Shasta Route available

[PerryPlatypus]

Also conspicuously missing are the SB chicken feed trains between BN in Portland to Bakersfield (symbol BNBKG) Most of this traffic was pre-BNSF merger as BN really had no way into the CA central valley until the ex-ATSF lines got them closer. They would often run with a motley assembly of BN grain cars plus some privates mixed in (AEX Andersons, etc)

Thanks for the idea Kevin. My vision was and always has been to include a few other much more "conspicuously missing" albeit less common/non-daily train types such as Swift Roadrailers, Napa Valley-to-Roosevelt trash trains, unit sugar beets, etc. etc. in a future expansion. We simply can't fit *everything* in one product, it aint practical.

Your info is the only of its kind I've personally been able to find online detailing a unit grain train on this line in that era. I never saw evidence of it despite countless hours of reading and photograph searches across the web and through numerous books (which would naturally lead one to believe they must have been quite sporadic), so if you have any additional info on it including photos or video, please PM me that, much appreciated!


To the larger audience - I (and the others at TS) greatly appreciate the positive feedback and comments! They help us gauge whether our efforts to get certain details correct are recognized and therefore worthwhile. So thank you one and all

[trainlover2923]

My hat off to you guys. I almost bought the other Shasta route and now I am glad that I didn't. It was really worth the wait. And the sounds in the ttype man you nailed them. I have been waiting a long time for somebody to come up with some good sounds. Thank you for a really great route....and look forward to the expansion packs and what ever else you got cooking.

[jdgremsjr]

Your understanding is correct, this new Shasta Route is the next subdivision geographically south of Cascade Crossing. I'll toot my own horn and say that the representation of Klamath Falls in this new route is dramatically more accurate than the representation from Cascade Crossing. Not that that is surprising at all given CC's age

Yup the "Shasta Daylight" was an iconic train for this territory, and I have ran it on this route just for giggles. Although it is a bit dated in terms of textures, the SP Daylight set available on Valleypass / BLW works well and is probably the most accurate in terms of the passenger cars. 3DTS's Donner Pass Storm of 1952 expansion pack has decent PA's and some Daylight passenger cars, but the passenger cars aren't really the correct design if I recall...

An idea is forming in my head, of using the SP 4449 or the SP&S 700 to do an excursion activity from Eugene to at least Dunsmuir. over both routes. I know the SP 4449 ran through there in 1992 so I might look at the historic data see what I can come up with.

[uli2]

Sean, thanks a lot to you and the whole team at Trainsimulations for this add-on. Mullan Pass is excellent, but you have topped it. Shasta is the best route for Open Rails I have seen so far. The rendition of the landscape and the care for the many details along the route are exceptional. The route and the multitude of realistic looking rolling stock are very well worth the price.

Uli

[golden state]

To the larger audience - I (and the others at TS) greatly appreciate the positive feedback and comments! They help us gauge whether our efforts to get certain details correct are recognized and therefore worthwhile. So thank you one and all

Sean, you did a lot of great work on this route, and it shows. You guys at TS have really outdone yourselves with this product. Switch joint audio that plays every time a train rolls across a switch, having the AI trains blow their horns at the grade crossings, high quality locomotive sounds, highly detailed locomotives and cars, the old steam locomotive water standpipe at Black Butte. I was very impressed by your work on Mullan Pass, but this? This is an entirely new level. You can consider my mind officially blown away, I haven't stopped running the route since I bought it the day it was released.

[davidlk]

Ditto to all the above. This route is a great piece of work. Rolling stock and motive power alone are worth the $. Once again…Great job!

[pschlik]

I took a bit of time to mess with Shasta and some code changes I'm doing to Open Rails (making sure I'm not breaking anyone else's stuff in the process) and noticed that the main res capacity on the Shasta locomotives is really not good. Unfortunately, this is down to a mistake that's been in years worth of TrainSimulations content: All the locomotives attempt to specify the main res size using "ORTSAirBrakeMainresvolume ( 28.35ft^3 )"...which just doesn't work. Open Rails doesn't know what "ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume" is, you gotta use "AirBrakesMainResVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" or else the default main res volume of ~10.6 cubic feet is used, which is much smaller than you want (this is particularly devious as it harms both the main res size and the compressor pumping-a double whammy).

As for the code change, I'm working to add air flow meters to the sim (so maybe next time those AFM indicators in the cab can be functional), and these locomotives could use a real buff there too. The use of "ORTSBrakePipeChargingRate ( 19 )" results in only around 40-50 cubic feet per minute of air going to the brake pipe when American locos are generally capable of ~150 CFM at most. On the flip side, due to the tiny MRs this charging rate is actually too much for even 3 locomotives to handle. But if you guys can correct the main res volume, you'd also be able to increase the brake pipe charging rate to ~60 psi/s and get much quicker and more realistic brake charging performance.

