The 81st Grange

  In 1998, a society was formed with the purpose of building a brand new GWR Grange Class. The number chosen was 6880 with the loco name of Betton Grange. Now, in 2016, the society - based at the Llangollen Railway - have now got a rolling chassis, with many new parts being added on a regular basis. With the cylinder block now in place, attention has very much turned to the boiler. This boiler has come from a GWR Hall, Willington Hall. An appeal is in place to raise funds for the boiler overhaul. 

  In association with Vulcan Productions, we are pleased to announce the soon-to-be-released 6880 Betton Grange Pack. 

  This is a repaints-only pack and requires the Riviera 1950's in order to successfully install and run the new Grange. The real 6880 Betton Grange will appear in BR Lined Green, with the later BR crest, initially. This version will be the focal point of the package. However, we will also supply 6880 in many other appropriate liveries, which the real one may run in during it's first stint in traffic.

Plain GWR Green with 1934-42 Shirtbutton

Lined GWR Green with 1942-47 G[Coat of Arms]W on Tender

British Railways Lined Black with the Early BR Crest

British Railways Plain Black with Early BR Crest

 







The pack will come with some scenario's on both main line and preserved line metals, as well as Quick Drive consists to help you jump straight into the cab. We are also pleased to announce that the first £150 from sales of this pack will be going towards the above mentioned boiler appeal.

Bring a BRAND NEW Grange to life on your PC!!

A Look Inside the Workshop

Let us bring you up to date with what's going on here at Steam Sounds Supreme:

Severn Valley Railway

It's been a long, long time in coming, but finally our Severn Valley Railway route for Train Simulator is on the 'home straight'. The route is currently being fitted out with GWR signals, in an attempt to get as close to real life signalling as possible. Here are a couple of shots from Kidderminster:

Hawksworth Modified Hall Expansion

An almost complete set of preserved Modified Halls featuring 6960, 6984, 6990, 6998 and 7903 in BR and GWR liveries. Featured also is a brand new Hawksworth flat-sided tender. Each loco in the pack will have unique sounds, scripted lamps on engine and tender and 4 headboards. This pack is almost complete, with scenario production well under way. Below, 7903 Foremarke Hall is pictured(scene not from an included scenario) with the Cheltenham Spa Express headboard:

4MT Tank Expansion Pack

The 4MT Expansion Pack is to feature news sounds, various repaints - including weathered and ex-works - scripted lamps and more. Progress has stalled temporarily while we complete a few other projects. The pack isn't far away though. Some tweaks are required on the sounds. Take it from me, it's really difficult to get a satisfying BR Standard exhaust sound into Train Simulator, whilst maintaining it's unique characteristics!!

 

14xx Sound Pack

Due to be our next release, this sound pack features new sounds and a brand new repaint supplied by Victory Works themselves! A few pieces of feeedback have come back from testing. Once these have been addressed, the pack will be released!

Bulleid Light Pacific Pack 

A former Digital Traction product, the Bulleid Light Pacific Pack will soon be made available once more for Train Simulator. Not only will all the benefits of our 'Enhancement Pack' be added - new sounds and particles etc - but there will also be new locos to add to the 4 available in the original pack. 34105 Swanage and 34072 257 Squadron are coming over from the enhancement package, and Tangmere has also been given 'ex-works' treatment(see below). We also hope to add one more preserved Bulleid to the collection. We shall bring you more news soon.

News In Brief

Rebuilt Royal Scot - This project has once again stalled and I'm afraid I have no news about it. We have not heard from the loco builder for some time. I'm sure there are circumstances. Tom is a very busy man. We will of course offer updates on progress as soon as we have something significant to report.

Ivatt 4MT - No updates on this loco. It has been put to one side until the Rebuilt Scot is complete.

GWR 2800/2884 - This is another case of circumstances dictating progress. In Digital Traction's case, they are a man down, and the one left is having to nurse the other, who broke his leg. We wish Digital Traction our warmest regards and hope they can get back to full strength soon. The only news I can offer is that, with the help of James Littlewood, cab animations for the 28xx are basically complete. Included is a much more realistic cylinder drain cock operation, whereby the lever has the foot-operated lock added, as in real life. The Collett cab for the 2884 is coming along as well. This has a dual purpose. The initial use is for the Collett Goods, now to be sold on our website. Then, small modifications will make it good for the 2884 class.

Wycombe Railway Wagon Pack -  This pack is now largely complete. We will be holding back it's release to come out alongside our eagerly anticipated GWR 2800 loco pack.

Midland 2P Loco - No new news about this loco. Work is being done to reproduce all the appropriate liveries.

Stainmore Route - Lots of painstaking work carried out recently with the miles and miles of stone walling. Terrain painting has also been carried out on the Barnard Castle to Stainmore Summit stretch. The water troughs are in on the WCML and are fully operational. Look out for a new Stainmore Blog post soon. 

