18th January 2002
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I apologise for sudden removal of the
BVE Locomotive Collection over the past couple of days - I was surprised to
learn that the diesel locos contain sound and image files from a copyrighted source,
without permission being sought prior to release. The copyright holder of these
files (Andy Slater - www.brdw.co.uk)
and myself, have resolved the situation, and he has very kindly agreed to allow
their continued use with the BVE Locomotives available from this site, in line with
his terms and conditions of usage. The BVE Loco page is now
available again.
While I was not made aware of the original source of
these files, I should have thought to verify their origin - therefore I would like
to apologise to Andy Slater for this very unfortunate situation, and I would like
to remind anyone considering using publicly available material for use in BVE add-ons,
to simply seek permission before using them.
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15th January 2002
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I'm pleased to announce that the long awaiting Class
47 loco is now available, and can be downloaded from the
BVE Locomotive Collection page on this site, or from the 'Trains' section of
Robert Glass' Scottish Rail
Sim Files. The loco is a joint effort between Simon Townsend, Robert Glass
and myself, with additional sounds by Alan Perryman. The loco features authentic
sounds, as well as a fully animated panel - complete with moving power and brake
handles, a drivers key, and even a semi-functional ammeter! The loco also includes
track sounds which are compatible with both Sandymill to Invermay and Watford
Jcn to Milton Keynes.
We hope you enjoy the loco! :o)
On another note, this site should now be accessed via
a new URL, so please click on the following link to open the site in a new browser
window, and update your bookmarks. The new URL is www.railsimroutes.co.uk. The e-mail address has also changed
to
________________________.
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24th December 2001
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Apologies for the lack of updates recently. A perfect
route for the Christmas period is now available - Robert Glass has released the
latest version of the great Sandymill-Balfearn series of routes, this time with
a seasonal flavour! Head over to
Scottish Rail Sim Files to download the Sandymill to Balfearn
Seasonal Special, which includes more passing trains than you can shake
a stick at, and some wonderful falling snow and blizzard effects using the technique
developed by Paul Woozley in his stunning Richmond to Kurrajong route.
Apologies also to those who may have been awaiting the
Class 47 loco by Robert Glass and Simon Townsend - due to 'unfortunate' circumstances
surrounding it's release I can't say when or where the loco will be hosted at the
moment.
I haven't made much progress with the Cross-City South
since the last update, a recent hard disk 'disaster' hasn't helped matters either.
However I'm pleased to say that I've received some additional route data which will
allow the line to be more accurately portrayed - work will resume on the route very
shortly!
And finally I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas
and all the best for the New Year! :o)
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7th December 2001
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Bryan Dudley, who gave us the stunning Sandymill to Invermay
'Late Train', the night-time version of Watford Junction to Milton Keynes, and the
'Rocky Mountains Express', has just launched a new website - Rail Tech - where his range of new 'Sidelines' 3D models and
other graphics related files for BVE can be downloaded. The range already includes
some great locomotive and rolling stock objects, and more 3D models are in the pipeline.
Head over to http://railtech.topcities.com
and download the files!
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3rd December 2001
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It's certainly been a good week for fans of Underground
routes for BVE! Robert Glass has just released his latest route - the superb Glasgow
Underground "Rush Hour", which boasts great visuals, random signalling,
randomly placed objects and new Glasgow Underground stock complete with animated
panel. Head over to Scottish
Rail Sim Files to download the route.
And if you don't already know... Two more excellent London
Underground routes have just been released too - the Jubilee Line Extension by David
R Coleman is now available, and this stunning route can be downloaded from Alan
Lee's comprehensive
Jubilee Line Website. And a second new LUL route has also been released, the
excellent Bakerloo Line by Paul Jobber, complete with superb stations and details.
The route can be downloaded from
Train Sim Central.
I'm also pleased to announce the development of a new
BVE route. Matthew Callaghan is currently building the route running from Motherwell
to Anderston, via Hamilton and Glasgow Central Low Level. A new website as
just been launched, where you can follow the development of this interesting route.
Visit Matthew's new Inverness TMD site to follow his progress.
