Activities in the BR Blue/Grey Era

pauljscott2003 · Post by **pauljscott2003** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:09 pm

Hi Group,

I have been tinkering with the AE and after creating various small test activities now feel confident enough to have a bash at creating activities to upload to UKTS.

Personally I enjoyed the early 1980's BR Blue/Grey Era when Class 40's and 25's were the mainstay of a lot of traffic in the North West.

What I would like to know is which routes members would like to see BR Blue/Grey activities created for. I have downloaded practically all UK routes from UKTS and am willing to spend time creating activities for others to enjoy. The activites would involve a (hopefully small) series of downloads, however I intend to keep a standard set of stock used in each activity, therefore keeping downloads to a minimum (Yes I'm still on 56K too!)

Kind regards,

Paul.

Neptune50006 · Post by **Neptune50006** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:24 pm

The Cambrian would be good

117305 · Post by **117305** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:36 pm

bala hub 4 would be nice yes i know it never had bng on for real but in msts anything is possible and you could do a activity in 2 parts part 1 the cambrain and part 2 on bala hub4 oh and the smjr would be nice as well

pauljscott2003 · Post by **pauljscott2003** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:02 pm

117305 wrote:bala hub 4 would be nice yes i know it never had bng on for real but in msts anything is possible and you could do a activity in 2 parts part 1 the cambrain and part 2 on bala hub4 oh and the smjr would be nice as well

For now I'll concentrate on Bala Hub v4 (as I have just bought the CD and am in the middle of a Class 40 Summer Special from Ruabon-Barmouth) and the SMJR. Out of interest, the FPS dropped rapidly when leaving Ruabon with the Class 40 with no additional AI on screen. Oh, and I had to watch the length of the train on some passing loops!

Regards,

Paul.

45002 · Post by **45002** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 2:56 am

settle and carlisle would be good for a blue grey activty

phil45110 · Post by **phil45110** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 7:08 am

Thames Mersey, NWE 2, Woodhead ?

ash888 · Post by **ash888** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 9:12 am

I would welcome some activitys for the Modern England route based on operations in the 80's

. For example i would like a BR Blue Class 46 "Peak" or a Class 37 Hauling mk1 coaches from London Kings Cross to Manchester or all the way to Amersham or you could run the train all the way to Cardiff as well. If you wanted to keep downloads to a minimum. There are the BR Blue Mk1 coaches that are included with the class 50 update for MSTS and also you could use this loco as an AI traffic train. But as for freight activitys there are some cracking BR wagons from the 80's era that you could also use for your activitys too

. Personally i don't mind which trains you use in the activitys because i nearly have all the modern stock from uktrasim myself

. Also if you plan to make HST activitys - may i suggest using dave babb's BR Blue HST125 for the activitys as that is a cracking train and it has an Interior and Passenger view too. Also if you have kenji kimura's class 43 cabview - that really looks the part for HST125's and it don't use parts derived from the acela/dash 9 cabviews either

. Also dave's version of the HST125 in BR Blue has not been used in many activitys of this period either and certainly not in Modern England too

. I am also making activitys for the Modern England route myself too but i am mostly covering the late 90's/2000's era at the moment though

. I hope i have gave you some ideas and inspiration for your activitys. If there is any advice you are after for custom train/traffic path making etc. Just let me know

. I would be more than happy to help you as most other folks here would do the same

. Also i wish you good luck with your activity making and i will be one of the first to download them when they arrive on ukts

.

Anyone remember those class 58's with large logo hauling HAA's around in the 80's ? hint hint

cheers

pauljscott2003 · Post by **pauljscott2003** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 10:58 am

Blimey, I never realised that this suggestion would attract good attention.

I am in the middle of a SMJ Class 25 Activity and will progress onto the other routes in good time. I prefer to test the activity to ensure all problem areas that may be encountered are covered.

Thanks for the inspiration, as I said there will (hopefully) be a standard download list which will be compatible for all activities that I plan to create.

Best Regards,

Paul.

spikeyorks · Post by **spikeyorks** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 11:10 am

Paul

What I would also suggest is that you do two or three activities on each route. If you keep changing routes each time then any gain you get from keeping the stock the same will be lost by downloaders possibly having to download the route as well. Also you can reuse Paths & Consists from one activity to the other easily enough.

