The U.S. focus

[Ooveecouk]

Hiya. For those who don't know I'm getting this out in the front.

I'm 100% American. Born and raised in Woodbury New Jersey. Sister city of Bury England and can see the lights of Philly from where I live. I've never stepped a single foot out of this country.

Now saying that it is a bit disheartening to randomly see posts on the borderline (I stress "borderline") putting us down like we should be an after thought in RSC development.

Now, being as I like to be as honest as humanly possible, I will admit I didn't like when Railworks first came out how it was uk stock after uk stock after uk stock and all we got were SD40-2 repaints. You see though something funny happened, I started playing with the UK stock. I mean, before Railworks all I knew of UK railroading was Thomas The Tank engine and..... Well... That was about it really. FFW 2 years and I'm probably equally as educated in UK railroading as I am U.S. railroading. I'm a huge fan of both. I've spent many many hours worth of time reading the history of a lot your trains, and railroading history. In turn bought so many addons from RSC, Just Trains, Unmentionable, and Oovee, Aph and others.

So. I'm not asking all the "RSC are cramming American product down our throats" people to become mega fans of U.S. railroading. Just understand, like I did with your railroading, American trains can, will, and do appeal to more people than just Americans. Yes RSC are focusing some attention on us right now but please understand we have gone a long time with no consistent focus at all. Germany, Japan, Russia, etc etc are worse off. I'm not particularly a fan of German railroading as much as I've tried to be but when a German release gets put out I understand the need for it.

So please can the anti U.S. comments chill a bit? I realize I'm on a UK board but being a fan of railroading shouldn't have boundaries and to those who have looked at HSC and the NEC and learned a bit, and maybe appreciated our network a bit, I think it is really cool.

We have recently invested in a project outside of the UK, a loco that resides at the OERM. I'm personally looking forward to starting it and will be at home on the HSC.

- Zane.

[AndiS]

Time and time again, I read about nonsense said in some thread that I did not read. The great things with forums is that the due clarification of the reasonable point of view of the sane majority gets more exposure than those who upset someone by something. An important precondition is to read weigh the arguments, not just count the posts, or get upset by single ones.

For me, it is totally clear that payware setups will need to look outside the UK rather sooner than later. A large part of the spectrum will be done pretty soon. The next country must be the US.

Being Austrian, I have no idea about UK nor US, beyond what I read on the forums and on the web. Both railway systems are equally totally strange to me. Still, I hate or attack no one for that fact. Instead, I find it fun to learn about new stuff, and if I don't, I don't get kicked out here for being a failure.

[radu1972]

I didn't know this was an issue, it should not be, but then again I wish I had time to read all the posts.
American trains definitely do appeal to more people than just Americans and in fact a lot, if not all of the modern electric power on NEC is formed of Americanized European designs from Sweden (AEM7), Germany (NJT newest electrics) and France (TGV-Acela)!

[Griphos]

Yeah, I read those comments. Didn't bother me though. But I can say that I'm thrilled with the US content I've been running so far. I LOVE the Pennsy, but I find myself drawn to the BNSF routes in CA since I've gotten 2012. Too much fun, and they leave this old HO scaler with a big smile on my face. I second the notion of a D&RGW though! What a great route that would be!

It's also working the other way for me. As a long time MRR hobbiest with several HO US prototypes built in the past, and an old MSTSer, RW and its UK focus is new for me, and I've found exploring the trains of the UK to be great fun so far.

I know there's still a lot of angst over 2012, and understandably so, but I'm LOVING it so far. Dxtory's frame rate limiter (thanks for that tip guys) has my game running quite smoothly and the immersion and realism is stunning. I ordered a Raildriver, and I'm hooked on this sim!

[briyeo1950]

Derbyshire born and bread and never been out the county, hang on thats not true I went to Nottingham once Railway interest to me is the railways of my childhood, 1950's/1960's UK Midland area. I find it hard to be interested in railways from other countries because its social history that grabs me as well as railway history, but having said that 1950's US could tempt me. All I know of US railways is what I have seen on TV and movies.
I have purchased the Horse Shoe Curve route and making my own free roam scenario earlier today ( what line am I suppose to be on out of the four?) But I was a little disappointed at some aspects of the route. The stations look very bare and plain, no station buildings of any note, is that what they were like?
I used to have a very good US vintage railway photo database bookmarked but managed to lose it, I wouldn't mind if someone could provide links to period US railway websites of interest so I could get more of a feel for it.

If we do get an influx of US locos and steam locos in particular, how am I going to get them through the tunnels?

[BenBlairL]

Am I the only one that thinks the Coronation looks good with the headlight and bell?

[jimmyshand]

My railway interest is born out of nostalgia and remembering what was for me a heyday of BR blue locomotives in Scotland in the 1980's. I've tried but sorry guys, I've only got the hots for UK traction! I always get a warm sense of nostalgia and memories whenever I am around classic UK diesels, I look on them with awe and the childhood memories evoke genuine attachment to these engines. American or any other foreign trains just don't strike a chord with me and I look at them with no feeling or emotion whatsoever, they are just mere machines, alien and strange!! Seriously though, most rail enthusiasts are territorial, by that I mean they have a strong attachment to a particular type or era and anything outside that is of no interest at all. I remember as a kid when older enthusiasts would get all teary eyed and reminisce about steam. They had not even a passing interest in the class 37's that ruled the area I lived in. I strongly remember being perplexed that they did not share my love and awe of the mighty 37's and I wondered how on earth they could find anything interesting about those smelly old steam engines consigned to books and photographs! It was that early lesson that taught me we're all very different, even those with a seemingly shared agenda can have widely different and conflicting interests.

