Want 1920->1940 Era Route(s)

[boleyd]

I have become tired of seeing McDonalds and Safeway and Walmarts, etc. Shiny new diesels and electricts are boring. Modern homes lack the character of the past. I was over at Train Forge looking at their stuff. Quite an array of well done assets. With the right route it looked very interesting. I do not have the time to lay track and assets. So, a "pre-fab" 1920 to 1940 area would be needed. The geographic area would be the Northeastern USA. Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia might be good targets. Other Northeastern USA areas are very similar and attractive.

Lots of great 1930 era assets seem to be available, but I need a proper route to use them.

I have a current era route of good quality running with service to other railroads. Tired of looking at it.

 

[raymac1946]

There are lots of 50s era routes available on the DLS. Running a 1930s era route means you have to stick with steam primarily. Also a lot of running stock will be primitive - Fowler boxcars for example. A transition era route lets you run steam of just about any vintage plus Geeps, F-units, Alco diesels. Most of the cool old fallen flags are still around - Rock Island, Cotton Belt, C&NW, Boston & Maine. It's up to you but I find the 1950s are the sweet spot for me.

 

[UnionPacificFan1005]

1930's-50's routes, comin at ya:

Levi & Appalachian on the DLS (going to want an FCT for this one, i've been downloading it for 2 weeks without one)
Cattaraugus Creek & Lake Erie by MSGsapper on the DLS
Hudson & Western at https://www.approachmedium.com/product-page/hudson-western
Whiteshore Route at https://jointedrail.com/product/whiteshore-route/ and http://trainzforge.weebly.com/whiteshore.html (this will require lots of kuid digging, it's an older route that has deps from places like USLW and TPR, but if you ask there are people who can help dig those out)
PRSL Wildwood Branch at https://theswitchbacktrainz.com/#wildwood
Additionally, as I can see you are an owner of T:ANE, you should be able to install the C&O Hinton Division into Trainz+, which would be right around the era you're looking for.
Lastly, on the DLS there's the Indiana Western route available on the DLS. The older version (built around the time between end of life for TRS12 and the release of T:ANE), which is looking a little dated, or the revamped version set in the 70's-90's. While not exactly in the timeframe you're looking for, I'm sure steam and early diesel wouldn't look completely out of place.

 

[raymac1946]

I downloaded the Levi & Appalachians route to give it a spin. It is truly massive and made my 11th gen i7 and GTX 2060 work pretty hard. Takes a while to load even with an NVME drive. However no doubt it is a great steam era route. The roads are full of tin lizzies and early trucks, and it has a heavy duty coal fired feel.
Right now I am plugging along at 30 MPH in one of Trainz Forge's lovely CB&Q Prairies and a few Fowler boxcars. I have had the usual Trainz difficulty figuring out a path through Cincinnati without ending up in some stockyard, but hey..it's fun.