Albula Line 2 - Documentation
for
Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS)
freeware by Michael Vone
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This route simulates in great detail 40 km of the real-life Albula Line and 10 km of a branch line to Davos, with multiple reversal and helicoidal tunnels, numerous viaducts, and the 6 km Albula Tunnel. Version 2 more than doubles the track length and adds many details. New features include: 12 different environments (seasonal weather and non-flashing water); about 20 activities; prototypical rolling stock (Rhätische Bahn) by third parties, available as a separate package. Software: MSTS. Included are: complete
route, maps, background information, third-party objects; activities. Rolling stock available as a separate file (RhBpack.zip). No other add-ons needed (does not use
XTracks). Warning: NOT
compatible with Sky! Conductor (Albula Line 2 has its own sky textures). For news about my add-on
software, visit the MV Challenges home page |
© Copyright 2003 Michael Vone |
CONTENTS
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Introduction |
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Installation: |
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Activities: |
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Maps: |
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Rolling stock: |
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Credits, copyright,
distribution and disclaimers: |
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Background
information: |
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OVERVIEW
This route simulates a
section of the real-life Albula Line that spans the stations Surava, Alvaneu,
Filisur, Stuls, Bergün, Preda, Spinas and Bever: a 40 km portion of the line Chur-St. Moritz. It also includes a 10 km stretch of the line
Filisur-Davos spanning the stations Filisur, Wiesen and Monstein. The section from Filisur to Preda climbs
through a series of reversal and helicoidal tunnels, while Preda and Spinas are
linked by the 6 km long Albula Tunnel.
The Filisur-Monstein section passes through a narrow gorge with multiple
tunnels.
This route is made as realistic and detailed as I
could within MSTS, based on maps and photographs. All real-life tunnels and viaducts are included, such as the
famous Landwasser and Wiesen Viaducts, and the four Albula Viaducts I -
IV. All stations carry their own
names. Most buildings and houses are
present in their proper locations.
The "environment" has been tailored to this
route: it provides 12 seasonal weather
patterns, with various sky textures (including flying objects, lightning, and
rainbows), different water appearances (clear water in summer, frozen water in
winter, and muddy water in spring, all non-flashing), various fog densities,
and rain and snow intensities. (This
makes the route incompatible with Sky! Conductor: applying Sky! Conductor will have no visible effect in Albula 2.)
This route uses mainly the default Innsbruck-St.
Anton objects. It offers "heavy
snow" in winter on the ground, and many rocky textures. It also uses a number of add-on objects that
are included in this package, in particular viaducts, railway stations,
gantries and other railway equipment specifically designed by third parties for
the Rhätische Bahn that operates this route in reality (see Credits).
The high scenery density reduces frame rates and may
require that you run MSTS at less than full World Object Density (set on the
Advanced Options page of MSTS) or on a faster computer.
A variety of activities are included that last from
15 to 120 minutes: these use primarily
add-on rolling stock designed by third parties specifically for the Rhätische
Bahn. The activities and rolling stock
are supplied in a separate file. Also
included is an Introductory Train Ride that allows the user to be driven around
and enjoy the detailed scenery from Surava to Bever.
Driving this route demands one's full attention,
since it has a high density of turns, slope changes, signals and stations.
It is assumed that you are
familiar with using MSTS.
INSTALLATION
INSTRUCTIONS
IMPORTANT: You need
to install both the route (in file MValb2.zip) and the add-on rolling stock
(in file RhBpack.zip) before using this route! These files are available from Train-Sim.com,
or directly from ??Avsim
(MValb2.zip) and ??Avsim
(RhBpack.zip), as well as from other web sites. Note that much of the rolling stock has been updated compared to
the versions available elsewhere on the web; and most of them will be placed in
new folders with new names, so that all older consists that you may have will
still work.
For step-by-step
installation instructions, please read the file readme_English_Alb2.txt
located in file MValb2.zip, or any translated versions of this file. Those instructions also tell you how to
uninstall the route and/or the rolling stock, if desired.
CAUTION: Due to the
relatively low frame rates of Albula Line 2, you may choose to run it in MSTS
with a lower World Objects Density.
Note, however, that on some systems changing the World Objects Density
can crash MSTS. If that happens to you,
after changing the World Objects Density, first start up a simple Activity (it
is sufficient to start in Explore mode and then terminate the Activity before
actually driving); then restart that
same Activity a few times; after this
"acclimatization" of MSTS to the new World Objects Density setting,
Albula Line 2 should start without crashing MSTS.
