18th May 2002
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The Birmingham Cross-City South
has finally been completed, and I'm pleased to announce the
official release of the route!
X-City Slideshow
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Please read the information on the Download page carefully,
as it explains the "Detail Levels", hardware requirements, and any other
issues you need to be aware of before installing and running the route. Some
of the highlights to look out for are also outlined.
The Cross-City South has from the outset, been designed
to feature more detail than other UK based main line BVE routes at the time of release,
in order to see what BVE is capable of; therefore the route is best experienced
by running the High Detail routes on a fast PC with a processor in the order of
1GHz, combined with a high quality graphics card such as those in the GeForce range.
The Standard and Low Detail routes are designed to cater for users with slower PC's,
however even these are more demanding than many other BVE routes. The performance
of each detail level is not equivalent to the performance experienced with
Watford Junction to Milton Keynes, and overall the Cross-City South is more
demanding than WJ-MKC. At all detail levels, it is highly likely that slower framerates
will be experienced at Birmingham New Street station, due to the large number of
tracks and station details.
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Please visit the Birmingham Cross-City South section of the site,
to read all the information and download the route. Before you download it, why
not take a look at the new screenshots and read through the new feature lists to
whet your appetite. I hope you enjoy it! :o)
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29th April 2002
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Visitors to the site will have noticed some new banners
added to some of the pages; these are all part of a new initiative by members of
the railsim community to inform and educate people about the
dangers and risks involved with trespass and vandalism on the railways.
It is hoped the Trainsimmers Against Trespass campaign
will help to deter at least some of the highly dangerous acts of trespass and vandalism
on our railways, and at the very least raise awareness of this most serious of issues
which can, and does, result in tragic consequences.
Please show your support for the campaign by clicking
the banners to visit the
Trainsimmers Against Trespass campaign page, where some facts, figures and
other literature can be read regarding this serious subject.
If you operate a rail related website, why not help the rail sim community
to spread the anti-trespass and vandalism message to more people, by visiting the
campaign page and downloading the banner pack? Simply add the banner or banners
to your website, and a link back to your site will be provided on the campaign pages,
to thank you for your support. Full instructions can be found on the campaign page.
Also, if you have been affected by trespass and vandalism
on the railway, as a railway worker or a passenger, and have any stories you'd like
to tell, please visit the Campaign Page for details about how you can share your experiences
(anonymously if you wish), and hopefully make people stop and think before carrying
out any acts of trespass and vandalism.
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27th April 2002
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Chris Cooper has been busy
creating another excellent train for BVE users to enjoy, and Chris' latest project
- the Class 303 25kV AC EMU - is now available from the Multiple Units section
of the recently formed BVE UK Train Collection,
a joint effort between Rail Sim Routes UK and Scottish Rail Sim Files.
The class 303 features a photo-realistic cab, using one
of Ben Martill's superb cab photos; and some excellent samples such as the emegency
brake sounds. Download the new EMU from the BVE
UK Train Collection.
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17th April 2002
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Good news for fans of the Class
321 and the West Coast Main Line! Steve Green
has been working hard to produce an all new Class 321 25kV
AC EMU complete with animated full height panel, along with some new variations
of the High Detail versions of my own Watford Junction to Milton
Keynes Central route. Four new route files are provided - Semi-fast and
Slow Silverlink timetables, in both Summer and Winter variations.
Firstly, download the new WJ-MKC Cl321 Add-on
here, or from the Add-ons section of the
WJ-MKC Download page, and then head over to Steve's Train Sim Central to download the new Class 321 from the "BVE
Trains" section. There are some new 3D train textures included with the add-on,
both Steve and myself hope you enjoy this latest train and route combination!
