GaryReggae
Active member
I was looking in my archive folders for something entirely different yesterday when I came across some long-forgotten screenshots from Trainz. I think my first version was whatever came before TRS 2004, as I remember upgrading to 2004. The route featured here is still in progress as of this year and has gone though TRS 2009, 12, TANE, 19 and now TRS 22/ Trainz Plus! It has been vastly expanded and probably most of the track and stations have been replaced and upgraded via electrification in on the main lines, rebuilding junctions with flyovers, straightening out and a lot of the scenes here are virtually unrecognisable. I have had spells of 5 years or so where I haven't used Trainz although I use it much more regularly now. I built large parts of fictional London Underground lines in the spring and also created a system of historic docks but there is a lot still to do. This is one of those personal routes that will never be finished!
I was wondering if anyone knows where the route British Commuter came from? I was a rural S-shaped line that was built into TRS 2004 or the previous version. I made a clone of that and extended it greatly, probably by over 100 miles or so! The first extension was through what was originally the terminus to a new fictional seaside resort (Bridsey), with an 8-platform terminus and adjacent large railway works for stabling and servicing multiple units. The original line was sadly dismantled during my development of the route's story as having been a victim of the Dr Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Like many in the real Britain, the trackbed is now a footpath/cycle way.
Route map 13 Feb 2006. You can see where the original S-shaped line ran on the left. This was closed in favour of the newer and more direct line that went above the original with no junction. The only station not closed was the end of the old line at Ravenscross (centre left), where I built an extension (back story - an old Victorian era line by a rival railway company).
9 Jul 2006
9 Jul 2006. The payware Class 170 (Turbostar), along with the Electrostar class 357 and 377 were well ahead of their time in terms of the quality, with most other assets from that era looking flat, with low resolution textures and non-transparent windows. I am very glad I bought those at the time, as the website that sold them (whose name I have forgotten) closed down over a decade ago I think.
An interesting one, I genuinely can't think where on earth this was. I think it must be a completely different route...I will see if I can root it out (pardon the pun). I built a similar elevated pier railway and seafront gardens to the left of Bridsey a couple of years ago so I clearly had that idea already. The Clarence Pier Pavilion (blue and yellow tower) and brutalist multistorey car park were my custom buildings. The latter is still in good working order, albeit low quality by contemporary standards but the pier must be one of my old assets that I could not repair, like my Southampton tower block sets. I have made new models of both in Blender but found it is far easier for me to start working on something than it is to finish.
Another scene I don't recognise.
Bridsey had a roller coaster but I think this must be a different route.
Pier with a working railway. 16 years later, I built a similar pier near Bridsey but had forgotten about this one.
Redundant Mk 1 EMUs/DMUs stored at an army base.
Another totally unrecognisable shot. I will have a root through my old stuff to see if I can unearth any backup copies of the map in the various old KUID folders I had. This has all been left in an old temporary folder - when I got a new HDD so new Windows build, I put the non-software contents of the old C drive into a temp folder for sorting out later.
I hope this blast from the past generates some feelings of nostalgia amongst my fellow Trainz long timers. Trainz is like the Hotel California - you can check out any time you like but you can never leave (I mean that in a positive way -once a Trainzer, always a Trainzer
Edit - clarification, only the first two shots are of the Bridsey and Shercaster Railway)
I was wondering if anyone knows where the route British Commuter came from? I was a rural S-shaped line that was built into TRS 2004 or the previous version. I made a clone of that and extended it greatly, probably by over 100 miles or so! The first extension was through what was originally the terminus to a new fictional seaside resort (Bridsey), with an 8-platform terminus and adjacent large railway works for stabling and servicing multiple units. The original line was sadly dismantled during my development of the route's story as having been a victim of the Dr Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Like many in the real Britain, the trackbed is now a footpath/cycle way.
Route map 13 Feb 2006. You can see where the original S-shaped line ran on the left. This was closed in favour of the newer and more direct line that went above the original with no junction. The only station not closed was the end of the old line at Ravenscross (centre left), where I built an extension (back story - an old Victorian era line by a rival railway company).
9 Jul 2006
9 Jul 2006. The payware Class 170 (Turbostar), along with the Electrostar class 357 and 377 were well ahead of their time in terms of the quality, with most other assets from that era looking flat, with low resolution textures and non-transparent windows. I am very glad I bought those at the time, as the website that sold them (whose name I have forgotten) closed down over a decade ago I think.
An interesting one, I genuinely can't think where on earth this was. I think it must be a completely different route...I will see if I can root it out (pardon the pun). I built a similar elevated pier railway and seafront gardens to the left of Bridsey a couple of years ago so I clearly had that idea already. The Clarence Pier Pavilion (blue and yellow tower) and brutalist multistorey car park were my custom buildings. The latter is still in good working order, albeit low quality by contemporary standards but the pier must be one of my old assets that I could not repair, like my Southampton tower block sets. I have made new models of both in Blender but found it is far easier for me to start working on something than it is to finish.
Another scene I don't recognise.
Bridsey had a roller coaster but I think this must be a different route.
Pier with a working railway. 16 years later, I built a similar pier near Bridsey but had forgotten about this one.
Redundant Mk 1 EMUs/DMUs stored at an army base.
Another totally unrecognisable shot. I will have a root through my old stuff to see if I can unearth any backup copies of the map in the various old KUID folders I had. This has all been left in an old temporary folder - when I got a new HDD so new Windows build, I put the non-software contents of the old C drive into a temp folder for sorting out later.
I hope this blast from the past generates some feelings of nostalgia amongst my fellow Trainz long timers. Trainz is like the Hotel California - you can check out any time you like but you can never leave (I mean that in a positive way -once a Trainzer, always a Trainzer
Edit - clarification, only the first two shots are of the Bridsey and Shercaster Railway)
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