Hello everyone

[j484fan]

Greetings to all fellow RRT3 nuts like myself. Most of you I see create new skins and even locos, as well as maps for this great game. I am none of the above. I've played RRT3 off and on since it came out, buying at least three copies over the years, replacing lost or tossed copies due to after a while bordom. But of all the business/tycoon strategy games out there. RRT3 is still the best and my favorite. I'm substituting maps created by some of you as I don't know how to create my own for things such as running the Pennsy North East Corridor and adapting into it areas the then N&W to semi replicate what I would later change to Norfolk Southern as time progresses.

[Blackhawk]

Welcome back to RT3 and hopefully you'll enjoy some of the scenarios others have created. You might also want to look into the unofficial RT3 1.06 patch which adds more engines and cargoes, and makes a few other alternations like shipping at a loss/drop shipping. And for a more complex industrial supply chain, again with some additional cargo types, you might be interested in the RT3 Mod Trainmaster.

[j484fan]

Thanks Blackhawk, I've DL the 1.06 patch and I've been playing mostly the mid-west or NE southern areas of the US maps.
I wish there was someone who was a Norfolk Southern fan or of their predecessors N&W, Southern later NKP, Conrail etc that would create a map and maybe some more locos and skins, so that one could run a map of the Norfolk Southern broken up into as realisitcally as possible, their division systems; Lake Division, Dearborn, Pocohontas, Central etc. 12 different divisions in all I do believe.

Also has anyone ever considered creating somthing to replicate a rail yard, to later put in a city instead of the station? Elkhart Yard runs or did run 150 trains a day between WB and EB moves. Also, if you play this game into the diesel age, it looks rather funny having a freight train pull into a station. The only time I have seen that at my age is when via trackage rights Canadian Pacific pulls up to the Amtrack station in Elkhart for a crew change. It would just be nice to have a few more changes to bring some more realism to the game.

[Blackhawk]

I wish there was someone who was a Norfolk Southern fan or of their predecessors N&W, Southern later NKP, Conrail etc that would create a map and maybe some more locos and skins, so that one could run a map of the Norfolk Southern broken up into as realisitcally as possible, their division systems; Lake Division, Dearborn, Pocohontas, Central etc. 12 different divisions in all I do believe.

I know you said you've not made a scenario before but creating a basic scenario isn't that difficult. I'm currently working on my first one for Trainmaster and just need to make some minor adjustments. What version of RT3 you'd make the scenario for, 1.05, 1.06, or Trainmaster (which with its more complex and intertwined industries is a little more realistic). Then you'd have to decide what you'd want out of the scenario. Do you have the 11 divisions of Norfolk Southern (NS) already built or is it part of the scenario that you have to create connections between certain cities to represent these divisions? Is it a scenario focusing on just 1 division of NS? Do you control just 1 division of NS or the entire company? Do you have certain shipping goals or a company book value requirement? It might be possible to treat the 11 divisions as separate companies and require that you go to each division and have to make X amount of money a year, then go take over to another NS division and repeat that until you've made each division profitable or maybe you only need to make 7 out of the 11 divisions profitable within a set number of years, and this allows the player to have to decide what divisions he wants to attempt to use.

Also has anyone ever considered creating somthing to replicate a rail yard, to later put in a city instead of the station? Elkhart Yard runs or did run 150 trains a day between WB and EB moves. Also, if you play this game into the diesel age, it looks rather funny having a freight train pull into a station.

As far as I know no one has done anything like that. I'm not sure if it would even be possible, or what a building representing a rail yard would look like.

[Hawk]

Howdy J aboard!

As for rail yard structures, there is some add-ons that act as rail yards, in that one train can bring in stuff and another train can pick it up, but due to a couple of different factors actually creating a rail yard isn't possible in RT3.
It has to do with how the tracks lay and how the trains operate.

Something like that would be more in the line of Microsoft Train Simulator or Railworks, both train simulators. RT3 was designed as a strategy game based on the railroad industry and nothing like a simulator.

[WPandP]

Welcome! Glad to see there's another N&W enthusiast here. I've made a number of N&W-themed mods over the years; three heavy steam engines plus some high-nosed SD-40's, as well as coal hoppers, can be found on this site. Each one is a labor of love, of course - it takes a decent amount of time to create most mods, which is why the world isn't flooded with custom engines and skins the way we might all wish it were.

As for rail yards, I came up with the concept that is available here and incorporated into Trainmaster, in that the yard structure is something buildable in a manner similar to the post office, and which acts as a minor load attractor. Build a small station (to replicate the yard tower, perhaps) and then place the yard structure nearby (within its capture radius), and you've just created a freight destination. It still doesn't look like a big yard, with busy switchers shoving cuts, but it helps gameplay in that it serves as a relay point for loads.

It might be possible to better realize the yard concept, with a good deal more tinkering, but this was as much as I could come up with way back when. Really, we're coming up against the limitations of the game engine, trying to get it to jump through hoops it didn't even know existed.

[BikerTim]

Welcome aboard! I promise you will have a great time here! We all do!

[nedfumpkin]

Welcome aboard!

Although it is mentioned above, Trainmaster would be the game to accomplish what you are looking for in a scenario. Everything you are talking about can be done in TM. The railyards are part of the game, creating a custom pak of skins to go with the scenario is possible with the developer's kit. All the other things you mention are possible as well.

So pick a starting year for the scenario, and I'll look into creating some stuff, maybe a map.

[j484fan]

http://realestate.nscorp.com/nscrealest ... ccess/#map

this is the only link I could find showing the NS system map broken down by division. I'm reading everything I can find on you site, and will at some point try tackling creating a map. Being the first anything Ive ever created on a computer aside from blogs, this will be a challenge. An idea I origianally thought of was N&W in heavy coal country, the Appalachains, run everything from the Harrisburg, Pocahontas, Virgina, Piedmont and Georgia divisions as known in NS times. My biggest thing is I see HTML I run and hide lol. If anyone has the Norfolk Southern book written by Richard Borkowski Jr there is a much better view of this system map on page 55. what thought of was N&W and Southern both in early diesel age, (Southern had the nicest looking freight diesels) working into when the merge occured and also somehow, doing whatever possilbe lvl of the huge coal car facilities at Lambert's Point. as far as more scenario details, could use some help, ideas on that. NS is the largest mover of autoracks in the industry with more car loading facilities than anyone else. I've looked up all their yards on Google Earth and several of their industrial facilities. Would be nice to have something and I think the Hopper Yard takes care of that, to facilitate large demands of coal (for export) that would go to Norfolk in several train loads. Being able to see car loading and unloading facilites in the New Jersey area in the 1980's and up and intermodal t a degree in the Baltimore area. idea being huge demand for coal in the proper points and automotive import/export in their proper places. Norfolk Southern aslo has several Bulk Transfer facilities. Don't work for em, just did a lot of searching and looking on their site. Also have an offmap destination towards Chicago for several inbound/outbound intermodals, as well as loaded/empty coal trains coming from and going out West. That may be another trick for someone to skin the goods racks for. PacerStacktrain. and a few of the dozens of others out there.

Also as a tip http://www.railroadmap.com/index.html This is a great tool to zoom in on someone's rail system to see every town and industrial facility in a busy area. i will give the trainmaster edition a try,see what happens.

And by the way WP&P I have DL and been using your N&W locos, NICE WORK!

[proudcanadian]

aboard! Great to have another person on the forums.