Wordless Wednesday #1

Canadian Pacific GP9s Released

The Canadian Pacific GP9 repaint pack, my most recent repainting project, will be available on Railworks America this weekend! Enjoy

Western Vermont Roster Shots

Here are some roster shots of the locomotives which ran on the Western Vermont railroad in the 1950s. I will also be doing roster shots for the rolling stock equipment owned by the WV, such as Maintenance of Way equipment, passenger coaches and freight cars.

Western Vermont #105 at Fraser, VT in 1955. Acquired from the North Branch & Coos County logging company in 1928. Retired 1955, scrapped 6/22/1956. 

Western Vermont #1004, ex-Portland Terminal #1004 at Fraser, VT in 1955. First diesel on WV property, purchased 1955. Sold in 1961 to the Boulanger Granite Company, On display at Fraser, VT today.

Western Vermont #101, the first of two Alco RS-1s purchased by the Western Vermont. Sold in 1978 to the Green Mountain Railroad. 

Repaint WIP: Canadian Pacific GP9s

Historically, the Canadian Pacific Railroad's stake in New England was not as significant as that of its competitor Canadian National, yet the CP still played a large part in New England Railroad history. Perhaps best known was its International of Maine Division which ran between Lac-Megantic in Quebec to Mattawamkeag, Maine. CP power was also very common on the Connecticut River Line in Vermont and New Hampshire, where they ran in conjunction with the Boston & Maine. T\

I have repainted the RSC GP9 from Steam to reflect three classic and famous Canadian Pacific paint schemes. These GP9 repaints will be available on Railworks America very soon. Thes repaints will allow fans of Canadian railroads to operate using historic schemes and will be at home on many routes. They will also be the last in-depth repaint project I'll be taking on for a while as I am going to begin focusing on getting the Central Vermont Route completed and ready for beta-testing.

The Western Vermont Railroad: A "Traditional" New England Shortline

As stated before, I am currently about 6 months into development of my second Train Simulator route. The route itself is larger and far more in-depth than my last project, definitely a product of greater experience and practice. Set in 1960 (although the route can be altered with different rolling stock to take place anywhere between 1950 and the mid-60's) the route represents a fictional division of the Central Vermont Railroad along Lake Champlain and up into northern New York State. However, as the route began to take form, I decided to add a separate entity entirely of my own creation: a shortline railroad.

Shortline railroads have always intrigued me with their ingenuity, determination and charm. Here in New Hampshire, shortline railroads hold a special place in the state's railroading history, with many operating on trackage formerly operated by larger railroads. When creating the Western Vermont Railroad, I used many real life shortlines as inspiration. Some of the railroad's rolling stock is repainted in a similar way to that of real life New England short line railroads. In addition to the aesthetics, I have written up a history of the railroad as well as a roster for its equipment, showing that much of it was acquired second hand from larger railroads.

The ski slopes of Mt. Fraser overlook the depot and WV yards at Fraser, VT.

Shortline railroads are also very well known for their scenery. The tracks they ran on often stretched through gorgeous countryside (as rural lines tended to be less lucrative, the larger railroads were more than willing to dispose of them) and the Western Vermont is no exception. The WV line passes mountains and rivers while rolling in out of small hillside towns, before terminating in a mountain village with a ski area visible from the town center and a large granite quarry (a serviceable customer with its own switching operation) just up the tracks. The Central Vermont route and the connected Western Vermont Railroad will present a unique New England Railroading opportunity for Train Simulator users.

Mixed trains are a common sight between the war years and the end of passenger service in the early 60s. 

WIP: A Brand New "Buggy"

Tonight's work was a repaint of the Virtual New Haven Springfield Line NE-5 caboose into the Boston & Maine Railroad's McGinnis scheme. The B&M, along with a few other New England railroads like the New Haven, owned several cabooses or "buggies" of the NE-5 design. The B&M NE-5's were numbered C-1 through C-49 and were originally painted maroon and red. By the time Patrick McGinnis took the reins of the B&M in the mid-1950s they began to be repainted into the Boston & Maine's famous "McGinnis blue" schemes. This is a bit of a simplification however, as there were a few different livery variations the B&M used on their blue cabooses.

One of the sharpest blue caboose variations, in my opinion, had black ends and a large horizontal black stripe which stretched along the sides of the caboose, with the McGinnis-era B&M "cross" logo emblazoned in the center. It first began to appear on many caboose designs the early to mid-1960s and lasted on many of the B&M's cabooses until the end of the Boston & Maine in 1983. This repaint will give your trains a classic Boston & Maine look and will fit right in on the Springfield Line, Portland Terminal or the Boston & Maine Route. (Note: This repaint will require you to own the Springfield Line Route, available from Trains and Drivers.)

Welcome to New England Railworks!

Hello and welcome! My name is Rick Kfoury. When I purchased RailWorks Train Simulator a few years ago, I was excited by the potential the simulator offered, but slightly disappointed about the range of the content available. To make a long story short, I learned how to repaint rolling stock as well as use the Route Editor tool and things really got going. I have since repainted many locomotives and cars as well as finished a fictional Boston & Maine route (all of which are available for download at railworksamerica.com...be wary that some require purchase of payware material to work). I am currently in the last stages of a fictional Central Vermont Railroad Route for Train Simulator 2015. So hop aboard and take a virtual ride on some of New England's beloved trains!