The SMJ is a good place to start. Not only are there a good variety of start and finish points but you also get the joys (?) of working on a mainly single track route. Just make sure it is fully tested before you upload it and probably, for your first go, don't make the Activity too complicated.

Good luck.

pauljscott2003 · Post by **pauljscott2003** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 5:16 pm

David,

Your kind suggestions are welcomed. I have most UK routes that are available on UKTS however SMJ is as you say a good place to start. I have a basic activity already created, consisting of a Class 25 and a rake of Mark 1s. All that is needed is a scenario and loose consists with some AI to add authenticity.

Again as you suggested I shall create a small selection of activities in the Blue/Grey era for this route before moving on to others.

This is of course assuming that I will keep my sanity and not lose patience when MSTS decides to do the dirty!

Best Regards,

Paul.

Now then, where's that Rat gone!

ash888 · Post by **ash888** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 10:14 pm

Hi again Paul, I forgot to add to my last post so i will add it here. If you are making activitys using a batch of the same stock. Can i advise you on some tips for this ? From my experience in making activitys using BR stock how about having a total of around 10-15 downloads for the activitys for example if you make a loco-hauled passenger activity for the S&C or the FUDE route (i quoted these routes as examples) using a class 47 and some Mk1 coaches for the player train and if it is on a busy route - you could have about 5 or 6 BR blue loco's, 1 HST 125 set and for the AI dmu's you could have the BR Blue class 101 and BR Blue 117 for the local trains and many types of wagons for the freight train traffic you could use also in a freight activity too. Also here is a sample list using 10 downloads for an activity

.

Diesel Loco's
Class 25 in BR Blue (To be truthful i don't remember much about the class 25 as it did not operate in my area to my knowledge).
Class 46035 in BR Blue These locos are usually coupled to BR Mk1 coaches when working passenger services and mixed freight work when used on freight services too. (You can use van wagons, hoppers, and even container wagons for the particular train)
Class 37 in BR Blue - My favorite loco of the 80's (This loco was used on multiple duties so you could use just about anything with this classic loco

Class 43 HST Blue/White (High Speed Passenger duties

)
Class 47 BR Blue (These are oftern used on Cross Country duties even back in the 80's and Intermodal Freight work as well as the odd Coal Hopper workings too)
Class 56 BR Large Logo (This could be used on VEA van consist's and HAA Hopper trains as well as some Intermodal duties)
BR Mk1 coaches, If you wanted to keep downloads to a minimum - you could the ones that come with the class 50 update pack.
BR Railfreight VEA vans - these wagons are used to deliver many types of goods such as fish, funiture and other light goods from the 70's early 80's era.
BR HAA/HDA hopper waggons (These are hauled by mainly class 56's before the class 58 entered service in 1983).
BR Container Wagons (Hauled by class 37's ,47's and 56's).
Class 101 and 117 (Both of these dmus were a common sight on local trains during the early to mid 80's - I also remember the WM logo's on our examples in Birmingham)

You will probably want to increase the decrease the amount of downloads or change the trains above in my sample list. I know the BR Mk1 coaches in the update are not the best - but the reason i suggested these is because those on dial-up 56k will have fewer items to download. But if you wanted to - you could make a "Lite Version - Minimal download" and a "Full Version" that uses more downloaded stock. But i will leave those ideas up to you to decide

. Whatever trains and stock you use i will be looking forward to playing on your activitys in the near future

. All the best of luck with them and remember to save regularly because MSTS has servere mood swings

. And you wouldn't want to lose valuable work that you have spent hours on hours and then MSTS crys "Let's go home !" with the "ultra-annoying" send/don't send message and then having to start over again

.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Yuri

pauljscott2003 · Post by **pauljscott2003** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:57 am

Yuri,

Thanks for taking the trouble to give me (and hopefully others reading this) the advice.

I have my own idea of a stock list which is not too far away from the one you suggested. I have practically finished the SMJ Class 25 Passenger Activity (and may even do a screenshot in a busy area soon) and am adding loose consists and AI to add realism.

The scenario places you (the activity user) as a driver based on the SMJ, each activity (hopefully upto 5) will continue where the last one left off and will cover a day's duties on the SMJ. As I said, one set of stock will be used throughout all activities, which, depending on feedback will encourage me then to move onto other routes.

So, for all you SMJ enthusiasts that fancy whistling along (Class 40) or bashing the Rat (Class 25), standby!

Best Regards,

Paul.