The UIC annual report on rail travel around the world gives credit to the Swiss for traveling more kilometers and taking the train more times than any other nation in 2007. They took 47 trips a year on average and traveled 2,103 km per person.
Japan came second followed by France, Germany, UK, Netherlands and Belgium.

[via Genevalunch]

The past few days i have been spending time with the new Trainz 2009. Trying to see whats updated and whats new. I was pleasantly surprised with the new search feature.

Trainz over time gets very cluttered. Because of the tons of great freeware third-party content, you start to collect them all and when it becomes time to build your layout or use your favorite trains, it becomes a pain to look through and find them all.

The previous versions had a search option but was not very intuitive. Trainz 2009, World Builder Edition addressed that issue by revamping the search feature. You can now fine tune your search by categories, names, asset number, author id and many more. Once you get a set of objects you want to work with, you can save it and quickly get back to it every time. No more remembering what the name of the object was. I love this new feature and and currently sorting through and saving my favorite item groups. This works with Train objects, structures, tracks and even paint textures.

I have created two small tutorials showing how you can use these features. The first one shows how you can filter and save your searches. Click on picture for the tutorial:

Searching in Trainz 20009

This one shows how you "pick" or quick save you most frequently used paint textures. The older versions had a similar function but this time they made it much easier and faster to use. Click on picture for the tutorial:

Using the Pick List in Trainz 2009

This Thanksgiving day Auran, started to send the download version of Train 2009, World Builder Edition to all who had preordered. The file size was around 2.5 GB and the download took me around 25 minutes.

I did not want to upgrade the previous version so i uninstalled Trainz 2006 and did a fresh install of the new version. It took me about 10-15 minutes to install.

The first thing i tried was the Content Manager. I had a lot of problems with the previous version so wanted to see if they fixed it for this version. It did look good. I could connect to the Download station but then i don't have a lot of third-party content installed so will see if the CMP holds up later. I had purchased some locos for the previous version. Wanted to see how that played in the 2009 version. Imported the 10 CDP files and commited the changes. This whole process seemed to take around 20 minutes. The commiting process was a tad bit on the longer side and i was wondering if something's wrong here or if my PC is getting old.

So here are my thoughts on the Trainz 2009, World Builder Edition. There seem to be very few visible changes. I believe, they have overhauled the game engine to provide support for higher resolution textures, support for gloss materials and ground details. The included SD40 locomotive and one track show off these new textures and look awesome. I know that the talented Trainz community will rise up to the challenge and provide content to take advantages of the newer features but as of today there aren't many visible changes.

Regarding content, they have included a ton of content(trains and routes) from previous versions. This is a good thing because it provides backward compatibility for the many payware content, users have already own. All my payware content is working nicely though the sound of some locomotives from SteamLocomotiveWorks has changed.

So should you go for it?
If you are new to the world of virtual trains, Trainz 2009 is a great way to design your world and run trains in it.
If you have Trainz 2004 and older versions, the new content and features might be enticing.
If you own Train 2006, you will not get a "newness" factor when you buy this. You might wait till the free third-party content, using the new features, start appearing.

Click on the picture for the screens in Trainz 2009:

A few great looking train wallpapers to spice up your desktop. These are available in various resolutions: 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024, 1600x1200

This one is quite impressive.

Now you can get yourself a layout on a pocket watch. This has two trains running around in a circle to the tune, "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Oh! and you can use it to also check the time. Available at QVC.

[via boingboing]

This Sunday I went to the Greenberg Train Show that took place at Wilmington, MA. The Greenberg shows usually do a fall/winter and a spring show every year.

The admission tickets were $7 and despite being a bitter cold day many had turned up. I was only able to spend time with a few layouts. The New England LEGO Users Group to me is not a "model railroad" but more of a toy railroad. But, i seemed to be drawn to it every time. Maybe it the scale of the buildings or perhaps the fun details in every inch of the layout, i found myself trying to take it all in.

The other layout i spent all my time in was a HO scale called Better Late that Never. They had a few modules that were detailed exceptionally and other modules were work-in-progress. I found the unfinished modules appropriate in a train show as it gives me and others a good sense of "how-to's". Sort of a learning tool. This layout was sponsored by My Dad's Trains, a model railroad shop based in Wrentham, MA which is a few towns over from mine. The members meet in the basement of My Dad's Trains every Thursday night. They currently have 4 members and were looking for more. Since i am no where near to my own layout, this will give me a good opportunity to learn and interact with other modelers.

I also came across a flyer from the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts. They are organizing a "Steam in the Snow" event in North Conway, NH on January 3rd. The star would be their 0-6-0 #7470 which was built by the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1921. Lerro Productions will also be holding a night photo shoot on the 3rd and 4th of January. More information about this event is on their website.

Click on the picture for the still gallery:

Here is a small clip of the show.

Google has made available 20 percent of images from the LIFE photo archives. They plan to make the entire collection online in the next few months. For us railfans, there are plenty of interesting railroad and railway pictures.