The most difficult challenge I have ever faced in Train Sim.

[PamBrooker]

So, I bought the Cascadia Route. It's gorgeous and I cant recommend it enough. Of course, with it being located only a couple hundred miles north of me and Skykomish and Snohomish being household words down here I;m just a wee bit biased, so I downloaded and installed everything: the expansion, the Loco, the livery, the patches, the scenarios: yeah, everything..

Well, I git the livery working on the Loco ( bloody gorgeous Livery ) and wanted to run it real bad, so, right there in the middle of the Skykomish yard is a nice long consist headed up by a Great Northern Boxcar. I figured I'd explore the route by pulling that massive load, to the opposite end of the line.

I hooked the loco up to the consist and pushed the throttle forward, and got about ten miles before the old girl just didnt have the oomph to pull that load another inch.. I figured "Hmmm, a couple million pounds on back and only a single steam loco. Lets have fun..

I re-ran the ersatz challenge with a GG1, three GG1's, a Cab Forward, a cab Forward lashed up to a Big Boy, and finally, a Big Boy all by itself. The Big Boy, made it to Winton, some eight real hours later, before it ran out of fuel. Nothing was able to pull that consist..

Here's the rules if you want to play. No DD40's or anything over 3000 HP. Nothing. Use Period (1930's - 50's )equipment if possible. If you dont make it to the end of the line, you lose..

This challenge is exceedingly time demanding. Be ready to sit there for a while. I recommend the scenic route as that right hand tunnel is a doozey..

[HighBypass]

Hi Pam,

I was drawn to your post due to the picture of the Cab Forward. Among the few steam locos I like, the Cab Forward beast is one of them. Is the long consist within one particular scenario on Cascadia? I've not yet bought the route, but my interest is piqued! I tried taking the stock SP Cab Forward the length of Donner Pass (thanks to a free roam scenario) only to find out that I could not replenish its water (as yet) despite trying to swap in some of the B&LE (lovely freebie route!) water station assets. I did manage to drag the full 20-odd boxcar consist up to Norden yard, by which time there was ZERO water in the loco (tender) and about 80% fill level in the boiler. I enjoyed that challenge, but as for messing about with the editor, not so much!

[PamBrooker]

Hi Pam,

I was drawn to your post due to the picture of the Cab Forward. Among the few steam locos I like, the Cab Forward beast is one of them. Is the long consist within one particular scenario on Cascadia? I've not yet bought the route, but my interest is piqued! I tried taking the stock SP Cab Forward the length of Donner Pass (thanks to a free roam scenario) only to find out that I could not replenish its water (as yet) despite trying to swap in some of the B&LE (lovely freebie route!) water station assets. I did manage to drag the full 20-odd boxcar consist up to Norden yard, by which time there was ZERO water in the loco (tender) and about 80% fill level in the boiler. I enjoyed that challenge, but as for messing about with the editor, not so much!

The consist is within the free roam/GN Cascadia/skykomish scenario. I recommend taking the scenic route which circles around to the west after cutting under the mainline, as the mainline has a 4 mile long tunnel and even the Big Boy was only able to achieve 1.3MPH by the time it reached it. The Cab Forward never made it that far. Its a rugged route: beautiful. but rugged, and it really puts your loco's to the test. The FF1's and FF2's make it easy, but thats because their pulling six passenger cars and the power to weight ratio is much better. Freight work needs some serious thought.. The steepest part of the route is 3.2% but most of it is below 2.2%. Take sand.. I want to find a Mallet and run it with that as those Loco's were designed for hauling ore out of tight areas. Beautiful monsters of which the cab forward is a member ( but designed for general freight along the Cajon Pass). I imagine that if you drop three to six cars off the consist that it becomes more doable as the consist is 23 cars and most of them are heavy. Also, I'm not certain the Big Boy is set up to function as a double header. By itself it does pretty good, but lashed to another loco, its like dragging dead weight behind you..
Now, I own Donner Pass as well, but frankly, nice as it is, Cascadia is better, especially once all the updates are applied, and the little Northern looks absolutely stunning in its Glacier Park Livery.. I cant recommend it enough.. Have fun and enjoy :)..
Pam

P.S. As for the editor, I'm always switching loco's in and out. With over 100 giga bytes of locomotives, theres just no room for all of them on a single route.. :)