Modified camera views: Included
with this route is a modified camcfg.dat that allows you great flexibility with
the different camera views. To use it,
copy it from this route's Documents folder into the Train Simulator's GLOBAL
folder, after backing up your old version.
If you want to go back to the original file camcfg.dat, a copy is
available as camcfg(original).dat in this route's Documents folder: to use it, delete the modified version from
the Train Simulator's GLOBAL folder, copy camcfg(original).dat to the Train
Simulator's GLOBAL folder, and remove the "(original)" from its name,
so it is called camcfg.dat.
The modified file camcfg.dat
allows the following views (including those allowed by default):
· In the
"head-out" view (Shift-1), after pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can
rotate the camera vertically and horizontally, by dragging the mouse while
pressing its right button.
· In the
"front-tracking" (2) and "rear-tracking" (3) views, after
pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can rotate the camera vertically and horizontally,
by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button (while still moving the
camera around the train with the arrow keys).
· In the
" track-side" (4) view ("spotter cam"), you can rotate the
camera vertically and horizontally (by dragging the mouse while pressing its
right button), and change its height and distance (with the left- and
right-arrow keys). After pressing
Ctrl-Shift-9, you can move the camera vertically and horizontally (but not
rotate it), with the arrow keys.
· In the
"passenger" view (5), after pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can rotate the
camera vertically and horizontally, by dragging the mouse while pressing its
right button.
· The
"coupling" view (6) is not changed.
· In the
"yard" view (press 7 while in any station), you can move the camera anywhere
you wish in the entire route (with the arrow keys) and rotate the camera
freely, by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button; note that the yard camera becomes
independent of where your train is located:
you can explore the entire route as if in a helicopter (but the height
above the ground is limited).
· The
"derail" view (automatic) is not changed.
· Note that I
gave the camera views non-default "fields of view" (called FOV inside
the camcfg.dat file, which gives the angles of camera view in degrees; by default they are 60 degrees); you may change these FOV values with
WordPad: a small FOV gives a zoom effect, while a large FOV fives a "fish-eye
lens" effect.
KNOWN PROBLEMS
A few known bugs are:
· The rocky
transfers may give undesired shimmering effects: this seems to depend on your hardware.
· The arched
bridge pieces may disappear at close range (this appears to be a problem with
TSM and/or MSTS).
· The bridge
to Naz village is completely black in winter (as it is in the MSTS Orient
Express route).
· Two tiles
directly east of Spinas and northwest of Alvaneu are corrupt: they occasionally become transparent.
· A terrain section
east of Filisur looks transparent from a distance.
· The level
crossing at Surava allows cars to stop far too close to the tracks, due to the
prototypical small road/track angle.
ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
An Introductory Train
Ride is available for you to see the Albula Line without driving: it allows you to ride the Glacier Express
from Surava to Bever, on a clear autumn afternoon as dusk approaches. Such Introductory Train Rides tend to be
slow, permitting you to leisurely see all the details of the route, from many
points of view, including a passenger view.
You start an Introductory Train Ride not from the usual MSTS activity
screen: select "Introductory Train
Ride" on the initial startup screen of MSTS to open a list of routes. After selecting Albula Line 2, you may
deselect the "Change Views" option:
this prevents MSTS from automatically switching the viewing cameras
during the ride, so you can make the camera choices yourself. Pressing Start then loads the route and
starts the automated ride.
A Fan Train activity
is available in 6 versions to give information about the route in 6
different languages. It allows you
to drive a nostalgic "Orient Express" steam run for a railway fan
club, including many sightseeing opportunities. It starts in Monstein, goes down to Filisur and then uphill via
Bergün to the Albula Tunnel and finally downhill to Bever. You may drive at your own pace, without
worrying about other traffic on the route.
It includes many pop-up explanations of what you see along the way.
About 20 other activities (with preset season, weather, rolling stock, traffic
and static consists) are included with this route, ranging from easy to
hard. You can see a brief description
of each on the Activity selection screen of MSTS, after selecting an
activity. The hard activities often
involve switching operations and/or reversals that require special attention.
Finally, you may of course Explore
the route with your own choice of settings. I suggest exploring various season, weather and time-of-day
combinations, to experience the variety of environmental conditions that were
specially designed for this route.
TRICK: If you reduce the Detail Level in MSTS to 9
or less, you will see fewer people on platforms: this is meant in particular so you can remove the people dressed
for the summer when you run in winter!
