Southern Pacific: Cab Forward

[ozinoz]

I love the fact that we will soon see some more steam in RW - boxes just don't do it for me, but the same old problem arises. While it is great to have the AC's for Donner Pass, they existed on the Donner Pass line more nearly 60 years ago. Where are the steam facilities at Colfax, Roseville etc? . It is akin to creating an F1 racing sim and then leaving out the pits! Without servicing facilities, water, turntables etc, it really doesn't amount to a great deal. A similar deal with Sherman Hill. No coal / oil / water / turntables / roundhouse etc and a route full of modern assets / cars / trucks etc. Would be great to see a separate "heritage" version of DP and SH released so that full enjoyment can be gained from the steam assets. Yes I know the trackage has changed in the interim, but it is at least a little closer.

[bwfer]

Right you are! Starting at Roseville an AC won't make it to Norden working at capacity. The Tenders could hold 22,000 gallons of water. Three cab forwards working a standard Roseville Fruit Block (RFB) of 100 loaded 40 foot reefers made water stops at Colfax, Emigrant Gap, and Norden. The two helpers were cut-off at Norden. Downgrade, the road engine made another water stop at Truckee. In addition to the three cab forwards, a Mountain class 4-8-2 or Consolidation 2-8-0 was occasionally used as a point helper to Norden to maintain train speed. Because of their smaller tender water capacity 12,000 or 16,500 gallons required an additional water stop.

[railbard]

Well they are upgrading to fix the errors on the line, perhaps they'll throw some water and coal stops into the mix (weird as that will be out of context).

[AdmiralLeviathan]

To add to the pot of conspiracies, maybe a possible conversion from the '90s to the '40s? Considering the route wasn't very scenicked to begin with, it wouldn't be hard for RSC or a community member to do so. If the assets are available, I would absolutely do that.

[ozinoz]

Watching the video clip, it just reinforces that RSC need to focus on getting both the sounds and exhaust right. These things (along with the big UP power already released) were massive and sounded so. Given that there is already a large artic in service, surely it is a good source for sounds. The sounds of the pumps and exhaust on the clip in Roseville are amazing, as is the exhaust volume; not the little wisps that we seem to be seeing...

That said, I am excited for this. Looking at the released pics for Sherman Hill, it looks like that is already enjoying the new file structures and environmental look, so I might just have to see about using some of the HSC assets and date it backwards if I can...

to everybody involved with these projects - can never have enough steam

[bpetit]

No way its RSC's creation. The textures for the cab are G-Trax most definately.

[thecanadianrail]

No way its RSC's creation. The textures for the cab are G-Trax most definately.

Which is why I'm not touching it I honestly don't like their stuff. Way overpriced for the quality of it

Are you high? gtrax steamers are the best available for rw.

[steve_the_slim]

Whoa...are people actually criticizing non-RSC payware? Never thought I'd see that around these parts.

[PamBrooker]

This and the gas turbines have been on my want list for a very long time.. This is very awesome :)..

[arizonachris]

Are you high? gtrax steamers are the best available for rw.

Yeah, Brian must be smoking something.

[PamBrooker]

For me, all those things can be modified. The reality is regardless of how we perceive the quality or lack of it, GTrax is the company making the engine. There are no other versions available, and i dont see anyone lining up to make it. SO, it all depends on how much we want the engine in our collections. I will purchase this engine regardless of who makes it, simply because, like the gas turbines, and the streamliners I want one that much.

[MontanaRails]

Its all opinion I guess, so I'll throw my $0.02 in too. I consider myself extremely critical (and others have said I'm too much so) and perceptive of modelling, textures and sounds, and I'm quite pleased with G-Trax's offerings. I admit, some of the textures are less than stellar, and some of the sounds aren't as high quality as is possible, but overall, each one of their releases has an enormous personality to it, something you just dont get with RSC's crisp models. And, considering the P42 model by G-Trax - without a doubt one of the most functional, interactive, and sophisticated locomotives available for the US market - G-Trax can really be classified as cutting edge, outside the box thinkers. Consider how many RSC released locomotives have geometry errors (recent example - the F40 truck issue brought up here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5429&start=30&hilit=F40). Clearly no one is perfect, but its my critical opinion, all considered, that G-Trax is on par with anyone else, including RSC. I never feel let down when running one of their models; the shortcomings are easily made up where they shine.

I very much look forward to this release!

[ozinoz]

I see the AC's are on the front page of the RS website today - "Coming Soon", (but not a lot of new info) although when you click on the more info link it reads "later this year", but even so, I am looking forward to these, but only if the long promised update patch for Donner Pass is released (or the route re-released in an updated version) Can not see the use in releasing locomotives / rollingstock and not having an appropriate place to run.

Really hoping too that RS look at updating the 3900's & 4000's with the imminent release of Sherman Hill, to the new RW3 standard. I personally would even consider a re-purchase if it was needed. They are the super "Big Steam" known for that route and it seems to me the perfect opportunity. Not everybody embraces the soulless diseasels.





G

[bpetit]

The problem is with the bigboy, I didn't buy it from steam so I wouldn't get the update. Hmm later this year probably means..well I'm going to guess is August.

[ozinoz]

Actually good point - I didn't get mine from Steam either, but from IHH direct. Not sure how they would handle that...