The Garden route, working on template Options

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

Finally work had begun to create a template for South Africa's Garden Route. It has been a while I wanted to do one for the route but encountered a major problem when I tested the route first. Because some of the grades between George and Oudtshoorn are very steep ( maybe a category 1or 2 gradient, the steepest) I couldn't pull a reasonable number of cars with 2 class 37 engines. Following Martin Nel's information on gradients and engines used in specific areas, I have pushed my research and found out that class 34 engines were used along the route. Have tested the engines and have been successfull pulling 12 fully loaded 74-ton cars. Actually class 37 engines would be too heavy on these steep and twisting tracks.

The Garden Route is located between Mosselbay and Oudtshoorn, 70 miles to the North. The town of George is located in the middle. From George, the line goes East to Knysna, 40 miles away. North of George, the line goes up and up through the Montagu Pass and some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in any MSTS route. The world-famous Blue Train goes through the area occasionally and is helped by Garrat locomotives to climb the steep grades.

Here are some screenshots of the area and believe you will agree how spectacular this area can be.

At Camfer


The remaining between George and Topping, at the top of the Pass








Enjoy,