Now for the latest on the development of the Birmingham
Cross-City South. I'm pleased to say, that I'm finally making some progress with
New Street station, and the first screenshots showing just a glimpse of the complex
trackwork involved, can now be seen on the X-City
Screenshots Page. Some shots of Five Ways are also included, showing the complex
multi-level layout of the station area. I wouldn't like to give a release date yet,
as there's still work to do on lower detail route versions for slower machines,
which will require further optimisation and 'tweaking'.
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26th November 2001
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I've been given permission to host the collection of
BVE locos created by jointly by Paul Robins and myself, here at Rail Sim Routes
UK. I've also taken this opportunity to update the 'Train.dat' files, to fix some
wheel-slip problems which were evident in some routes under BVE2, as well as add
a couple of new sounds. Head over to the new BVE
Locomotive Page page to download them.
And there's more good news - Robert Glass has been busy
creating some excellent animated panels
for some of these locos, so head over to the 'Trains' section of the newly
redesigned Scottish
Rail Sim Files for the updates (Classes 37, 50 and 55 'Deltic'), or use the
links on the new BVE Locomotive Page.
The Links page has also been
updated, and progress with the Cross City continues to be made - it's being developed
as quickly as possible. Birmingham New Street is 'getting there'... :o)
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12th November 2001
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Keith Hazleton has launched a new website - The Trainsim Gallery, where you can find out about some of the
people who have been 'bitten by the trainsim bug'. Contributions to the gallery
are welcomed, and you can find out how to submit your details on Keith's site.
Some new X-City South screenshots have been uploaded,
head over to the X-City South Screenshots page
for a look at some more details which have been added.
A major step forward in the development of the route
has been accomplished - all the terrain along the route has now been completed,
leaving just a variety of buildings to add; some of which can be seen in the screenshots.
The route from Redditch to Selly Oak is now largely completed, and remaining tasks
include some more station buildings, the structures at New Street station, and the
conversion of the route to lower detail levels. All trackwork at New Street is also
laid, which inlcudes complex pointwork, 12 platforms, 16 parallel tracks, and a
small framerate hit... ;o) Work will start on the station structures shortly.
On another note, if anyone has sent an e-mail to my blueyonder
address during the last week, and not received a reply yet, could you please re-send
it, as I may not have received it due to some mail server problems during the last
few days. Apologies for this.
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1st November 2001
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Anyone who is interested in learning or sharing knowledge
of building routes for BVE might like to join the new 'BVE Route File Learners' Yahoo! Group which has just been
set up by Tony Chung. Eventually, it is hoped that this will become a useful resource
and meeting place for those who wish to learn how to build their own routes, with
the help of more experienced route developers. Visit the group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BVEroute/
A patch has been released for the fantastic new Edgeware
to Morden route, which corrects a couple of minor errors which a few people experienced;
visit Train Sim Central
for the update. A 'Special Edition' version of the route can also be obtained, which
features more realistic signalling. Well worth aquiring!
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31st October 2001
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As promised, some new screenshots of the X-City have
been uploaded. Head over to the Cross-City South
Screenshots page to see how the route is progressing. The railway infrastructure
is far more detailed than that featured in Watford Jn to Milton Keynes, and at the
moment the route is performing well. The high detail route has successfully run
on a PII 400, quite smoothly, at over 15 fps with a 400m drawing distance set! Work
is now starting on building the complicated New St station itself, and half the
necessary track work has been laid. More updates to follow...
And in other news - Steve Green and Keith Hazleton have
completed their latest ultra-realistic LUL route - the Northern Line from Edgeware
to Morden. Boasting randomly generated signalling delays, this route
will never play exactly the same twice! Download the latest masterpiece from Train Sim Central
Please note, you need to be running the very latest version
of BVE - v2.00.0031 for the random signalling commands to function - however there's
also a non-randomised version of the route included, which should work in prior
versions of BVE2.
