The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Trainz team created a very detailed and authentic route from Sukna to Darjeeling. All the buildings, foliage and objects were modelled after the prototypes. The route is DEM-based and can be downloaded for free from DarjeelingTrainz.

Here, we catch a charter train as she struggles her way from Kurseong towards Darjeeling.

Finally its here! It took almost 3 years for the DHR team, from around the world, to recreate the Darjeeling route for trainz. It is around 45 miles long. The trainz version covers Panchanai to Darjeeling and it approx 4 hours long. The DHR team created all the content for this route. This includes the locos, passenger cars, houses, vehicles, people, trees, car beeping sounds and lots more. I spent half-an-hour and the number of custom content were astounding. Check out the screenshots to get an idea of the scope of this route. Congrats to the team!

The route is free and the total size is around 550MB broken into many zip files. You have to be a registered Trainz user to get the zip file password. Downloading and installing takes some time. Register at their forum to get detailed instructions and support.

Have fun while chugging up the Himalayas!

Located in the root of your Trainz installation directory (mine is at C:\Program Files\Auran\TRS2006) is a configuration file called trainzoptions.txt

Mine looks like:

-DepthBits=24
-StencilBits=8
-fullscreen
-Jet=bin
-cabinfov=80
-driverfov=55
-freeintcam
-DefaultAutoMip=none

There are three parameters that i add/change to customize my trainz experience. These are:

-freeintcam
adding this will allow you to use the arrow keys to move the view when you are driving in the CAB mode.

-cabinfov
-driverfov
The default values are cabinfov=65 and driverfov=55. This lets you adjust the field-of-view in the CAB mode and in the Driver sessions. The bigger the number, the wider the view. I did some test with the numbers to show you how it affects the view. Click on the thumbnails to get a bigger image.

-cabinfov
      
The 95 setting was a bit skewed for me so i kept it at 80.

-driverfov
      
Note: The larger the value in the driverfov the more performance hit you will face. So if you have a fast PC and lotsa memory then go for it. I have kept it at the default but when i take screen shots i switch to 85.

I had been thinking of getting the Marias Pass route for trainz for some time now. HP-Trainz are about to release a plus pack for this route. This will be free to the owners of the Marias Pass route. When i saw the detailed cab view of the F40PH engine, i knew i had to get it now.

The route is DEM based terrain and covers from Whitefish to Shelby. All stations and important objects have been modeled after their prototypes.

The route comes in a 400MB zip file. All files are included in it. Installing via the Content Manager (CMP) took some time. I thought my CMP has crashed but please dont be impatient. Let it do its thing. The route comes with many session but i tried the passenger run from Whitefish to Shellby. Estimated time to complete this session was 3 and 1/2 hours. I stopped at Essex and decided to share my views.

The route is well detailed and has lots of trees. Ground texture was done very realistically. Surprisingly, i still got a good frame rate and enjoyed the ride. Ambient sounds included the birds in the trees and the countless babbling brooks.

I know, there are many like me who cringe spending more than 20$ for a Trainz addon, but this route is well worth it. If you are into freight operations, there are many industries along the route that you could service. Some sessions are also included. In addition, the soon-to-be-released Plus pack with the detailed F40PH engine and additional session makes a great buy.
Price is 14.90 Euros. [More Screens]

I had purchased the EMD SD9 locomotive for Trainz, from Virtual Motive Division. The cab view, done by Josef Pav is exceptional, almost real!

I took it for a spin on the Desert Wood route from US Locomotive Works. The hoppers in the consist were from RRMods.

Ending this year with a set of nice images of railways in landscapes.

Ian Lawrence's photos tell a great story and he has also written several articles about railway photography. I found the "Shooting Trains in Low Light" particularly helpful. Look for more of his articles at the bottom of the page.

Happy New Year!

I admit, I have a weakness for German Steam Locos. I always wanted to get a whole fleet of them. There is something about these black beauties with the red wheels, that is breathtaking.
The HO scale models are somewhat out of my reach so settled
for the virtual ones for the Trainz simulator from SLW. They have highly detailed and excellent models. I took advantage of their 3 Euros sale for christmas and got a mix of tank, passenger and freight locomotives.
My collection so far... (Warning: graphic intensive)

Auran, the company that makes Trainz, is having some trouble. This was because of bad sales of its game Fury. Though 80 percent of its employees have lost their jobs, Auran says that a core team will keep on developing Trainz.

However, since this morning the Trainz Forum is down. Wondering whats happening? The forum is like my morning newspaper. It gives me a feel of what fellow trainzers are doing. Without it, i feel lost when it come to the world of trainz.

Yesterday, I purchased a BR18 201 express locomotive from SteamLocomotiveWorks(SLW) for Trainz version 2006.

They have excellent German, Austrian and Polish Steam Locomotives. Its highly detailed with custom cabs and great sounds. Pricewise, they are around 4.50 Euros which comes to around 6-7USD. You can pay through Paypal and usually within a couple of hours Martin from SLW, emails you the CDP files. The price is in a sweet spot unlike other payware locomotives for trainz which costs more than 15USD.

I already own a BR58 frieght and a BR94 tank loco. Stay tuned for a video sometime soon, featuring the newest star!

BR18 201

Scottish Metal contains dreamlike landscape photos of Scotland's railway by David White. I used the pictures to study and get an idea of how mountains and lakes look in nature. This helps me in detailing layouts for Trainz.

My Trainz version of one of his photos

The Trainz Download Station(DLS) provides a central place for us to download trainz content created by many talented users. But sometimes, navigating and searching through the 19000 items is painful so i tend to seek out sites that let me download directly. It’s easy to bookmark and go back later if you need to.

Here are some of my freeware favorites:
If your interest is in European Railways, you can get the best content from Trainz-Kleinkram. They have a huge selection of DB passenger and frieght wagons among many others.

For US fans, RRMods offers highly detailed diesel locos.
Their almost real looking boxcars will bring your yards to life.
U.S. Locomotive Works also has great number of diesels worth drooling over. Between these two sites, you will be well stocked with great looking US content.

Spanish Rail(RENFE) fans can get excellent content from IberTrainz. Click on the "Categorías" and when you like what you see, click on the blue square IBTZ icon to download. I did see a few items that you might have to get from DLS but most have a direct link to the cdp or a rar file.

I am still looking for a British content site. Will update if i find some.

Some freeware and payware locos in Trainz 2006 and Trainz Classics are really excellent when it comes to locomotive sounds. The engine sounds and the horns played though the sub-woofer can really rattle your desk.

I wanted to capture some of the horns and sounds of my favorite locos in trainz. Enjoy...

I plan to bring my experiences and passion for trains through this site.

My scale of choice is HO. I like German steamers, British and US diesels.

Currently, I am virtual railroading using Trainz. Trainz is a dream come true for all those model railroaders who having been waiting for lotsa money, space and their spouse's permission to create their dream layout.