(But see the cautionary note under Installation
Instructions before doing this.)
Here are a few general
points to remember about running these activities:
· This route
is very dense and may run at a low frame rate:
reduce the Detail Level (and/or other settings) in MSTS to improve the
frame rate. (See the cautionary note
under Installation Instructions before
doing this.)
· Detailed
maps are available to find your way along the route and in stations: see below.
· At startup,
you should check that the throttle, brakes and lights are set properly, even if
the train is already in motion.
· The tail of
your train should respect the speed limits, not only the front (although MSTS
does not penalize you if you violate this rule).
· MSTS is
choosy about where you stop at a platform:
for a scheduled stop to count as successful, you should basically avoid
stopping the locomotive on a switch; if
that is not possible, you will be told at the conclusion of the activity that
you missed a stop, even if you did stop.
· At a station
with a scheduled stop, you are given a certain amount of time to unload/load
(after you hit Enter), shown by pressing F10;
after the unloading/loading time, you must still wait until the
scheduled departure time (listen for the whistle, if you stopped at the right
spot). Note that the motorized units
(the shuttle or "Pendel" trains) don't count as passenger trains in
MSTS, so MSTS does not record their stops.
· In descents,
use either the brakes or the throttle, depending on the slope.
· Press F2 at
any time to save the current activity, so you can continue it later; this is specially useful before a difficult
operation, so you can restart the activity just before that operation starts
without rerunning the whole activity from the beginning (to restart a saved activity,
select "Load Saved Activity" instead of "Drive a Train"
when MSTS starts).
HINT: You get great external views by pressing
Ctrl-Shift-9 after pressing 2, 3 or 4:
you can then swing the camera view around with the mouse while keeping
the right mouse button pressed. Also
see the discussion of modified camera views under Installation Instructions.
SIGNAL LOGIC: You may want
to understand the logic of the default JP2signal9 used in the route, especially
if you design Activities yourself.
Let's define "block" to mean the track section between 2
signals. The JP2signal9 signal reserves
4 blocks ahead for each train; if two
trains try to reserve the same block, the first to do so takes priority. However, reserving 4 blocks does not mean
that the next 4 signals ahead of a train are green: in fact, only the next signal is green, the following one is
yellow, and the next 2 are red. Be
aware that it is easy to cause deadlocks (2 trains stopping each other at red
signals) on this route: this is due to
the presence of two or more blocks between stations on single track. So a correct timing of AI trains is very
important, and testing is essential.
The "VCR" in the Activity Editor is very helpful for rough
testing, but does not use realistic train speeds, so actual testing in MSTS is
necessary. A helpful tool is the
"liberated" yard camera that allows you to go watch other trains and
distant signals in MSTS (see under Installation
Instructions); note that it does
not go inside tunnels.
MAPS
A collection of maps of this
Albula Line 2 route is available: you
will find them as GIF files in the \Documents\Maps folder of this route. You can print them with your favorite
software.
The maps include:
· an overview
of the route, with station locations and km posts: Alb2-Maps-route_kmposts.gif
· a scenic map
of the complete route:
Alb2-Maps-scenic.gif
· a detailed
map of the tunnels and viaducts between Bergün and Preda: Alb2-Maps-tunnels_viaducts.gif
· a
"switch/signal map" showing which switches are manual vs. automatic (computer-controlled
during activities), and where all signals are located: Alb2-Maps-switchmap.gif (remember that you
cannot throw an automatic switch while running an Activity; but you can throw automatic switches in
Explore mode)
· a map of the
track layout in all stations in the NW half of the route: Alb2-Maps-stationsNW.gif
· a map of the
track layout in all stations in the SE half of the route: Alb2-Maps-stationsSE.gif
ROLLING STOCK
IMPORTANT: You must
install both the route and the add-on rolling stock (in file RhBpack.zip)
before running the Activities of this route!
Note that much of the
rolling stock has been updated compared to the versions available elsewhere on
the web; and most of them will be placed in new folders with new names, so that
all older consists that you may have will still work.
See the description of rolling
stock.
CREDITS
I gratefully thank the following for their
contributions:
· Joachim
Zander, Pere Casulleras, Maarten Pontier, Sjoerd Lafeber and Axel Boey for
their efforts to beta-test this route.
· Joachim Zander
also for his general advice, detailed information, and translations into
German; and for his generous permission
to include many add-ons that he prepared for his own Rhätische Bahn route: RhB rolling stock (see Rolling stock), bridges, arches and piles
(RhB_B02.zip), stations (za_05.zip and RHB-zizers.zip), platform items,
including lamps (rhbset01.zip, all from http://www.thetrain.de/
and/or Train-Sim.com).
