New route in November - Donner Pass!

[Dan]

I think that the point about addons additional packs is important. SP is a popular railroad and I am pretty sure that if they were to push out different packs they would make money. Plenty to choose from, lots of variants and lots of people who would be likely to pick them up.

[Chessie8638]

Agreed. I would pay for locomotive packs for certain railroads. SP, NS, UP, BNSF, etc, etc.

[kevhead]

I thought they closed Donner pass?

[Chessie8638]

I thought they closed Donner pass?

Nope. SP took main 1 over the summit out in the mid '90's. And after the UP take over traffic dropped like a rock when they re-routed things. In 2009 or 2010 UP cleared the route for Double Stacks.

EDIT:

I've posted this before, but the greatest DVD('s) you can get on Donner is from Pentrex. "Donner Pass Combo." Filmed in 1993 in or there about (the time frame the route will be based on for TS2012):

http://www.pentrex.com/donrdvd.html

[UPSD70ACe]

I have those on VHS Original collectors item.

[dcushing]

Just thinking how nice it would be if someone (railsim) were to slightly modify the dash 9 into an AC4400. Really, the biggest difference was the size of the airconditioning unit behind the left side of the cab. Other little differences I could over look, and the AC4400 would be more at home on Donner than the dash 9 was. Just an idle thought.

Duncan

[imnew]

I sure hope they implement lots of snow trackside, just like 3dtrainstuff did in their Donner Pass route.. It really made the route shine during the winter season !

[micaelcorleone]

Nope. SP took main 1 over the summit out in the mid '90's. And after the UP take over traffic dropped like a rock when they re-routed things. In 2009 or 2010 UP cleared the route for Double Stacks.

Yes. Double Stacks were rerouted over Donner Pass from nearby Feather River Canyon in 2009.

[RSAdam]

There is certainly some beautiful stuff out there about the Donner Pass:
http://cprr.org/Museum/Sierra_Grade_8-2 ... index.html

Regards

[styckx]

Kudos to you guys for posting such early WIP shots of the route being built. I see you just posted a boatload more.. Keeps the hype alive. :)

[Chessie8638]

There is certainly some beautiful stuff out there about the Donner Pass:
http://cprr.org/Museum/Sierra_Grade_8-2 ... index.html

Regards

QFT:
*Note track one removed at this point, now a access road / atv trail / hiking trail.


And track one in service:

[USRailFan]

Not wanting to be overly critical, but... Were 'straight' Dash-9s really very common over Donner in the SP era? To me it seems Dash-9s were mostly used on the L.A. - New Orleans route (together with the four-axle Dash-8s), with L.A. - Portland being the domain of the SD70Ms (together with the four-axle GP60s, and the rebuilt SD40M-2s as helpers on the Tehachapi and Cascades, and as local/MoW power), and Donner the domain of the AC4400CWs (plus tunnel motors)?

[micaelcorleone]

Not wanting to be overly critical, but... Were 'straight' Dash-9s really very common over Donner in the SP era? To me it seems Dash-9s were mostly used on the L.A. - New Orleans route (together with the four-axle Dash-8s), with L.A. - Portland being the domain of the SD70Ms (together with the four-axle GP60s, and the rebuilt SD40M-2s as helpers on the Tehachapi and Cascades, and as local/MoW power), and Donner the domain of the AC4400CWs (plus tunnel motors)?

I think it's not severe, but if RSC decides to include the AC4400CW anyhow:

There isn't much difference between the two (according to wikipedia).

[dcushing]

Which snow sheds were still in place at Norden during the early 1990's. When was the turntable puled out?

Duncan

[Chessie8638]

Turntable and related snowshed lasted until '93. There are concrete ones protecting the entrance to Tunnel 41 (now the summit tunnel) and where the old track one came back next to track two:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=39.317 ... orm=LMLTCC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36116546@N ... 227135971/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36116546@N ... 227135971/

Also: Why SP needed the Tunnel Motors: http://youtu.be/PPeaZ8O20Uo?t=24s