MSTS West Coast Express
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed traffic railway in the UK. It is absolutely central to the provision of fast, long distance Intercity passenger services between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and southern Scotland. This line is also of strategic importance in a European context as it is the principal rail freight corridor linking the European mainland (via the Channel Tunnel) to the whole of the UK.
As a result, it is one of the busiest freight routes in Europe.West Coast Express Part 1 features 25 stations between London Euston and Birmingham New Street covering a distance of 113 miles direct and 128 when routed via Northampton. Stations include: Birmingham International, Coventry, Rugby, Long Buckby, Wolverton, Milton Keynes Central, Bletchley, Leighton Buzzard and Watford Junction. This product is also the first of its type to feature LED signals.Rolling stock includes:. Class 390 (Pendolino) in InterCity Livery. Class 321 in Network SouthEast Livery.
Msts West Coast Express Part 2
Msts West Coast Express Ball. 3/20/2017 0 Comments Microsoft Train Simulator Add- Ons. Prices are subject to change at any time. Train Simulator 2017 brings to life some amazing train. Train Simulator: North Jersey Coast Line Route. Czech Republic in 2016 was an easy one for the West Coast Express Ball Hockey Club. West Coast Express (WCE) has been serving the lower mainland since 1995 and provides more than 2.8 million trips per year. Every weekday more than 11,000 customers get on/off WCE at one of eight stations going to/from downtown Vancouver and Mission. Register Now at West Coast 420 Express and enjoy $20 towards your first order. Affordable and quality cannabis and concentrates for local and national vendors. Free shipping on orders over $250. Buy marijuana online today!
Class 43 InterCity 125 HST West Coast Express VersionThis package features passenger rolling stock only. There's lots of good things about this addon, with more work it can be a five star airport- but there's some things that need sorting.If you look at the North Terminal for example, the contrast between windows and the panelling should be strong. The windows should be quite dark- look at any photo of the airport. All that contrast (which is on the texture) has been lost once the specs are applied and the windows become almost the same tone as the panel.
Fix this and there will be a massive visual improvement. You just need to darken the alpha on the specs, but by a substantial amount.The grass colour is nuts for the UK. It rains here sometimes! The grass should be green not yellow. Grass is generally darker than concrete and probably as dark as the asphalt. This is much too light. More specifically, I think the expectation nowadays is that grass colours should match ORBX global texture colours and tone.
Once that grass is darkened there will be another big improvement in appearance- it's quite a big issue.Night-lighting is poor, essentially because the buildings are too bright. Darker is always a safer option.I have some texture anomalies. The runway changes colour on peripheral views. This may or may not be down to the product.
Some flashing elsewhere.-BUT- texturing is sharp, performance is very very good, airport layout seems correct. So many examples of excellent work.
This has potential to be fantastic- but please fix the above.Keit-h.
AVSIM CommercialSimulator ReviewMicrosoft Train Simulator Part 2ROUTES. North East Corridor Bill McQueenThis high-speed line which in MSTS runs between Philadelphia & Washington (in real life it runs between Boston & Washington), is 133 Miles in length, has 11 stations in between the 2 major ones and is a 25Kv AC overhead electrified. Philadelphia at nightPlatform view of Baltimore StationWashington station in Winter. Maria's Pass Craig WyzikMaria's Pass is significant because it is the lowest pass through the Rocky Mountains north of New Mexico. It serves as a main freight link between the Midwest and the West Coast.
Trains carrying coal and freight share this route with Amtrak passenger trains. For purposes of Train Simulator, you drive two different Burlington Northern Santa Fe diesel-electric locomotives to deliver boxcars, haul freight, and complete other runs through the mountains of Montana.The route stretches for 152 miles from Whitefish to Shelby, passing through Kalispell, Glacier National Park, and various other towns along the way. There are numerous steep grades on this route, so you really need to familiarize yourselves with the elevations along the way before you start out driving.
My first time out from Whitefish, I wasn't aware of what long steep grades lay ahead of me, and I inevitably found myself rolling backwards down the track, frantically trying to figure out what key were the brakes. You really have to plan ahead in terms of acceleration and braking, and there are many places on this route that will present a challenge.Once you do set out to explore this route, you find that the scenery is spectacular. There are mountains, valleys, broad plains, smaller hills and ravines-in short, everything you'd see if you traveled to Montana. There are lots of trees too, and they look very good. Forests actually appear as large groups of individual trees. Other items of note are houses, vehicles, wildlife (watch out for deer on the tracks!), and various buildings alongside the tracks. There are level crossings on this route, too, so you'll have to be sure to sound your horn early and often.There are 13 different activities to complete on the Maria's Pass route, consisting of various combinations of picking up freight cars, dropping off other cars, and general freight operations.
