Seaboard Air Line (SAL) Florida Division route upgrade, Oncoming template Options

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

More than 10 years ago was released Carey Stevens' Seaboard Air Line (SAL) Florida Division route. Steve had done years ago an AG template, but only for AG3. A few weeks ago, in Trainsim, I had seen some screenshots using the route and decided to take a second look at the 2005 route. Some years ago, I ran the route but only partially and superficially but never went further with it.

I have reloaded the route recently and ran it completely and was impressed about how detailed it was, even with today's standard. I have asked Steve permission to upgrade the route template to AG4 and was happy to grant me that permission. With Steve, I was able to reach Carey, the route maker, to ask him permission, if required, to stretch some sidings. I have found out that for some years Carey has not only been enhancing the scenery from the original route but also extending the route with additional trackage. Carey and Steve have sent me the route, I have ran most of it and was very impressed with the upgrade.

By comparing both versions, there is a lot of new trackage and the scenery is completely done for most of it. Only a small section remains to be finished. Buildings are present but vegetation remains to be added. I am confident that Carey will eventually finish it in the future. The unfinished section is between Tampa and Bradenton on the ACL trackage (now CSX).

Steve has uploaded the route here in the skyline web site (see home page) and is now available for those interested to download it. On my side, I will start a new template project for the SAL. The timeframe will be around 1965, just before the 1967 merger of the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line to create the Seaboard Coast Line. The main player download will be the payware BLW Seaboard Air Line freight set plus 18 additional freeware downloads from Trainsim.com. That number may be subject to change as the project advances.

Will update later.