· Jim Ward for
his advice.
· Julianne
Tolson for her textures (http://www.sfsu.edu/~jtolson/textures/textures.htm).
· Terry
Thornton for his MSTS women (Women02.zip).
· Steve
Thompson for his advice on designing mountain streams, and for his mountain
stream sound (mtstream.zip, from Train-Sim.com).
· Ron Spalding
for the boulders (bld-pk1.zip through bld-pk5.zip from Train-Sim.com) and studies of the
environment.
· Mike Simpson
for his Route-Riter.
· Silvan
Schwab for his Swiss track texture ("Swiss track texture.zip"
available from http://www.thetrain.de/),
which I combined with Ruben Geerling's deep-snow method, and for new tunnel
textures (private communication).
· Ron Paludan
for his station signs and "2d" people (stationsigns.zip and
flatpeople2.zip from http://www.railwaystation.com/trainsim
or Train-Sim.com), and for the method
to create "heavy snow" on the ground.
· Ian Morgan
for his drums and hut (CableDrums.v1.0.zip, PWHut.v1.1.zip).
· Jan Martínek
for his panorama cars (RhB, FO and BVZ, in file Fo_as4021.zip from http://www.thetrain.de/).
· Sjoerd
Lafeber and Maarten Pontier for their RhB rolling stock (see Rolling stock) and cable car (cable-lift.zip) with
building (Cable-lift-house.zip, all from http://www.geocities.com/sjoerdmsts/
and/or http://www.mstrainsimulator.tk/).
· Kami Kiafar
for his RhB gantries (private communication), specially made for Albula Line 2.
· Ian Jenkins
for his people (people.zip from Train-Sim.com).
· Ruben
Geerling for his deep-snow method (snowpack.zip and sppatch.zip from Train-Sim.com).
· Paul Gausden
for the Shape File Manager (sfm.zip from http://www.highworth.freeuk.com/
and Train-Sim.com), with which I
rescaled several objects.
· Richard
Garber for his very useful Step by Step Guide to Train Sim Activities (from
Abacus at http://trainsimulatorworld.com/),
which I used to create activities, and for advice.
· Jeremy A.
Engleman for his sky textures (http://www.art.net/~jeremy/photo/public_texture/).
· Pere
Casulleras for strong support and great advice, much local information and
translations.
· Jeff Bush
for environmental discussions, and the solution of the MSTS "flashing
water" problem.
· Bill Burnett
for general advice and support.
· William A.
Barbur, Jr. for his telegraph and telephone poles (telegr2.zip from Train-Sim.com).
COPYRIGHT AND DISTRIBUTION
This package is released as Freeware. © 2003 Michael Vone.
As freeware you are permitted to distribute this
archive subject to the following conditions:
· The archive must
be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive, after
notification of the author.
Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified is
prohibited.
· The
inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without
the prior permission of the author is prohibited.
· No charge
may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its
distribution. If a fee is charged it
must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the
fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
· The author's
rights and wishes concerning this archive must be respected.
DISCLAIMERS
This route and its associated
rolling stock are in no way affiliated with the Rhätische Bahn, the Furka
Oberland Bahn (FO), or the Zermatt Bahn (BVZ).
They are also totally independent of the commercial routes "Heidi
Express" and "Glacier Express" by mailsoft simtrain. The names "Rhätische Bahn",
"Glacier Express", "Heidi Express", "Bernina
Express", "Alpine Classic" and "Railrider" are
property of the Rhätische Bahn; the
RhB, FO and BVZ logos, and the advertisements that appear are property of the
respective companies; all these are
used here only to simulate reality.
THE ALBULA LINE
Since 1903, the Albula Line
has linked Zurich and Chur to the North with the Lower Engadine to the South,
where lies the famous resort town of St. Moritz. The line crosses the crest of the Alps in the Swiss Grisons
(Graubünden) near the Albula Pass. It
also links up with the Bernina Line that crosses over the next Alpine ridge
into Italy.
This 1-meter narrow-gauge
line was built in 1898-1903 and electrified in 1919. It is part of the private Rhaetian Railway, called Rhätische Bahn
in German (often abbreviated to RhB), Viafier retica in the local Rhaetic
language, and Ferrovia retica in Italian.
