Northeast Corridor Imminent

[RSAdam]

Hi Everyone

With the release of the Northeast Corridor for RailWorks2 and shortly Train Simulator 2012, what aspects of this historic, high speed, and diverse route are people looking forward to the most?

Regards
Adam

[SithMurcielago]

The Train Traffic. Hope to get some NJT & Septa Local Trains for the route soon. Can't wait nonetheless.

[MattW]

I'm looking most forward to handling the Regionals into and out of New York myself. I'll definitely have Acelas, and run them, but I find the most regular aspects of railroads to be the most fascinating personally.

[Kali]

The complaints

No, really all the best with this which I guess is a bit of a big deal strategically.

[styckx]

The desire for this route stems back to MSTS. I remember when it came out and I saw Philadelphia to Washington I was disapointed. Boring trip, boring station. (imo) I think someone finally made the other half but I gave up on MSTS before all that.

FFW years and years later I heard Trainz was going to have the NEC. Then saw it was from Philly to.. ... Wilmington Delaware. B.O.R.I.N.G. What is in Delaware???????

Thank god RSC knew what the real deal was. Philly to The Big Apple baby. I've lived near, and used this line all my life. This route closes the chapter that I though would never end since it began with msts.

The route is one of the ugliest and most chaotic in design and technology , yet in it lies the beauty. Marrying old technology with new. The history behind it is incredible. From Albert Eistein watching trains at Princeton Junction, speed records, the legendary GG1, to the tunnels entering New York and so much more. It isn't fancy, it isn't even really high-speed, but we made it work anyway.

[Toripony]

I am looking forward to timed passenger/communter runs on U.S. track and stations. That is one type of scenario where I drive U.K. trains, just to practice my timing, stopping and starting. It will be more fun for me to do that on US rails. Hope there's many stations!

And I'm looking forward to seeing a fully finished U.S. landscape similar to Oxford-Paddington.

I am NOT looking forward to seeing the decaying side of Philly, which the tracks go right through the middle of. I wonder how you'll scene that on the NEC? Acres of abandoned factories and buildings; blocks of "tent cities", with dwellings built from sticks, blue poly tarps and duct tape; the ground covered in litter, broken glass, and industrial debris. I remember about a mile of that view from my train window. I will be curious to see how this will be scened, but in real-life, it was a sad view.

[styckx]

I am going to take a wild guess and say it wasn't modeled like that.

But. You described the awfulness of that area to a T. That whole area is just a landfill people live in.

[Chessie8638]

Looking forward to the passenger ops and seeing the new assets (homes, buildings, signals, etc). Looking at the screenies, they'll come in handy.

Hope there's many stations!

About 23 of them between 30th Street and Penn.

[styckx]

I'm volleying a question back to Adam (or anyone on Team RSC)

Did you enjoy building it? Is there anything you learned, or things that intrigued you a bit when studying up on this route, that you had no idea or knew about before hand? Maybe something that made you a bit more into U.S. railroading then before you took on this giant task? I know I took a lot away studying "The UK way", curious about the other way around. :)

[philmoberg]

One of the first things that comes to mind is the real effort it takes to get a freight train through all that passenger traffic, with the added problem of reduced capacity due to track possessions by maintenance crews during the off-hours. Even if the big yards in the area (e.g. Greenville) are not included as such, the connecting trackage at the junctions would certainly offer the opportunity for some truly challenging scenarios. You might find it worth your while to download the Phase I and Phase II MAROps (Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study) reports, done by the I-95 Corridor Coalition, at this link:

http://www.i95coalition.org/i95/Project ... fault.aspx

While certainly not light reading, you'll come away from it with a much better sense of how the lower end of the NEC (NYP-WAS) functions and what the ongoing operational problems are. In my opinion, these are some of the best reports out there in terms of their thoroughness and readability.

...
I am NOT looking forward to seeing the decaying side of Philly, which the tracks go right through the middle of. ...