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16th April 2002
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BVETSS Updates on Robert Glass' Scottish
Rail Sim Files
In a joint effort, Rail Sim Routes
UK and Scottish Rail
Sim Files have joined forces to bring you an all new
BVE UK Train Collection (replacing the old BVE Locomotive Collection) which
offers a simple and convenient place to download all the trains that were previously
available or duplicated on both sites. This move will make file management easier
and ensure the same versions of the trains are always available from one source,
without having duplicated files or having to switch between either site to find
add-ons for the trains. The new BVE UK Train Collection
also has it's own URL - http://bvetrains.cjb.net.
Both Robert Glass and myself hope you find the new train collection easier to navigate
and more convenient. If you have any comments, please don't hesitate to contact
either of us.
To launch the new sew site, one completely new EMU and
an updated BVE loco are now available. Firstly, a new Class 325 Dual Voltage "Post
Office" unit by Chris Cooper is now available
from the new BVE UK Train Collection. The
unit features a superb photo-realistic panel by Chris, and thanks goes to Steve
Green for allowing some sounds from his cl465 unit to be used. The 325 is ideal
for running on Steve's
Southern Electric route, or my own Watford
Junction to Milton Kenyes Central route. Visit the new
BVE UK Train Collection to download this latest addition.
Secondly, the class 50 diesel electric loco as finally
been updated with a full height 480x440 panel with improved animation, and the updated
loco is also available from the new BVE UK Train
Collection
Steve has also recently released an excellent Class 442
"Wessex Electric" and updated Southern Route files with new signalling
and timetables, which I thoroughly recommend! Download the unit and route updates
from Train Sim Central.
As part of the re-structuring of the way in which locos
and units are made available from this site, I have also discontinued
the WJ-MKC specific versions of the Class 87 AC electric loco and Steve's Class
310 EMU, and now a single class 310 and class 87 are available in their
place; installing to the "BR_Class87" and "Cl310" train folders.
I have also updated the Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central
route files to use these "standard" train folders instead. This
should reduce some of the unneccesary and potentially confusing duplication of train
folders.
And finally... The Cross-City South is still coming along
nicely, and if everything goes according to plan it should be released fairly soon.
:o)
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6th April 2002
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Feedback about the Class 220 Voyager revealed that the
performance of the train wasn't up to scratch (my fault!), therefore a new version
of the 220 is now available from the BVE Locomotive
Collection, which has improved acceleration characteristics and a more realistic
time is now taken to reach 125 mph.
Thanks goes to Steve Green (www.trainsimcentral.co.uk) for assisting with the Voyager's
Train.dat file and improving the acceleration characteristics (great job!), and
for testing the train. I have also amended the calibration of the speedometer as
the indicated speed wasn't as accurate as it could have been. The performance achieved
by the 220, does seem to vary depending on whether the train is run on an RW based
route (like Watford Jn to Milton Keynes) or a CSV based route, therefore an alternative
Train.dat file better suited to running on RW based routes is also available as
a patch. The updated Voyager and choice of Train.dat files can be downloaded
here.
After the success of the first ever Cross-City Preview
video, and as a means of aiding the passage of time while I add the finishing touches
to the route, I've decided to release a second preview video,
this time offering a glimpse of the Winter and Midnight ECS
versions of the route. If you'd like to see the 323 rounding curves in a
snow storm (using variations of
Robert Glass' falling snow objects) with flange squeal effects, or passing
67's and postal trains (RES textures by Simon Townsend) at speed in the darkness,
then this video can't be missed. The sharp curves also demonstrate my new "point
to point" catenary wire system. :o)
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The second Cross-City South Preview Video can be downloaded
here. The file comes in at 5.7MB, and is 45 seconds long, and features 4 seperate
but slightly longer duration scenes. The video is in the same format as the first
Cross-City Preview video.
Please note: the video is recorded at 15 frames
per second, but is a little jerky due to the compression. The High Detail route
is featured, with 600m Drawing Distance set, and at the time of recording it was
running smoothly at 29 fps at all locations featured. This video clip does not reflect
the actual performance of the route in any way.
