Clean 60T Bogie Bolster D

After a number of blog posts featuring various incarnations of the 21t coal hopper it's nice to be able to share something a little bit different -  The unfitted 60T Bogie Bolster D.

British Railways decided that changes in the steel industry would require the use of more bogie vehicles. The wagons fitted with bolsters to support the load were mainly grouped according to length (and hence the nominal capacity).

The largest wagons were classed as Bogie Bolster D, being 52ft in length with a load capacity of 42tons. The first wagons built for BR were 150 vehicles built at Derby in 1949 to an LMS design, which BR described as Diagram 1/470. This featured five fixed bolsters and lashing down rings on the solebar. LMS diamond frame bogies were fitted.

The next 200 vehicles were to an LNER design, appearing in 1950, as Lot 2211 to Diagram 1/472 with the outer 2 bolsters moveable between 2 locations and lashing rings set into the floor of the wagon. They were fitted with LNER diamond frame bogies.

1951 saw the appearance of Lot 2237 and with it, the change to GWR style plate bogies set the appearance of the vast majority of Bolster D, with over another 1600 unfitted Dia. 472 vehicles constructed in 14 lots until 1958. It is these wagons which feature in our 60T Bogie Bolster pack for Train Simulator.

Unfitted dia 1/141 21t HTO Coal Hoppers

Continuing our exploration of the complex history of  21T coal hoppers built by British Railways we're bouncing back to one of the earliest parts of the story with the diagram 1/141 hoppers. These were a direct descendent of the diagram built by the LNER and retained the LNER brake rigging and most noticeably the long LNER handbrake lever. Surprisingly the hoppers could still be found in use during the early 1980s and some were included in the various rebodying schemes - not something covered in this pack!

In keeping with the dia. 1/146 unfitted hoppers we previewed earlier in the week these hoppers worked hard and were subject to corrosion from the acidic nature of the coal that they carried. As a consequence we have prepared various levels of distress to allow the hoppers to created a varied rake of wagons. The hoppers also feature a number of different lettering styles which are applied at random but can be overriden to one of your choice should you desire.

Also in common with the dia. 1/141 hoppers these were unbraked and were not fitted with lamp brackets to carry a tail lamp as they were never envisaged to be at the rear of the train. Therefore, to allow users to be able to form correctly marshalled trains we will be bundling a dia. 1/506 unfitted brake van that we previewed in our 'Bonus Brake Vans - Part 1'.

Unfitted dia 1/146 21t HTO Coal Hoppers

One of our current rolling stock expansion themes for Train Simulator are the British Railways 21t Coal Hoppers. One of the last variations built has already been released in the form of the Rebodied dia. 1/146 HTV 21t Coal Hoppers.

Today we're looking back to a much earlier part of the story with the unfitted version of the dia. 1/146 hoppers which made up the majority of the wagons built to this diagram complete with the original style of body with five strengthening ribs and plain axleboxes.

Like most coal wagons these hoppers worked hard and were subject to corrosion from the acidic nature of the coal that they carried. As a consequence we have prepared various levels of distress to allow the hoppers to created a varied rake of wagons. The hoppers also feature a number of different lettering styles which are applied at random but can be overriden to one of your choice should you desire.

Given that the wagons were unbraked they were not fitted with lamp brackets to carry a tail lamp as they were never envisaged to be at the rear of the train. Therefore, to allow users to be able to form correctly marshalled trains we will be bundling a dia. 1/506 unfitted brake van that we previewed in our 'Bonus Brake Vans - Part 1' blog post a while ago.

RNA Barrier Wagons

Until the mid 1990s railway operations required the use of barrier wagons when trains were carrying Dangerous Goods to give better protection to train crews and the goods themselves in the event of derailment or collision. Traditionally these barrier wagons would be drawn from whatever suitable wagons were available in the yard at the time that the train was assembled. However, with the sectorisation of British Rail in the run up to privatisation all assets and requirements had to be accounted for.

With this in mind, Railfreight Coal assembled a dedicated fleet of barrier wagons for use with nuclear flask traffic. It is likely that a number of the wagons that were involved had been in use for this very purpose for some time but were now formally assigned and converted for the role. A large number had their hopper bodies removed and a new floor added. Alongside this they gained a coat of the new Railfreight Sector livery complete with coal branding.

