Railworks America

I keep on forgetting to post this. I have released two Standard scenarios for the Montour version 3 route (public BETA 3)
This is the requirements;
Railworks Train Simulator 2012.
Montour Railworks V3 (Public Beta 3) Route. Found at RW America.
RSC SW1500 Pack
Rich Shirey's P&LE SW1500 Flex Coil Switchers (RW America Rich_S-PLE_SW1500_Flex-Coil)
Montour Cupola Caboose (RW America TVRRMAN-MTR_Cupola_Caboose )
NYC 55t + 70t Offset and 70t rib side Hoppers from Golden Age of Railroading.
PRR+PC Freight Pack Bundle from Golden Age of Railroading.

For most part, scenarios I generate for the Montour route will use these assets since this represents the actual rolling stock the Montour used back in the late 1970's.
I will eventualy add J.Cornell's GP38-2 and Richard S. P&LE GP38-2 repaint. There was one ocasion the P&LE tried using two GP38-2's to move coal from Westland Mine to Champion Coal prep plant.
Great place for reference on the Montour Railroad;
www.montourrr.com
Glenn

Great! Thanks for publishing scenarios.
I only install a route if there are scenarios for it.
I hope you will update them if needed, when the route is updated!

Also thanks for including RWA search strings in your readme.
This makes setting up so much easier.

I plan on keeping the scenarios up to date. I have a third in the making right now, just a little bit more editing and testing then I will release it too. I have a few more ideas on the note pad. I just have to sit down and go through how I want to set up the scenario. I am trying to keep the scenarios a realistic as possible for the route. There was no signal system, all train movments were governed by train orders, however there are certain things that were done by the Montour that we cannot duplicate. One is dutch drop a car off. The montour relied on certain aspects like grade elevation. One of the rules that applied that no locomotives were permitted under the loading tipples. Cars were shoved,pulled or drifted by car handlers. Railworks will not let drifing a car to happen. So the idea is to be able recreate operations that happened on the Montour within reason. The three I have created is/was based upon actual operations, depending on location and rules governed by the employee time table. For instance, all cars were shoved on the Library branch due to turn radious and track conditions. So on my second scenario (Mifflin_Montour 10) you have to use the Wye at Library junction to change the direction of the consist and back down the branch line. Same goes for picking up the loads.
As for the search strings I felt it would be better that way to help folks out in gathering the right equipment.

Glenn

I am working on a route diagram now for the Montour. Am almost done up to the Champion mine. Hope to have in done in a few weeks.

Trevor

glenn68 wrote: For instance, all cars were shoved on the Library branch due to turn radious and track conditions. So on my second scenario (Mifflin_Montour 10) you have to use the Wye at Library junction to change the direction of the consist and back down the branch line. Same goes for picking up the loads.
Glenn

Glenn,
First off, great job on the Westland Champion scenario, I'm going to be uploading some screen shots I took while running that scenario.

Now onto Library, It was my understanding engines were always kept on the east end of the trains on the Library Secondary track because of the steep grade down to Library. Keeping the engines on the east end prevented cars from running away. My understanding on how the MTR crews worked Library was to head down the secondary track engines first and pull into empty yard track 1. If there were too many cars to clear the west switch, you'd have to cut the train in half and leave room on the West end for the engines to clear the run around move. Once on the empty yard track 1, you would then use the cross-over switch just before the tipple and run around the cars, pull them west just far enough to clear the empty yard lead and start filling up the empty yard tracks. Repeat the above procedure if the cut of cars was longer than the empty yard track 1. Once all the cars are spotted in the empty yard, head east to the loaded yard. Toward the end of operations on the Library Secondary track they would only push 10 loads at a time up the grade to Library Jct. because of the steepness of the grade and poor track conditions. You could then place the loads on the West leg of the Library Wye track and head back to Library for more loads. When you had all of your loads at Library Jct. you'd back out onto the west bound main, clear the Library Jct. West leg Wye switch, then head back east on the main toward West Mifflin. Of course you would do the opposite if the loads were headed to Champion.

Regards,
Rich S.

Since the Mont did not have dynamics, the cost for brake shoes must have been a major expence! I did not realize that engines were not allowed under tipples. That is evidently why I got a failed drop at Miffen trk 1 and had to move and replace two loaded cars to get to the stop point.
By the way, what is the amp red line on the SW 1500? I was about 900 on some up grades.

Trevor,
There is some good maps of the Montour historical website if you need references;
www.montourrr.com and click on the maps link.
I hope to have the third scenario out in a couple of days, this is the return trip for the Mifflin-Montour 10 Scenario.
The next ideas I have are the following;
Working Champion. Switching local for Champion coal prep plant. This may be one of two scenarios. One just working the prep plant and the second will be switching out ALOE and mines west of Champion.
Working Montour 4. This could be interesting, Start off at Montour junction (Groveton) with empty consist and stop at Montour 4 but also pick up empties from PRR/PC interchange at Hills for Montour 10.
The local run, which would involve working industries from Groveton all the way down to Mifflin Junction. Pick up and drop off for various industries. Outside of the "Standard Assets" I make the Montour scenarios the rest will be default RW assets. Box cars, Tank Cars ect. This could be a long scenario.

