NARS2 - the North American Railway Set [2.52 September 2021]

[SniperDJ]

a site for some inspiration for locs and railcars
:http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/default.aspx

[drewb99]

anyone want one of these made?

All those Alcos, oh my yes. The more Alcos the better. The SD24, SD60, SD70ACe, and the Dash 8's also seem like handy things to have (there's a gap between the SD9 and U25C for six-axle power and another gap for the EMDs between the SD40-2 and the SD70MAC that the SD60 should be filling). I dunno if the HHP8 is worth adding since there's only a handful of them, they're used interchangeably with the AEM7's, and they're slated to be retired at the same time as the AEM7's when the Sprinters arrive.

[Mackensen]

anyone want one of these made?

All those Alcos, oh my yes. The more Alcos the better. The SD24, SD60, SD70ACe, and the Dash 8's also seem like handy things to have (there's a gap between the SD9 and U25C for six-axle power and another gap for the EMDs between the SD40-2 and the SD70MAC that the SD60 should be filling). I dunno if the HHP8 is worth adding since there's only a handful of them, they're used interchangeably with the AEM7's, and they're slated to be retired at the same time as the AEM7's when the Sprinters arrive.

If the HHP-8 were to be made it should have terrible reliability. I'd much rather see the ALP-44 or -46.

[Pack man]

I re-worked some of the electrics from the US set:

E33, E44, EP2 (Bipolar), and the EP4 (Little Joe). IDK why I left the EP5s from earlier on here. The E33, E44, and E60C could be generational like the F-units.

I would like to focus on BANDIT for a bit, because it seems that NARS may not be updated for a while.

[NekoMaster]

I think that the E33 and E44 can be generational, but the e60c is different enough that it should probably be kept as a separate engine

[Pack man]

I think that the E33 and E44 can be generational, but the e60c is different enough that it should probably be kept as a separate engine

True. I tried an E60CP but it seems kind of redundant.

[Spirit of Trains]

this set needs to be continued! i got some ideas.
1. Southern Pacific GS-4 (Steam)
2. Zephyr (Diesel)
3. Pennsylvania K4 (Pacific)(Steam)
4. Dash 9 (Diesel)
5. Big Boy (Steam)

[sirrliv]

this set needs to be continued! i got some ideas.
1. Southern Pacific GS-4 (Steam)
2. Zephyr (Diesel)
3. Pennsylvania K4 (Pacific)(Steam)
4. Dash 9 (Diesel)
5. Big Boy (Steam)

While I agree that I too would love to see this set resurrected, I have to respectfully disagree with your suggestion here, primarily because it's too specific. One of the things I've always loved about the NARS set is that it covers the entire spectrum of American motive power in very general, broad strokes, which considering our railway companies never really standardized their designs like, for instance, the British did, is probably the only way to do it. While I too love these specific classes of locomotives, they're all already in the set in a more general form: Rather than have a specific PRR K4, we have the 4-6-2 Pacific; instead of a specific SP GS-4, we have the 4-8-4 Northern, and while we don't yet have a Big Boy in this set per se, we do have its little brother, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, and a 2-8-8-2 Mallet, which are, if memory serves, the biggest & most powerful steamers available in this set.

If you really want specific locomotive classes like these, there is a set for you: the American Transition Set, otherwise known as the US Trainset. It's old and basically outdated by this point, but it does seem to meet your specific desires, containing the very locomotives you've suggested here.

All this being said, I do believe there is room to continue this set. Two points in particular that I think could be expanded upon might be prewar electrics & early diesels. I like Pack man's suggestions for those electric units because, while they may be very specific designs, they are also iconic American electric units that could be representative of units used elsewhere. They also represent a gap in this set's repertoire that has not yet been filled.

[Spirit of Trains]

this set needs to be continued! i got some ideas.
1. Southern Pacific GS-4 (Steam)
2. Zephyr (Diesel)
3. Pennsylvania K4 (Pacific)(Steam)
4. Dash 9 (Diesel)
5. Big Boy (Steam)

While I agree that I too would love to see this set resurrected, I have to respectfully disagree with your suggestion here, primarily because it's too specific. One of the things I've always loved about the NARS set is that it covers the entire spectrum of American motive power in very general, broad strokes, which considering our railway companies never really standardized their designs like, for instance, the British did, is probably the only way to do it. While I too love these specific classes of locomotives, they're all already in the set in a more general form: Rather than have a specific PRR K4, we have the 4-6-2 Pacific; instead of a specific SP GS-4, we have the 4-8-4 Northern, and while we don't yet have a Big Boy in this set per se, we do have its little brother, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, and a 2-8-8-2 Mallet, which are, if memory serves, the biggest & most powerful steamers available in this set.

If you really want specific locomotive classes like these, there is a set for you: the American Transition Set, otherwise known as the US Trainset. It's old and basically outdated by this point, but it does seem to meet your specific desires, containing the very locomotives you've suggested here.