Other hoppers retained their bodywork but gained a repaint in the Sector livery while others were simply recoded as RNA while retaining their previous liveries.

Bonus Brake Vans - Part 1

Those of you who have been following us for a while know that we like to throw in the odd extra when it comes to our Train Simulator expansion packs to make them a little more realistic. Today we're showing off a couple of items we've been finishing off to bundle with a number of our forthcoming Marketplace releases.

With the Sectorisation of British Rail, image and accountability became a very important part of the business. Ironically, even in this modern business, there was still the need for traditional railway technology including the humble brake van.

Where the transportation of dangerous goods or particular operating arrangements were in place there was still a requirement for brake vans to be used for the use of the guard or other members of the train crew. As a consequence, a number of the later built dia. 1/507 20T brake vans with through air and vacuum pipes (TOPS code CAR) gained fresh coats of Railfreight sector livery complete with sector branding.

We have created this model for inclusion in our RNA barrier wagons pack that is due to be released on Steam Marketplace very soon. The model features coal sector decals by default but these can be changed through the use of number prefixes to any other decal if you so desire. Given the period of use this van is fitted with a single early design battery flashing tail lamp controlled via our intelligent tail lamp scripting.

Turning the clock right back we've also been working on a more original unfitted dia. 1/506 brake van with plain axle boxes. A considerable number of these vans were built in the early 1950s both in the form represented here but also with through vacuum pipes and in some cases, were fully fitted with vacuum brakes.

Given that unfitted wagons were not fitted with lamp irons and would not be expected to run in train without a brake van this model is currently scheduled to be bundled with a number of our forthcoming expansions including the unfitted 21t hopper packs and the BDO bogie bolsters.

The dia. 1/506 vans feature a selection of randomised or controllable lettering styles along with clean and weathered textures. By default the vans display three oil lamps (with the side lamps being randomly black or white) denoting a partially fitted or unfitted train but this can be overridden if desired to show a single lamp for a fitted train.

Both of the vans shown are supplied with smoking and non smoking stove pipes. The smoking variant has dynamic smoke that changes over time reflecting changes to the fire in the stove.

We do have plans to create further versions of both these vans which will be bundled with future expansions as appropriate.

HSA Scrap Wagons

The conversion of surplus HEA hoppers into HSA scrap wagons from about 1987 must have been one of the simplest conversions of a wagon.

The main aim of the conversion was to produce a flat bottomed wagon and to take the hoppers out of use as loading and unloading at scrap processors would be via mechanical grabs and magnets. This flat bottom was achieved in two ways, either a steel plate was welded across the bottoms of the hoppers at approximately under-frame height or a similar level of ballast was dropped into the wagon. The latter wagons can be identified by and increased tare weight that was patch painted on to the data panel.

This Train Simulator expansion is based on our previously released HEA hoppers which have been back through the works for updated materials and textures along with the fitting of some more recent developments which include:

• Intelligent tail lamps
• Variable infill method with tare weight patch
• Five different logo styles randomly applied with overrides
• Variable load planes randomly applied
• Body switching dependent on vehicle number with reference to end ladders on earlier vehicles
• Randomised textures of Railfreight red/grey versions

Weathered VCA Vans

A short while ago we showed you the full range of clean VCA vans that we will be including in our forthcoming Train Simulator 2016 expansion.

Today we present the work weary examples with patchy and faded paintwork and lettering. It's not a great leap to imagine the number of trips they have made from South Wales carrying products produced by the Metal Box company.

CEA Covered Hoppers [EWS]

Last week we showed off some pictures of the completed Loadhaul liveried CEA hoppers. This week it's the turn of the EWS ones.

Even though there have been some questions raised about the success of the CEA conversions it would appear that EWS saw some use for the small fleet of covered hoppers. A large number of them gained one of two variations of EWS livery either unbranded EWS maroon with stencilled lettering or fully branded EWS with gold lettering. In both cases a smart new retractable sheet in EWS maroon was also fitted.

As with the vast majority of our packs the wagons will be supplied with clean and weathered versions along with loaded and empty physics. These wagons also feature automatic body switching to take in to account the different positions of ladder and aer fitted with our intelligent tail lamp system.

