Best Download Route.

[dkingsburg]

What is the Best USA Downloadable Route that is Suitable for Open Rails?
DaveK

[rdayt]

The Monon.

http://mononrr.com/

Randy

[Orbita]

I personally recommend the PRR Eastern Region v2 and the Long Island Railroad. Both are here in the file library.

[R. Steele]

I dunno know about the word "Best" -- too subjective -- best how? best for what type of work - yard or mainline?

So here's my list of worthwhile downloadable routes ( all in the TS library ) -- in no particular order.

Any of Paul Charland's routes, especially the most recently released versions.

Pacific Surfliner

CN Blackfoot

Horseshoe Curve

North Coast Railroad v3.2

The LIRR ( Vince Cockeram )

The London & Port Stanley ( Wayne Campbell )

...and of the course, the aforementioned Monon

Note, I've left out some very worthy routes from other continents. ( all the routes above are North American )

[dgionet]

You can add the 5 excellent routes for the Milwaukee Road Routes done by Jerry Sullivan and partners (RMD_EAST, RMD_WEST, The Gap and both MILWCOAST1 & 2 routes. The total 5 are a continous run between Harlowton MT and Seattle-Tacoma WA. Good on both MSTS and OR but better to run on Open Rails. Even the Extension with the GAP route by Peter Olasz is excellent, reaching Spokane.

Among the best for me.

Denis

[ngc427]

The Rio Grande Southern has a soft spot for me. It's especially fun when combined with the backdated Cumbres & Toltec and Durango & Silverton routes, also available in the file library.

[CSRX]

Personally, anything from Paul Charland is fantastic. His Dominion Atlantic route and Conn River Route are two of my all time favorites.
You also have some awesome ATSF/BNSF "Transcon" routes in the library, with a simple terrain.ace swap with that from Trainsimulations Seligman Route, it enhanced it by a lot.
CN Blackfoot Route is pretty great.
GN Hi Line route is also a good one to have.
Marias Pass v5 is an excellent one too if you can ignore some of the flaws.

Cima Sub is another good one too if you like desert running.
Any of the MILW routes are great as well!

[jdgremsjr]

I may be all wet, because the two route, I'm about the mention were built for MSTS but still hold up well today in Open Rails, they are both fun and imaginative, They are Sea View 5, and The Full Bucket Line. Both are old but they have stood the test of time.

[ChandlerBranchRailfan]

PRR Eastern Region if you're up for PRR, but Penn Central, Conrail, and Norfolk Southern stuff will fit right in and so will Amtrak, NJT, SEPTA, and other appropriate railroads.

[stlsf4003]

I may be all wet, because the two route, I'm about the mention were built for MSTS but still hold up well today in Open Rails, they are both fun and imaginative, They are Sea View 5, and The Full Bucket Line. Both are old but they have stood the test of time.

Problem with the Full Bucket line is that I think it requires a few assets from MSTS, and as such if you load up the route, it'll be incomplete. Lets face facts here, not everyone is going to have MSTS in this day and age.

[CSXT Q-317]

Problem with the Full Bucket line is that I think it requires a few assets from MSTS, and as such if you load up the route, it'll be incomplete. Lets face facts here, not everyone is going to have MSTS in this day and age.

You can still find the CD's dirt cheap. However, getting them to run on newer PC's might be an issue. A couple of years ago I had to buy new CD's and ended up having to open file explorer to grab the ISO and load mount it to run it. It ran fine that way. You then have all the MSTS stuff that most older routes require.

I would recommend backing up that ISO in case you ever need it again.

Quite possibly the smartest back up I have ever done.

[eric]

I've got an ISO copy of my original CD's in DropBox that I pull down and mount as needed. One of these days, perhaps Kuju will allow that to be stored somewhere.

Or... you can spend $14 on Amazon for a disposable USB CD/DVD drive (which has come in handly lately... I bought three CD's of reference material for my UP Gila do-over).

I'm one of the few old timers left who never loaded up the Bucket or Sea View. Just not my thing, but glad people still enjoy them.

[motormaster532]

That is very subjective,but here are my choices Cajon Pass 4,Surfliner 2,Paul Charlands' Dominion Atlantic and Boston and Maine series and the Richmond,Fredericksburg and Potomac. There are MANY MANY more,but I put in the ones' that would have the best graphics. I also limited it to Freeware Routes. If interested I could later give you the best of payware. Brian

[rt35ge]

I dunno know about the word "Best" -- too subjective -- best how? best for what type of work - yard or mainline?

So here's my list of worthwhile downloadable routes ( all in the TS library ) -- in no particular order.

Any of Paul Charland's routes, especially the most recently released versions.

Pacific Surfliner

CN Blackfoot

Horseshoe Curve

North Coast Railroad v3.2

The LIRR ( Vince Cockeram )

The London & Port Stanley ( Wayne Campbell )

...and of the course, the aforementioned Monon

Note, I've left out some very worthy routes from other continents. ( all the routes above are North American )

If that Horseshoe Curve is the one by Austin Yoder, and didn't get reworked, you'll need a high end computer to run it. The Readme clearly states that. (a key item I overlooked!) When I downloaded it, I had a POS E-Machines computer! Wouldn't even load.

[spoony1999]

If that Horseshoe Curve is the one by Austin Yoder, and didn't get reworked, you'll need a high end computer to run it. The Readme clearly states that. (a key item I overlooked!) When I downloaded it, I had a POS E-Machines computer! Wouldn't even load.

I can run Austin Yoder's Horseshoe just fine on my average desktop. Mullan Pass also runs great, but the PRR Eastern V2 kicks the crap out of my computer. I get constant stuttering with 30-40 FPS