Great Northern F7 'Empire Builder'

[OlPaint]

Do we know yet whether there will be Pullman Sleepers in the car set?

Also, I guess we must wait a little longer for a re-issue of the Genesis P42DC and its Amtrak car set. Patience is reward, I hope.

OlPaint

[arizonachris]

Previouly, only Rick Grout and Reppo have done US passenger cars, right?

i I think Lord Mannu (Cesar) and Great Northerner (Michael) have done US passenger cars.

This set looks just fantastic! Love the look and "feel" of the cars and the interior view. New item to add to my list!

[secondhandhero]

Previouly, only Rick Grout and Reppo have done US passenger cars, right?

i I think Lord Mannu (Cesar) and Great Northerner (Michael) have done US passenger cars.

This set looks just fantastic! Love the look and "feel" of the cars and the interior view. New item to add to my list!

Don't forget about Dick Cowen

[buzz456]

All the sniping remarks are really not constructive folks.

[Derek]

You know there are a few good modelers at RS.com...
;)
d

[buzz456]

Back on topic, being kind of a retro sort of guy when it comes to the sim, I have to say that I am really looking forward to this.

[mrennie]

Back on topic, being kind of a retro sort of guy when it comes to the sim, I have to say that I am really looking forward to this.

Looks excellent!

[inc3pt]

You know there are a few good modelers at RS.com...
;)
d

I'm not much of a passenger train kind of guy, but this is beautiful. I can't wait to run it!

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

You know there are a few good modelers at RS.com...
;)
d

Whoever they may be, these modelers known or unknown to us, your cars do really look excellent. Keep this level up, boys!

Hopefully the Empire Builder will set a trend in passenger trains. We US players could do with a few more of those famous streamliners to run over the available routes.
Mountain roads favoured F-units, and we already have the good 3DTrains models. Will that GN F-unit be based on the 3DTrains loco?

E units, ALCo PA's, Passenger Sharks are needed to pull other trains, besides big late steam engines like Santa Fe 2900 Class 4-8-4's for the Cajon Pass.

Big name steamliners made few stops. Most interesting trains would be those fast mail expresses in late steam era. They made more stops but had almost the same schedule as the name trains, thus requiring the biggest and best in motive power. Don't know if sparsely scheduled western roads like GN had fast mail expresses. They were more of an eastern/mid western affair, look for any NYC Niagara late steam photograph.

[BNSFdude]

Mountain roads favoured F-units, and we already have the good 3DTrains models. Will that GN F-unit be based on the 3DTrains loco?

This is because EMD refused to make the E units with Dynamic Brakes. The same reason why DRGW got PAs instead of E units too.

[OlPaint]

I sure hope that adding Name Trains to Steam Store DLC is a trend that RSC is picking up on. There were a lot of them...

OlPaint

[thecanadianrail]

Its on steam now! $19.99

The hugely popular EMD F7 has hauled some of North America’s most celebrated passenger trains, including Great Northern’s Empire Builder, and is now available in this famous consist and livery for Train Simulator.

Built between February 1949 and December 1952 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel, the F7 started life as a freight-hauling unit but quickly moved on to haul passenger services for numerous North American railroads. The unit was the fourth in GM-EMD’s line of successful F-unit locomotives and was the company’s best-selling cab unit of all time – more than 2,300 cab-equipped A-units and just under 1,500 cabless B-units were built in total.

The EMD F7 replaced the EMD F3, although there were not many external differences between the two units – most changes were internal. Such was the popularity of the F7 that many remained in service for several decades as railroads found them economical to operate and maintain. However, they were not popular with yard crews as they were difficult to access and visibility was poor due to the high cab position and long nose.

With an operational speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) and a high tractive effort, the EMD F7 powered some of the most famous trains in North America, including Santa Fe’s Super Chief and El Capitan, and Great Northern’s Empire Builder, a famous passenger train route between Chicago and Seattle, Washington or Portland.

The Empire Builder first ran on 11 June 1929 and quickly became Great Northern’s premier passenger service. Named after James J Hill, a railroad tycoon, the train ran through some of the North West’s most spectacular scenery, which passengers could view through the train’s domed coaches and ‘Great Dome’ car for first class passengers as they passed through the Cascade Mountains, Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park.

The Empire Builder continues today, operated by Amtrak and previously by Burlington Northern and the Great Northern Railway. Latterly, the train carries in excess of half a million passengers annually, maintaining its status as the most popular long-distance train in Amtrak’s national system.

The EMD F7 for Train Simulator is available in Great Northern ‘Empire Builder’ livery and includes the full coaching stock of the famous Empire Builder train, including sleeper cars, dome coach, sleeper observation car and mail baggage car. Features include cab lighting, Mars headlamp and passenger views from the different passenger cars.

The locomotive is also Quick Drive compatible, giving you the freedom to drive the EMD F7 on any Quick Drive enabled route for Train Simulator, such as those available through Steam. Also included are scenarios specifically for the Marias Pass route (available separately and required to play these scenarios).
Scenarios
Three scenarios for the Marias Pass route:
Empire Builder Tutorial
Over the Divide
Race for Shelby

More scenarios are available on Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of exciting gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!

Click here for Steam Workshop scenarios.
Key Features
EMD F7 in Great Northern ‘Empire Builder’ livery
Full ‘Empire Builder’ set, including sleeper cars, dining cars, passenger cars, coffee dormitory, dome coach, great dome lounge car, sleeper observation car and mail baggage car in Great Northern ‘Empire Builder livery
EMD GP9 in Great Northern livery
Great Northern box car, caboose and reefer freight wagons
Quick Drive compatible
Scenarios for the Marias Pass route
Download size: 470mb

[buzz456]

Cool new Mars Light! Vid later.

[arizonachris]

I can't believe the price for all this wonderfulness! Downloading now! Yeeeeeeeeeeee Hawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

[SithMurcielago]

Its all good. I was hoping they give a sale on it for a limited time. I'm short of that price. looks like imma have to wait at least a week.

Can someone post as many pics as possible? Inside outside and even a vid.