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Hello to my good friends here: I hope you are all keeping well! The first image is a bull moose in the South Boulder Creek not even 1000 feet from the RxR crossing at Pinecliffe; the moose was probably less than 600 feet from the Pinecliffe Post Office. My niece took the photo on her phone when we were driving on Route 72 from Nederland to Wondevu; my niece’s nickname from when she was very little is “Moose” The second photo I took @ 39th & Wynkoop in Denver. UP #4014 you know well; restored and back out on the rails and lookin pretty good. Very glad to hear bell & horn. “rumbling like an earthquake, rousing all, Law of thyself complete, thine own track firmly holding, (No sweetness debonair of tearful harp or glib piano thine,)“ — To A Locomotive In Winter by Walt Whitman Ciao, cheers and best regards, ever your good friend in Lakewood Owen

Getting ready to have some good Mexcian food* and margaritas! June in Colorado with dear family! I will let her know to look ahead and that the best of life is still to come and I will pass along the train of wishes from Das Karognenführer -- who else here could do so with such passion, conviction and aplomb! As a few here might be able to guess from getting know me over the years , she is far more serene than I will ever be, so she has that already going for her! Thank you both! * technically Tex Mex for the rivet counters and the bean counters! (last part there is meant to be a semi multi layered pun having nothing to do with counting money or accounting )

Hello Good Friends! Today my oldest daughter turns 21! Today is a great day for celebrating her and all of life and living! Here is a swinging, singing Moon and June song that expresses my joy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj1FifK3bbg Just a cartoon from the mid 1930's I Love To Singa Hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday! Ciao, Cheers and Best Regards Owen

Hail, hale and well met! Thank you ettore48 and pegaso52! I very much appreciate the hellos and greetings from Turin and Rome! Take care, be safe and strong and be well! Health and happiness to you both! Cheers to you both my friends!

Hello to all of my friends and Trainzing family at TZIT! A long overdue hello and a heaping helping of “howdy ho!” from Lakewood! As a famous Roman author once stated: Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram; inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum, multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae. Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve dolens, reina deum tot volvere casus insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Hopefully that makes some sense: there are few places I know where quoting Vergil as I have here would resonate at all. What heaven’s sent wrath have we incurred, o Iupiter on high? I mean no disrespect: I honor all that is divine, Italian and Roman! I think of all of my friends here frequently: every time anything that is so wonderfully, thoroughly and beautifully Italian enters into mind. As a New Yorker living in Colorado I seek such images, icons, art and music both consciously and unconsciously all the time. I love Colorado: it is where my daughters have become fine, talented and creative young ladies. Still I miss NYC and all that that city offers culturally — and so much Italian and Italian American “mana from heaven!” (Please pardon the mixing of European and Polynesian elements there: I couldn’t quickly/briefly come up with a better fit) Stay well, be strong and safe and never relent from the pursuit of dreams — Trainzing and all the rest which are our hearts’ content and that which keeps us forever young! Ciao, cheers and best regards! Your friend in Lakewood Owen

Yes. The Big Ten hopper wind shield is perfectly placed, well considered static asset; I admire it every time through the Big Ten in WFD ML. Most of Highway 93 from Golden to Boulder is typically very windy; frequently there is enough dirt/dust in Summer, snow in Winter that either particulate, driven by high winds, reduces visibility to under a mile. The mountain winds really open up around Coal Creek and tear down hill towards the Big Ten "hill" and Highway 93.

