Where's the MSTS 2 development team???

[bigvern]

Further thought re gradients, how many real world routes can you actually get profiles for? Even for the UK and Ireland it is a fairly hit and miss affair unless the route you're looking at is in the Ian Allan "Main Line" book or in a Middleton/Oakwood Press publication about the route (even then not guaranteed). When thoughts turn to modelling overseas prototypes the data is even harder if not impossible to track down. My Swedish route for MSTS (and the little Norwegian route I did for TRS and KRS) didn't have a gradient profile to work with, so I went as best guess.

So as long as there is some algorithm which restricts the gradient to a realistic angle it may be okay - then again most "main line" adhesion worked railways have a steepest gradient of around 1 in 35, but there are exceptions - the Flam branch in Norway is adhesion worked but with a maximum gradient of 1 in 18. Parts of the RhB in particular the Bernina Line are adhesion worked up to 1 in 16 or 1 in 17.

The other issue is how intelligent WOR will be when it comes to tunnels and bridges. Will it be clever enough to spot the BSW from Patchway to Severn Tunnel Jn descends into a steeply graded 4.5 mile tunnel under the River Severn or will it just level the track and put it on a bridge? Likewise, in the hills will WOR simply put a 1 in 18 RRT3 track up and over the summit of a mountain, where in reality the line goes through a tunnel approached via moderate grades (e.g. Settle & Carlisle).

All questions we hope Aces will be answering sooner rather than later!

[Signaller76]

I am rather worried of WOR using exessive amount of DEM data since SRTM mission didn't cover this area, thus every track will be rather flat. But good news is that in this country(Finland) track geometry and profile is considered as semi public information(that meaning you can get it by asking the Rail Administration).

[rabid]

I would expect the tracks to be fairly approximative. If I may suggest, perhaps a good indication is the road/rail detail in FSX. Although it is fairly accurate map-wise, the vertical displacement can be sometimes crude.