Derek Kaye
Member
Eezypeazy has worked his magic again -
the website URL is http://members.lycos.co.uk/eezypeazy
Im pleased to announce the latest extension to my Tyne Valley route, and to bring you advance notice of a brand new route Ive started.
Tyne Valley now starts at Hexham, the market and commuting town in Northumberland. You drive the 0743 Monday to Friday departure, at the controls of a class 156 Sprinter. This is one of only two weekday eastbound trains that call at Blaydon. The route takes you via Wylam (George Stephensons birthplace his actual cottage, although not passed directly by the route, has been used in it) and MetroCentre, Europes largest out-of-town shopping centre.
There are versions for BVE 4 and BVE 2.
From this version, the route will be distributed as self-extracting archives, to help you make sure all the files go into the right place. For future releases, I hope to be able to produce both full versions and update versions, to make the downloads faster and easier for those of us (like me) still on dial-up connections. Im not planning further extension of this route before September, when Ill probably take it to Sunderland.
Ive also included a desktop shortcut, which is optional. Youll find it in the objects\misc folder. If you want to use it, just drag and drop it on your desktop. If BVE and the route and objects are in the default places, it should launch the route automatically for you.
Constructive comments are always welcome.
If you havent got the class 156, Anthony has now made it available again at the UK Train Collection, http://www.bvetrains.co.uk/ Being an older BVE train, it doesnt display the BVE 4 timetable, but you can get the necessary files to make it do that from my site.
Now, for a bit of light relief (!) Ive started a short, but hopefully interesting, little project. The Alnwick Branch in Northumberland ran for three miles from Alnmouth on the East Coast Main Line to the town of Alnwick. Closed in 1968, the Aln Valley Railway Society has been working hard to reopen the line, both as a heritage railway and as a useful commuting link. Tourism in Alnwick has benefited hugely from the opening of the Alnwick Garden, and part of the justification for this line includes encouraging visits by rail rather than road. As a small contribution to the campaign, Im building a model of how it might look when it reopens, in two or three years time. Youll drive from Alnmouth at the controls of a heritage class 104 DMU. If I build it properly, youll also be able to drive the return journey. Right now, Ive laid most of the track, and made a start on Alnmouth Station, Cawledge Viaduct and some of the bridges and cuttings in between. With a bit of luck, Ill have this route ready for release by the end of the month.
Regards to all,
eezypeazy
the website URL is http://members.lycos.co.uk/eezypeazy