It's easy to get caught staring at the beautiful scenery, when you should be watching for a particular siding to move onto for uncoupling cars. This route is American freight hauling at its finest, and probably the toughest.The first activity I undertook was one that was categorized as 'Easy,' and I had few problems completing the objectives, apart from the occasional speeding problem.
I had to drive along to a particular siding, stop just past it, throw the switch, reverse the train onto the siding, uncouple two boxcars, then go on my way. While I needed to refer to the Notebook several times, I was able to complete the activity on my first try. I recall my first time running Train Sim, and sitting through the tutorials on how to drive the trains, that I thought I would never manage to figure out the activities.
Happily, if you use the aids and tools that you're given, you should have few problems that can't be overcome. Passing through Colombia FallsDash 9 over trestle bridge on Maria's Pass. Tokyo Hakone Jonas LundhI have taken a look at the Tokyo Hakone route; this is one of my favourite routes in Trainsim. Since I have not been there myself, I prefer to focus on the graphics and complexity of the scenery which in my opinion is very nicely done. The real route is in a dense city area in Japan and when driving it in Trainsim you really get that feeling.
There are complex buildings more or less everywhere. Since the line is in a highly populated area there are many elevated bridges and turning over and underpasses, something that I really enjoy. The graphics are looking very good, and seem to be made with high attention to details. The frame rate pays it toll to the complexity of the scenery, but it is still very enjoyable on my rather weak PIII 733.One boring thing in such complex scenery with cars and roads besides all the buildings is the lack of people. I have spent over 5 hours driving trains there and seen only one person. Feels odd to drive a train in Japan with no passengers, perhaps the media here in Sweden is boosting the crowded commuter trains in Japan.nah, I don't think so!
I understand that it would affect the frame rate with stations crowded with 3D modelled persons, but it still feels as it really lacks something. As with all other trains the wagons are totally empty, something that spoils my feeling of realism. Approaching Hon-Atsugi StationEarly evening Commuter7000 LSE Cab-view. Hisatsu Bill McQueenThe Hisatsu line, situated on Kyushu Island, Japan runs between Yatsushiro and Yoshimatsu with a total distance of 53 miles (approx 87km).There are 2 sections of this line, between Yatsushiro and Hitoyoshi this is called the 'River Line' because it mainly runs in parallel with the Kuma river, Hitoyoshi and Yoshimatsu is called the 'Mountain Line' where the hills are very steep (Try letting the brakes off at one of the mountainous stations and enjoy the 'coasting of the train!' The computer controlled train on this route is a KIHA 140.Among the activities on the Hisatsu line are 'Quake damaged track' where you have to take the train through an earthquake zone with reduced speed limits and 'Westbound river view in Spring' which is hard because there are failed signals and so many stops which makes keeping to the tight schedule almost impossible!With 19 stations on this route the highest is located at Yakate at approx 1780 feet above sea level.
You get a real feeling of being in the countryside with this line as it feels so tranquil which makes you just want to open the virtual window and breath in some of that beautiful fresh air! (Don't stick your head out of the window whilst the train is moving now!!). Yakate StationApproaching Masaki Station. Settle-Carlisle Bill McQueenBeing the last mainline railway in this country to be built, the Settle & Carlisle (S&C) line was completed in 1876 by the Midland Railway Company after 6 strenuous years of building which resulted in the loss of many lives. The line itself is some 72 miles in length with 17 major viaducts and 14 tunnels which sweep through the beautiful hills in the Cumbria and North Yorkshire countryside. With 9 stations between S&C, 8 (including Carlisle) are located in Cumbria with Dent being the highest station at 1150 feet above sea level and the remaining 4 (Including Settle) are in North Yorkshire. Flying Scotsman at Horton-In-RibblesdaleRibblehead ViaductCarlisle station interior.
St Anton-Innsbruck Francois DumasBill scheduled me to review this Austrian part of the former Orient Express line for you, which runs from Paris to Istanbul, a task that I have gladly excepted, being the Alps buff that I am (even live there for some weeks each year, albeit in the French part).First of all let me say that I have ridden (part of) the Orient Express myself a few times. Now, that sounds a lot more romantic than it actually was.
