NS_AND, No More.

When the Atlanta North route eventually is made available for download again, it will have a new look, new operating possibilities, and a new name - The Southern Rails Route. In hindsight, naming the route the Norfolk Southern Atlanta North District, while obvious, might not have been the best idea. Having the Thoroughbred of Transportation's company name in the title might imply to some that the route is sponsored by the Company. Now granted it is unlikely that Norfolk Southern would come after a small time freeware route creator, but lawyers are a dime a dozen and litigation here in the United States is as natural as taking a nap. Also,in addition to the fact that the route actually starts on CSX's Tennessee Division Memphis-to-Chattanooga line, more of the Western & Atlantic Subdivision will be featured in the upcoming release. Finally, some folks may have become attached to the older version of the Atlanta North, and these people would probably quite vexed if the new version overwrote the older copy that they have spent so much time tweaking scenarios for.

The new name removes the possibility of corporate conflict, describes both routes in the context of their geographic location, and allows both the NS_AND and the Southern Rails route to exist side by side. However, I think that once you see the new and improved version of the route, you will prefer it over the older one hands-down.

***********************************

In the previous post, I mentioned a timetable for release of the Southern Rails route. After further consideration, there will be no release, either partial or whole, of the route until after future versions of the RCAP packages are released. After working the route for a couple of weeks, it is very apparent this is going to be almost like building the route from scratch, so it's going to take a lot of time, and more assets than we currently have to get the job done. I can assure you though that it will be worth the wait.

Current Progress

February 25, 2013 - Work in progress at Milepost 5.5 west (Alton Park): Total urban construction, new asset creation.

February 13, 2013 - All non-core Kuju assets removed from the route.