Midland Line: Aikens - Springfield Route released

[sbowness]

Lovely to see something from my corner of the world released:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1429 ... ute_AddOn/

Looking forward to giving this a go over the weekend. 4 years of painstaking work by a couple of Kiwis. Please enjoy one of the great railway journeys of the world.

[firefingersparry]

Having ridden the real thing a few years back when such travel was allowed it is a staggeringly beautiful line. Very much looking forward to playing it, hopefully it'll sell well and we'll get some more NZ DLC. An advanced NZR Ab class would be incredible.

[749006]

The extensive 74 page Manual can be downloaded here

https://store.steampowered.com/manual/1429753

[roballen555]

I would like to say its ok,,but i can't,,watch the vid on You Tube,,then make your own mind up,,looks Pre MSTS to me,,just watch the Vids.

[JohnM1945]

A word to the wise...

The 74pp manual is printed in white on black. Looks very smart, but... Printing it out without reversing the colours will cost MUCH ink.

John M

[peterfhayes]

Having travelled on that route (infrequently) for 3/4 years I keep wondering where the OTRIA tunnel is (in the main description on Steam). OTIRA, yes that would make sense. Plus it is AICKENS with a C!
The full route is from Greymouth to Christchurch - stunning with lots of mountain passes. The road journey used to be as equally spectacular through the Otira Gorge and Arthur's Pass, especially in the winter.

[sbowness]

It is indeed with a C. I copied and pasted that from Steam yesterday without noticing. It has been fixed up now.

It is spectacular whichever way you go. We drove from Timaru to Greymouth through Arthur's Pass in a campervan in November. Enjoyed every minute, particularly the close encounter with a couple of kea at Otira.

[peterfhayes]

Stephen
I was driving at West Coast Hospital Board Car home from Christchurch (back in the day), we stopped at Otira and yes a KEA tried to demolish the wipers and the windscreen rubber surround, and nearly succeeded. The hospital admin was not very pleased with the damage and said I shouldn't have stopped! I believe that the Otira Gorge Road has now been modernised - it used to be very hairy driving down in the winter (from CHCH) and meeting semi coming up from Greymouth with the passing places very icy! If the weather was really bad we would drive via the Lewis Pass as it was a little less icy - maybe!!

[sbowness]

Peter, you'd love the drive now. There has been quite a bit of work on the road over the years, most notably the viaduct at Otira.

One of our kea already had an o-ring of some kind to play with, so he was happy. The other was posing for some tourists and so was suitably distracted. There are notices all over the place to avoid feeding them specifically and interacting with them in general. They're my favourite birds.

[749006]

I would like to say its ok,,but i can't,,watch the vid on You Tube,,then make your own mind up,,looks Pre MSTS to me,,just watch the Vids.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae56Jjxh5ug

When it starts it seems to be the same texture all the way across the yard to the station

The Electric locos look nice but the rest does not inspire me.
But then I don't know the country so I have no point of reference to what it looked like

[pjduplooy2017]

TSNZ has posted a patch to this route and I quote from the PDF:

Why this Patch?

In order to bring the Midland Line to the commercial market, we had to make a few changes to the included rolling stock – namely removing all makers logos, branding, etc from the wagons, carriages and locomotives. We also had to take away cap badges from the Guards and Drivers.
It was strongly recommended we split the longer scenarios into smaller parts and that the ‘Tour’ we had originally planned to include was going to be too long.

This Patch

This patch reinstates all of the missing logos etc, as well as includes the original full-length scenarios and the Tour – which is a laid back trip along the entire length of the line with the DJ, giving you historical information as you go.

[RolandBP]

As it is part of Middle Earth from where I live I had to purchase it.
Having traveled on the line to Arthers Pass from Christchurch about 10 years ago, I have to say the route looks very much as I remember it.
The only thing I did not like was the colour of the Gorse bushes, which I found a bit "garish".
If you do not mind Single Line and Passing Loops, 45mph for passenger trains and 30mph for Goods Trains, it is IMO an excellent purchase for the scenery alone.

Roland.

[RolandBP]

I have been unable to get the tail lamps at the rear of the train to "Light".
I have tried all the normal things like "H" or just the lamp icon and read the manual.
To get the Headlight to work it must be done in the cab with the mouse on the appropriate switch.
There is no switch for the rear of the Train only for the rear of the Locomotive.

One strange thing I have noticed during the driving is vibration occurring, at times, on my desktop. It feels like one gets when using the Xbox Controller in some games.
I actually thought it was coming from my neighbour doing some renovations with a power tool, our flats are connected via a fire wall.
It was not from my neighbour, nor is my Xbox controller connected.

Roland.

[RolandBP]

One strange thing I have noticed during the driving is vibration occurring, at times, on my desktop. It feels like one gets when using the Xbox Controller in some games.
I actually thought it was coming from my neighbour doing some renovations with a power tool, our flats are connected via a fire wall.
It was not from my neighbour, nor is my Xbox controller connected.

Roland.

I believe I have the reason for the "Vibrations", well some of them anyway.
I noticed a couple of times the noise of the vibrations increased dramatically, when there was a prolonged hesitation in train movement.
So maybe the sound is being caused by my Graphics card "struggling"?
I will have to cut back on the graphic settings that were recommended in the manual.

[sbowness]

Roland

That's highly unusual. What are the vibrations like? Strong/weak? Fast/slow? Are you hearing noises at the same time? Do they sound like a device fan?