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New Route from Making Tracks™ - ’Enterprise’ (Belfast – Dundalk)
Following on from the highly acclaimed ‘London & South East’ Microsoft Train Simulator ‘add-on’ route, Making Tracks™ are pleased to announce another new route for autumn 2005: ‘ENTERPRISE’. Set around the period 1995-2005, ‘Enterprise’ recreates the Irish railway route from Belfast, heading towards Dublin. This route is served by a variety of diesel and multiple unit type trains – from the converted BR type Mk2 stock to the current Enterprise stock. Locomotives featured are from the US, built by General Motors. Multiple Units are sourced from a number of different countries.
As well as fast locomotive hauled passenger trains, Commuter services are included, as are the ubiquitous freight services which convey a diverse variety of goods.
All trains and stock are being built to the exacting standards for which Making Tracks™ is building a reputation for. Currently, all track has been laid and signalling, mileposts and speed limits are being placed. The route is undergoing extensive track and signalling testing before the final application of scenic items. The dedicated team whose previous ‘Ballyshannon’ Route and stock introduced Irish railfans to MSTS are working towards an autumn release. There is still a lot to do but this is testament to the accuracy that the team are attempting to portray! The route is being designed to be the first of two releases that will be linked into one large route. More updates nearer release time.
About Irish Enterprise
In December 2003, the idea of an Irish Train Sim route was discussed, and a team interested in progressing the idea got together. After Making Tracks was formed, this group asked us to help them take this interesting and unique project forward. Having seen the quality of work the project team were capable of we were delighted to agree to add the route to the Making Tracks family, as it fitted in with our ideal of 'innovative' and 'boundary pushing' products.
So 'The Irish Enterprise' was born. Now Making Tracks are pleased to be in a position to be able to discuss our next route in some detail. Over the last 12 months there has been much behind the scenes work building a team and getting research material for the 'The Irish Enterprise'. We have the assistance of several organisations with connections to the route and have been given much assistance in collecting research of the area.
We are delighted to be able to now release a selection of new screen shots of the route, which hopefully give a good insight into the overall feel and quality of the route. Remember that the route is still a WIP so should only be used as an indication of the overall quality of the route.
The route:
The initial project focus was going to be on the Dublin to Belfast main line. After a bout a years work the team building the route have had to come to conclusion that the original scope of the route was too large to manage in a reasonable time frame. So after some tough discussions its been decided that development of the route has needed to be split into two sections.
This means that we are able to deliver the first part this Spring, therefore Enterprise North will cover the area from Belfast southwards to Dundalk which is a distance of about 55 miles .
Enterprise South will be finished later this year and will cover the route through from Dundalk to Dublin and the surrounding area. Some of the ground work has already been completed for this section, so progress should prove slightly easier. We realise that this change will disappoint some potential customers, and for this we do apologise for the change of plans. We can assure you that there are genuine reasons for making this change, mainly a re-evaluation of the amount of extra work a non freeware involves. Obviously a commercial route cannot use any freeware models, and every single thing placed in the route needs to be constructed specifically for the route concerned, and this does add a significant amount of time to the route. Also, non of the team actually live in Ireland or Northern Ireland, so research trips have been some what more time consuming than normal.
The route will be set in the time following the upgrading to 90mph operation in 1998-9, with welded rails, colour light signalling and central train control. This route sees the widest range of operations and rolling stock, is double track, relatively high speed and varied in scenic attraction. To the north of the route, a relatively intensive local service formed of diesel electric units runs from Lisburn to Belfast. A daily cross-border container service and a thrice daily gypsum hopper freight from just outside Drogheda are the only freight services on the line – in fact Irish railfreight is not prolific and this level of service is typical. There are currently eight weekday Enterprise services each way (in 1974 it was two each way) and five on a Sunday. As such, it is one of Ireland’s busiest lines.
Background:
Irish Railways are in many respects very similar to the British railway network, which is hardly surprising given they were largely developed during British rule in Ireland. However, there is one significant difference – the track gauge, which is 5 feet 3 inches. Being a largely rural country of around 3.8 million inhabitants (plus another 1.7 million in Ulster) the rail network is not particularly dense. In addition, the fifties and sixties saw widespread closures, particularly by the pro-bus Ulster Transport Authority, and the current network is largely focussed on a series of radial lines from Belfast and Dublin, most of which are largely single track with the exception of the Bangor-Belfast-Dublin-Cork corridor which is double track throughout.
Operationally the lines are run by two state owned operating companies. In the south, Iarnróid Éireann (Irish Railways) remains a State owned enterprise, with a service obligation agreement with the Government, but, like BR, obliged by law to operate commercially. Privatisation is not currently on the agenda, and there are no open access operators at present. In the north, Northern Ireland Railways runs a skeletal network of three main corridors on behalf of the Government’s integrated transport agency Translink. Both railway companies co-operate extensively and jointly run a cross border international service between Dublin and Belfast, the “Enterprise”, which has been modernized using significant amounts of European financial assistance.
Indeed, EU funding has substantially improved railway networks in and around Dublin and Belfast in the past ten years and will continue to do so.
Rolling stock in Ireland is best described as “unique”. Both networks make extensive use of British sourced carriages, with all IE inter-city services being formed of British style Mk2d and Mk3 stock, and in the north a small fleet of Mk2 derived diesel electric railcars based on BR Southern practice are the current backbone of the main network, with a fleet of Class 455 derived diesel-electric units working local services. The purpose-built cross border stock is based on the Eurostar carriage design and built in France by De Dietrich. In the south, unit operation is making a comeback with many two car diesel-hydraulic “Arrow” units taking over loco-hauled local trains in the greater Dublin area, although rakes of push-pull Mk3 derived commuter trains and older steam-heated traditional loco hauled coaches are still to be found on Dublin commuter runs and on rural local services. There is only one electrified line in Ireland – the Dublin Area Rapid transit or DART, which runs along the Belfast main line from Malahide and Howth in the north, to Bray and Greystones in the south of Dublin. Operated by a mix of German, Japanese and Spanish built units it runs on a slightly unusual 1500v dc overhead system.
Locomotives are all General Motors products. The smallest are the 141/181 class at 950-1100hp, built in the early 1960’s and totaling around 50 units, followed by the 071/111 class. IE has 18 of these large 90 mph 2475 hp locomotives delivered in the mid 70’s, and Northern Ireland Railways three. Finally, the modern Class 201 locomotives are related to the British Class 66, with a 3200hp output and were delivered from 1994. There are 34 locomotives, two of which are owned by NIR but operate in a common pool to the extent that they are more often found running to Cork than Belfast. Some are painted in a dedicated “Enterprise” livery to match the cross border stock, but rarely work their allocated services. The 201 class have ETH to power the cross-border stock, but most Irish trains use a separate generator van. |