The Albula Line was a major
engineering challenge for its age, designed for all-season use. It is a single-track line that splits into
multiple tracks only in stations and at crossing points. To enable steam trains to negotiate it
without a rack-and-pinion system, a maximum slope of 3.3% (about 2º) and a
minimum radius of 120 m were adopted (with one exception of a 100 m radius on
the Landwasser Viaduct). The large
altitude differences required the use of several reversing and helicoidal
tunnels. To protect the line from
avalanches and rockslides, a number of galleries were built and extensive slope
stabilization structures were installed.
The Albula Tunnel near the summit is nearly 6 km long (5865 m) and
carries a single track.
The most spectacular section
of the Albula Line, from Bergün to Preda, rises 419 m in about 12.5 km and
includes 6 reversals or loops, 5 major tunnels as well as 5 major
viaducts. The direct distance from
Bergün to Preda, "as the crow flies", is about 5 km.
Daily service includes about
15 "express" trains and 10 freight trains (on weekdays) in both
directions.
This route model also
includes one half of the 20 km line from Filisur to Davos. The tracks until Davos-Platz are included,
but only "scenicked" until just beyond Monstein. This line is officially called Unterschnitt
("undercut") by the Rhaetian Railway, but it is more easily
remembered as Landwasser Line, since it exactly follows the Landwasser river
along its entire length. This is a
low-use line with 2-car "shuttle" trains (Pendelzug) running several
times a day between Filisur and Davos.
(The commercial add-on Heidi Express models the tracks beyond Davos down
to Landquart.)
The Albula Line climbs
almost non-stop from Surava to the Albula Tunnel and then drops to Bever. The Landwasser Line climbs almost non-stop
from Filisur to Davos.
LINKS
Information about the Albula
Line and the Rhätische Bahn can be found at:
http://www.rhb.ch/
(Rhätische Bahn, Rhaetian Railway)
http://www.rhweb.de/ (information about the
Rhätische Bahn)
http://www.stack.nl/~lourens/trains/rhb/
(pictures)
http://website.lineone.net/~swissrail/preda_walk.htm
(pictures)
http://www.ozdoba.net/abc
(Albula-Bahn-Club Bergün, with much useful information and many links about the
RhB)
http://www.polier.ch/page/bahnen/rhb/rhb.htm
(pictures of most RhB rolling stock, and book list)
http://www.geocities.com/sjoerdmsts/
(Sjoerd Lafeber's Train Simulator site, with rolling stock and other downloads)
http://www.mstrainsimulator.tk/
(Maarten Pontier's RhB Train Simulator site, with rolling stock downloads)
THE SIMULATED ROUTE - DETAILED
DESCRIPTION
I have used Swiss
topographical maps at 1:25000 resolution to place the tracks and determine
altitudes (you can get any part of those maps freely at
http://www.swissgeo.ch/). I have also
used the book "Die Bahnhofsspurpläne der Rhätischen Bahn" (Schweers
& Wall, 1999) for the station layouts.
I used numerous photographs (many kindly supplied by Pere Casulleras,
many others found on the web) to choose and place objects. The degree of realism is discussed in the next section.
This model represents a
section of the Albula Line starting at Surava station (6.5 km west of Filisur) and
ending at Bever station (4 km from the south portal of the Albula Tunnel): it covers about 40 km. Two fictitious wyes are hidden underground
in the route, so you can reverse locomotives and trains (in reality this is not
needed with electric locomotives, but it is necessary to reverse locomotives in
MSTS): one is in Filisur station (since
the default MSTS turntable does not work);
the other is northeast of Bever.
(Note: I use both the spellings Bergün and Berguen,
as is common in German; I use Berguen
mostly when it appears in a file name that will not accept accents.)
The simulated route includes
all the real-life tunnels, bridges, viaducts and galleries that I am aware
of. The following is a description of
each significant structure from Surava to Bever and from Filisur to Monstein,
as well as other sights along the way.
You can visit these places by running the Introductory Train Ride. Also, the activity entitled "Fan
Train" includes "live" commentary at interesting points along
the line:
· From Surava
Station, you can see two local industries:
a cement plant with its own siding, and another factory down by the
Albula River. The town of Surava is out
of sight to the west.
· The next
station, Alvaneu lies between Alvaneu-Bad down by the Albula River (with its
sulfur baths), and the main town of Alvaneu out of sight up the slope to the
north: no regular train service stops
here.
· As you drive
from Alvaneu to Filisur, the track climbs up the left flank of the Albula
valley: soon you poass the long curved
Schmittentobel Viaduct (137 m long and
35 m high) and see the famous Landwasser Viaduct that allows you to cross the
Landwasser River (coming from Davos).