No part of this
file, video or audio, may be reproduced or extracted without permission.
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31st March 2002
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It gives me great pleasure to announce a new additon
to the collection of trains hosted within the BVE Locomotive Collection - the new
Class 220 "Voyager" by Ben Martill.
The unit features a fully authentic and photo-realistic full height cab, and the
train can be downloaded from the bottom of the
BVE Locomotive Collection page. Special thanks goes to Steve Green (www.trainsimcentral.co.uk), who has kindly allowed his excellent
class 170 files to be used in the making of the Voyager.
Now for an update on the Birmingham
Cross-City. Progress is now being made at a steady pace, and the focus has
now shifted to perfecting the sound effects used within the route(s) to make the
route even more realistic. The route now features fully authentic passing train
sounds (actual recordings of the trains themselves); for example you can now hear
the engine sounds of different classes as you pass them, with more realistic coach
sounds. Birmingham New Street has also had auto-announcements added to enhance the
atmosphere of this location.
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If you would like to preview these new sound effects,
and see some highlights of the new class 323 and Dawn and Daytime routes in full
motion, why not download the Cross-City South Preview Video? The file comes in at
5.5MB, and is 49 seconds long, and features 5 seperate scenes.
The video is in AVI format, 240x180 pixels, 11KHz 8 bit
audio; and you'll need the Indeo 5.04 codec to view it, this comes as standard with
Windows Media Player. I would recommend viewing the video at a zoom setting of 100%
only, so it doesn't appear too blocky. All sound effects are recorded from the route
(the quality is twice as good in reality), and no "audio dubbing" has
taken place!
Please note: the video is recorded at 15 frames
per second, but is a little jerky due to the compression. The High Detail route
is featured, with 600m Drawing Distance set, and at the time of recording it was
running smoothly at 29 fps everywhere except New Street (15 fps). This video clip
does not reflect the actual performance of the route in any way.
No part of this
file, video or audio, may be reproduced or extracted without permission.
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And finally - a Happy
Easter to everyone! :o)
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24th March 2002
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The new full height 480x440 cab overlay graphics for
several of the locos in the BVE Locomotive Collection are now finished, and ready
for download. The class 20, 37, 40, 55 and 87 have
all been updated, the class 50 will follow soon. All these locos now feature fully
animated power and brake controllers, ammeters and so-on; and the 87 includes animated
notch indicators as well.
Please note - you must have the latest version
of BVE, version 2.03.0008 installed to use these updated
BVE locos. The new full height, animated panels are now included as standard within
these main loco downloads to make installation easier. If however, you experience
any problems with the new panels such as poor performance and slow framerates in
routes, other graphical anomolies, or are still using an older version of BVE, then
the old 480x240 panels can be downloaded in the form of patches.
These old style panels have also been updated with animated controls.
If you wish to use the new full height panel graphics
with the 87 available as part of the Watford Junction to Milton Keynes route, please
download the WJ-MKC Trains file which includes the new panel, otherwise head over
to the BVE Locomotive Collection to download
the new locos.
Whilst on the subject of BVE locomotives, Bryan Dudley
has released a new loco - the class 35 "Hymek". This loco can be downloaded
from Bryan's Railtech
site.
And finally, I hope you like the new site design; I felt
it needed a re-vamp, and this time the site has been tested in several popular browsers
to ensure it is displayed as the designer intended. :o)
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15th March 2002
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One of the finest LUL routes to date has just been released
- Paul Jobber's stunning Circle Line route running
from Aldgate to Edgware Road. There's as much variety
and detail as you could possibly wish for, and some of the track layouts and stations
are superbly detailed! Whatever your level of interest in LUL routes, this one is
a must download. The route and C69 LUL stock can be downloaded from Steve Green's
Train Sim Central, which now has a new URL - www.trainsimcentral.co.uk.