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28th October 2001
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I'm pleased to announce that one of the best real UK
routes for BVE has just been updated - Don Clarke has extended his Edinburgh route
all the way to Dundee, and the scenery has also been enhanced and now looks even
more stunning than it did before! The route is quite demanding graphically, so a
decent PC will be needed to achieve good framerates. This great route can be downloaded
from Don's website: http://www.gotopcs.net
Robert Glass' excellent Class 158 will be needed to drive
along the route, and this has just been updated to included animated power and brake
handles. If you haven't downloaded the updated 158 yet, visit Scottish Rail Sim Files and treat yourself!
Development here has been concentrated on the building
of the Cross City South line, and as development is progressing steadily at the
moment, I haven't had time to work on the 321 update for WJ-MKC. Sorry! The X-City
South is shaping up to be more accurate and feature more lineside detail than Watford
Junction to Milton Keynes; expect the finished route to feature more detailed permanent
way infrastructure, more trees, better ambient sounds, more photo realistic bridges
and smoothly curved rails. More screenshots of the route will follow soon...
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2nd October 2001
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Good news for those who enjoy the High Detail version
of Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central - the man who brought us the stunning
"Late Train" dusk to night-time conversion of Robert Glass' Sandymill to Invermay, Bryan Dudley; has converted the High
Detail Class 87 Winter daytime version, to include dusk to night-time 'Graduated
Light Effects'. You can download the new route file on the WJ-MKC Add-ons page.
Note that you need the original WJ-MKC download, along with the High Detail add-on
for the new route to work.
Many thanks to Bryan for all his hard work!
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28th September 2001
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Regular visitors will have noticed a new look and name
for the site! I'd like to thank members of the BVE community for their kind words
and support since the release of Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central. In fact,
seeing as WJ-MKC has proved to be such a success, another real UK route is now being
built! :o)
As was mentioned on the Homepage, if you're using the
old www.wj-mkc.cjb.net URL, please update your bookmarks.
The new URL is http://railsimroutes-uk.cjb.net.
As may have been seen elsewhere recently, currently under
development is the Birmingham Cross-City South route. This part of the line runs
from Redditch to Birmingham New Street, and is operated by the Class 323 25kV AC
EMU. The route will be very varied in terms of scenery, linespeeds, track types,
and civil engineering features. The route starts as a single track branch at Redditch,
before joining the Gloucester to Birmingham main line at Barnt Green, about a mile
North of the infamous Lickey Incline summit at Blackwell. From here, a short period
of high speed running is called for, on the fast lines along the 3 and 4 track sections
as far as Longbridge. A switch is then made to the slow lines, for the run through
the outer suburbs of Birmingham as far as Kings Norton. As the Camp Hill line diverges,
it's then double track all the way to Five Ways, joined for much of the journey
by the Worcester and Birmingham canal running parallel to the line. After Five Ways,
a series of tunnels signal the approach to the busy Birmingham New Street station.
This route is being developed in CSV format, so will
work only with BVE2. Development of the route is progressing well - track is laid
as far as New Street itself (the station is yet to be built), lineside signs have
been implemented, some scenery has been completed, fully working BVE signalling
is installed and is near prototypical in operation, digital AWS sound effects have
been added; and all tunnels are now built, complete with photo-realistic portals.
Many bridges are also nearly finished, many being photo-realistic also; and the
length of the route has been almost all fully electrified with accurate Mk3 catenary,
to 'High Detail' standards. There's still work to do though...
For more information and some screenshots, go to the
new Projects section of the site, and click the Birmingham
X-City link.
Apologies to those who may be awaiting the Class 321
add-on for Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central; when you've just worked on
a route over a period of 8 months(!), you have to take a short break from it, once
in a while... ;o)
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23rd August 2001
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At long last, WJ-MKC is now available! The full route,
including Class 87 and Class 310 diagrams, can now be downloaded. Please thoroughly
read the information on the download page while downloading the route, which will
hopefully answer any queries or problems which might be encountered. While the 'Standard
Route' should work much better than the old demo, bear in mind that as BVE routes
go, this is still a complex, demanding route which loads many objects, and the better
the hardware it's used on, the better it will run. And remember to use BVE2!
Please re-read the information about the route(s) here, as there have been some changes. Then,
proceed to the Downloads page and read the
information while downloading the route.
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Rail Sim Routes UK, 2001-2007.
Some copyright material is hosted on this site, click
here for details.
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