Milwaukee Road's Rocky Mountain 4th division, template Options

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

Still waiting for the release of WF10, I have decided to look at the Milwaukee Road's Rocky Mountain Route 1st div. released last year and fell in love with the route. Moe Smith(Dispatcher) have created the template for this route and am looking to create a template for the 4th sub. Before going any further here's some information ( From Wikipedia) regarding the reason behind electrification of the whole area.

"The Milwaukee soon found that operation of steam locomotives over the mountain passes was difficult, with winter temperatures that reached -40°F. Electrification seemed to be the answer, especially with abundant hydro-electric power in the mountains and a ready source of copper on-line at Anaconda, Montana. In 1914, electrification began between Harlowton, Montana and Avery, Idaho. The first electric train ran in 1915 between Three Forks, Montana and Deer Lodge, Montana. The system used was 3,000 volt DC overhead line."

Moe's template ( first division) covers from Harlowton, going West to Three Forks, Montana,about 100 miles away. The template considered is the 4th division, covering Avery, Idaho, going East to Alberton, Montana about the same mileage. the railway area between Avery and Roland is considered among the finest feats of railway engineering as despite the rugged terrain, engineers were able to keep grades reasonable. Lots of tunnels and trestles inside such spectacular scenery. Sidings are marked, looking good for a template.

I have yet to discover some more aspects of this route and will update regularly with progress of its coming template and will try to include shots of this scenic route.

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

Moe Smith (dispatcher) has recently given me the go ahead to proceed with construction of the Milwaukee's Rocky Mountain Division 4 template. It is finished and is being tested now. It will be a mix of Milwaukee's electric's and Northern Pacific's diesel power. There will be 4 templates, 2 (EB and WB) for the MILW and 2 for the NP. Despite the lower number of serviceable sidings compared to other templates (about 55), it will be a delight to combine some switching and impressive mountain scenery. AI traffic will be present on both MILW and NP lines. I have encountered some serious traffic issues and had to shorthen some traffic paths on both RR at Cyr (MILW) and Westfall (NP) to ensure serviceable sidings East of both points. Earlier traffic paths resulted for the player train to have red signals at both areas. Not even the permissive signalling feature of AG couldn't resolve.

Will give more details later. I have already generated two AG activities for both RR and wanted to show some spectacular scenery that the user will expect to see. I have covered on my second test the NP line between Wallace and Haugan: it will definitively put any experienced engineer to the test; it is mountain grade and has, in some areas, very twisting tracks. With 3 GP9's (5250 HP) and about 10 cars, some places along I had to use full power in climbing a combination of steep grades. and twisting tracks.

The following 10 pictures of the NP Wallace branch (including the next post) will give you a full idea of what I am talking about. The area includes the famous "S" trestle.

Enjoy