On my end, I'm trying to get ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume added as an 'official' token in the code so that routes like Mullan and Seligman can be retroactively fixed, but that wouldn't do any good until version 1.6. However, since Shasta is fresh, it has a chance to be fixed outside of a code change.

Hope this helps folks understand how to set up your brakes.

[derekmorton]

They are not the only ones using it, I had 432 occurrences on my disk.

All changed

[niknak]

I took a bit of time to mess with Shasta and some code changes I'm doing to Open Rails (making sure I'm not breaking anyone else's stuff in the process) and noticed that the main res capacity on the Shasta locomotives is really not good. Unfortunately, this is down to a mistake that's been in years worth of TrainSimulations content: All the locomotives attempt to specify the main res size using "ORTSAirBrakeMainresvolume ( 28.35ft^3 )"...which just doesn't work. Open Rails doesn't know what "ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume" is, you gotta use "AirBrakesMainResVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" or else the default main res volume of ~10.6 cubic feet is used, which is much smaller than you want (this is particularly devious as it harms both the main res size and the compressor pumping-a double whammy).

As for the code change, I'm working to add air flow meters to the sim (so maybe next time those AFM indicators in the cab can be functional), and these locomotives could use a real buff there too. The use of "ORTSBrakePipeChargingRate ( 19 )" results in only around 40-50 cubic feet per minute of air going to the brake pipe when American locos are generally capable of ~150 CFM at most. On the flip side, due to the tiny MRs this charging rate is actually too much for even 3 locomotives to handle. But if you guys can correct the main res volume, you'd also be able to increase the brake pipe charging rate to ~60 psi/s and get much quicker and more realistic brake charging performance.

On my end, I'm trying to get ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume added as an 'official' token in the code so that routes like Mullan and Seligman can be retroactively fixed, but that wouldn't do any good until version 1.6. However, since Shasta is fresh, it has a chance to be fixed outside of a code change.

Hope this helps folks understand how to set up your brakes.

Many thanks for reminding me. I'd changed all my locos a while back when this was first pointed out but had forgotten to do the same for the Shasta locos when I recently downloaded the route.

Can you just confirm if it matters whether the final amended line now reads "AirBrakesMainResVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" or "AirBrakesMainresVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" (without the capital R in rev.) as your post above mentions the original ORTS line with both a small and capital r.

[dcarleton]

Open Rails doesn't know what "ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume" is, you gotta use "AirBrakesMainResVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )"

It's a simple enough change, but if we do that, then what happens if and when the ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume token is activated?

[pschlik]

Many thanks for reminding me. I'd changed all my locos a while back when this was first pointed out but had forgotten to do the same for the Shasta locos when I recently downloaded the route.

Can you just confirm if it matters whether the final amended line now reads "AirBrakesMainResVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" or "AirBrakesMainresVolume ( 28.35ft^3 )" (without the capital R in rev.) as your post above mentions the original ORTS line with both a small and capital r.

None of the engine/wagon tokens should be case sensitive (in fact, in the code they are all represented as lowercase), I just camel case differently to what TrainSimulations does.

It's a simple enough change, but if we do that, then what happens if and when the ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume token is activated?

If the OR team is willing to accept the addition of ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume, it would behave exactly the same as if AirBrakesMainResVolume was typed in. The only thing that would change is that engines still using ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume would suddenly gain realistically sized main reservoirs. I know there's often hesitation to make retroactive changes, but this one shouldn't break anything as bigger MRs makes driving easier.

[dcarleton]

Thank you for the quick reply. And if anyone is wondering, the adjustments he recommends really do make a dramatic difference.

[csantucci]

OR NewYear MG 144.1, downloadable from this page http://www.interazioni-educative.it/Downloads/index.php , accepts now also ORTSAirBrakeMainResVolume as token in .eng files. I have thought this small addition could be of interest.

[Jdark34]

also if you have broken couplers while a driving a train. i set my couplers to 5.8e7n 5.8e7n. my couplers never break while driving my train.

[R. Steele]

also if you have broken couplers while a driving a train. i set my couplers to 5.8e7n 5.8e7n. my couplers never break while driving my train.

All due respect ( after all it's your train-game/simulator setup you can run the sim however it pleases yourself ) but 58million newtons coupler strength ( 13,038,918 foot lbs of force ) is not even hardly realistic...this is for OR, not MSTS.

Please, anybody reading this, if you don't want broken couplers, then just uncheck Break Couplers ---- Options/Simulation tab. The couplers in the Shasta Route are set for Type E forces....Break ( 1868kN 1868kN ) and with proper train handling, you shouldn't break one.

The route is SUPERB, easily the best route yet created or OR....the team that made this route are certainly hitting their stride.