I remember when many of these were still operating in the late-50s and into the '60s, so I take your point. I also remember many of the adjacent streetcar suburbs having looked much better, as well. That said, I was certainly surprised to see some areas of the Corridor looking better than they have in decades. Aesthetically, the thing to remember is that most of the lineside infrastructure is as old as or older than much of the railroad, and that much of it is overgrown and well-weathered. Even where the neighborhoods are not impoverished, there generally has not been a lot of money available beyond basic maintenance. In general, there would be mature trees in areas where there would be sufficient space for them (in several of the old row-house areas, there is barely a token front yard, for example): desaturated colors and at least a skim coat of grunge.

Of course, from an operating standpoint, the traffic on this line is sufficiently dense that there won't be a whole lot of tie for sightseeing anyway ;) ... -Phil

(edit: to remove redundant phrase)

[styckx]

I think the point about the decay, and old infrastructure around the line isn't something anyone can fully understand unless they see it in person. Even the cab ride videos, and YouTube railfanning videos don't capture the "stuck in madmax time warp" feel the line has. I left those expectations at the door the day this was announced. Poor guys at rsc would be modeling a mile a month if they had to make it as bad as it is. Again, that is really part of the beauty of it. You are literally riding through history.

[micaelcorleone]

What I'm looking forward to the most:

- The first US payware route by RSC and finally some more US action

- Driving US passenger and commuter service and not only freight all the time

- And most of all: AMTRAK!

The route is one of the ugliest and most chaotic in design and technology , yet in it lies the beauty. Marrying old technology with new. The history behind it is incredible. From Albert Eistein watching trains at Princeton Junction, speed records, the legendary GG1, to the tunnels entering New York and so much more. It isn't fancy, it isn't even really high-speed, but we made it work anyway.

Couldn't agree more. Yes, it might not be that modern fancy stuff we have here in Europe and yes, it's not state of the art, but it's a down to earth route. It brings together modern computer tech and trains (Acela) and old classic stations and trains (AEM-7 and Amfleets). This route has such a great history. Together with Chicago the most interesting and classic US train location.

[BNSF650]

I just cant wait for RW 2012 and NEC..

[johnmckenzie]

Maybe something that made you a bit more into U.S. railroading then before...<snip>

Bill, I can't speak for RSC.com but I can speak for myself. I never really was into US railroads before Railworks came along. Only ever been to the US twice (1981 and 83), both times to visit family in Florida. In that time I only saw one train, a smallish consist hauled by an EMD SD or GP loco, don't know which. US railroads don't really feature in British railway magazines and the two or three US railroad books I received from relatives at various Christmases remained largely unread. What bits I did read related so very little to railway practice in the UK at that time that I didn't really go any further.

In 1979 my dad bought me some beautiful model trains. British ones were (and still are) bizarrely out of scale with the tracks - this was originally so that existing model motors would fit inside the smaller loading gauge locos here in the UK. My dad and I chose to model German railways instead. Fleischmann's and Arnold's models started me off with a love for German trains. There used to be a wonderful model shop at the time underneath Glasgow Central station, it specialised in continental models.

When Railworks came along the lure of both British and German routes and rolling stock made it an essential purchase, however to my surprise I found myself increasingly drawn to the Barstow to San Bernardino route. One by one I bought Rich Garber's routes, the G-trax steamers, and all of the RSC.com US addons!! Being somewhat of a hoarder, I still have the railroad books from my youth and when I dusted them off recently and strarted to read them I finally started to "get" US railroads. There's still so much I don't know which is frustrating, but the amount of helpful bits of information I'm finding out here are filling quite a few gaps in my knowledge. I read far more here than I post; I can't really contribute that much as I simply don't know that much about American practice.

Before Railworks I wasn't a fan. Now I most definitely am.

[Kali]

Heh I was somewhat similar, although I've had more exposure to US ( technically Canadian ) trains by virtue of quite a few trips when I was a wee nipper; that and my dad had a pile of books on US and colonial steam. RW made me aware of short lines though, and operating overweight trains with tired old engines on rough track is a challenge, and rather a lot of fun.

On the other hand continental trains have hardly ever been more than a passing interest; Chapelon, the original TEE VT 11 sets ( wasn't there a beautiful model of that made? ), swiss metre gauge, other than those I tend to just not feel any attraction.