I have a beta version of Steve Davis' RF&P route, now extended all the way to Richmond. Release will be soon. Who wants to make a new template?

Hi Christopher,

I have been testing the route as well and have taken the time to select the required downloads for an oncoming template. The timeframe has been rolled back to the early 90's during the first years of the Buckingham Branch RR and the Virginia Rail Express (VRE). Steve Dunham, its creator, also has agreed to create and name sidings inside the VRE shops at Alexandria. It is expected to have some switching of railcars in the shops there. There will be also some switching at Doswell, using a trackmobile, inspired from a video seen there using a trackmobile to switch cars (see below)

Open Rails 2021-01-29 06-39-41 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Open Rails 2021-01-29 07-09-02 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Open Rails 2021-01-30 10-00-55 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

In the last picture, I have repainted two engines (fictional) with the VRE logo, from the excellent original ADMX SW14 by Tyler Bundy. They are expected to be used for switching the shops.

I will wait the release of the route to confirm the plan.

Hello to all,

Just to confirm that the project is under way and is advancing well. Benny has agreed to test the route template, once done. Thanks again Benny!

The track TDB is done and the sidings attributes are done. Regions will be set soon.

Will post later as it develops.

Hi to all,

Here are the first pictures from the very first activity generated by AG the NB locals Template. Since there is no yard in the Alexandria area, there won't be mainline templates between main yards.

The shots here from the ACCA Yard in Richmond. I have set the railfill in maximum mode and I have manually added some cars in the Yard to help with the railfill. Still a lot of work ahead but going well. Both NB and SB locals will work with an initial train of 25 cars maximum and end up with 25 cars max at the end of the activity.

Open Rails 2021-03-11 09-52-00 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Open Rails 2021-03-11 09-52-32 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Open Rails 2021-03-11 09-53-42 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

More later

Hello to all,

Here are some shots from the Milford area template, a switching template. To make this template possible, Steve Dunham, the route's creator, has given me permission to create two additionnal sidings( Milford Pickup and Setout sidings) which became the source and final destination tracks. Thanks Steve for your OK! Much appreciated.

Here's a link that I have found that inspired me to have one switching template for this area.Note the position of the boxcars inside the Milford sidings. It suggests that these boxcars were to be picked up later or have been setout by a NB train.

https://www.railfanguides.us/va/milford/index.htm#Map_

This activity, from picking up the source track to its final setout, took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. This can vary according to your work set by AG.


Milford 1 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 2 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 3 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 4 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 5 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 6 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 7 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 8 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 9 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Milford 10 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr


The CSX switcher seen here is a small repaint I have done for the template project. It is a fictional SW14, recently purchased from IC and quickly patched with the CSX logo.

Will post on the next page with another switching template in the Doswell area.

Hi again,

Here are screenshots of the Doswell template, activity done in around one hour. Inspiration came from the following image seen below;

https://railfanguides.us/va/doswell/DoswellVA989.JPG

Doswell (1) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (2) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (3) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (5) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (6) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Doswell (7) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr


Although the trackmobile required here is from Trainsim, I would recommend, if you have it, to use the Tiger Trains Titan trackmobile as shown below.


Doswell-Titan by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

More later

Hi to all,

Here are shots from the Alexandria Metro Shops template.

In this template, it is 6PM and you will be assembling your 4 first trains for the next morning, on tracks 2 to 5. Each train is composed of the tail-end car, your 6 middle cars and the front end car. Your rear-end cars are already placed at the end of each track. You must pickup your middle cars and couple to the last car of each train. Once done, you must retrieve your front-end cars ( on track 1) and attach to each train to complete the assembly. These front-end cars don't have to be placed in a specific track, unlike the middle cars of your run. After placing your final middle cars in each respective siding. You will probably receive a completed activity message before setting your front-end cars. That's normal. Just simply click on the resume activity on your pop-up message to complete your assembly with these front-end cars.

Please take note of the first picture which gives an overall features of your work and some additional details. You also see two other of my repaints, fictional VRE SW14's numbers 1455 & 1456.


Metro Shops 1 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 2 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 3 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 4 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 5 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 6 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 7 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Metro Shops 8 by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Will update as it advances

Hi again,

Here are shots from the Crossroads Template. It is exactly the same procedure as for the Metro Shops template

The shots

Crossdroads (1) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (2) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (3) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (5) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (6) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Crossdroads (7) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

More later

Hi to all,

Here are shots of the latest template, the Rappahannock template.

You are the driver of a GP38-2, located at the wye, just North of the Rappahannock spur. Your task is to pickup 5 cars at the Ruffin's Yard, set earlier by a NB train. You will be moving backwards a few miles to pickup these cars and work the sidings at Frederickburg, and inside the Rappahannock spur which leads to some industries, where is also located the Rappahannock Railway Museum. Once your work done, you will be moving again backwards towards the mainline a few miles North. Once there, you will run South, switch tracks and reach the Mayfield siding, just under the Blue & Gray Pkwy to end the activity. It takes around one hour or more to complete the activity.

The shots

Rappahannock (1) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (2) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (3) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (5) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (6) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (7) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (8) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (9) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Rappahannock (10) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

More later

Hi to all,

Here are shots from the newly done DAHLGREN LOCAL run template.
Here are how this one works:

You are in command of two (2) c40-8’s (7599 & 7492) and will be servicing the Dahlgren Branch with a return trip back to the ACCA Yard. You will pickup your load (20 cars maximum) in the ACCA Yard and must put your second engine (7492) in the back of the train, thus making your train a push-pull configuration. The Dahlgren Branch has no runaround track to reverse your engines. For the return trip, your back engine (7492) will become the lead engine and the lead engine (7599) will become your back engine. You will be switching cabs (Ctrl+E) to return back home

Dahlgren (1) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (2) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (3) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (5) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (6) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr
The remaining pictures on the next post

Remaining ictures from the DAHGREN Template
Dahlgren (7) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (8) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (9) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (10) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (11) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (12) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (13) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (14) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Dahlgren (15) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

More later

Hi again, Here are some pictures from the NBLOCALS Template

NBLOCALS (1) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (2) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (3) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (4) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (6) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (7) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

NBLOCALS (8) by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Will update later as it develops

Hello to all,

Just to confirm that Benny has finished testing the route templates and gave me the GO ahead to release the pack. Thanks again Benny for your time with testing the activities. It has been a challenging template to plan and a lot of head scratching. Happy with the results.

Like the previous templates, you can E-mail me at the usual address to request your package, pending its uploading to the templates page.

Here's the image that is expected to be seen in the templates page, once uploaded.

RFP3 Template Image by Denis Gionet, sur Flickr

Thanks