Update to USA Locomotives and Rolling Stock: This was certainly news and new to me. Labeled "Yard Clutter," static locomotives exist and were made by btvfd! I have no idea when these were made but they are CM build 3.5. Amazing ingenuity proven yet again by Trainz content creators. These are locomotives models, specifically reskins of Dave Snow models, but they are not drivable so at least use less resources; as to how much less resources perhaps another person with such a Trainz skill set and or PC graphics/benchmarks knowledge could test and determine. I would do so but do not know how, but I am happy and willing to learn. At least at first consideration prior to testing them, these btvfd creations would seem to offer a potentially valuable and useful temporary solution for reducing locomotive asset system strain, overload, etc in route or session work, should authors chose to consider them; again, they should be evaluated/tested first but seem quite promising. All I could find using TS2 Mac CM on the DLS <kuid:359354:102815> Yard clutter EMD SD70ACe BNSF H3 <kuid:359354:102821> Yard clutter EMD SD70ACe DEMO UNIT CAB LIGHT <kuid:359354:102818> Yard clutter EMD SD70ACe DEMO UNIT NOSE LIGHT <kuid:359354:102802> Yard clutter EMD SD70ACe Union Pacific <kuid:359354:102797> Yard clutter ES44AC Tier 4 Locomotive BNSF <kuid:359354:102812> Yard clutter ES44AC Tier 4 Locomotive BNSF PATCH <kuid:359354:102798> Yard clutter ES44AC Tier 4 Locomotive UP yard clutter <kuid:359354:102805> Yard clutter GP38-2 BNSF <kuid:359354:102806> Yard clutter GP38-2 GATX <kuid:359354:102801> Yard clutter GP38-2 HLCX <kuid2:359354:102803:1> Yard clutter RP20BD Genset Locomotive UP <kuid:359354:102803> Yard clutter RP20BD Genset Locomotive UP <kuid:359354:102804> Yard clutter RP20SD Genset Locomotive UP All locomotives are CM build 3.5. There were also several yard clutter bogeys by Ben Dorsey (RIP) CM build 2.4. If these static assets ever came up before in communications with anyone and especially my friends here at TZIT then I am seriously losing my long term memory. I am still going to learn Blender and work on reduced poly count and hopefully, at some point (however long it may take to crest the Blender learning curve), attempt to create locomotive scenery that will reduce system resources even further than what btvfd has already created. Kudos to btvfd!

Thank you for the elven protection GianFranco! (fireworks for magic spell) Like the elven cloaks given to the Fellowship by Galadriel and Celeborn, such magic will be used wisely and well. I am continuing to research and am leaning towards Blender; your recommendation is in synch with the (little) research done so far online. I have performed a few general google searches about 3D modeling; Blender looks like it is being used by a lot of content creators who post and mention using it in the auran forums. Thank you for the recommendation. Apologies to all about my rambling about programming; the more I look at 3D modeling software, user interfaces and functions, the more 3D modeling software all looks more like very complex, sophisticated and very specific applications rather than programming in a computer language.

In earnest attempt at moderating or modulating my previous tone or attitude, I need to add that the others who have posted here before me are far more intelligent than I am; beyond their Trainz knowledge DennR, ettore48 (Das Karognenführer), UP844 and jango all have keen minds, remarkable life experience(s) and decades/lifetimes of productive creative capacity and output. Having corresponded with all 4 for a few years, I know this to be the truth (e.g. truthfully, besides ordering a beer in German, I cannot even manage a little meaningful text or words in another language). Having done as much research as I could in the 2 hours since last posting I see that there are several options besides the costly 3ds Max. That is very good to know, as I recognize that learning 3D software will require learning about whatever rendering program makes the most sense (for cost, learning curve, etc), in addition to a 10+ year overdue review and relearning of Photoshop (which at one time, along with PageMaker 5.0 I knew fairly well for an amateur; one of the benefits of being a long time Mac user is the knowledge, albeit now quite outdated, from the "desktop publishing" era). Between the ages of 9 and 15, in school I learned Integer BASIC (no FPU; like Trainz CM for a while now: no decimals!), Applesoft BASIC, MS BASIC, and TRS-BASIC, and taught myself Atari BASIC, PILOT/LOGO and started trying to learn 6502 assembly (I made it as far as being decent at hex conversion and could work out some simple computational 6502 ml programs but never was able to generate any meaningful/useful graphics or sound code). I also managed to learn a little C/C++ in my 20s; harder than BASIC or PILOT/LOGO but far easier than working with the "brutal logic" of 6502 ml/assembly (6502 programming eluded me: almost no syntax feedback from Atari assembler/editors made it very hard to learn). I hope that some of this computer programming background may help. Regardless, I will have much to learn hoping to try and make some useable static locomotive assets for Trainz.

