Connecticut River Template, in the works Options

[dgionet]

Hello to all,

Following the release of the huge (I say huge!) BLW/ZT Conn River freight this week-end, The Conn River Template project is now on.

First of all, I wish to say thanks to Paul Charland for this great route he had done, not only for the quality of the route but the realistics he brings to many of his routes, the feel we encounter for the timeframe ( 1957) he had set it. Well done Paul!

Also congratlations to Rick Franzosa and his team for a wonderful freight set to complement the route. There has been a lot of work, not only for the stock itself, but also for the selection of the appropriate material for this era and region. It took a lot of research to get this right, even the consists to reflect some of the trains that ran along. Great Job guys!

As some know, I took extra time to do some research on my own. The timeframe is expected to be around 1960, after the end of steam past 1957 and before 1961, the year CN and subsidiaries (including CV and GT) started to implement its noodle logo throughout the CN, CV and GT network. Other than the BLW/ZT freight pack, only one download is expected so far: C-Liners from Trainsim. That one I will probably use for the CV freight through the mainline.

CV Geeps appeared in late 1957. Unfortunately, there are no CV Geeps in the older livery in TS. Only Ed's trains have one payware CN set available in the older livery. This set has been used as an option to those who had used the Stowe Northern Template. I would like to use it in the template, but that would require for some to buy the set in addition to the ConnRiver set. You opinion in adding it or not will be appreciated.

As I have started the template project, an issue has arisen: Some of the sidings in Westboro and Btattleboro have unstretched sidings. I will have to contact Paul for his approval to proceed in modifying the TDB file while keeping the original files for those who wish to return to the original route settings.

That's it so far.

Will keep updating later with new developments

[dgionet]

The remaining shots:


Conn River Template 134 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr

Conn River Template 135 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr

Conn River Template 136 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr

Conn River Template 137 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr

Conn River Template 138 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr

Conn River Template 139 by Denis

Gionet, sur Flickr


Will update later

[Conductor Chris]

Pretty cool! Nice to see the coach yard in action!
Christopher

[dgionet]

Hello to all,

Just to confirm that the template package is now ready to be uploaded to the templates page. It has been a very complex and challenging project to achieve, ending with 25 templates. Lots of head scratching on this one. Only the Monon (30) and Buffalo (68) route templates pack were bigger in number of templates.

Regarding the latest template, a few corrections were done to correct small mistakes, one of which prevented the activity to end. Corrected!

First of all, thanks to Benny (bennycdn) for helping me with testing of the templates.

Thanks to Paul Charland, builder of the ConnRiver route and also for his excellent routes which inspired some of my templates. Paul also gave me permission to make changes to the route track database (TDB) to accomodate the present template package. Much appreciated Paul!

Thanks to Christopher (Conductor Chris) and those who helped me to bring realism to many of the templates with documentation and information of the era.

Not to forget Rick Franzosa and his team for a massive freight set for the route which made this template package possible. Well done Rick and your team, thanks again.

Hope I didn't forget anyone. My apologies if I did.

I have sent Steve the template set to upload to the templates page.

Once again, here the image expected to be shown in the templates page

Conn River Template Image by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

In the meantime, those who are interested to obtain the template set can write me at : photoman_57 [at] hotmail [dot] ca.

Will confirm once the template pack is uploaded to the templates page.

[klsc85]

That was an amazing amount of work to take on, Denis. Lots of AG users are going to love it.

Uncle E

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

Just to confirm that the template package is now available in the templates page.

Thanks again Steve for your assistance and to all our users, enjoy the templates and happy trainsimming.

[hminky]

Thanks for your hard work!

Harold

[charliechan]

Good Morning:

Just a quick note to say what a great time I’m having with the Connecticut River Template. I believe that this is the first template that I can start with one route and continue onto another. Just ran a activity where I dropped off some cars at the Springfield Junction and will continue my work on the Springfield Terminal v2 route.

Thanks again

[Conductor Chris]

Denis, I wanted to ask about the several .eng files you modified for this template. What did you change and why?

I haven't installed that part yet as I had already modified my 44 Tonner files and wanted to think a bit before combining the files.

Christopher

[dgionet]

Denis, I wanted to ask about the several .eng files you modified for this template. What did you change and why?

I haven't installed that part yet as I had already modified my 44 Tonner files and wanted to think a bit before combining the files.

Christopher

Hi Christopher,

During construction of the templates, I found some issues regarding both 44-tonners and the t3a tender. I am including screenshots of each ENG (or WAG) file

For both 44 tonners, as you can see the highlighted area below, each download had the power set to the equivalent of a Dash 9 (3263kw=4400 hp instead of 400 hp or 300kw). This has been adjusted in each of the ENG files with the update. I have included the modified ENG file to reflect a 400 hp power for both CCRR and STRY engines..

STRY eng file by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

CC31 eng file by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

As for the T3a tender, the type of wagon has been mistakenly set as FREIGHT instead of TENDER (see below). This issue resulted in having no coal and water to feed the steam engine. This had been tackled in an earlier post here in the topic. This has been corrected on the three updated tender files.

CV t3a tender file by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Of course, you can adjust the power as one wishes, especially with the steep grades encountered on the STRY route which can reach close to 5% around the Cheshire bridge. At 400 hp , the player train won't be able to pull more than 4 or 5 cars, depending of the weight of each car. In my personal case I have decided to push the power to about 1000 hp to be able to haul 5 fully loaded boxcars up the hill.

[Conductor Chris]

Thank you, Denis. Indeed the high power was present in my 44 Tonner .eng files. I guess that's why I never had a real problem on the Conn River bridge grade even though it was known as a doozy in real life. Not sure that 10mph speed limit was always held.
Christopher