Train Simulator: Norfolk Southern Coal District Route (DLC)

NOTICE: Requires the base game Train Simulator in order to play. Activation key must be used on a valid Steam account. Requires internet connection.


About the game

The beautifully rural Mon Line running through the heart of Pennsylvania springs to life in this new route for Train Simulator, complete with mile-long coal trains and distinctive street running.

The original Monongahela Railroad was a joint venture between the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE). Through the early 1900s, the two companies acquired many lines in the area and by 1930, the Monongahela (‘Mon Line’) was operating more than 170 miles of track serving numerous coal mines.

At the heart of Pennsylvania’s coal country, the rural Mon Line is today owned by Norfolk Southern with CSX Transporation also having trackage rights. Coal mines dominate the route, with important facilities at Bailey Mine and Emerald Mine connecting with a staging yard at West Brownsville from where coal trains continue on their way to power stations or to ports for export.

More than 20 million tons of coal is annually transported along the line, much of it to Loveridge Secondary where it is transhipped from rail to river barges. The route is primarily made up of four branch lines – Manor, Ten Mile Run, West Brownsville and Loveridge, and includes the unusual spectacle of full size coal trains sharing the public highway with cars along Main Street in West Brownsville.

The route is relatively level, following the west bank of the Monongahela river, as far as Millsboro, then Ten Mile Creek to Waynesburg and Emerald Mine. The line then turns north east, closely following the twists and turns of Browns Creek. This final 15 miles to Bailey is completely rural in nature until it reaches the loop at Bailey, when the dominant coal industries take over.

Included with the 50 mile section of the Mon Line from Bailey Mine to West Brownsville for Train Simulator is a Norfolk Southern-liveried ES44AC diesel locomotive, part of GE’s Evolution Series. Its mammoth 4,400 horsepower and 75mph top speed make it an ideal locomotive to head the long coal trains seen on the Mon Line.

Engineers can also create their own coal loads at Bailey Mine and Emerald Mine with working coal loading facilities, and experience the rail served businesses along the east bank of the Monongahela River, including a metal recycling yard north of Brownsville, river barge repair and construction yard to the south, and a rail/river coal transhipment facility at Alicia.

Scenarios
Seven scenarios for the route:

Training: ES44AC Expert Controls
Training: ES44AC Simple Controls
Running the Manor
Emerald Coal Run
Power Supply
Monumental (Part I and II)


More scenarios are available on Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of exciting gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!


Key Features


50 mile Mon Line from Bailey Mine to West Brownsville
10 mile branch on the east bank of the Monongahela River
Norfolk Southern ES44 AC diesel locomotive
G11 round tub coal gondolas, with full and empty loads
Working coal loading facilities at Bailey Mine and Emerald Mine
Dash 9-44CW diesel locomotive (AI only)
Scenarios for the route
Quick Drive compatible
Download size: 1,286mb




System Requirements

Windows - Minimum

OS: Windows® 7 / 8.1
Processor: 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo (3.2 GHz Core 2 Duo recommended), AMD Athlon MP (multiprocessor variant or comparable processors)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 512 MB - 1GB with Pixel Shader 3.0 (AGP PCIe only)
DirectX®: 9.0c
Hard Drive: 40 GB HD space
Sound: Direct X 9.0c compatible
Other Requirements: Broadband Internet connection
Additional: Quicktime Player is required for playing the videos
Graphics: Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required