Bessemer & Lake Erie Route Add-On No longer Available

[Schnauzahpowahz]

Well its nice for the insight and reasons but for nothing to be announced from DTG its pretty poor form

Just my 2c

[cnwfan]

Now I see no point in complaining or arguing about this state of affairs -- it is what it is and we have to deal with it.

So for those of us that are using B&LE assets for a route building project, we are basically up a creek without a paddle if we had wanted to distribute the route either on the Workshop or here? It's easy to say "just deal with it", but when there is an investment of development time connected to the product, either in developing scenarios or a route utilizing product assets, it's frustrating as heck.

[gtrtroger]

Well Howard, I’d say putting it on the Workshop would be out of the question, but I wouldn’t think putting it here at RWA would be a problem for those that had the “required assets”.

[GreatNortherner]

Now I see no point in complaining or arguing about this state of affairs -- it is what it is and we have to deal with it.

So for those of us that are using B&LE assets for a route building project, we are basically up a creek without a paddle if we had wanted to distribute the route either on the Workshop or here? It's easy to say "just deal with it", but when there is an investment of development time connected to the product, either in developing scenarios or a route utilizing product assets, it's frustrating as heck.

I completely understand your frustation, but I also want to point out that that's not what I was saying. The current situation is out of our and DTG's control -- and that's what don't see a point arguing about. Sure, we can complain about big bad corporate legal teams taking our toys away, but it won't actually change the practical situation even a tiny bit (though it make us feel a bit better, briefly).


I didn't mean to say that we're just letting the route slip into oblivion. No, we are working on a solution to keep the route available and the keep licensors happy.

Cheers
Michael

[cnwfan]

Michael... It's good to know that there may be a glimmer of hope for this route. Agreed, there is no point in getting into the whole licensing discussion, as that has been discussed to death. I just wish those licensing issues had been worked out before the route release.

[ricksan]

I'm going to go out on a limb and break the silence about the status of the B&LE. What follows is what we, the G-TraX team, know, and what we've been told by the publisher, DTG.

To review, DTG is a licensee of the Canadian National brand. Given that CN owns the real-world Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, DTG apparently assumed -- or perhaps was led to believe (either way we don't know) -- that its CN license extends to all CN subsidiaries. That's how it works with a lot of railroads but apparently not so with CN because about a year ago CN directed DTG to remove G-TraX's virtual, much backdated B&LE from sale on Steam. In response to this, the team prepared a clone of the route and its scenarios. We revised the route to remove B&LE logos and lettering from all assets and from the two user manuals. The revision also affected the name of the route itself which we changed to "Pennsylvania Steam - North Bessemer to Conneaut." (aka Penn Steam).

For reasons we are not privy to, DTG didn't comply with CN's directive until recently when, as we all know, sales on Steam were terminated. We have been informed that DTG will publish the Penn Steam clone at a time of its choosing though not presently known to us.

And that's it. This situation should be viewed as nothing more than a run of bad luck. In time, the route will be available again with only the minor changes noted above. We recognize that some of you buy routes mostly for the purpose of using its assets in your own indie projects, and you will once again be able to do that as well.

[thegevo5k]

Thanks for the reply Rick. Good to see it'll be coming back.

[RudiJaeger]

Thanks for the update Rick. I guess my question now, is for those of us who already own the old BLE route; do you think DTG will publish some sort of patch that incorporates the new route into the old one, or maybe a way to identify existing owners so they can download a separate copy of the new route for free? I'm pretty sure they're not going to simply give it away, and rightfully so; just wondering how it's going to work for existing owners. Thanks.

[Chacal]

For once the bad guy isn't BNSF.
dern these Canadians, eh.

[jalsina]

For once the bad guy isn't BNSF.
dern these Canadians, eh.

I hope this will not convert to an outbreak in all class I railroads.

[buzz456]

The class one's handle reverse public relations better than just about anyone.

[mindenjohn]

Maybe it’s getting to be a “Get it while you can” hobby and when you get it clone it so they can’t take it off you, The world gets sadder.

[GreatNortherner]

... I guess my question now, is for those of us who already own the old BLE route; do you think DTG will publish some sort of patch that incorporates the new route into the old one ...

Hi,

As Rick said, we don't know the specifics about the re-release yet, but the cloned route has its own GUID so I presume it should not affect existing owners or custom scenarios on the old B&LE. Assets between old and new should be interchangeable (though old steam engine repaints might get broken because we had to change the decal lettering).

Cheers
Michael

[RudiJaeger]

Okay; Thanks Michael

[Spin]

Any word on the route being rereleased under a different name?