Important topic here: static locos that look good but have low poly count for scenery use in sessions or routes. Although I have never tried 3D modeling I recognize that static locomotives that look good but are not resource hogs have been needed for some time in Trainz (since long before I started Trainzing). I think I can remember some static locomotive scenery in Ionut Chircu's routes (please do not throw sharp objects at me; I know about some of the issues, both with regard to technical use and copyright ownership, in his work) but they also may have been "static" due to MKs or really unknown kuids due to the many unofficial Trainz assets he uses/used (do not wish to waste more time/space here but if you are curious just let me know). I would like to try my hand at some 3D modeling work with this narrow focus: somehow making Trainz locomotive scenery assets that look good and have a low polygon count. This also seems like a good place to start without too high of a bar to set for myself as a 3D model maker (vs. more elaborate creations with higher detail, ploys, etc). Trying to do some Trainz asset creation and 3D modeling was on my mind before acquiring a new PC and TRS19. 3ds Max is expensive; I will need to research how to use 3ds Max and all the relevant/essential steps of Trainz asset creation in order to maximize efficiency and productivity. Although CAD software is different from desktop publishing software in several ways, I was able to teach myself a good deal of PageMaker 5.0 (a very sophisticated and complex piece of software) back in the 90's, so I think I will be up to the task of wrapping my head around 3D modeling software. Please know the following link is intended with great humor, with intended being the key word. I will take the Ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way.... No Frodo savior aspect intended; I am just recognizing this might be a significant undertaking for me. And being a bit goofy as always...that and I am a bona fide Tolkien freak who takes no end of delight sneaking Legendarium references into any and all communications nearly whenever/wherever I can. P.S. I like challenges like this.

I will post screenshots at the Auran forum. I had no idea Sherman 3.2 and the summer version of Rollins 1910 were in the works. Thank you for the good news. As you can tell I am excited to be back with Trainz and TZIT but I will be patient: with much good stock content in the standard version of TRS19 and a good deal of favorite content to import into TRS19 from TS2 Mac, I am going to be busy for a long while.

Hello TZIT! I just installed SH 3.1 and RP 1910 in TRS19 and the routes look incredible and the install process was a breeze! All the hard work and hours put in by all the dedicated folks here at TZIT is greatly appreciated! Thank you very much: great work by all involved! Cheers! Thank you to Jango and all content creation artists, beta testers and everyone who helped make and deliver Sherman Hill 3.1! Having run SH 2.1 (and DP/DPW) for hundreds of hours in TS2 Mac, I am very glad to have SH 3.1 in TRS19. Thank you to Jango and Chris Gerlach and all content creation artists, beta testers and everyone who helped make and deliver Rollins Pass 1910! I love this route for its wonderful simulation of 1900 winter railroading in the Rocky Mountains. I have enjoyed hiking and visiting the area near Coal Creek, Nederland and Rollinsville for nearly 20 years now and it is very cool to be able to visit the area virtually in Trainz. I will update and add more names as I find out who specifically should be thanked and given credit. You know who you are, so thank you! Glad to be back here with friends at TZIT and to be running a current version of Trainz again! Screenshots to follow! Ciao, Cheers and Best Regards Owen

Thank you for sharing and posting this. Problems facing US passenger rail -- let alone high speed passenger rail -- as this piece says are widespread, have vertical and horizontal economic conflict with many different successful US companies and institutions that stand in the way of change and is now 60-70 years in the making. To make high speed rail a reality in the US lots of $ from federal and state governments and private investment needs to be raised. We need something like all of the investment in railroads that took place in the 19th century when there were many hundreds of railroads of different sizes and specialized functions throughout the US. The US needs a railroad evangelist the way Steve Jobs -- and Bill Gates and Bill Wilkinson to a lesser extent -- was an early personal computer evangelist spreading the good word about how incredible computers were back in the 70's and 80's (first promoting the Apple II, then the Lisa, and then the Mac). Americans want passenger rail and high speed rail for transportation and we need someone like Warren Buffett who could at least lead the charge/cause and not only be a US rail modernization evangelist but also who has the money, experience/business acumen and interest in railroads to take this on. It doesn't have to be Warren Buffet -- I have never seen anything written about his interest in backing passenger and high speed rail -- but someone with vision, experience and resources. Thank you sidew for posting the Norwegian train driver's view as well; looks like a fun day on the Bergen Line!