It's been a good week for developments with BVE locomotives
and trains. Bryan Dudley has released a superb looking full panel update for the
Class 37, the details and download can be found on Bryan's Railtech site. Perfect for running on Don Clarke's Edinburgh to Dundee route.
Also, a superb new class 170 "Turbostar" has
been released, complete with some superb engine sounds and outstanding horn samples!
The unit can be downloaded from Steve's Train Sim Central.
I can also announce more details about my plans to update
the loco panels within the BVE Locomotive Collection.
I've already started animating all the panels which are not yet animated; namely
the Class 20, 40, 52, and 87. I'm also updating the panels to include new 480x440
cab view "overlay" graphics which can be used with the latest release
of BVE, version 2.03.0008. These will be made available as soon as possible, but
as they have to be animated as well, it will take me a little longer, sorry! The
existing panels will still be available for those who are having problems with the
new version of BVE, or for those who notice a reduction in performance due to the
overlay graphics.
As the panels won't be ready for a few days yet, here's
a taster of what can be looked forward to with examples of the class 87 and 40.
The remaining diesel locos will be brought up to the same standard as the locos
already upgraded by Robert
Glass, i.e. with fully animated cab controls and cab overlays, and the 87 will
include animated power handle, train and loco brake handle, master switch, traction
motor ammeters and tap changer notch indicators:
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New Class
87 panel, includes moving power/brake handles, ammeter needles, notch indicators,
and master switch.
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New Class
40 panel, with animated power and brake handles, and cab window overlay
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All Coming Soon!
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9th March 2002
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The new release of BVE (version 2.03.0008) now available
from Mackoy's site, includes
a fantastic new improvement, namely the overlaying of the panel bitmap over the
3D view through the use of transparency, creating a far more convincing in-cab environment.
BVE developers are already taking advantage of the new feature and updating their
trains accordingly. Robert Glass has updated his Class 47,
56 and 158 trains with
the new cab-views, and they can be downloaded from the Trains section of Scottish Rail Sim Files. Steve Green has also been updating
some of his BVE trains, and excellent new cab-views for the
Class 465, 4-CIG, HST
and 1995 LUL stock are available from his Train Sim Central site. I also hope to announce plans for the
upgrading of the loco panels for those trains included in the
BVE Locomotive Collection shortly, watch this space!
Please note that these panel updates are available as
add-ons to the original trains - the new panels will only work with the latest
BVE version 2.03.0008!
I'm also pleased to announce that Don Clarke has updated
his excellent Edinburgh to Dundee route, which now
includes improved signalling amongst other enhancements - either a pair of 37's
or a Class 158 can be used, and this is a thoroughly enjoyable route to drive and
well worth the download! You can find the route and Class 37s on Don's SRPS C&W Dept site, and you can also find the Class
158 on Robert Glass' ScotRailSim
site.
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4th March 2002
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Time for a quick update on my progress with the Cross-City
South route. The route's release is getting nearer, as several variants of the original
Daytime Summer route are nearing completion - namely the new Dusk,
Midnight ECS and Dawn versions of the route. The Dusk
version features my own implementation of the excellent "Graduated Lighting
Effects" technique developed by
Bryan Dudley, which you can see in Bryan's Watford Jn to Milton Keynes Central
Dusk-Night Route, or the stunning Sandymill Late Train.
The Midnight ECS run features darkness and headlight
effects using BVE2's fog commands, and also includes such highlights as floodlit
engineering works and non-stop running all the way to New St. The Dawn version features
realistic backdrops with effective lighting; all the routes feature some new BVE
3D train objects which haven't appeared in any other routes to date. Take a look
at the new Dusk, Midnight ECS and Dawn screenshots page to see some of these features!
