rockwood
The Rockwood Cut
The famous High Line
High Bridge
Tank Creek
This route for TrainSimulator 2012 covers the complete 45 miles of Durango & Silverton right of way between the towns of Durango, Colorado and Silverton, Colorado.
Set in the present-day era, it recreates modern-day operations of the railroad, but still it's completely coal-fired steam.
A lot of custom buildings, tracks and rolling-stock have been made and we will continue to add more and more.
Who is we and what is the meaning of "community project"?
The Community, that's Rick Grout ("ricksan"), Larry Goss ( "MaineLines"), Justin Legg, Micheal Stephan ("GreatNortherner"), Grant Brennan ("ozinoz"), Barry ("Captain Bazza"), some more and me, Timm ("micaelcorleone").
Communtiy project means that all these people are working together to build the route. Some do the actual route building, others create assets and rollingstock.
Work on the route started early this year with the idea coming from me and the support from a friendly guy you all should know very well for his great models and routes, Rick Grout.
He is sponsor of the project and without him, all this wouldn't be possible.
There is still a lot to do and a lot of testing to be carried out, but we are pretty sure that a first version of the Durango & Silverton Route will be availalbe on the G-TraX website in the first quarter of 2012.
Updates will be realesed subsequently.
We hope that you are exited and that this is a successful nice little Christmas surprise to you all.
Updates and screenshots coming soon...
, but I have just dropped in to say - Fantastic News! This is a magnificent line to ride and Rick and the team have done a magnificent job in capturing it. The comparisons between shots I took in September when I was on site and the VR version are uncanny. Everybody is in for a real treat... 
I too would love to see the C&TS in RG days. Double head freight with banker or mid train helper working up past Coxo to Windy Point and the view down the valley and then downgrade round Tanglefoot would be stunning. I think this will give a good platform for additional routes and rollingstock in a similar way to HSC now that RSC have announced their K4 steamer, it is a guaranteed ongoing income stream