Announcing Feather River Canyon Enhanced

[MFEETS]

I was digging around some photos of WP U23Bs, and I found this photo of the Clio Trestle:

Now, notice how here the Clio Trestle is black; however, in the route and in photos I've seen the trestle in silver. So, I did some more digging, and found this pair of photos:




Both of these photos were taken in 1984, so the bridge was black all throughout the WP and during the era the route is set, being repainted by the UP sometime in early-mid 1984. Kinda a big mistake for one of the route's two keystone structures...

[cnwfan]

Glad to see the route is getting a makeover and finally completed to Portola.

[ElphabaWS]

Kinda a big mistake for one of the route's two keystone structures...

We were entirely aware of the photos you refer to (and many others). We discussed the matter and given that Western Pacific's standard treatment of trestles for most of its existence was silver paint, we went in that direction.

[buzz456]

Just another swoop in to make a nasty remark and then bolt again.

[GreatNortherner]

... so the bridge was black all throughout the WP and during the era the route is set, being repainted by the UP sometime in early-
mid 1984. Kinda a big mistake for one of the route's two keystone structures...

As I know the folks on the TS Discord are always so exceedingly happy to hear: you don't have to buy it if you don't like it, in this case if the color of a bridge is a deal-breaker to you. That's entirely up to you and your personal priorities. But my main point is this: throughout our route releases, we have always taken certain liberties with minor anachronisms like that in order to present the route in a slightly idealized light or provide more entertaining gameplay when it comes to track plans, etc. I'd bet that most rail fans today know Clio Trestle as being silver, which is also much better suited to bring out the fascinating details of its construction.

Some other examples from our past work: You won't find much of 1970s/80s urban and industrial decay in our routes, nor do we depict the ecological disaster areas often surrouding large industries like mines or oil wells or even the railroads themselves. Springfield Union station on the Springfield Line was modeled after the turn-of-the-century Victorian station, simply because we loved its grand design so much. The actual station building from the period is the one that's still standing today and which we have modeled for the B&A route. Speaking of which, the spires of Worcester USta were long gone by the period the B&A route set in (which isn't any precise period in time but rather a fluent "best of" from a couple of decades). Similarly, on Mountain Sub and Portland Terminal you can find historic station buildings and hotels that had long vanished in reality.

Cheers,
Michael

[mindenjohn]

If the color of a trestle is so upsetting - repaint it - it's like the Forth rail Bridge in Scotland it is never one color for long as it's always being painted (until recently when they found a longer lasting paint).The same guy was bewailing the abscence of a Green and Orange liveried U30B - how does he know there isn't one - the numbering scheme allows for one, a repaint if not in the pack.
Some people find fault with a cheese biscuit/cracker.

[buzz456]

If the color of a trestle is so upsetting - repaint it - it's like the Forth rail Bridge in Scotland it is never one color for long as it's always being painted (until recently when they found a longer lasting paint).The same guy was bewailing the abscence of a Green and Orange liveried U30B - how does he know there isn't one - the numbering scheme allows for one, a repaint if not in the pack.
Some people find fault with a cheese biscuit/cracker.

Musta had a bad childhood.

[cnwfan]

With all the masterful repaint artists in this community, I would imagine just about anything could be repainted. And if Milepost One decided to do the Santa Fe's Pasadena Sub from LA Union Station to San Bernardino, that Clio bridge would be a good one to use over the Arroyo Seco and Pasadena Freeway in Highland Park.

Gary / Michael, with this Feather River revamp about ready to hit the main line, what about assembling the WP from San Jose to Stockton? You'd get Niles Canyon, Altamont, the Ford Assembly plant in Milpitas, plus the SP through Niles Canyon into Pleasanton and through Altamont. It would be a great sequel to the Feather River Revamp, especially if it's kept in the same time frame. Just thought I'd toss it out there.

[RudiJaeger]

I'm curious if the original Feather River will still be required to support any freeware route dependencies, or will the enhanced version seamlessly supersede any requirements of the previous version?

Based on the developer team, screenshots, content, and time period; I'm looking forward to the purchase, but once installed, would like to know if I can "uncheck" the old version from my Steam dlc list. Thanks.

[GreatNortherner]

I'm curious if the original Feather River will still be required to support any freeware route dependencies, or will the enhanced version seamlessly supersede any requirements of the previous version?

