[Fleegle411]

Certainly we all have some add-on route or piece of equipment that made an impact on us. There's probably some route or piece of equipment that we go back to for nostalgia's sake even if it hasn't aged well.


For me, It's an old payware route that my late grandfather purchased for me somewhere around 2002. It's the "Scenic Railway" by Abacus. Looking at it today, I'm convinced the route was originally created as a test bed for Train Sim Modeler. I think the building models still hold up for the most part, but the stock is definitely dated. I swapped the cabs and sounds on the engines and made some consists using newer hoppers and boxcars, but otherwise it's untouched.











How about you? What is on the itinerary for your trips down Memory Lane?

[ebnertra000]

Probably the default Japanese routes. They have definitely not aged well, but I still love them

[Weter]

I think, the default routes are, as them were first and there were no variants yet, for a couple of years.
After, Малохитовка (Malohitovka) route, as I felt, it was made with much love.

Very beautiful clouds on screenshots. How to get them?

[Coonskin]

For me, I think it was Marias 2. (Or 3? Smething like that.) A brave route piddler had gone in to the default and corrected the grade issues, made some track changes, and enhanced the scenery. The end result was very pleasing route for its day. I created several activities for the route (maybe even uploaded one or two for the masses?), and in general just tinkered with the route and had a lot of fun. That was a long time ago.

Honorable mention would be MLT's "The Bridge Line". I also enjoyed the activities supplied with it, as well as created some of my own.

I wish I enjoyed MSTS now as much as did back then.

[batt]

For me it had to be MLT's Kicking Horse Pass. Beautiful scenery, perfect track-work and really great rolling stock for the time. Love driving those CP Red Barns down the steep mountainside and through the spiral tunnels to Field. B)

[Mipman25]

Ooh, getting nostalgic! I'm good at this!

Let's take it back to 2011, the year I decided to get serious with MSTS. The Full Bucket Line was where I really got my start in MSTS. Before then, I just goofed around on the default routes. I based my interpretation on the Full Bucketniers, an old Thomas-inspired series which has since been taken off YouTube. Just about all my screenshots from 2011 were on the FBL, whether it be transition-era or modern.









However, I realized the FBL barely had any steam-era equipment; just a 2-8-0 and a boxcar. If no one else was going to make some nice steam-era passenger equipment for the FBL, I figured I would. What resulted were my first ever repaints, 4-6-2 1200 and a set of matching heavyweights. Look at that distant camera angle conveniently masking the extremely outdated models and Times New Roman font with no anti-aliasing. It just screams 2011.



What truly marked my entry into MSTS content creation was the engine that probably means more to me than any other I've created; 1200's big sister FBL 1225. I vividly remember taking this screenshot, even though it was more than nine years ago.



I celebrated the arrival of 1225 with a screenshot series called the Bucket Limited. It displayed my obviously unmatched knowledge of chasing excursions, as I teleported across the FBL, dangled under bridges to take under-train shots, and snuck into a diner to watch as a switcher uncoupled a second diner and replaced it with a combine because I messed up the consist. Art.



Flash forward to July of 2012. I'm balancing fictionals on my nose like a sea lion in the seventh layer, and my obsessive adherence to realism and prototypical operations despite having all the power in the world to mix things up isn't helping either. I took it back to the FBL for a SP joyride, and it reminded me that not even a year ago, none of this was had to be 100% serious and authentic. I didn't care about how realistic paint schemes or horns or consists were; I just put together what I thought looked and sounded good and took a bunch of cool screenshots.



Even though it may be sparse and archaic, the FBL's value has never been lost on me. Even in the Open Rails era, I've still celebrated the 17 year-old route, whether it be through screenshots or repaints.