Rich what do you think?

Glenn

glenn68 wrote: The next ideas I have are the following;
Working Champion. Switching local for Champion coal prep plant. This may be one of two scenarios. One just working the prep plant and the second will be switching out ALOE and mines west of Champion.
Working Montour 4. This could be interesting, Start off at Montour junction (Groveton) with empty consist and stop at Montour 4 but also pick up empties from PRR/PC interchange at Hills for Montour 10.
The local run, which would involve working industries from Groveton all the way down to Mifflin Junction. Pick up and drop off for various industries. Outside of the "Standard Assets" I make the Montour scenarios the rest will be default RW assets. Box cars, Tank Cars ect. This could be a long scenario.

Rich what do you think?

Glenn

Glenn,
Yes, you could start off at Champion by grabbing the cars left on the runner track from the Westland scenario, shove them up the shove-up track and split them between the new pocket and old pocket tracks. You could then head down to the prep plant and grab loads out of the loaded yard, using the runner shove them over to Boggs, then finish off the scenario by using empties left at Boggs to work Aloe, Solar and Russell mines.

A local scenario would also be pretty neat, but you may have to break it up into a couple of local scenario's. If I remember correctly, the cars for Brookside lumber and the tank cars for Profax Gas at Imperial always came off the P&WV / N&W at Southview. I'm pretty sure most of the cars for Kek, Richlyn machinery, Wicks and Nelson Industries came off the P&LE at Groveton. I'm not sure how active the company store was at Henderson after the mines closed at Muse and Henderson, but the tank cars and box cars for Chemical Solvents company at Muse went to the P&LE at Groveton. Hoppers and general freight were also interchanged at Hills with the PRR/PC/CR. Some of these cars may have also gone to Brookside Lumber, Richlyn machinery and Dow Chemical in Imperial. Also one last thing, when the crews went to Brookside Lumber, they would back the train to Library Jct. and then use the wye to turn the train for the trip back west to Groveton.

Regards,
Rich S.

I have already done a set of B&LE and P&LE Gons. Did a reletter of the default kuju Boxcar last nite into MTR it's a close version. I have only located 1 pic of a MTR box so far so if you have any please post them. What other rolling stock did they have besides Hoppers. I have been on most of the sites but pic of actual cars are hard to come by.

Shayfan1 wrote:I have already done a set of B&LE and P&LE Gons. Did a reletter of the default kuju Boxcar last nite into MTR it's a close version. I have only located 1 pic of a MTR box so far so if you have any please post them. What other rolling stock did they have besides Hoppers. I have been on most of the sites but pic of actual cars are hard to come by.

Hi Shayfan1
The majority of the Montour fleet was hopper cars. The 50' boxcars were part of the 1979 P&LE per diem fleet. As far as I know, they rarely saw service on the Montour. The Montour did own a few gondola, but these were old wood sided cars built in the early 1900's and removed from service in the 1930's. Just like the 50' boxcars, in 1979 various ex-P&LE gondolas were restenciled "MTR" and became part of the P&LE gondola per diem fleet. The Montour did own 16 flat cars, numbered 700 - 715, they were 33' 7" in length with a capacity of 80,000 lbs. I don't have any photos of these cars and I don't know when they were retired.

Regards,
Rich S.

Rich, do you have the latest Montour book advertised on their historical soceity website? Does it have any good pictures of their rollingstock? I've tried searching several websites for pictures of hoppers and such. They are scarce.

harryadkins wrote:Rich, do you have the latest Montour book advertised on their historical soceity website? Does it have any good pictures of their rollingstock? I've tried searching several websites for pictures of hoppers and such. They are scarce.

Hi Harry,
I have both of the Montour books written by Gene Schaeffer. The first book is the one you'll want to find, it deals with the history and the equipment of the Montour railroad. It also has quite a few pictures of the Montour's hoppers, cabooses and locomotives. The second book is also a very nice book on the Montour railroad, but it is more of a pictorial documentary of the railroad from one end to the other.

Cover of First Montour Book


Cover of Second Montour Book


The first book has a copyright date of 1997 and the second book has a copyright date of 2008. I did find a link on amazon that lists the first book for $56.84. Unfortunately it's the paperback version not the hard back version. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0964042525/ref=sr_1_1_up_1_pap_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344082298&sr=1-1&condition=used

Regards,
Rich S.

Thanks Rich. I would rather have the first book for my purposes. Hmmm, I wonder if my wife might consider a Labor Day gift exchange...

My third scenario for the Montour is now in the file library.
I have 2 more in BETA right now.

I spent all afternoon playing with this route and the scenarios. AWESOME!!



Buzz