Thanks to all the glorious features that TSRE has gradually added, especially the in-editor terrain and map importation processes, I decided to come out of the dust and rework (for the thousandth time now, I guess) my hometown route and a semi-highly-requested route among the community at that...the Canadian National, Conrail and Norfolk Southern routes from Detroit, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio.
I've been hard at work on this route for the past two months, the Conrail/NS Detroit Line is 98% completed (track laid from West Detroit to the Bancroft Street overpass in Toledo) while the CN Shoreline Sub is 95% completed (track laid from Milwaukee Junction to just past the big curve at Sterns Road north of the state line), providing 60 miles of usable mainline track along with a good amount of customer sidings and yards. Only about 1%-3% of the tertiary usable trackage on this route is actually complete right now, with the exception of the Conrail North Yard Branch, where all track to be usable is in place, but for now I'm planning on getting the CN Shoreline Sub done before I tackle those.
By far, the combination of TSRE and Chuck's Snappers objects, which you'll see in one of the provided screenshots, has been a savior for all the webs of tracks and heavy urban scenery that are commonplace for over half of the route (Metro Detroit, the city of Monroe and in and close to Toledo), not to mention that it makes building routes far, far, far quicker than ever before.
This route will be completely next-gen, which means there will be nothing included that requires having MSTS installed first.
Expect a public release sometime in late November or December at the soonest.
And now for the screenshots:
Starting out on the North Yard Branch, which was at one time the New York Central's Mackinaw City route, heading south, Milwaukee Junction is the terminus point for three CN subdivisions along with the Detroit Connecting Railroad, which now forms the southernmost remaining trackage of what was once the Grand Trunk Western's Detroit-Lake Michigan line. In the distance is Detroit's New Center, which right now is lacking buildings, I will be making a fair number of custom structures for the area.
Delray Junction is where the Detroit Line crosses the Boat Yard Track, jointly used by CSX and NS for local switching, a far cry from the glory days when it was used by passenger trains from the Chesapeake & Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wabash Railroads to access the now-demolished Fort Street Union Station. Although the northernmost segment of the Shoreline Sub merges onto the Boat Yard Lead here as well, usually CN trains will simply glide through by way of Detroit Line trackage rights. A connecting track between the Detroit Line and Boat Yard Track is used by Canadian Pacific runthrough freights to access the former Wabash mainline from the Detroit River Tunnel.
At Oak Street, a popular railfanning spot in Wyandotte, four different tracks are visibly spread out. In the background is the Flat Rock Sub, the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad mainline, now used only by locals and rarely a coal train. Adjacent to that is track 2 of the Detroit Line, first laid by the Michigan Central, next to that is track 1, laid by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Both the MC and the LSMS were later acquired by the NYC, ultimately becoming Penn Central before landing in Conrail control, under which this part of the Detroit Line still falls under as part of Conrail Shared Assets. Finally, mostly hidden behind our train, is the Shoreline Sub, former Detroit & Toledo Shoreline iron. In the background, again mostly hidden, I've used Snappers residential blocks. The famous depot, I've yet to build that as well.
Kentucky Street in the medium-sized core city of Monroe is an interesting path, as Detroit Line track 1 literally separates the street from the homes that line it (which are yet to be put in). This is as close to street running as you can get without actually going into the street itself. Two blocks east are Detroit Line track 2 and the Shoreline Sub, which swings across both Detroit Line mains in Trenton. The Detroit Line tracks are unusually separated like that due to the fact that the tracks were each originally laid by different railroads.
In far northern Toledo, not far from the Michigan-Ohio state line, is Alexis Junction, where the Detroit Line crosses CSX's Flint-Toledo (ex-C&O) mainline and the Ann Arbor Railroad. It is flanked by double overpasses on nearby Alexis Road, which provides good overhead views of the diamonds.
I've been hard at work on this route for the past two months, the Conrail/NS Detroit Line is 98% completed (track laid from West Detroit to the Bancroft Street overpass in Toledo) while the CN Shoreline Sub is 95% completed (track laid from Milwaukee Junction to just past the big curve at Sterns Road north of the state line), providing 60 miles of usable mainline track along with a good amount of customer sidings and yards. Only about 1%-3% of the tertiary usable trackage on this route is actually complete right now, with the exception of the Conrail North Yard Branch, where all track to be usable is in place, but for now I'm planning on getting the CN Shoreline Sub done before I tackle those.
By far, the combination of TSRE and Chuck's Snappers objects, which you'll see in one of the provided screenshots, has been a savior for all the webs of tracks and heavy urban scenery that are commonplace for over half of the route (Metro Detroit, the city of Monroe and in and close to Toledo), not to mention that it makes building routes far, far, far quicker than ever before.
This route will be completely next-gen, which means there will be nothing included that requires having MSTS installed first.
Expect a public release sometime in late November or December at the soonest.
And now for the screenshots:
Starting out on the North Yard Branch, which was at one time the New York Central's Mackinaw City route, heading south, Milwaukee Junction is the terminus point for three CN subdivisions along with the Detroit Connecting Railroad, which now forms the southernmost remaining trackage of what was once the Grand Trunk Western's Detroit-Lake Michigan line. In the distance is Detroit's New Center, which right now is lacking buildings, I will be making a fair number of custom structures for the area.
Delray Junction is where the Detroit Line crosses the Boat Yard Track, jointly used by CSX and NS for local switching, a far cry from the glory days when it was used by passenger trains from the Chesapeake & Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wabash Railroads to access the now-demolished Fort Street Union Station. Although the northernmost segment of the Shoreline Sub merges onto the Boat Yard Lead here as well, usually CN trains will simply glide through by way of Detroit Line trackage rights. A connecting track between the Detroit Line and Boat Yard Track is used by Canadian Pacific runthrough freights to access the former Wabash mainline from the Detroit River Tunnel.
At Oak Street, a popular railfanning spot in Wyandotte, four different tracks are visibly spread out. In the background is the Flat Rock Sub, the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad mainline, now used only by locals and rarely a coal train. Adjacent to that is track 2 of the Detroit Line, first laid by the Michigan Central, next to that is track 1, laid by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Both the MC and the LSMS were later acquired by the NYC, ultimately becoming Penn Central before landing in Conrail control, under which this part of the Detroit Line still falls under as part of Conrail Shared Assets. Finally, mostly hidden behind our train, is the Shoreline Sub, former Detroit & Toledo Shoreline iron. In the background, again mostly hidden, I've used Snappers residential blocks. The famous depot, I've yet to build that as well.
Kentucky Street in the medium-sized core city of Monroe is an interesting path, as Detroit Line track 1 literally separates the street from the homes that line it (which are yet to be put in). This is as close to street running as you can get without actually going into the street itself. Two blocks east are Detroit Line track 2 and the Shoreline Sub, which swings across both Detroit Line mains in Trenton. The Detroit Line tracks are unusually separated like that due to the fact that the tracks were each originally laid by different railroads.
In far northern Toledo, not far from the Michigan-Ohio state line, is Alexis Junction, where the Detroit Line crosses CSX's Flint-Toledo (ex-C&O) mainline and the Ann Arbor Railroad. It is flanked by double overpasses on nearby Alexis Road, which provides good overhead views of the diamonds.
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