Railworks America

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been address before, but I tried searching and couldn't find. Also, I know some of the DLCs have been updated so I wanted to start fresh. I bought RW at the Steam sale (90% off) and am loving it so far. I've already purchased a few DLCs notably:
-NEC expansion pack
-Acela
-P42 (excellent model IMO)
-West Coast Main Line North

Are there any others that are particularly recommended? The 50% off sale seems decent so I wanted to get some advice. I did see that the Donner Pass had issues so I am holding off on that unless I am told those issues have been resolved. But any other route / rolling stock payware that is must-have or highly recommended?

What about freeware, what's recommended in that department?

Thanks in advance!

Gads, where to start! Do you like steam or diesel, North American or British? There is so much stuff out there, both payware and freeware.

I prefer big American steam and diesel, altho I do have the Tornado and the Scotsman. But the Big Boy, the Challenger, the Berkshires, the SD70 pack, the Dash 9's, the SD40-2's, the GP9's, all terrific!

Routes: Portland Terminal, did you get Horseshoe Curve with the base game? Lots of free stuff here in the file library. Lonewolfdon's route is really good, the one from Doug (Heavy Chevy) is also coming along nicely, don't overlook Toripony's C&O Allegheny.

That should keep you busy for a while until I think of more. Oh, and

GP9 perhaps? it has flaws but there's lots included in the package. But yes some area of interest would help.

Hi all, thanks for the help so far!

I am really open to anything, although I confess that I'm more familiar with the operation of the diesel and electric trains -- so not to say I'm opposed to steam trains, I'm just not "good at them." Open to any routes geographically.

I did get Horseshoe curve for the extra $0.50. :-)

Also, I think I have an overall preference for passenger trains. But, if I was going to get only 1 steam and 1 freight, which should they be and why?

Well I love the GP-9 pack.And if you dont have any Steam locos,you will find the Gtrax engines outstanding. (LOVE the GS-4s) And while others are reading,does either Donner or Portland come with new switchstands? I have the Scalerail and Great Northern of course. I have been considering purchasing one or the other for assets.

For sream, get the flying scotsman pack - brilliant cab, great model, and even comes with wind-noise effect.

Cant say for freight, cos they all seem the same to me, and I end up getting frustrated at the slow speeds you have to travel at. I do them when I must :)

Download the Bay Of Quinte route from the file library. You'll wonder why you spent money on routes when the best is free.

In my opinion, the gp9 would be the best freight option for you mainly due to the fact that in its early days it was also used in passenger service which i think you would like.

For steam...the GS-4 from G-TraX is a no brainer, also i would recomend getting the matching freeware daylight passenger coaches from G-TraX that he made specaly for this loco.

I knew I forgot one or two, the F7 Santa Fe Chief. Such a superb locomotive. And, it's still being worked on , but the DDA40X from Lord Mannu (Cesar) The most awesome diesel ever. I have his original, but he pulled that from the library.

Grab one of the AllAboard routes, because almost every freeware route out there uses some of those assets, and they're awesome. Since you like passenger operations, I'd recommend Fort Kent to Eagle Lake, since as far as I know it's the only one with passenger stations.

Having read through the posts I noticed there wasn't an awful lot of reference to British routes, You said you like passenger scenarios, so I would reccomend the Glasgow-Edinburgh expansion ( premium dlc ) and there are quite a few freeware routes available too . The Port Road is a free DLC as far as I remember on Steam, unfortunately I think it only comes with free roam scenarios, but if you have the know how you can make your own scenarios up on it, quite an interesting route, there are others available elsewhere for free and if you need more info just send me a pm and I will fish out the exact links to other files for you

Mark

+1 for the Edinburgh-Glasgow route, having lived right next to it for 15 years of my life it is particularly accurate!

I rather like Ft Kent - the other AA routes look a bit too much like model railway layouts for me, other than Ohio Steel which I bought in the last sale for the SD40 it comes with, I've not got round to trying it yet . Other than WCMLN and occasionally B&E ( which is a bit featureless by nature of the route itself ) I don't actually think I use any pay DLC routes any more than briefly, not that I have many. Portland sometimes, I like running up & down the street :)