Hi, the original version of the route should remain intact and unchanged. The enhanced FRC comes with its own route folder/UID and all assets are in their own provider/product folder, too. In other words, getting the new version should not impact anything that was done on or with the original route and anything that relies on assets from the original will still require the original.

Cheers,
Michael

[jalsina]

I have been looking at the FRC published enhanced screenshots and video, because of my past interest in Feather River Canyon and the subsequent extension by dleeboy (plus my extra personal additions along the extension track).

The new route seems to really be an extraordinary "enhancement".
All the stations of the original FRC have been improved in a very nice way (it is nice to mention Oroville, how it looks).
The three pics related with the extension show better than the same places in the old extension (2016...old it is ) like Williams loop portals, Clio trestle and Portola passengers station and yard tracks (what mostly drives my attention is the way Portola looks... a lot better than the extension).

I would have liked to have at least 10 extra miles in direction to Hawley, so scenario designers could have better options for the western entry ops of the Portola yard. Maybe someone.
The new rolling stock looks also very interesting and abundant.

Jorge

[MFEETS]

As I know the folks on the TS Discord are always so exceedingly happy to hear: you don't have to buy it if you don't like it, in this case if the color of a bridge is a deal-breaker to you. That's entirely up to you and your personal priorities. But my main point is this: throughout our route releases, we have always taken certain liberties with minor anachronisms like that in order to present the route in a slightly idealized light or provide more entertaining gameplay when it comes to track plans, etc. I'd bet that most rail fans today know Clio Trestle as being silver, which is also much better suited to bring out the fascinating details of its construction.

Some other examples from our past work: You won't find much of 1970s/80s urban and industrial decay in our routes, nor do we depict the ecological disaster areas often surrouding large industries like mines or oil wells or even the railroads themselves. Springfield Union station on the Springfield Line was modeled after the turn-of-the-century Victorian station, simply because we loved its grand design so much. The actual station building from the period is the one that's still standing today and which we have modeled for the B&A route. Speaking of which, the spires of Worcester USta were long gone by the period the B&A route set in (which isn't any precise period in time but rather a fluent "best of" from a couple of decades). Similarly, on Mountain Sub and Portland Terminal you can find historic station buildings and hotels that had long vanished in reality.

Cheers,
Michael

Thanks for this response. I can absolutely respect the decisions made here, where I struggle is the constant advertising about hyper realism. You have artist's license, and can change what you want.

[ElphabaWS]

MFEETS:

You are drowning this thread in numerous and large images which are selective in choice (example, there's no shortage of Keddie Wye in silver images during the WP era). You've made your "point" (on every social media platform you can find). You've also gotten in another of your digs about the "advertising," etc. The latest article you are critical of indicates we have striven to enhance the route's realism of operations through providing a variety of rolling stock and locomotives, new scenarios, plus select infrastructure improvements such as more detailed lineside industries. Those are not false promises. So enough. If you wish to continue this seemingly endless debate, you can reach me via PM rather than subjecting everyone to it.

[AmericanSteam]

I lived Northern California before I moved to Alaska. I have been to the Western Pacific Museum several times and have walked and driven the right of way. Somebodies uncle must have owned a silver paint company. It shows, rolling stock, MOW, locomotives, bridges, trestles were covered with the stuff. The same with Sacramento Northern and Tidewater Southern, WP's short line subsidiaries.

[GogebicChief]

Looks pretty good. Adds some more stuff to do on the route. Just wish High Iron would make a few 2 Headlight F7's. I am pretty sure there were more Double Headlight versions than Single Headlight ones. Just my ...Stefan

This is incorrect. The only F7s with dual headlights owned by the WP were the FP7s, of which there were 4. All 24 of F7A/D units owned by WP had the single headlight as modeled. As Buzz said, the FP7 is available as a separate DLC.

I believe the original poster was referencing F7s in general, not just those of WP.

Whoa Nelly... I did not mean to start a flame war. Elphaba is right it was just a general observation. I have the HIS Awesome Santa Fe pack and I have painted several CNW F Units from that Pack. I supposed this observation comes under the heading of "Rivet Counting" because the F3 in the Santa Fe has Double Headlights, and is awesome. It come down to the "Horns", the F3 has a singe 3 or 5 Chime Horn, and I would like to see some F7 Units with the single Split / Front-Rear Horns. I apologize for any misunderstanding, and there was no mean intent. Stefan