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24th February 2002
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I have been informed of a minor bug in the Medium
Detail Class 310 Summer route file, which means the derailment error the WJ-MKC
Patch was meant to fix still remains in this Medium Detail route file. My apologies
to users of the Medium Detail routes, and if you've already downloaded the patch
or the new v1.1 main downloads, a route file update can be
downloaded here. I have also updated the WJ-MKC Patch, and the
High Detail Main Download with the corrected route file. For those who haven't
downloaded version 1.1 of Watford Jn to Milton Keynes yet, see the news item below
for the details.
Paul Jobber has finished his excellent update to Sacha
Dodd's great Victoria Line LUL route, and there are now 16 route files to choose
from, set in both 1975 and 2002, with both ATO and manual control options! See the
Crotrainz news item dated
24/02/2002 for the details and the downloads.
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20th February 2002
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It gives me great pleasure to announce another addition
to the fleet of BR locos available for BVE - the Class 56
diesel-electric locomotive originally by Phillip Mackay, and now updated by Robert
Glass (with a little help from myself). As with the Class 47, the 56 now features
a fully animated panel, realistic sounds, whistle sounds by Alan Perryman (http://lumbutts.tripod.com), and an excellent horn sample courtesy
of Andy Slater (www.brdw.co.uk).
The Class 56 can be downloaded from either the
BVE Locomotive Page on this site, or the 'Trains' section of Robert Glass'
Scottish Rail Sim Files.
We hope you enjoy the loco!
I have been working on a patch
to resolve some outstanding issues with Watford Junction to Milton Keynes
which have cropped up periodically since it's release. Download the patch here,
or re-download the WJ-MKC files from the Download
Page, as these have been updated with the new files. The following improvements
and issues are addressed by the updates:
- "Error 16" messages
- A few people have experienced this dreaded error
at most stations along the line, and the new patch removes markers from display
while passing the stopping points at stations. Hopefully this will eliminate this
annoying problem for some users.
- Lack of warning for upcoming
stations and speed restrictions - the patch addresses these issues by displaying
new station name markers approx. 1 km before stations which must be stopped at;
and relevant permenant speed restriction markers appear earlier than was previously
the case.
- Class 310 "Derailing"
bug - Since the release of the XP compatible version of BVE, another bug
cropped up whereby the class 310 would veer alarmingly off the track when crossing
the pointwork just before Hemel Hempstead station. This problem is addressed by
the patch. For those who are interested, it is caused when a "Turn" command
is used on a section of track which already has a "Curve" command applied
to it. Removing the "Curve" command and adjusting the "Turn"
values to compensate will fix this problem.
- New photo-realistic backdrop
for the Summer routes - Thanks to Bryan Dudley (http://railtech.topcities.com), an excellent new backdrop is
included, which enhances the appearance of the Summer scenery considerably.
An improved Transparent Texture
Pack For GeForce and ATi graphics card users is also available. Several transparencies
in the old "GeForce Replacement Texture Pack" did not work correctly (some
catenary gantries were missing, and masts weren't properly 'connected' to some gantries).
Some buildings also appeared with transparent patches in the walls. The updated
Replacement Texture Pack resolves these issues. The intense green colour of the
overhead line equipment has also been toned down. Note that for the correct display
of some 3D objects, you need to upgrade to v1.1 of WJ-MKC first (re-download the
files on the Download Page) or download
the Patch. Once done, the new Replacement Texture Pack can be downloaded here.
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In other news, Phil Brooke has returned to the BVE scene,
and re-launched his excellent BVE Hull website at a new URL - http://bvehull.bravepages.com. Watch out for the development
of the Hull to Sheffield route over the coming weeks! Of course, the fictional Brookfield
Interchange route is now available once again from Phil's site.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind anyone
starting up or running any BVE websites, that I do not appreciate anyone
placing direct links to my files on their webpages. However, I don't mind in the
least if my homepage is linked to. Also please remember to ask my permission before
using any of the material available for download on this site in your own routes
or on your own websites.
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14th February 2002
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A quick update on the progress of the X-City; the Winter
version of the route is well on it's way to completion, and some new screenshots
designed to make waiting for the route's release all the more difficult, can be
found on the X-City Winter Screenshots page. ;o) Look out for the weather effects!
