US Commuter Railroads?

[TrainSimJack]

Is there anything for openrails that would allow running commuter service such as the Metra Trains that service Chicago and the surrounding suburbs?

[ZachBell4400]

The only route I can think of is a team route project that Eric, the admin, is leading - the CNW Chicago Route. It's a huge route totalling 11GB of data. Runs from Chicago to Rochelle, IL and also to Madison, WI. Eric's route comes with updates but he's asking for a donation for time spent on recreating the historical mainline from Chicago points west. Donations benefit the rail preservation community.

[eric]

Gee, thanks for the shameless plug.

Yes, the CNW Chicago is still available with all that. Track and signaling should be at 100%, but scenery is still a work in progress.

The reason it's so big is because of the photo terrtex that's possible with TSRE.

The new storefront and download location is at https://digitalrails.com/store

[Orbita]

There's also the Monon Route, which has the Chicagoland area, but that's set circa 1950's-1970's. I seem to remember seeing stations in the Chicagoland portion, such as Joliet, Aurora, etc.

I guess maybe Metra wouldn't look way too out of place for that route.

[marklester01]

I'd gone to the site, but a Warning comes up that it's not safe & such. Thought I let you know.

[rdayt]

It's an HTTP site.
Been around for years.
It's safe.

Randy

[CivilEng]

If you have interest in commuter service beyond Chicago, both Metrolink and Coaster run on the tracks modeled in the Surfliner 2.3 route.

[eric]

It's an HTTP site.
Been around for years.
It's safe.

Randy

To be fair, the secure side of the site had been with Gumroad and Blogger up until recently, which provided black padlock security.

In the past two weeks, I moved it to a new web host. Fortunately my new web host allows for installing the shopping cart software that works with PayPal.

I just couldn't justify letting Gumroad take up to 10% of the donations anymore, and that knocked the site into the red padlock.

I'd gone to the site, but a Warning comes up that it's not safe & such. Thought I let you know.

Oh, I knew. The red padlock lets people know a site is using self-signed certificate versus a Certificate Authority issued cert. Since we don't store personally identifiying information or payment information, it's a manageable risk.

And... I now have a black padlock thanks to an organization called LetsEncrypt and the CertBot application.

TrainSimJack had pointed me towards LetsEncrypt a couple weeks back, and I hadn't had time to give it a whirl until tonight.

And, it worked.... Black padlock! Free!

Ken Plaza would be proud..... he really loved his padlocks. And he loved his Metra commuter trains, too.

[TrainSimJack]

Look what I've started here!

Dumb question but I've never used OpenRails, is the only thing needed the openrails download + the route, or are there other things needed (ie MSTS, rolling stock, etc)

- Jack

[eric]

It's both?

Go to the file library, and search out the link for the OpenRails Starter Route.

For ORTS: The BNSF Scenic Route is a starter route for those looking to explore the world of Open Rails. This package is a complete route with locomotives, rolling stock, and activities to get you started. If you do not have Open Rails installed, it is included with this software and will installed at the same time. By OpenRails And TrainSimulations.net

The self-contained bundle that will get you the application installer plus a complete route with equipment.

From there, you can add other routes and equipment from either freeware or third parties.

Or, if you're comfortable enough with doing the Lego set approach, install the application and pick out some MSTS content.

[TrainSimJack]

To be clear, I was asking specifically about the CNW route discussed in this thread.

Can that be installed with vanilla open rails + the CNW route, or would an interested person need to download other things from other places?

Thanks!

[eric]

Ah....

CNW Chicago works with any version of ORTS + ScaleRail + ScaleRoads, and then the route.

The CNW route itself has a number of downloads that are available after purchasing. Start with the Instructions. TSection 57g or higher is requried.

One of these days it will get an installer. Until then, the instructions seem to work for those who've already installed it.

-----------------------

As for what to run on it.... that's your call and there's lots of items in the free library that work OK.

I prefer running the paid BLW CNW set, which has ratty F9's and the yellow & green Pullman gallery cars, but there are some reskins here for Metra era coaches and F40's. I also did a reskin of one of the BLW E9's so that I have an equally ratty E9 to run.

One of these days I'll upload my F40PH reskin against the Streamlines/TrainSimulations F40 from their Amtrak set. I've got renumbers for a good number of the locomotive fleet in the 2000's blue.

.

[TrainSimJack]

This is an area I think openrails could use some help with - as an outsider, I'm not familiar with any of the items you mentioned.

TSection 57g - what is that and were can I buy it?
Same for the Paid BLW CNW site - where do we get those?

[eric]

ORTS is more of a Lego set than Run8 or TSW, but that's part of the attraction for some of us.

TSection is the global definition for track geometry. There's nothing to buy -- what's included in the starter routes for OpenRails is backward compatible with most routes. I created some new track sections that extend the Scalerail system, and they're included in version 57g, which not everyone may have. That's included and simply needs to be copied over to your existing Global subfolder in the OpenRails folder.

It's all covered in the instructions, and yes, ideally an installer should eventually be able to handle versus expecting people to know the inner workings like this.


Search the file library here for BLW CNW and you'll find a link to their CNW pack. It's old-school equipment like Alco C425's and EMD F7's, and some good ancient looking freight cars.

The CNW freight set from TrainSimulations is nice too, but they're more 1990's vintage, and I'm more into the 70's.

BLW's full catalog of offerings are found at http://valleypass.com and TrainSimulations is at https://trainsimulations.net