GN S2 Glacier Park for Cascadian Northern; 11 NOV 2018
Repaints by Rudi Jaeger, exclusively for the G-TraX freeware "GN Northern" hosted at RWA, and for the Britkits freeware "Extra Tenders" (required for optional Vanderbilt tender).
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Contents:
Features a variation of the Great Northern Railway's Glacier Park scheme, based on historical photos. GN's Glacier Park colors differed somewhat, depending on which shop applied the paintwork; so any difference between this version and those of other contributors can actually lend some authenticity when used together. Includes a whistle option which lends a throatier steamboat tone, similar to that of the American Freedom Train's GS-4 4449 during it's 1976 Bi-Centennial service. As a bonus, this repaint features a Vanderbilt oil tender, similar to those which shipped with the locomotive. Credits and special thanks to developers Rick Grout (G-TraX S2 loco) and Dick Cowen (Britkits tender) for providing the original products which served as the foundation for these repaints, and for graciously giving the green-light to share this collective work with you.
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History:
The 4-8-4 "Northern" type locomotive bears the name of the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) for which it was originally developed in 1926. Due to the Northern's impressive performance with the NP, the Great Northern Railway (GN) adopted the type for service, beginning with it's S-1 class. The S-2 class arrived in March and April of 1930, when the GN received fourteen additional 4-8-4's from Baldwin. Intended for Oriental Limited and Empire Builder duty, they were assigned to the Montana Division for service between Williston, North Dakota and Havre, Montana, and also to the Spokane Division for service between Spokane and Wenatchee, Washington.
The S-2's were delivered with Vanderbilt tenders, which provided a capacity of 17,000 gallons of water and 5,800 gallons of oil. It was unique in being the only all-welded tender on the GN. This water-bottom tender had a Commonwealth cast-steel frame and rode on two 6-wheel cast steel trucks.
The locomotives bore the classic Glacier Park paint scheme, except 2577 which carried a coat of light grey or aluminum paint on the boiler and cylinder jackets at delivery, probably for photographic purposes, but was eventually repainted. By the 1950s all engines had received the more economical all-black paint scheme.
As the Great Northern dieselized, the S-2 lost its assignment on the Empire Builder and was assigned to less prestigious passenger runs and saw service in freight duty, where it's passenger design proved to be rather unsuitable. All engines were retired by 1958, with some remaining in strategic storage until 1963. Only one S-2 survives today; 2584, which was retired in December, 1957. In 1958 it was decided to retain 2584 for historical purposes. On May 15, 1964, 2584 was put on permanent display at the Havre, MT depot.
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Installation of locomotive:
1. Ensure you have already installed the G-TraX freeware Cascadian GN Northern hosted at Railworks America.
2. Transfer the Assets folder (from this zip file) into your main Railworks folder. Note: There are no requirements to overwrite anything.
3. Copy the GX_Loco01.GeoPcDx file from the 'Locomotive' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\Default\Locomotive
Then paste the GeoPcDx file into the "Locomotive" folder of the freshly installed "GlacierPark" folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Locomotive
4. Copy the GX_Loco01_Cab.GeoPcDx file from the 'CabView' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\Default\CabView
Then paste the GeoPcDx file into the "CabView" folder of the freshly installed "GlacierPark" folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\CabView
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Installation of tender:
Note: This as an individual process, since many of our community may have already installed a functional GN Vanderbilt tender from another repaint. You can also opt to skip this step all together, and simply select the standard tender that came with the original G-TraX GN Northern whenever you build a consist, but the Vandi's are the prototypical choice.
1. Ensure you have installed the Britkits freeware "Extra Tenders" (for Geo files and dependancies). Britkits Extra Tenders are available on this page:
http://dickyjim.com/steam.html (please review the other fine offerings while you're there).
2. Open the "Optional Tender" folder (from this zip-file) and transfer the Assets folder (from this zip file) into your main Railworks folder. Note: There are no requirements to overwrite anything; the tender folder (Tender_GN_Vandi) will ultimately go into the same folder (GlacierPark) as the locomotive you just installed.