The Landwasser Viaduct is 65 m high and 136 m long; it ends up penetrating directly into a rock
wall; it also has the tightest curve of
the Albula Line, with a 100 m radius.
· As you
approach Filisur Station, you are joined by the line from Davos - Monstein -
Wiesen coming from your left.
· The real
Filisur Station has a turntable, but since the MSTS model does not work, I have
added an underground wye behind that turntable: its tracks are long enough (about 400 m) to turn long trains
around.
· Continuing
east from Filisur (up to Bergün, Preda, the Albula Tunnel, then Bever on the way
to St. Moritz) you first see the Greifenstein Castle ahead: in reality it is now a ruin! This castle lies above the first helicoidal
tunnel of the line, the Greifenstein Tunnel, needed to gain altitude.
· After the
Greifenstein Tunnel, the track climbs high up along the steep north flank of
the Albula River, passing through numerous short and long tunnels, and over a
variety of bridges and viaducts (watch for falling rocks).
· The Stuls
Station provides a crossing point for trains:
no regular train service stops here.
The village of Stuls lies out of sight, far above the station.
· Bergün
Station provides important maintenance services for the track ahead. A "Krokodil" locomotive is placed
as an exhibition near the station on a separate little piece of track (in
reality and in this model).
· From Bergün
Station, you may be able to see, ahead of you, the climbing tracks as they
swing right, then left and then right again toward the narrowing Albula River
valley at the far right.
· As you climb
to the right, you pass over the Clix Viaduct, followed by the God Tunnel. (This is its real name: God means something like
"hillside" in the local Rhaetic language, similar to
"costa" in Spanish and "côte" in French.) This reversing tunnel (486 m long in reality)
turns 180 degrees.
· After God
Tunnel, Bergün is visible down to your left.
God Tunnel is followed by another reversing tunnel to gain altitude,
like a pair of hairpin curves in a road.
· After a right
curve you reach Plaz Tunnel (262 m long), the second reversing tunnel, which
turns you back again by 180 degrees.
Before you enter the tunnel, you will see on your left the deep valley
of the Ava da Tours River, through which a road climbs from Bergün before
turning left up to the village of Latsch (where the movie Heidi was
filmed). Look for cars moving on that
road, all the way to the houses in Latsch.
· After Plaz
Tunnel, you will cross two underpasses.
There, up the slope to the left at the end of the dirt road, is the
hamlet of Sagliaz. To the right, you
have a fine view of Bergün and the valley of the Albula River.
· You soon
cross the large Val Tisch Viaduct (100 m long, 40 m high in reality), followed
by a short tunnel.
· This is
followed by the Chaneletta Gallery (117 m long), which protects the track from
avalanches and rockslides.
· The gallery
is followed immediately by the Muot Station.
This double-track station is normally used only to allow opposing trains
to cross.
· Straight
ahead is a leaning viaduct on the other side of the valley. You will reach it after looping around in
the Rugnux Tunnel.
· You cross
the Albula River over the Albula I Viaduct (59 m long, 11 m high). It is the first of four such viaducts,
labeled I to IV, that cross the Albula River within a stretch of 2 km (4 km by
train).
· Right after
the Albula I Viaduct comes the helicoidal Rugnux Tunnel (662 m long), which
loops to the right and emerges onto the leaning viaduct up above. This tunnel in reality has doors that are
closed between trains in winter.
· The leaning
viaduct swings along a steep rocky slope.
Behind to the left you look back past Muot down the Albula Valley. The Albula I Viaduct is below to your left.
· Just ahead
is the Albula II Viaduct (95 m long, 29 m high).
· Next comes
the helicoidal Toua Tunnel (677 m long).
It loops to the left and reemerges above to your left. Ahead you can see the Albula III Viaduct. In reality the road is closed to traffic in
winter: it is popular for sleighing
from Preda down to Bergün.
· After Toua
Tunnel you cross the Albula III Viaduct (137 m long, 28 m high): it is the longest and most famous of the 4
Albula viaducts. Down to your right you
can see the Albula II Viaduct. To the
left is the Albula IV Viaduct.
· Straight
ahead is the curving Maliera Gallery (175 m long).
· The Maliera
Gallery ends at the Albula IV Viaduct (44 m long, 22 m high): from this viaduct you may see the Albula
River disappear upstream. Ahead, the road
makes a hairpin bend on its way up to Preda.
