Railworks America

Just to clarify, I didn't write the copy in the latest RailWorks newsletter. The route is actually called "Portland Terminal," not "Portland Yard," and it's more than just a yard - although it does include Rigby yard, the largest in New England.

That said, Portland Terminal is definitely a switching route; It's not a long-haul, Class I route. People know me for my work on the MSTS Donner Pass and Feather River routes. I've been wanting to do a route like those for RailWorks that combines big-time railroading with scenic grandeur, but that's going to have to wait until distant terrain becomes a reality. I'm hoping I'll be able to announce something along those lines towards the end of this year.

Meanwhile...

The concept for Portland Terminal originally came from Michael Stephan and as soon as I checked it out I was hooked. The route is situated in and around the picturesque, historic coastal city of Portland, Maine. It's a compact, urban route. To get an idea of the route's scope, take a look at this image of its load screen.



From Pine Point to East Deering -- in other words, from one end of the route to the other -- there's an amazing variety of scenery. Beginning in the south, you'll travel across the tidal marshes and scrub-pine forests of Scarborough. You'll take your train right down the middle of bustling Rigby yard in South Portland, and past the oil terminals along the south bank of the Fore River. After crossing the river into Portland proper, you can visit the passenger facilities off to the west of town, or continue northward through an abandoned yard and directly into the trendy Old Port district of downtown Portland, alongside one of its busiest streets. Continuing northward you'll wind around the tip of peninsular Portland with the Eastern Promenade parks on one side and Casco Bay on the other. Then you'll cross over the mouth of Back Cove on a working swing bridge into the light-industrial suburb of East Deering.

There are plenty of industries along the way to keep the railroad busy. In addition to the usual distribution warehouses, you'll serve businesses specializing in chemicals, custom machinery, sand & gravel, cement, crude and refined oil products, frozen seafoods ,
-- and even baked beans.

All that in only 14 miles!

Watch the web site for new screen shots and, very soon, a much more detailed description of the route its content.

Great! I can't await it and your loading screen is the best I've seen so far. Great style.

About that long routes : I know you aren't even in the planning stages, but please consider Marias Pass or Donner Pass.

So with this being a route with GT Could we get a GP40-2 From G-Trax?

Could we get a GP40-2 From G-Trax?

; yes, please!

A new shot for you.
"Boston & Maine E7 3805 crossing the Scarborough tidal marshes."
source:http://gtraxsims.com/

Rick, will these locos come with the route and are these Searchlights from SMMDigital or are they your own models?

May I ask the Gentleman if there are any passenger stations on this small circuit please, I appreciate that the map is old and doesn't show them, but, as I'm not familiar with the area concerned, I just wondered if the route is predominantly freight only.

Many thanks.

ex-railwayman.

Just an update to address your questions. Thanks for your interest.

-- Sorry, I don't know what sort of locomotives Grand Trunk used or for that matter what today's Saint Lawrence and Atlantic uses. GT ran on a fairly short segment of the Portland Terminal route. The route focuses more on the Maine Central and Boston & Maine, as well as their successor company, Guilford Transportation Industries,which became Pan Am Railways a few years ago. All of the aforementioned owned or own GP40s which were inherited by the successor companies and repainted. They also own a smaller number of GP40-2s. My plan is to include a GP40 in MEC, GTI and PAR livery.

-- The signals are mine, with credit to Nalle (Mr. Feather River) for portions of the original mesh.

-- E7 (B&M), SD40-2 (PAR) and GP40 (liveries as noted above) locomotives are included with the route. Also included are an abbreviated set of my popular lightweight passenger cars to go with the E7, and a bunch of Michael Stephan's low-poly freight cars. I really love those cars! They don't stand up to close inspection, but that's not the point. They're a great way to populate a large yard like Rigby without blowing up your GPU. And best of all, if you want, you can use them as individual cars in a train.

-- The Portland Terminal route is a freight-switching route. That said, it's not totally devoid of passenger traffic. In the real world, Amtrak's Downeaster runs from Boston to Portland, and there are plans to extend that service to Brunswick, Maine. Historically, privately owned passenger trains stopped serving the area before the time time frame of this route (1960s and beyond). There's only one station within the limits of the Portland Terminal route and it's right in the city. So without at least one other place to stop it's not feasible to run timetabled passenger trains, although there's nothing to stop you from doing so. I included the E7 because that's what used to run here when I was a kid and, in the absence of ready-made Amtrak equipment, I wanted to have something to be seen running on the route in AI mode. I'll leave it to your imagination to explain how a '50s-era passenger train gets to visit the modern-day city.

-- The load screen map only looks old. It's purely my artwork.

-- Donner Pass? Feather River? Let me finish this one first! There are a lot of good route candidates in the "mountain country" of the US, Canada and Europe, but they definitely lose their appeal without distant terrain. But stick around. Distant terrain will happen eventually, and I promise you'll get a long-haul route from me some day.

ricksan wrote:Michael Stephan's low-poly freight cars. I really love those cars!

Thank you! I'm amazed how these haven't caught on more and other developers creating similar assets. Those low-poly cars are a god send and do wonders to fill open mass voids in yards and sidings.

A new picture: "Midnight in Old Port."

(I like those cars )

another shot!

Loving it already ;)

another shot!

The livery variations are great.

New shots from the route released by RS.com:

some more: Fantastic!