3. Navigate to Railworks\Assets\Britkits\Steam\RailVehicles\ and open the ap file 'Tenders_Assets.ap' using the same utility used to open this zip file (I used 7-Zip), then navigate to Tenders\Buckeye and copy the B_Coupling_Closed.GeoPcDx and B_Coupling_Open.GeoPcDx files and paste them into the 'Buckeye' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Tender_GN_Vandi\Buckeye
2. From the open 'Tenders_Assets.ap' file, navigate to Tenders\Crew and copy the Engineer-S03.GeoPcDx file and paste it into the 'Crew' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Tender_GN_Vandi\Crew
3. From the open 'Tenders_Assets.ap' file, navigate to Tenders\Lights and copy the beam.GeoPcDx and glow.GeoPcDx files and paste them into the 'Lights' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Tender_GN_Vandi\Lights
4. Caution! There are several similar file-names involved during this step, so please be attentive to select the correct file-name exactly as described: From the open 'Tenders_Assets.ap' file, navigate to Tenders\ and copy the 12w-ld-vandi-o-tender_nhl.GeoPcDx file and paste it into the 'Tender_GN_Vandi' folder located here:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Tender_GN_Vandi
5. Close the un-zipped ap-file. Loco and Tender are complete.
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Installation of the optional whistle:
Note: This procedure will overwrite 2 existing files (Northern_Whistle_Audio.proxybin and Northern_Whistle_Audio.proxyxml). The new files and an "Original Audio proxy" backup folder will be installed to:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\Audio\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\Cab
The new proxy files simply target the existing SPS whistle sounds which will give the loco a much deeper tone. You can always replace with the files in the "Original Audio proxy" backup folder if you prefer the old sounds.
Okay, let's proceed with the one-step installation:
1. Open the Optional Whistle folder located in this zip-file and copy the resulting Assets folder into your main Railworks folder, overwriting the existing files (2 files total) when prompted.
~ Mission complete.
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Selecting the repaints:
To find the repaints in the scenario builder/editor, select "Britkits\Steam" and "G-Trax\Preservation" in the assets flyout panel (right-side of screen). Then look for the following entries in the left-side locomotive assets-list to select each repaint:
GN 12 wheel ld Vanderbilt oil Tender
GN S2 Glacier Park
Note 1: The GN "Rocky the Goat" roundel should be the only graphic appearing on the tender. Should you ever see any strange numbers or script appear; perform the following remedial action: After placing the tender onto the tracks in the sim's scenario editor, double click on the tender to bring up a "flyout" dialog box (same procedure as applying a load to a freight car). In the lower part of the flyout-box you will see a place to enter a number; enter the following series of digits exactly as described to produce blank numbers and blank road names on the tender, and note the position of the upper case X: xxxxxxxxXxxxx (this will not affect the GN roundel). This method is specific to Britkit products, so don't expect it to work on products from any other developer.
Note 2: If the GN "Rocky the Goat" roundel should ever disappear; Navigate to:
Railworks\Assets\G-TraX\Preservation\RailVehicles\Steam\Northern\GlacierPark\Tender_GN_Vandi\Textures
Inside you will see the file-name "00 GN Logo.bat". Double-click to activate the bat-file, which restores the GN logo.
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Final Step:
1. Pat yourself on the back for reading and applying all these instructions.
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Disclaimer: These files are for your personal enjoyment and are not to be redistributed. This product shall remain freeware and is to be hosted exclusively by Railworks America. I am not responsible for any issues you may encounter after downloading the file; it is your responsibilty to follow the installation instructions to achieve a correct setup. If something breaks; don't blame DTG, G-TraX, or Britkits. I have tested/painted these files in free-roam scenario creation using the Small Slope Route (by Zawal), the NYBD Bergen Route (by MinerMan), the Sherman Hill 1956 Route (by AlpenFreight),the Penn Coal Route (by RSC), and the Cascadian and BLE Routes (by G-TraX), and they all work just fine. If for any reason you are having difficulties with the installation, please contact me at Railworks America, or seek guidance in the forum; there is also plenty of useful information available from the search function - please try that method first. Thanks!
I hope you will enjoy your new repaint.
~ Rudi