[donny]

I'm all for anything that gets more folk interested in the sim, it all helps towards future development which we ALL benefit from. I personally don't have much interest in the American stuff (although fancy the NEC for something different once the Acela's released and I get a decent graphics card) but acknoledge a great many more do.

[sundog]

English born and bred here boss, but I long ago lost interest in the home railway scene when I saw my first HO US locomotives. From buying my first model I just got more and more absorbed into the US railroad scene to the total neglect of what was going on here in the UK. The whole subject was so absorbing and new - and very often, but not always, to a huge scale. From the geography and the magnificent feats of engineering ranging from desert to mountain and swamp, the folklore is rich both in story and song.

Then came Railworks! And because of the lack of US content I guess I was dragged back to the home front - a scene which was more foreign despite being on my doorstep. I've so much enjoyed re-discovering what's been happening, and what's going on now, although I'm stuck in a late 50s to early 70s timewarp really. I guess it's because I feel more comfortable with the stuff I remember, and it's great to be able to recreate that atmosphere, but currently my interest swings between the US and the UK, covering about the same time period.

It goes without saying I've met some really great blokes through this sim and MSTS literally from all over the world, and share a hobby that's so absorbing. I've just got to bow down to Railworks and MSTS, because it's those sims that's given me the inspiration and chance to explore and then meet those guys. It's fantastic to be able to "virtually" visit other countries and sample what's going on railway-wise. OK, I might not stay there long, but at least I get an insight and a chance to discover something I might be missing out on.

Ken

[jimmyshand]

Continuing the theme of different strokes, when I'm not train-simming I have another very different hobby. For the last 20 years I've been surfing down here on the Atlantic shores of the far south west of England where I now live. It makes me laugh sometimes, you couldn't get 2 more opposite spectrum interests if you tried! Probably the coolest most awe inspiring sport in the world to one of the nerdiest hobbies around! Anyway, out in the surf there is also a conflict of interests between what would be considered to a casual observer, one and the same. I ride a high performance modern short surfboard, I suppose you could liken it to a Pendolino for example, out in the water too however are longboarders riding slow, cumbersome old fashioned boards that you could liken to steam engines! Now on the face of it we both have the same hobby but in reality the 2 sides hate each other. Shortboard riders are faster and slicker and can run circles around a longboarder but a longboard however can catch waves much further out than a shortboard because of their larger buoyancy. This means that by the time a wave reaches the shortboard takeoff zone there are already 10 plus longboarders up and riding, and so the war begins!! 2 very different hobbies, surfing and train-simming but there are remarkable similarities in the conflicts of interests within their usership!

[SuperTux]

Going off track a little (pun intended) I'd love to see Semmeringbahn bought to RW3, we should have the features now which should bring it fully to life, plus on the West Coast of America the Surfliner would be great too.

However, I know I'm missing some truly spectacular routes from other places of the world .

Matt

[jimmyshand]

Whilst we're on the subject of US railroads, seems a timely point to ask what on earth is the crack with the signals on Horseshoe Curve?? What the heck? Are they prototypical? Throughout a whole scenario I had no idea if I was clear to proceed or about to fuse faces with the driver of a tweny trillion ton freight coming the other way! All I could (barely) see on each signal was strange rows of grey dots and coupled with no AWS then I was an accident waiting to happen!! I guess they're in a manual somewhere but as a seasoned train-simmer I don't expect to struggle to understand or see signals, they're usually similar in nature globally and generically understandable, but not those on HSC!

If real US signalling is as poor as that then I won't be in any rush to hop aboard a train next time I'm stateside, there must be a crash a day with those things!

When I'm driving a UK train in RW, much as it is in real life, then it's literally a case of hurtling along looking for greens, ambers or reds and listening for AWS bells and reacting to AWS horns. Green for go, amber for caution and red for stop. Easy peasy even at 125mph, big shining coloured light you can see for miles, my 6 yr old daughter even gets it and can more or less drive a train safely! I genuinely had no idea what I was looking at signal-wise when trundling along at 40mph on the Horseshoe, what do those rows of hard to see dots mean?

[darkdj]

Not sure if this is off topic, but im down with seeing some African Railways.

Oh, launching across the plains with a Garratt (or even...gasp! a Union Garratt? ) would be fun...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... enbahn.jpg

Dark.

[Merlin75]

I'm afraid it seems that the signals on the HSC are correct for when this route was set and they are quite confuseing for us who have never seen anything like that before. But from what I've read on the net they are starting to change the signals across the US and they look abit more like we have in the UK. I'm sure those that know abit more about US railways can shed more light on the subject.

[jimmyshand]

I've thought of an interesting holiday (vacation) idea for our American friends who have developed a love of UK trains through Railworks. Come over to the UK and spend a couple of weeks visiting all the heritage railways and riding for real on all the different classes of loco that you see in Railworks! For those Americans that don't know, the UK is home to several dozen preserved railways (living museums if you like) that are run as tourist attractions and are home to just about every type of steam engine and diesel that ever existed and now live on forever privately owned in preservation for the public to enjoy. Wherever you go in England in particular, you are never more than 50 miles from a preserved railway. Where I live in Plymouth there is a small railway home to a few steamers, a class 37 and a class 50. 30 miles west in Cornwall is the Bodmin railway home to shed loads of steamers and diesel classes 33, 37, 47 and 50. 15 miles east of me is the South Devon Railway home to even more shed loads of steamers and diesel classes 20, 25, 33, 37 & 50!! I think it would make an awesome holiday to travel the UK and trying to score every type of diesel or steamer possible.