I used to ride from Amsterdam to Romania quite a lot, visiting my wife to be, and the part from Vienna to Bucharest (and onwards) was still called the Orient Express (this is back in the early 70s). The train I rode back then did in no way resemble the stately carriages and steam engine portrayed in the MSTS program. But I am sure that some of the feeling of being in those remote and always somewhat mysterious old train stations must have felt not that different from the times they still had steam engines.And this hits the first snag of MSTS.
The atmosphere! There are no people, not in the train, not on the stations, not even a train engineer or driver. I know, we could get into the eternal debate among simmers about 'simulating' the real technical world or eye candy I won't. But I look at simulators for the full picture and let's face it, what did we put on all our H0 emplacements? Houses, roads, cars, rivers, trees And people. Tiny H0 populations. And cows, sheep, even deer.
There are deer on the tracks! And I have seen some cows too. So where are the people!!??Oh well.
Forget about that and let's get on board the train. Starting point is Innsbruck main station. I must admit, I have been in Innsbruck a few times, drove through it, even partly over it (there is a grand highway skirting the mountains and city borders with terrific views on the city), but never been at the station.First thing we notice is that the scenery of the city itself is very limited to just a few buildings Innsbruck was a pretty big city in those days already, but this doesn't look like Washington or Philadelphia or some of the Japanese cities. Shame.Let's enter the carriage and sit down. This is nice, apart from the fact that I seem to be the only passenger. There must have been somebody before me though, because there is a cigar in the ash tray in front of me, burning.
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I stopped smoking over 16 years ago, so it's not mine. The fans are turning slowly on the ceiling, which is good, because at the time of writing it is some 29 C (that's 86 F folks!).my computer is overheating again! Fortunately the champagne is in the cooler, just a few seats down the carriage. And there is a guy playing the piano somewhere in the background listen carefully before pulling out of the station.You can use the arrow keys to look around, up at the fans, down at the cigar, and outside of the windows.
This is a nice touch and I sometimes just sit there and let the landscape go past the window. Relaxing in a way!There are a number of different carriages to choose from. You can pick them before starting the Explore Route activity from the Drive a Train choice on the main menu. I had a look for you, the exterior is different every time, but the interior is not. You can also drive just the engine, or (my fun!) put one of the US diesels on that track!!As for the route itself and the landscape/scenery I must admit I had expected a little bit more.
The villages and towns are built up of very detailed, but also very FEW buildings. Perhaps it would have been better to lower the amount of detail on them and add a lot more, so it would appear the train would ride through actual towns and not just small groups of houses.
The mountains are there, and there is snow on some, even when driving in summer. This is not 'mesh scenery' with lots of detail however. The mountains seem pretty generic (and a bit too dark, there is hardly any texture on them) and I am not convinced of the proper place of them, as compared to the real world.Another slight disappointment lies in the fact that it seems impossible to start the ride from just any station along the track.
I wanted to check out specific areas, but found that I could only choose a very limited number of departure stations. And another point of critique on the documentation is about the Routes pages. For each route you will find 2 pages, one depicting the bird's eye or map view, and the second one containing a one page description of the history and the route, and a small profile showing the elevation of the route.
I would have welcomed a full map of the route with ALL stations and sidings. And a separate map for each siding to sort cars would not have been a luxury either. Now everything has to be done by trial and error, also using F6 to have the station names and platform numbers show up on the screen (in just one color).Not having a detailed map also poses problems as to finding water towers and water scoop places (I haven't found the latter anywhere). Meanwhile there are a fair number of yard maps available here on AVSIM (and other sites), so that you at least have some idea of the yard lay-outs when picking up and dropping off carriages. Full speed towards Pfaffenhofen!View from passenger seatLeaving Pfaffenhofen in winterGRAPHICS, PERFORMANCE & SOUND Craig WyzikIt's tempting to look at MS Train Simulator in terms of what it might mean for the future of MS Flight Simulator, but let's remember that a completely different team designed it.
That said, Flight Simmers could do much worse than to strive for some of the features incorporated in Train Sim. The scenery is, in a word, spectacular. Granted, scenery designers here have the benefit of only having to concern themselves with six routes of approximately 100 miles, but they made the most of the opportunity. The terrain is nicely varied, and offers very realistic shapes and forms. Mountains, valleys, hills, plains, and all the other features you can think of are nicely modeled. If your machine is towards the low end of the recommended configuration, there is two screens' worth of settings to can adjust to manipulate various levels of detail. I was brave and cranked everything to the maximum setting right out of the box.Along with the wonderful representation of nature's scenery, there are very sharp looking cars, trucks, houses, buildings, signs, signals, and so on.
