The first release in our Ages of the Train range of scenario expansion packs for RailWorks Train Simulator features a selection of Goods Trains for the default Newcastle to York route from what many consider the classic Diesel and Electric era of British Rail.

The included scenarios are:

4C64 2135 Newcastle FLT - Stratford FLT. (1977)

6E32 2200 Clitheroe - Newcastle. (1980)

6M79 1610 Tyneside CFD - Toton. (1981)

6S69 1237 Ecclesfield - Grangemouth. (1982)

7L06 1356 Tyne Yard - York Up Arrival. (1985)

The scenarios feature a range (final list to be confirmed) of third party traction and rolling stock products for RailWorks along with default items.

Check back to this page to see the actual motive power and requirements when they're updated as the scenarios are completed.

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The first Maxi Pack add-on for RailWorks Train Simulator 2012 as part of Project East Coast is themed around the Motorail services, in particular 'The Night Capitals',  that regularly plied between London and Scotland via the East Coast Main Line.

Background

When British Rail introduced the Motorail brand in 1966 the idea of carrying passengers cars on the train with them was by no means a new one. Historically railway companies had constructed covered carriage trucks (CCT) for the transportation of (usually more wealthy) travellers coaches and later motor cars so they could use them at their destination. The GWR also ran a service carrying cars and their owners via the Severn Tunnel which continued after nationalisation until the opening of the Severn Bridge.

The key item in this Maxi Pack are the Newton Chambers built double deck car carriers. Built in 1961-2 they were a unique design and as such never really fitted in, even being given a E suffix to their numbers like pre-nationalisation rolling stock. Each vehicle could carry six cars with 4 being carried on the main deck and the remaining 2 in the well between the bogies, accessed by a hydraulic lift. The bodywork was unusual for rail vehicles being constructed of fibreglass, the ends of the vehicles were built with folding doors and loading ramps to allow vehicles to be driven through the train during loading. As non standard items of rolling stock the car carriers were remarkably long lived, with a number gaining ETH wiring and dual brakes before final withdrawl in 1987. In later years the lower well was taken out of use after a member of staff was allegedly fatally injured during loading operations. Occasionally the car carriers could be found working away from the Eastern Region.

The car carriers were paired in service with converted General Utility Vans (GUVs) with Motorail fixings to cater for larger vehicles that could not be accommodated by the car carriers. The GUV was one of the original designs of  non passenger carrying coaching stock (NPCCS) and carried on the traditions of earlier railway companies to provide a general purpose vehicle that could run in passenger trains carrying parcels, goods or road vehicles. In common with the car carriers the loading ramps could be lowered to allow vehicles to drive through the train, however a standard end loading dock could be used in the case of the GUV.

The Maxi Pack will also include additional items of rolling stock to allow the creation of prototype trains for the Project East Coast era to be formed including the car carriers.

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Our first route for RailWorks currently has a working title of FenRail and aims to bring some well known Fenland locations to RailWorks for the first time and should be available in the final quarter of 2010.

Overview

Set in 1980 FenRail is planned to run from Peterborough across the fens via March and Ely to Cambridge and will include the Fen Drayton branch. Key locations along the route along with the stations should include Whitemoor Yard and TMD, Chettisham Grainstore, Ely Sugarbeet Factory, Ely loop, Fen Drayton sand terminal and not forgetting the famously long single platform face at Cambridge with its scissors crossover.

At the present time we're also considering adding in an extra few miles of track taking in the GN&GE Joint Line from March to Spalding and back to Peterbrough via Werrington Junction. If time permits we may add some other pieces of track too...

There are also plans in the pipeline to include a piece of contemporary classic rolling stock to help bring the East Anglian experience to life.

We've chosen to set the route in 1980 as it fits well with our current stock building portfolio and makes for a more interesting experience throughout the area. Cambridge is still semaphore signalled as is the majority of the route to Ely where multiple signal boxes control the traffic including the myriad of junctions at Ely North. In the March area too semaphore signals still prevail with an odd colour light sneaking in here and there. The GN&GE is still open and home to both freight and passenger traffic. At Whitemoor the up hump is still open and the majority of track in the down yard is still in situ. Colour light signals and traditional gated level crossing abound across the fens to Peterborough where the fully modernised station and ECML contrast with what has been seen before.