Clean VCA Vans

We first gave you a glimpse of the VCA vans as the header image for the September Update. Today we felt it was about time to let you have a look at the full set of clean vans. Naturally there will be some weathered examples along later.

In 1971 a new design of air braked long wheelbase van with two centrally mounted sliding doors appeared from Ashford works. These 125 wagons to lot 3764 were coded as COV CD and were painted Freight Brown with a large Double Arrow high on the left hand side. In the 2nd half of 1974, Shildon Works constructed a further 100 vans to lot 3832. It is these 2 lots of wagons that feature in this pack. After the change over to TOPS, these vans were coded as VCA, though the 2nd lot were incorrectly labelled as VBA when new (not featured in the pack). In time the first lot were repainted in Maroon livery with a boxed Double Arrow and Railfreight branding. Both lots later received Railfreight Flame Red & Grey livery.

Loadhaul CEA Covered Hoppers

A fair while ago we shoed some pictures of the CEAs under development. Today it's a pleasure to show off the final versions with updated materials and textures and a few other tweaks.

The CEA conversion was one of the latter attempts to find a use for the large numbers of hoppers that were standing around with very little to do. They were converted in 1996 by the shadow privatisation company Loadhaul with a retractable sheet that could be rolled back from ground level by attaching a windlass to a spigot fitted to the under-frame to allow them to carry products which needed protecting from the weather or may have had issues with dust blowing off in transit. Interestingly a thin corner support was added to the later build wagons at the time of conversion which led to a little bit of confusion at one point in the development of this expansion!

Some 44 wagons were converted and they appear to have had questionable success in traffic. Some commodities that the wagons have been noted carrying include Limestone, Calcified Seaweed, China Clay, Petroleum Coke and Chipped Tyres for use at Aberthawe Cement Works.

Weathered rebodied dia. 1/146 HTV Hoppers

We showed off some pictures of the clean rebodied dia. 1/146 21t hoppers a few days ago. To bring the story of this pack up-to-date it seemed only fair to publish some pictures of the weathered ones too.

As can be seen from the pictures, time in traffic has effected the wagons in different ways and especially the degree to which the paint has changed and faded. From top to bottom we have: freight brown hopper with black under-frame; freight brown hopper with brown under-frame and a maroon hopper with black under-frame.

In the last two pictures you can also glimpse the randomised load profiles that have been added to these wagons.

Rebodied HTV Features

Not only have we been working hard on a stack of new models we've also been adding new features to them. We told you about the texture swapping and graffiti that has been applied to the EWS liveried Sea Urchins on Wednesday and are taking the opportunity to share the special features of the Rebodied HTV hoppers today.

You should have noticed from the four pictures above that there are a selection of subtly different data panels applied to the wagons. These panels are applied at random as the wagons are placed in the game and when mixed in with the different weathering levels and liveries produces a nicely mixed rake of wagons.

However, what if you're placing a nice neat row of ex-works wagons? We would expect them all to be lettered the same. This is why we have also included the option to override the randomisation of the data panels if you wish in the Scenario Editor by prefixing the wagon number with a code to choose the panel you want.

In addition to this automatic ability to mix things up a bit we've also developed something that we're calling 'Intelligent Tail Lamps'. In the past we have stuck with producing discrete rear versions of wagons fitted with a tail lamp as we didn't feel that any of the other solutions that had been developed really gave the level of control we wanted.

That was until one of our testers pushed the issue again and a chance comment sparked an idea. With a little bit inspiration, a fair amount of sweat and frustration and possibly a little swearing we have produced the solution that is quoted from the manual below.

The key features of our ‘intelligent’ tail lamp are:

• Player services will display a lamp at the rear end and this will move up and down the train as vehicles are coupled/uncoupled.
• AI services will display a lamp at rear and this should move up and down as vehicles are added or removed in scenarios
• Loose consists should not display any lamps - including portions detached from Player and AI services
• Lamps can be prevented from showing by adding a N prefix to the vehicle number in the scenario editor either before or after the decal override if this is used
• Lamps can be forced to appear in a similar manner by using a Y prefix.
• AI services with a Service Class of ‘Special’ will not display a lamp and this needs to be forced to appear with a prefix
• Loose consists are treated by Train Simulator as ‘Special’, if you wish a tail lamp to appear on one end (or indeed both ends) of such a consist you will need to force it to appear by adding a Y prefix to the relevant wagon(s).
• In a free roam scenario, selecting a consist with a Special type to become the player service will enable the lamps as per a normal service.
• In circumstances where the automatic display of a tail lamp is not desired, for example during shunting manoeuvres in a yard, adding a prefix of N to the vehicle number will prevent a tail lamp from being displayed on that vehicle.
• Conversely, if a tail lamp is required to be displayed and this does not happen automatically, for example a loose consist left in a siding, adding a prefix of Y will force a tail lamp to be displayed on the outer end of that wagon.

