Railworks America

After Dogmouse's Alco S2 Switcher, I would love to see more Alco locomotives in our sim. I have a set of scale drawings for the Alco C420 and a specification sheet. If anyone would be interested in starting this project, I will be glad to share.

Harry

The C420/424/425 series are THE missing link. Nice to have a new version of the SD40-2 but at least there is one (or more)!

I've been wanting to build one for years, but real life says Oh no you won't.
Old CN Alco Cs were all over the yard when I was a kid.
We were playing engineer in the cabs after dinner time.

It's been a dream of mine to see Alco C-420 high hoods in the game since day 1.


These are what I would see many times a day rolling past my backyard as a kid in the mid 60's. In my opinion, the only decent paint scheme the LIRR had.



Photos from trainsarefun

Tomcat wrote:It's been a dream of mine to see Alco C-420 high hoods in the game since day 1.


These are what I would see many times a day rolling past my backyard as a kid in the mid 60's. In my opinion, the only decent paint scheme the LIRR had.

Actually, a couple of these highhoods still live on in my neck of the woods. Here is the original, LIRR 200.



LIRR 221 used to be one of the Suzie-Q's ALCo's before being transferred to a Buffalo NY short line, I'm not sure what they are doing with it now, it's been a number of years since it last ran.



I don't know anything about coding, animating, or anything in game design, but I do know how to model at least on CAD programs which could be converted to blender or something for exporting...

Too bad we can't find someone to model these. I am sure that they would sell pretty good. I would love to see one of the developers release a good Alco. Maybe if enough requests came in DTM would be willing to make it. So, I sent them a message on Facebook, will see if they respond.

I've always wondered if the RWA community could crowdfund new locos? Find the modeler, take a poll on what models, set a minimum amount, and then see how the contributions roll in. Frankly I'd pay more than the typical rate for some of my favorites.

While we're on the Century series, I'd love to see a big C636 like the ones that used to haul ore and coal to the steel mills of the Ohio Valley in my old stomping grounds

pkz19 wrote:I've always wondered if the RWA community could crowdfund new locos? Find the modeler, take a poll on what models, set a minimum amount, and then see how the contributions roll in. Frankly I'd pay more than the typical rate for some of my favorites.

The return on time invested would be pretty hard to justify on any actual financial level for a modeler. Anybody making models for this game, even as payware are doing so because of their enjoyment of the game and the train simming hobby. The money does not cover a fraction of their time, even on a basic locomotive for this game.

harryadkins wrote:After Dogmouse's Alco S2 Switcher, I would love to see more Alco locomotives in our sim. I have a set of scale drawings for the Alco C420 and a specification sheet. If anyone would be interested in starting this project, I will be glad to share.

Harry

Harry,

Find images of the control stand, engine control panel and an operator manual - this would help any potential developer immensely. The research involved in doing a unit is immense! I strongly encourage the creation of the ALCO Century Series for this game of ours.

BoostedFridge wrote:

pkz19 wrote:I've always wondered if the RWA community could crowdfund new locos? Find the modeler, take a poll on what models, set a minimum amount, and then see how the contributions roll in. Frankly I'd pay more than the typical rate for some of my favorites.

The return on time invested would be pretty hard to justify on any actual financial level for a modeler. Anybody making models for this game, even as payware are doing so because of their enjoyment of the game and the train simming hobby. The money does not cover a fraction of their time, even on a basic locomotive for this game.

I have no concept of what it takes to build a loco for this game. If someone had the luxury of treating it as a fulltime, 9-5 job, what's a ballpark on how long it would take?

So, I reached out to DTM about creating an Alco diesel locomotive. This was their response.

"Hi William. I've been trying to record sounds of an alco 251 engine with no success for years. That is the only thing why I haven't made a good alco yet."

It would seem that a major contributor is interested in creating the content if they can get the right sound effects. So, if anyone knows where to record high quality sounds for the Alco engines let's see if we can pool our resources and track them down.

I know where, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad here in Cleveland operates several Alcos including a C-420 and a C-424. I don't have any sound recording equipment or experience, but that's a place to look

https://www.cvsr.org/ourfleet/

If anyone near the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Cleveland has the equipment and can contact them, maybe we can get some recordings of the engines.

When I get moved back to the Midwest, I am going to reach out to Arkansas and Missouri and see if they will let me record their C420s. I also want to see if they will let me take pictures inside the cab. They have a shop where they maintain them in Springdale, AR.

wlenz781 wrote:If anyone near the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Cleveland has the equipment and can contact them, maybe we can get some recordings of the engines.

When I get moved back to the Midwest, I am going to reach out to Arkansas and Missouri and see if they will let me record their C420s. I also want to see if they will let me take pictures inside the cab. They have a shop where they maintain them in Springdale, AR.

My understanding is that basically no 2 ALCo cabs are the same. A lot of them have gone through upgrades with larger speedometers that sit on top of the control stands rather than the tiny originals that came built in and it varies by railroad. I'm aware of a few at least with the larger centuries that have GE control stands like something you'd see out of a c36-7. It's going to have to be one of those cases where you just make something appropriate rather than totally realistic.

I would love to see Dogmouse do another locomotive for our sim.