NS Pocahontas (Pokey 2.0)

[oper190]

Done Activities running Bluefield East River, onto Clinch Valley, and then onto Pokie, looping back down to Bluefield. Makes for along day. Look foreword to the updated route.

[shadowmane]

I climbed a coal train out of one of the coal yards last night. 120 coal hoppers and 8 ES4400's with no helpers. The toughest grade was a little over 2% and dropped me down to about 16 mph. It made it over, then it was dynamic breaks down the other side. I had to stop for the night to go to bed. Since it wasn't an activity, I just closed the game. It was a fun slog.

[kennyeaton]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the feedback on Norfolk and Western's Pokey 2.0.

Shadowmane, go ahead and add Hawk's update. It will improve it a lot. Keep in mind that once I get finished with 2.0 it will not be an update to what you have just downloaded. It's stand alone and won't run in MSTS.

Now, I did not change any of the trackage in the route. Having been a conductor on the Pokey for 20 years, I can say that Austin did a really good job with the grades of the tracks, very accurate. Coal was king on the Pokey going east and west on the main line between Williamson and Bluefield. I'll give y'all some examples of the train makeups.

Williamson to Bluefield: (using SD40's and SD45's)

Coal and grain trains east out of Williamson were usually 126 to 130 loads with 3 SDs on the head end. Drag this train to the east end of Farm and wait for the pusher. A 4-unit SD pusher will get you over Elkhorn and through Bluefield yard.

Freight's east out of Williamson mixed or unit trains of auto racks were usually of a tonnage rating that does not require a pusher were 6,500 to 7,000 tons. These trains without the pusher will go up Elkhorn around the same speed that a coal train with a pusher. 14 to 17 mph.

Westbound trains were unlimited tonnage. However, coal didn't travel from Bluefield west very often and back in the day when it did, maybe 35 to 40 loads down Elkhorn. Now, back in my day, I have started out of Bluefield with units and a caboose to start picking up west loads at Eckman yard and a few other places and end up leaving Auville with anywhere from 200 to 220 loads into Williamson.

The branch lines:

Rule of thumb, empties go up the holler and the loads come down the holler.

Hope this helps y'all learning the route. Holler at me if you have any questions.

Have fun.
Kenny

[R. Steele]

Hope this helps y'all learning the route. Holler at me if you have any questions.

Good stuff, Kenny, pokey is one of my favorites....thanks. ThumbsUp_Big.jpg

[shadowmane]

Are you going to release this with any activities and rolling stock? I don't have the payware NS stuff. I have found some pretty good recent N&W stuff here to use with it. Back 10 years ago, I ran steam on Pokey 1.0. That was fun.

[R. Steele]

Rough estimate -- more than 30 activities in the file library for the pokey.

Also a template from Skyline Computing >>> http://www.skylinecomputing.com/templates2.htm

I did not change any of the trackage in the route

<<< no track changes -- so I'm gonna assume all the the activities and templates will work on the new route. If I remember correctly the templates do not need payware stuff and neither do most of the activities.

[kennyeaton]

Are you going to release this with any activities and rolling stock? I don't have the payware NS stuff. I have found some pretty good recent N&W stuff here to use with it. Back 10 years ago, I ran steam on Pokey 1.0. That was fun.

I am not going to include any activities with the route. I wil leave all the paths in it. I have downloaded so many pieces of rolling stock in the last 15 to 20 years I wouldn't know where to begin listing everything you would need for the 20+ activities I have made. A lot of the rolling stock I have repainted to Norfolk and Western and have not uploaded any of it to the library.

Kenny

[oper190]

I would take it then that any activities you already have for Pokey could simply be copied over, Activity, Path, Service, and Traffic folders. Awesome!

[kennyeaton]

Rough estimate -- more than 30 activities in the file library for the pokey.

Also a template from Skyline Computing >>> http://www.skylinecomputing.com/templates2.htm

<<< no track changes -- so I'm gonna assume all the the activities and templates will work on the new route. If I remember correctly the templates do not need payware stuff and neither do most of the activities.

No track changes Mr. Steele. However, I have re-worked some highway and dirt roads.

Most all of the activities I created were pretty simple. Make a starting spot for the player and then on the opposite end, I fire off the traffic spaced out about every 20 minutes +/-. Now, if the player path and the traffic path are using the numerous cross overs, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure out the timing of the meet. Thats what I miss about the activity editor in MSTS. "The Worms"

Kenny

[R. Steele]

No track changes Mr. Steele.

Good to know Mr. Eaton ( just returning the courteous formality --- but I'll answer to "old guy in hat" or Bub --- what my best friend aka wife uses --- best is Gerry 😉 ) -- so the numerous activities in the file library will work...usually there is some path work --- mismatches between Open Rails and MSTS sims --- how loose consists are placed, etc.

Using the Activity Generator ( Skyline Computing -- post #21 ) and the information Mr. Eaton posted ( post #18 ) I made an eastbound coal drag activity from Williamson to Bluefield yards, with pushers picked up at Farm. About 500 pieces of equipment placed in yards and sidings...also 11 AI traffic trains were placed in activity. So far it is running nicely.

Of course, there is a workorder, but that can be ignored if you are just using the activity generator to make an mainline activity and place loose consists.

[kennyeaton]

2.0 Update,

Still painting the summer terrtex. The included photos will give you an idea of what the mine areas will look like. This is at Chislom which is at the "head of the holler", left hand fork of Freeburn Branch.

2024-04-14 05-04-27.jpg

2024-04-14 05-06-39.jpg

2024-04-14 05-05-42.jpg

2024-04-14 05-04-43.jpg

Kenny

[spoony1999]

Looks great

[landnrailroader]

I have done the tracks for a more complete version of the Clinch Valley route which goes as far southwest as Norton and also includes part of the Southern lines in the Norton/Big Stone Gap area. Being 85 and having good health but who knows - I gave it to Kenny as he seems to love to flagellate himself-- cackle, cackle. I have been unable to get MSTS to load on my Win-10 machine and without that RouteRiter does not work but I still have it on my slow poke, not connected to the internet, Win-XP machine. In compressing routes I never considered actually shrinking files, rather just deleting any unused material. That 9G plus route might be reduced that way but if there are 9G of .ace files it is pretty much fixed as to size.

[kennyeaton]

Just an update on the progress of Pokey 2.0.

I may have about 35 to 40 miles left to finish up. Started at the extream west end and working east. Currently working in the Welch area. Here are a few screens of the progress.

Kenny


Matewan

Matewan_01.jpg Matewan_02.jpg Matewan_03.jpg

Delorme

Delorme_01.jpg Delorme_02.jpg

Panther

Panther_01.jpg Panther_02.jpg

Iaeger

Iaeger_01.jpg Iaeger_02.jpg Iaeger_03.jpg Iaeger_04.jpg Iaeger_05.jpg

Roderfield

Roderfield_01.jpg Roderfield_02.jpg

Davy

Davy_01.jpg Davy_02.jpg

Welch

Welch_01.jpg Welch_02.jpg Welch_03.jpg

Big Four

Big Four_01.jpg Big Four_02.jpg Big Four_03.jpg

Kimball

Kimball_01.jpg Kimball_02.jpg Kimball_03.jpg

[Snowman]

Looks awesome!