When adding prefixes for lamp control and decal overriding the order of those prefixes does not matter.

Dirty EWS Urchins

Last Thursday we showed you some pictures of the clean, recently converted ZCA Sea Urchins. Today it's the turn of the ones that have been in traffic for a while.

The three pictures above show the varying levels of fading, weathering and battering that have been applied to the EWS liveried ZCA Sea Urchins we have modelled for Train Simulator 2016.However, we haven't produced six different weathered models (3 levels on each of the two different under-frames) for you to have to pick and place.

Instead we've used a little bit of technical magic and created just one weathered version that will randomly choose which level of weathering will be displayed. This should mean you can place a string of wagons that look varied and have no repeating pattern of weathering with ease.

Alongside this we're well aware from pictures that some people like to leave their mark on various railway assets and engineers wagons are no exception. If you take a look at the picture at the bottom of this post you'll see a wagon that has gained a few graffiti 'tags' as well as giving a good contrast between different weathering levels compared to the wagons on either side. The graffiti is automatically and randomly applied to the weathered wagons and can range from nothing through one single 'tag' to a plethora on both sides!

Freshly Rebodied Common Hoppers

A while ago we showed you some work in progress renders of a rebodied dia. 1/146 21t coal hopper. As can be seen from these pictures they have progressed nicely and are currently undergoing QA with Dovetail Games as one of our range of wagons under development for Marketplace.

The pictures show three different livery variations that the hoppers received no doubt due to the long rebodying program and the fact that a number of different workshops with possibly their own understanding of things were involved! From top to bottom we have, freight brown with black under frame and running gear; freight brown with brown under frame and black running gear and finally maroon with black under frame and running gear.

If you'd like to read a touch more about the 21t hoppers and their rebodying take a look at this post: Rebodied HTV Render

Sparkling EWS Sea Urchins

A few days ago we announced our range of future expansions which we are developing for distribution via Marketplace. Naturally we didn't start working on the expansions at the time of the announcement but have had to wait until everything was in place before we could share anything.

We're starting off the sharing today with some screenshots taken by the works photographer of some freshly repainted EWS liveried ZCA Sea Urchins. Those of you who have been following our products for a while will know that we had already produced a pack of engineers 'Dutch' liveried Sea Urchins converted from VDA vans and this expansion is a development from it.

We have updated the materials used throughout the models with new shaders along with some extensive reworking of the textures and ambient occlusion maps. In addition to this this we have automated some features of the wagons to reduce clutter in the asset list, as requested in the spring survey, by randomly switching between the two different body types as wagons are placed. The wagons now also feature a variety of different load remnants which appear at random during placement.

The wagons have also been equipped with some other new features but they can wait for when we show you the pictures!

Rebodied HTV Render

Carrying on our series of blog posts with renders showing new models in production we're excited to be revealing this re-bodied dia. 1/146 coal hopper.

Diagram 1/146 started to appear in about 1952 and with its BR style hand brake, Morton brakes and welded body can be considered to be the standard design of 21T coal hopper. This is further reinforced when you consider that some 17000 wagons were constructed.

However, carrying coal in any type of steel wagon has one big problem, corrosion. This was originally dealt with but cutting out corroded sections and welding in new metal. By the late 1960's this approach had been generally superseded by the process of replacing the whole body. From 1971 to 1978 a major re-bodying program took place with larger numbers of wagons from all diagrams receiving a new style of welded body with two ribs on each side.

Given their sheer number a many dia 1/146 wagons would have received the new body and this is what is featured in our renders above. Fitted and unfitted wagons from other diagrams were also re-bodied and some gained vacuum brakes at this time too.