USATC S160 - We have been working with Victory Works in producing the sounds for their S160 Add-on. Pete is excited by our 'Dynamic Whistle'. I think it will be pretty special!! 

That's all for now folks! Look out on Facebook for an exciting announcement later today!! 

Rebuilt Royal Scot Pack - In Development Special

Between 1943 and 1955, 70 members of the Royal Scot class, of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, were rebuilt with William Stanier's type 2A tapered boiler. This, along with many other modifications, changed the look of these locomotives dramatically. It is our pleasure to be working alongside Tom Homewood and Chris Barnes, to bring the Rebuilt 'Scot' to Train Simulator. As this project has been 'coming soon' for so long, we thought it would be good for you all to see what has been completed and what is left to bring this project to completion.

Complete Loco - Tweaked Front-End

The first loco, LMS Black 46115 Scots Guardsman, is now in game. Since the last preview was shown, a few modifications have taken place. These have been mainly focused around the smokebox area. The shape and profile of a 'Scot' is so distinctive. Tom is determined for the loco's to look 'just right'. A month or so ago, Tom reworked the front end. This included making changes to the smokebox door, smokebox and the adding of some extra details.

During our discussions about the project, we made the decision to ensure that a version without smoke deflectors was possible. That meant that Tom had to make sure that all the necessary detail was present in an area that would previously have been hidden. This included the addition of rivet detail, and, as seen in the second of the two pictures below, modeling of the ejector drain, which is very much obscured by the smoke deflector on that side. 

Variety Is The Spice Of life

One thing which we haven't fully shared yet, are the many views available in cabview. See them all below:

View 1:

The first view is leaning out the drivers side

 View 2:

Driver Seated Position

 View 3:

Driver Standing Position

 View 4:

Driver looking across cab view

 View 5:

Looking into the firebox

 View 6:

Fireman seated view

 View 7:

Fireman leaning out of cab view

Yes, that's 7 views!! 

What's Left to Complete?

• The BR Green variant is complete and just needs putting into game, once we are happy with everything. Tom still needs to do the LMS Crimson Lake and BR Maroon variants. The dynamic numbering for the generic version still needs doing as well
• The LMS Black variant is all done in game. Tom just needs to fiddle with the lining here and there to get the alignment correct
• Tom is currently working on the nameplates. Seven crest types are being created. Blow are some examples which Tom has traced by hand!

• Development of 46100 with the air pump/dual brakes and modified tender
• Sounds have yet to be started

 So, there's plenty to be getting on with. Both Tom and Chris are busy with secular work and other other TS projects. We cannot predict how long the above will take. But be assured, we are working as fast as we can.

More Soon. . . . . . . . . . .

Severn Valley Progress Report

It's been a long, long old road developing this route. Many obstacles have been overcome and we have benefited from assistance from some excellent people within the Train Simulator community. We now have an additional helper, a seasoned route developer, Mark Walker. We thank Mark for his willingness to help us get to the finish line. We are almost there folks! Another major obstacle has been crossed this week, literally(in a virtual sense!). We have our crossing of the 'Severn' sorted. Phil Baines has very kindly made the stunning and beautiful Victoria Bridge. That means that ALL unique buildings and structures have been made. A major milestone!!

What Is Left?

 A valid question. Well, to put it simply.................not much!! Bailey Maxwell is adding some extra details around Kidderminster and Bewdley, while Mark is now focusing on the Bridgnorth area. Once that is complete, we will get the signalling finished. Then, scenario creation can begin in earnest! Lets take a look at some images sent to us by both Bailey and Mark in recent weeks. We'll begin by taking a look at the Kidderminster to Bewdley section of line:

Great Western Castle Class 5029 Nunney Castle wait to depart Kidderminster Town

On the way out of Kidderminster we pass the back of a row of detached houses

Crossing Falling Sands Viaduct - Kidderminster

On the outskirts of Kidderminster we pass by an industrial estate

The Castle bursts out of Bewdley Tunnel

Coasting towards Bewdley on 'Safari' Curve

Drifting into Bewdley

We'll now move to the north end of the line where Mark Walker has been adding extra detail for us:

We now join Rebuilt Bulleid Pacific 34027 Taw Valley climbing Eardington Bank, heading towards Bridgnorth

Nearing the top of the bank

The flowers are in bloom at Cottage Crossing

On another occasion and having been turned, Taw Valley is at Bridgnorth waiting to depart

Taw Valley accelerates away from Bridgnorth

Having passed through the short Knowlesands Tunnel, under the Highley road, Taw Valley powers up the 1in100 gradient

Approaching Eardington Summit

The loco now drifts down the bank passing Cottage Crossing once more

As you may be able to tell, there aren't many gaps in the scenery now. It is our aim to gather in the completed scenery work over the next few weeks, and then we will begin the tidy up. After that, testing can begin. So we'll conclude with this classic scene at Arley as former resident GW Hall 6960 'Raveningham Hall' waits to depart on a southbound departure

More Soon. . . . . . . . .