All of the items in the scenery look very clear and clean. You may have some trouble reading some of the smaller signs that are located trackside, but that's mostly due to their size, and your position in the locomotive. Switching to one of the outside views takes care of that problem.
West Coast Express Route
Speaking of which, the outside views here are very helpful, and afford some nice views of the action. While you don't have one all encompassing, totally customizable outside view such as in FlightSim, you have several preset views that give you all the viewpoints you'll need as you are driving trains and completing activities.Also, it is worth mentioning that Train Sim comes with a very complex graphical scenery editing tool. You can edit the routes that are included, or you can create new routes from scratch. I didn't spend too much time with the editor, but I think it's safe to assume that we should see whole new routes being created before long.The sound in Train Sim is outstanding as well. Every clack, squeak, whistle, and whoosh sounds incredibly realistic. Every locomotive and every route have sounds that are unique, but you wouldn't expect any different in a simulation of this complexity. You can hear the wheels bump over seams in the rails, you can hear cars honking their horns at you as you pass a level crossing, and you can hear the whoosh of the air brakes as you release the brakes to start out on a run.
From different viewpoints, the sounds change to reflect your position in relation to the locomotive. The Doppler Effect as a train rushes past a stationary observer is modeled particularly well, and I found myself switching to the fixed position exterior view quite often. Everything seems to be in stereo, and you'll find yourself wanting to turn the volume up to hear every little detail.Train Sim is particularly pleasing because it works exactly as it is supposed to. Now, I'm not saying there aren't bugs to be found, but I have had a remarkably bug-free first few weeks. On my hardware configuration (P-III 1ghz, 384mb RAM, GeForce 2 GTS 32mb, SB Live), everything ran smoothly at high detail levels with no weird stuttering, pauses, hangs, or glitches!UTILITIES Bill McQueenIncluded with MSTS is 4 unsupported Utilities which are an Activity Editor, Cab Editor, Route Editor and a Route Geometry extractor.
The Activity editor is there for you to make your own activities or just modify the existing ones supplied with the sim, A very steep learning curve but with various tutorials posted in the file library at AVSIM Online you will master this sooner than you think. The cab editor is as it suggests a utility for modifying existing or creating your very own cab for MSTS. The Route editor allows you to create new routes or customize the pre-determined ones and modify buildings, trees, adding signals and so on. The route Geometry extractor is a powerful utility in which the shape and Geometry of the part of the world you are working on is extracted for you.Apart from the Activity editor I don't spend a lot of time in the other ones but for the seasoned designer Im sure these tools will be to their advantage and put to the usage they are designed for.To use the editors your desktop resolution must be set at 1024x768 minimum.
Activity EditorRoute Geometry ExtractorCab Editor3rd Party add-onsAt this time of writing it is actually unbelievable the amount of add-ons that has since came out for MSTS, ranging from reskins of engines & rolling stock to completely new locos or wagons and even routes have started to appear in the file libraries. Take a look yourself in the AVSIM file library to see what you can add to the excitement of your MSTS routes!!ConclusionOk then, so what do we think of Microsoft Train Simulator version 1.0? It's good; in fact it's very good for a 1st time effort. There will be the possibility that your average Joe public will get bored with this after a couple of weeks whereas the seasoned simmer will find the sim a lot more enjoyable thanks to the open-ended architecture which will inevitably prolong the shelf life of this great product!MSTS does not escape faultless though. 'Where are the people at the stations??'
Which has been brought up more times than most, apparently the exclusion of people was a trade-off for good frame rates which is generally acceptable (there is probably a talented designer out there just now adding people into the sim!) and there is also the odd stutter noticed when there tends to be lots of trees on the route but apart from that there is more good than bad and hardly any ugly!!!It will be interesting to see if Train Simulator will go down big brother's Flight Simulator Avenue where we will see a new version every couple of years? Judging by the potential success of this version 1.0 there probably wouldn't be any doubt about future releases!Return to the Microsoft Train Simulator review.Standard DisclaimerThe review above is a subjective assessment of the product by the authors.
There is noconnection between the producer and the reviewer, and we feel this review is unbiased andtruly reflects the performance of the product in the simming environment. This disclaimeris posted here in order provide you with background information on the reviewer andconnections that may exist between him/her and the contributing party.© 2001 - AVSIM OnlineAll Rights Reserved.