· Straight
ahead is the Zuondra Tunnel (535 m long), the last helicoidal tunnel.
· The track
splits as you approach the Preda station.
Until recently it had 3 platform tracks; now it has 2, as well as 4 sidings.
· Just beyond
Preda Station is the north portal of the Albula Tunnel, which is nearly 6 km
long (5865 m). The Albula Tunnel was
difficult to build because of water infiltration. Preda and the tunnel entrance are at 1789 m of altitude. The tunnel peaks at 1823 m, before dropping
to 1815 m at its south portal at Spinas.
(Bergün is at 1373 m.)
· The main
road climbs from Preda to the Albula Pass (2312 m high) and ends up in a
different valley than where the Albula Line goes, off to the left.
· The track
emerges from the Albula Tunnel right into the little station of Spinas. It serves mainly as a passing point for
trains, and is also used by hikers.
· The line now
descends the gentle and quiet valley of the Beverin River, which has no public
road access.
· The Beverin
valley widens as it approaches Bever, joining the vast valley of the Engadin,
formed by the River Inn, which heads northeast into Austria toward
Innsbruck.
· The Bever
Station is the end of the line for us.
The real line continues to the towns of Samedan, Celerina and St. Moritz
(which lies about 8 km farther to the southwest of Bever); at Samedan starts the Bernina Line that
climbs over the Bernina Pass across the next mountain ridge to the south and
into Italy. Another railway line leaves
Bever to the northeast, following the Engadin valley downstream toward Austria
(but it stops before reaching Austria).
Samedan has a turntable, so I have included an underground wye with 400
m long tracks to turn your train around near Bever (you reach it through the
northeast exit of the station).
If you take the
Filisur-Monstein line, you will see the following:
· Leaving
Filisur to the west, the line then climbs northeast, passing close to the
Landwasser Viaduct.
· Just before
the station of Wiesen, the track crosses the very large Wiesener Viaduct
(notice the pedestrian ramp following its edge, as in reality; I assembled it from fences!).
· Right after
Wiesen, the track enters a narrow gorge of the Landwasser River (called Zügenschlucht)
and is forced underground through many tunnels.
· One gap
between two tunnels is barely longer than a locomotive: this place is called Bärentritt (Bear's
Step). (Near here, but out of sight,
also starts a very long road tunnel that we will see emerge and cross the river
near Monstein.)
· The next,
longer, stretch outside the tunnel is called In den Auen.
· Another gap
allows the track to cross the Landwasser River: this place is called Brombenz.
· After a long
tunnel with a couple of interruptions, the track emerges in a short avalanche
gallery built on a viaduct: we are near
Monstein. (To the left the main road
emerges from its long tunnel.)
· Monstein
Station is the end of the line for us.
The village of Monstein is out of sight up the slope to the right. We have just passed an ancient mining area
called Silberberg; a museum and other
items can be visited today about the activities that lasted here from the 15th
to the 19th century.
· Ahead are
another 10 km of gentler track in a widening valley, with few tunnels, ending
at Davos. If you venture north of
Monstein Station, you will face a natural disaster. Beyond that, the tracks are modeled until Davos-Platz, but the
scenery is not, so please close your eyes (or drive by night) if you go there!
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
This route was built
following the order and methods given in my Step by Step Guide to Building
Routes for Microsoft Train Simulator, published by Abacus.
I also used Richard Garber's Step by Step Guide to Train Sim Activities,
also published by Abacus. I did not use
XTracks.
The landscape was shaped by
hand. It is most accurate close to the
tracks, becoming less accurate away from the tracks.
I made a few compromises for
convenience:
· I assumed
that the MSTS tiles have a dimension of 2 k x 2 km (rather than their actual
2.048 km x 2.048 km size): this
stretches the simulated tracks by 2.4%, adding about 300 m to the Bergün-Preda
segment of 12.6 km, and about 150 m to the Albula Tunnel's 6 km; also I shifted everything about 500 m to the
southeast, so that the MSTS tiles line up with the Swiss kilometer grid near
Bergün;
· I mostly
used MSTS's standard-gauge curved track sections with average radius of 173 m
(instead of the real 120 m), because no other curved track is available to make
sharply curved tunnels: this probably
also adds a few hundred meters to the length of the simulated line;
· I tried to
make the tracks respect the contours of the topographical map, requiring
slightly steeper slopes in places:
however, the slope never exceeds 5.24% (3º) in the simulation;
· In the
absence of "slip" switches (points) in MSTS, I replaced slip switches
by simple switches (or omitted them);
this takes more space, lengthening some stations.
