For months now I've been building and using a freight timetable for the '70s era Monon Route consisting entirely of P. Tyler Bundy's '70s L&N and IC EMD power, his IC cabooses, and the NAVS rolling stock available in the file library. There are also some B&O/C&O pulling freight. There are 27 routes and 46 trains, all freight. Recently NAVS uploaded some passenger cars but the readme indicated more is to come, and I haven't had time to build consists and ensure they play nice with all the other traffic.
My intention was to create consists made only of freeware available in the file library, and to keep the number of separate required downloads to a minimum, as to avoid the huge lists of required downloads one sometimes sees in the readmes of other files. That second part hasn't quite worked out to be as minimal as I would have liked. Though the material is sourced only from P. T. Bundy and NAVS, there are numerous required downloads for each.
The project is pretty much completed, having played through multiple times looking for gridlocks, and I've gotten it to the point where everything is running smoothly - pending adjustments to eventually fit the NAVS passenger rail. This timetable is obviously not prototypical and I've taken liberties, however I've paid a lot of attention to and tried hard to built consists that are plausible. For example most of the local freight is running on schedules similar to that of the Monon local freight schedule provided in the route's readme, L&N powered trains are running to and from Louisville, etc.
I only learned of the Monon by a comment in one of R. Steel's posts a while back. It's an extremely well-made route that comes with some of its own rolling stock - and therein lies concern that I'm getting to; I didn't use any of the included stock or download any of the recommended stock. Instead I used Tyler Bundy's engines and NAVS rolling stock simply because I preferred that over the older MSTS-based content made for the Monon Route. I fell in love with the quality of Bundy's work and the 3D cabs, and the NAVS cars (especially the sounds for them, including those for EMD power, and those made specifically for P. T. Bundy's EMD power) are among the best files of any type available in the library.
Now I don't know if anyone might think that is disrespecting the immersion of the original Monon route or anything like that, but not long ago I've learned there are some who apparently take exception to routes or activities that doesn't adhere to the historical, and I've hesitated uploading the timetable to the file library. That, and I originally made this timetable only for my own personal use, so there are no useable notes (yet). But as projects tend to do, it took on a life of its own and over time grew into something far more comprehensive than I originally intended and it's worked out quite well.
Anyway, please forgive my wall of text. I hope I've made a point, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
My intention was to create consists made only of freeware available in the file library, and to keep the number of separate required downloads to a minimum, as to avoid the huge lists of required downloads one sometimes sees in the readmes of other files. That second part hasn't quite worked out to be as minimal as I would have liked. Though the material is sourced only from P. T. Bundy and NAVS, there are numerous required downloads for each.
The project is pretty much completed, having played through multiple times looking for gridlocks, and I've gotten it to the point where everything is running smoothly - pending adjustments to eventually fit the NAVS passenger rail. This timetable is obviously not prototypical and I've taken liberties, however I've paid a lot of attention to and tried hard to built consists that are plausible. For example most of the local freight is running on schedules similar to that of the Monon local freight schedule provided in the route's readme, L&N powered trains are running to and from Louisville, etc.
I only learned of the Monon by a comment in one of R. Steel's posts a while back. It's an extremely well-made route that comes with some of its own rolling stock - and therein lies concern that I'm getting to; I didn't use any of the included stock or download any of the recommended stock. Instead I used Tyler Bundy's engines and NAVS rolling stock simply because I preferred that over the older MSTS-based content made for the Monon Route. I fell in love with the quality of Bundy's work and the 3D cabs, and the NAVS cars (especially the sounds for them, including those for EMD power, and those made specifically for P. T. Bundy's EMD power) are among the best files of any type available in the library.
Now I don't know if anyone might think that is disrespecting the immersion of the original Monon route or anything like that, but not long ago I've learned there are some who apparently take exception to routes or activities that doesn't adhere to the historical, and I've hesitated uploading the timetable to the file library. That, and I originally made this timetable only for my own personal use, so there are no useable notes (yet). But as projects tend to do, it took on a life of its own and over time grew into something far more comprehensive than I originally intended and it's worked out quite well.
Anyway, please forgive my wall of text. I hope I've made a point, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
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