A model of the NKP #765 in Trainz is something that should have already been done by now. But there's a very l-o-n-g list of steam locomotives that
should already be available for Trainz.
About six years ago, I suggested in Auran's Trainz forums that the most efficient way to build a Trainz steam locomotive model would be if a group of like-minded Trainz people would agree to organize a "co-op", a place where GMAX source files could be freely (and legally) used and reused by anyone. No one seemed interested in a co-op 6 years ago, but let me try again.
Building any Trainz locomotive requires a lot of work and time, and building a detailed steam locomotive in Trainz requires a heck of a lot of work and time. Many people wouldn't have the time/energy needed to build a complete locomotive, but they could produce some of the parts a given locomotive would need.
Rather than literally "reinventing the wheel" each time a new locomotive was built, modelers could simply reuse or adapt existing parts. An enormous amount of time and resources could be saved if parts could be used/re-used via a "Trainz creative commons" of GMAX source files, sound files, textures, etc.
The U.S. railroads of the real world did the same sort of thing -- they reused designs, and reworked proven designs and made use of standard parts. Doing otherwise just wasn't efficient.
The NKP #765 is one of the
"Van Sweringen Berkshires", which were produced as a result of four railroads -- the C&O, NKP, Pere Marquette, & Erie -- operating under the advice of a common Advisory Mechanical Committee. During WWII, the U.S. War Production Board restricted new locomotive construction to proven designs, which is why the Virginian Ry. ended up using the same 2-8-4 design for five locos. The VGN, C&O, NKP, and Pere Marquette 2-8-4s were virtually identical, with the biggest differences being where various appliances were placed on their boilers.
C&O drew from this common "well" many times. A boiler about 1" shorter than the NKP's 2-8-4s was used by C&O on new 4-6-4s, and these same C&O 4-6-4 used the same cab, tender, trucks, and other parts from the Van Sweringen Berkshires designs. And then there's also the C&O T1 2-10-4 which utilized parts based on the 2-8-4 designs.
Reuse of designs were common during the modern steam era. The N&W took the boiler design of the famed NYC 4-6-4 Hudsons, stretched it out a bit and added a set of 4-drivers using the U.S.R.A. design of the 4-8-2 Mountains underneath. The Pennsylvania RR used what was basically the same boilers on its 4-6-2s and 2-8-2s, and their 2-8-2s virtually duplicated the driver spacing and valve gear used on PRR's 2-8-0 Consolidations. The Consolidations shared a near identical boiler with the PRR's 4-4-2 Atlantics.
Imagine how much easier it would be to build a Trainz model of a given steam locomotive if the darn thing didn't have to be built from the ground up. There would be no need to remake the exact same parts that already exist each time a new locomotive was modeled. There's an enormous amount of "reinventing the wheel" that's been going on in Trainz for many years. It's time, energy, and resources largely being wasted. Isn't it time to take a more effective approach to building Trainz models?
Imagine an online "catalog" of steam locomotive parts. A model builder could browse through it and pick out the GMAX source files for probably about half the stuff they'd otherwise have to build from scratch.
How many different steam locomotives could be available for Trainz if we'd just use a "creative commons" or "co-op" approach to building them? A handful? Dozens? Hundreds? I'm willing to contribute source files to such a creative commons. Is anyone else?
Of course, we'd all need to continue to support the makers of Trainz payware. The prices being charged are bargains considering the amount of work required to produce the models. But perhaps the payware authors job would be easier if he/she could make use of the "co-op" source files through some sort of "licensing" agreement that would allow payware authors to make use of the co-op's "parts repository".