Despite the compromises, all
the real curves are present in the simulated route. As far as I can tell, almost all actual switches are also
present.
Some of the switches are of
the non-manual type, to allow the activities to operate properly with multiple
trains. This unfortunately makes some
types of activities difficult to prepare (especially those involving complex
switching maneuvers).
I have used the actual
geographical names as well as the reported names of tunnels, viaducts,
etc. There are a few exceptions where I
found no names reported and used names of nearby locations.
I placed signals (of
Japanese style) where they seem reasonable based on the positions of switches,
and not according to reality, and I placed many more signals than in
reality: this was necessary to
compensate for the different logic of these MSTS signals, and to allow more
interesting activities.
The speed limit signs are
also of Japanese style. I used official
RhB speed limits for passenger trains on the Albula Line, and guessed similar
speed limits on the Filisur-Monstein line:
freight trains generally should drive slower.
The (Japanese-style)
mileposts are placed arbitrarily such that the Preda entrance of the Albula
Tunnel is at 50 km, with distance increasing to the southeast: this is certainly completely wrong, but what
matters more for the user is the kilometer spacing between
"mileposts". At 60 km/h, 1 km
is covered in exactly 1 minute!
The gantries were specifically designed for the
Rhaetic railway by Kami Kiafar (see Credits). I used a wire height of 5.4 m, as suggested
by Joachim Zander to fit his trains.
For tunnel entrances, I used a Japanese model
included in the Innsbruck-St. Anton MSTS route.
The viaducts were designed by Joachim Zander, from
reality.
Houses and buildings are
usually placed where indicated by the topographical maps. Outside of Bergün, each house or building is
placed according to the maps.
Roads are fairly accurately
placed. For level crossings I used
Japanese-style signals, with US road fillers.
Road vehicles are imported from Japanese and US routes.
The rivers are placed
reasonably accurately. Their altitudes
are constrained by the limitations of the MSTS water level being defined only
at the 4 corners of the 2 km x 2 km tiles.
The different environments that I produced change the visible water
level: high in spring, low in
autumn. These environments avoid the
water flashing problem seen in many routes (thanks to a general fix discovered
by Jeff Bush); however, you may still
see steady pure white water at some camera angles, an unsolved bug in MSTS.
Forests are placed where
indicated by the topographical maps;
they use US firs and deciduous trees and look appropriate. However, the real forests are much denser
than modeled here, considerably reducing the visibility of the scenery!
Terrain textures come from the
Innsbruck-St. Anton MSTS route.
Although limited in variety, they match the local colors reasonably
well. However, I enabled "heavy
snow" on the ground.
I produced terrain transfers
(helped by Steve Thompson) to simulate the local rock style and to show smaller
mountain streams.
Most of the station
buildings and equipment were produced by Joachim Zander in local style.
Some "add-on
people" are taken from freeware add-on packages (included within this
package; see Credits).
The sounds and most of the
other objects are from the Innsbruck-St. Anton MSTS route.
CHANGES IN VERSION 2
· The Albula
Tunnel was straightened out and completely relaid. The existing tracks at Preda and Spinas were completely changed,
both for alignment with the Albula Tunnel, and to better reflect current track
layouts.
· Track slopes
were improved below Spinas and below Muot.
· Additional
terrain tiles were added and manually terraformed to extend the line in three
directions, and track laid.
· Prototypical
viaducts by Joachim Zander were placed instead of the default models used
before.
· Speed limits
were changed to reflect the real limits (for passenger trains; freight trains typically must drive slower).
· Signals were
repositioned (and many added) to allow better control of activities (in reality
there are fewer signals, but their logic is different from that in MSTS).
· Stations
were changed to include more prototypical buildings and equipment (mostly made
by Joachim Zander), and individual station names.
· All gantries
were replaced with a more prototypical and highly detailed set (by Kami
Kiafar).
· Transfers were
created and used to simulate rocks, streams, waterfalls, vehicle tracks and
footpaths. Stream sounds (by Steve
Thompson) were added. Boulders (by Ron
Spalding) were "reskinned" and placed.
· Twelve
environmental conditions were created, including different water and sky
appearances for 4 seasons and 3 weather types.
· New
activities were created, using prototypical rolling stock (by Joachim Zander,
Sjoerd Lafeber, Maarten Pontier and Jan Martínek) that is packaged in one
convenient pack for use with this route.