In general the route will be more than happy (with a few concessions) seeing any traffic and scenarios from the early 1970s or before, right through until the wires came to Peterborough.

Get involved

We're more than happy for more people get involved in the development of this route and in return for 'substantial' assistance we'll be more than happy to let folks have a free copy. If you have a collection of photographs from the period, contemporary documents or plans, spend a lot of your time at one of the locations on the route and want to take digital photographs from every angle or have memories you'd like to share we'd love to hear from you via the contact us link in the first instance.

With this route and a few others about to begin production we still have a few spaces left for asset creators to feed the voracious appetite of the route builders. If you have experience of creating RailWorks assets in 3DS Max, 3D Canvas, Blender or Sketch-up and fancy joining this fast growing dynamic team while making yourself a bit of cash give us a shout via the contact us link.

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Our second route under development for RailWorks Train Simulator 2012 takes us firmly into the industrial heart of the country.

Set in the Stoke-on-Trent area in the 1970s this is no high speed passenger route but more the bread and butter of the railways: Coal Mines; Quarries and Power Stations with a supporting cast of remote yards and junctions, single track and some challenging gradients. Forget any ideas about breaking the speed record, with some very low line speeds, extreme gradients and unfitted trains the only thing you'll be worried about breaking is the string of wagons behind!

Route Overview

North Staffs Minerals covers the former lines of the North Staffordshire Railway as they were under British Rails Ownership in the 1970s.

The hub of the route is Stoke On Trent, headquarters of the Stoke Division of the London Midland Region, within Stoke are Stoke Yard, Cockshute Yard and Cockshute Holding Sidings, all local freight traffic originates from the two yards and serves the Collieries located along the former Biddulph Valley line and the North Staffs Colwich to Macclesfield Line.

Sand traffic is conveyed from British Industrial Sands quarry at Oakamoor Sidings on the former Leek Brook to Uttoxeter line and Stone traffic is loaded at Caldon Quarry on behalf of Tarmac, these two traffic flows enable the Milton Jcn to Leek Brook Jcn freight only line to remain open. Other freight flows are Iron Ore to Shelton Bar Steel Works, Gravel from Cheadle , Chemicals to Carless Solvents Sdgs Longport, L.P.G to Esso Sdgs Longport. Sundries traffic was handled by Stoke N.C.L depot, Stoke Glebe Street Goods and Longport Goods.

The Screenshots

It's still early days, but as you can see from the map the majority of track is in place.

Please Note: The images above are very much work in progress and may include scenery items that are being used as place holders and rolling stock that will not form part of the final product.

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While the 102t bogie tank for RailWorks went through testing we decided to create a handy little taste of things to come as a free download. A logical choice to put in place as a part of Project East Coast was the standard design of independent snowplough built to diagram 623 in its unrefurbished form.

Background

As was the case with many things that British Railways inherited at Nationalisation there were a wide variety of different snowploughs designed and built by both the 'Big 4' and pre-grouping companies. Diagram 623 was the reaction to attempt to standardise snow ploughs across the system.

In a classic bit of recycling, British Railways built their new snow ploughs on the recovered frames of 4200 gallon standard steam tenders.

The ploughs themselves weighed in at 31.5 tons and were fitted with vacuum brakes and were provided with a removable bar coupling to allow them to be towed nose to nose if required. Although a hand brake and window were fitted the interiors were not fitted out and just contained clamps for the temporary coupling, hand brake and brake valve. Unusually the ploughs had wheels of differing sizes with smaller wheels fitted at the front of the plough and an uneven wheelbase.

The model will be made available as a free download and may be included by default in other packs if used in the scenarios. Naturally the plough will be eligible for reskinning by third parties if they wish.

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