Work is also underway, on the Standard and Low Detail
versions of the route; initial indications are that parts of these routes perform
nearly as well as the equivalent Watford Jn - Milton Keynes detail levels, however
because the stations (and associated details) are far more frequent, performance
will be more variable throughout the routes on slower machines. New St station will
really test slower computers, and understandably framerates won't be spectacular
- the BVE drawing distance may well need to be reduced. On a fast PC, there's no
problem of course!
In other news - Alan Lee has changed the URL to his Jubilee
Line website, which is now
www.jubileeline.org.uk. Don't forget to update your bookmarks or add the site
to your favourites list, as Alan's site is worth checking regularly.
Check back for more updates soon!
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9th February 2002
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A few people have been lucky enough to try a "Pre-Beta"
preview of the Birmingham Cross-City South, and one of these lucky people is Alan
Lee. He's been very kind indeed, and written an entire review of the route, and
you can read all the details at Alan's excellent Jubilee Line website. Thanks a million, Alan!
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5th February 2002
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Now for the long awaited update on the development of
the Cross-City South route. I'm pleased to say that
the High Detail route is very nearly finished, and Birmingham New Street station
has finally been completed. It's a real feast for the eyes, however a fast PC will
be needed to see all the detail at an acceptable framerate with a longer Drawing
Distance set - this is one of the most extensive, demanding and complex 3D scenes
to appear in any UK BVE route to date! The High Detail route also introduces three
new features to overhead electrified lines in BVE. The catenary detail in the Cross-City
goes much further than that acheived with Watford Junction to Milton Keynes - very
realistic overlaps are now modelled with one tension length terminating and another
starting; wiring over pointwork is now authentic, with additional wiring runs and
section insulators in the correct places, and best of all - even on curves the wires
run in a straight line from mast to mast, regardless of the distance between the
supports; in other words the wires don't curve along with the track like they do
in WJ-MKC for example. A very good PC will be necessary to see this detail however.
The quality of the "Replacement Textures" designed
for use with GeForce graphics cards has also been enhanced, with some finer details
now included. The overall effect when using these is also much neater now. Expect
a Texture Patch to improve the appearance of WJ-MKC's catenary when used with GeForce
cards, to appear in the not too distant future.
All these new features, and some
new screenshots of New Street station, can be seen in the newly updated X-City Screenshots section. A revised feature
list for the High and Medium Detail routes is also available from the
X-City Route Information page - the details regarding the Standard and Low
Detail versions will be posted once the routes have been constructed and tested.
Remaining work primarily involves the creation of the lower detail route variations,
now the High Detail "master" route is completed. This task won't be easy,
and it may take a little while to get the performance vs. detail balance just right.
I'll do what I can with New Street...
Then there are the bonus routes to finish, of course....
;o)
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27th January 2002
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Good news for fans of both the London Underground and
the West Coast Main Line - the author of the original Bakerloo Line,
Paul Jobber, has just finished his fantastic Bakerloo Line Extension from
Queen's Park, which now runs alongside the four track WCML all the way to Harrow
and Wealdstone, between London Euston and Watford Junction. The existing section
from Elephant and Castle to Queen's Park has also been revised, and on the new section
to Harrow look out for the busy traffic on the WCML, and the superbly detailed stations,
lineside structures and scenery. There's even a bonus route included! Head over
to Steve Green's Train Sim
Central to download Paul's masterpiece.
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20th January 2002
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The Class 47 loco is now
available (again) from the BVE Locomotive Collection
- apologies for it's removal for a second time, this was due to a misunderstanding
over ownership of the engine sound files contained within the loco. This has now
been resolved, thankfully!
I should now be able to continue work with the
Cross-City South, please check back soon for progress updates.
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Rail Sim Routes UK, 2001-2007.
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