All this being said, I do believe there is room to continue this set. Two points in particular that I think could be expanded upon might be prewar electrics & early diesels. I like Pack man's suggestions for those electric units because, while they may be very specific designs, they are also iconic American electric units that could be representative of units used elsewhere. They also represent a gap in this set's repertoire that has not yet been filled.

i understand. btw, the electric suggestions are pretty cool

[SquireJames]

British locomotives standardised? Surely you jest sir! That was half the problem when nationalisation happened, so many different types with specific roles and different maintenance requirements. BR Standard Class locomotives never completely replaced pre-nationalisation and even pre-grouping locomotives before they were all replaced with diesels. Even those early diesels were far from standardised. I'd say BR never had a standardised locomotive pool until the early 1980s.

I do agree with what you are saying though. The NARS2 set is supposed to be representative rather than comprehensive, ergo having specific classes is somewhat against the ideal.

[Spirit of Trains]

Random fact?

[SquireJames]

Random fact?

which considering our railway companies never really standardized their designs like, for instance, the British did, is probably the only way to do it.

British locomotives standardised? Surely you jest sir!....

[Railwaymodeler]

Been wondering something: with OTTD, we can group trains and replace fleets of locomotives quite easily. Is it at all possible to have certain "hidden" types of locomotives only available through upgrading and replacing this way? The Santa Fe Railway used old F-7 diesel components to make their in house CF-7 design. Perhaps in NARS2, when one sends an F unit for upgrade, if the player selects a GP-9 to upgrade it to, the player gets a CF-7? While visually not terribly different at OTTD scale (Unless one uses extra zoom, but I can't imagine that for a while coming to a big set like NARS!), I remember when I lived in Wichita, Kansas, the 18th Street yard had a CF-7 and a slug. Maybe replacing an F unit A and B set would give a CF-7 plus a slug?

Would be interesting eyecandy!

[Eddi]

Is it at all possible to have certain "hidden" types of locomotives only available through upgrading and replacing this way?

no, either you provide an engine for purchase through any means, or you just change the stats of the engine over time (it will "upgrade" automatically when going to depot, if it is coded that way)

[Railwaymodeler]

So in other words, if I were to send an F unit to the depot for upgrade, let's say to a GP30, it would have to use the same graphics as a regular GP30? We couldn't have it use the GP30 specs, or even name if need be, but be visually different?

[Supercheese]

So in other words, if I were to send an F unit to the depot for upgrade, let's say to a GP30, it would have to use the same graphics as a regular GP30? We couldn't have it use the GP30 specs, or even name if need be, but be visually different?

In theory, if you don't autoreplace the engine but instead just have it go for servicing after a certain date, then after servicing it could change into a different engine with different graphics, stats, etc.

(At least, that's how I understand things, making use of the date_of_last_service variable.)

[Railwaymodeler]

Probably not a bug, really, but rather a limitation in how OTTD handles push/pull trains, as they are, after all, just some fancy graphics switching. Livery of the P42 and cabbage are reversed with the direction of the train. Looking at it, the first piece in the list would always be the locomotive, just the graphics are switched around, so the locomotive would be in blue, the cabbage (Really a mail car) is in green.

Color Swapping

nars2 cabbage locomotive color swap.png (11.72 KiB) Viewed 3025 times

Not a major issue for me, but if there were more contrast between the two, then it could be a more bothersome issue. For example, a red cabbage and green locomotive switching colors would be fairly irksome.

[Spirit of Trains]

definitely. hopefully this set can be continued, i dont have any ideas for this except to continue the steam era. I think that you should add the hhp-8. Pretty useful when having to stop at small stations.

[Pack man]

this set needs to be continued! i got some ideas.
1. Southern Pacific GS-4 (Steam)
2. Zephyr (Diesel)
3. Pennsylvania K4 (Pacific)(Steam)
4. Dash 9 (Diesel)
5. Big Boy (Steam)

While I agree that I too would love to see this set resurrected, I have to respectfully disagree with your suggestion here, primarily because it's too specific. One of the things I've always loved about the NARS set is that it covers the entire spectrum of American motive power in very general, broad strokes, which considering our railway companies never really standardized their designs like, for instance, the British did, is probably the only way to do it. While I too love these specific classes of locomotives, they're all already in the set in a more general form: Rather than have a specific PRR K4, we have the 4-6-2 Pacific; instead of a specific SP GS-4, we have the 4-8-4 Northern, and while we don't yet have a Big Boy in this set per se, we do have its little brother, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, and a 2-8-8-2 Mallet, which are, if memory serves, the biggest & most powerful steamers available in this set..

Why not a 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone for something a little bigger than the challenger? IIRC, B&O, NP, DMIR (DRGW borrowed some during WWII), and SP had them, so they could be in every climate.

A 2-6-6-2 could be an early precursor to the Challenger too. I just don't know how to do steam locos for OTTD

[DanMacK]

A 2-8-8-4 was planned (with possibly a Big Boy for Tropic), just never got around to it. Maybe in the future.