Atomic Systems

I am having fun with the mideast uk route but was wondering which parts are "fictional". I can't find any reference to the Houghton branch "in real life" (I have a 1977 Rail Atlas). Is this made up? Are other bits made up??

BB

The Peterborough area is the most fictional part, I believe.

Much of the Notts coalfield is 'fictionalised' in that many of the lines don't follow exact routes, many of the towns and collieries have been 'moved' a little for playability and simplicity - Notts was a massive mishmash of something like four or five major companies pre-group, and didn't change much after.
Lincoln only has one level crossing.
Some of the southern end is not prototypically accurate, but is pretty close.

Mid East is NOT an accurate route like SVR or Scottish Central, but it IS an enjoyable route to run trains on, with the flavour of the countryside in which it is set.

ME UK isn't accurrate but wasn't intended to be.

I read much about accurracy but there's no law that says any MSTS routes should be We've simply grown to expect it.

It's a bit old now and a the scenery is a bit sparse but it's popular and that's all that matters

Just to update you a little; the Houghton branch is one of those fictional parts put in to improve playability - it gave you somewhere to go with a freight train, and somewhere for the oil for the Power Stations to come from. In reality it's too far from the coast for a real refinery.
I can't be sure about Grafton PS and the quarry at the far end of the NVR (though I think they're fictional, too for similar reasons) as my memory of the area isn't that accurate.

All you need to do is suspend reality for a bit, and let your imagination take over. Treat it as a 'how it might have looked if things had been different' route... It's still great fun to drive.

I think there was/is a Grafton power station but don't think it was rail linked, and there was quite an extensive private quarry beyond the NVR, with many industrial locos, although I doubt much, if any, exists today.

Interesting - I wonder how the power station got its fuel? Rail is the only feasible way of supplying a reasonable sized place. Whatever the truth of it is, MidEast remains a great playable route.

I think it might have closed about 25 years ago, so was presumably supplied by roal from a local colliery, and was replaced by the modern power stations in the area.

Regarding Houghton Oil Refinery, it makes a good shuttle run as well, but I've always thought an opportunity was missed by not extending MEUK to Doncaster or Immingham, giving excellent activity opportunities. Still, I've found it's possible to create a sequence of activities around Worksop in the modern era which would take half a day to do!

I've spent most time on the northern sections, just because there is more interest. Bombing up the ECML can be fun, but engineering and coal trains at the northen end are much more challenging.

On the subject of extending Mideast to Doncaster/Immingham, I am sure I recently saw a screenshot of Kings Cross but I can't think where. Does anyone know if such an extension has been done? Or am I losing it?

The KX extension is version 1.2 which should be on the mideast cd

Yep- the 1.2 update, available on this site, extend to King's Cross. There's also a 1.3 patch that's worth getting, which includes some trackwork improvements.

P.S. I don't think the scenery in Mideast is sparse at all- I think it looks really good. It manages to keep FPS impressively low as well. In fact, I think it's a very realistic route- the 'fictional' nature of it is overstated. It's only the middle bit (Sandy to Grantham and branches), that really stands out as 'unrealistic', but that's to be expected as it was made so early in the days of MSTS. It's a superb route, really, I can't think of many I've got more use out of.

When Mid East was started it was such early days people wanted anything that was not the default junk. We were so grateful for something that evened even half like a UK railway no one cared that it might have been 'made up'.
Its many years later now, and people have much higher expectations. The fact that MidEast is still going strong is a real testiment to how good it was then.

I bought the cd last year but I've just looked at the case and it says 'Includes Patches to Version 1.3'
Does this mean that Kings Cross has been sat in my desk all this time?

Just answered my own question. Kings Cross has entered the building!

Who cares whether it's real or fictional? - After all this time and comparing with other more recent offerings, it's still a great route