Rail Jam 2010

By Lord Lisle

Once a year, many railway buffs of the SLRR Rail groups come together for their annual Rail Jam, a fun rail event. Usually held in mid-August, they show their latest engine (or other rolling contraptions..) on the public Main Line of SLRR starting at Bagha Station and eventually ending at Caletta Hobo Station. Passing numerous sims, this journey takes normally (under the best conditions and depending the speed of the engine) 45 minutes to over an hour. Obviously, with so many engines and avis taking part, during this event the speed was at times much reduced.

About 90 minutes from the start Moundsa Mayo of the Virtual Railway Consortium had counted 30 engines on the line, including 6 without a driver. The following snapshots are giving a good impression of the activity during the event, as spotted from different stations

Behind the steam engine, Stryker Jenkins, secretary of the VRC is driving his tri-wheel rail motorcycle

The first five pictures were taken at VRC Station Athetis, at that time the lag was rather mild and most of the engines were rather close together

VRC Trainspotting Station Achemon. Moundsa Mayo has found a splendid viewing point on top of the observation tower, waving at the passing engines

Close-up view of a brilliantly made steam engine, note the many detailed controls in the driver cabine!

This Roll-Royce was fitted with auxilary wheels to make it suitable for the SLRR track

Caletta Hobo Station: the end of the ride....

Trains and boats and planes or The SLRR Railroad Track at Heterocera Atoll

By Lord Lisle

It was this song performed by Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas (and later by many others including Cilla Black) in about 1963/64 when the Mersey Beat was at its top, which sprung into mind when I made a tour on Second Life Railroad (SLRR) track on the Northern Continent.

During every clearing of inventory (we should do this far more often don’t you think?) I came across that nifty little freebie ChibiTrain steamloc which I really could not throw away, so each time I made a mental note to make a test ride with it.
Whilst making a casual visit to HoboLand and district I spotted a map of the large railroad tracks in SL and in particular the Main Line of Heterocera Atoll and its Branch Lines build by the Virtual Railway Consortium (VRC)

At last having found a good way to make a start, I did not waste more time and rezzed my freebie steamloc at Bhaga Station (Station No. 16 on the map above) and chug-chugged along the whole Main Line which went particularly well through most of the sims (except one place where I crashed and at another place where the funnel of my engine appeared to high for the passengers rail crossing bridge).
Arriving at Tuliptree Station (Station No. 1) I took Jer Straaf's ferry back to Bhaga Station. The latter appeared to be a most relaxing and pleasant SL sea trip.
Although my preference of SL transport is by airplane or helicopter, I am inclined to say that driving a SL steam engine is exciting and very relaxed. Eventually I purchased a new engine (at a reasonable sum which I just could afford) having a different script than the freebie engine which made quite a bit of difference in its stability.

There is of course much, much more to tell about SL railways and its huge community maintaining the tracks. Therefore I only can suggest to obtain a free ChibiTrain personal locomotive at ‘Around The Atoll’ Lunalis (14, 83, 94) at Station 9 (see a picture of the station above) and discover the SLRR track yourself. Whilst at Lunalis, take a free SL Railroad Landmarks notecard, this provides up to date information and LMs of all the SLRR stations, SL railway tracks and other tips and tricks.

You may want to rezz your newly acquired train at Station 16 at Bhaga Terminal, Bhaga (103, 39, 28) or Station 1 Tuliptree (151, 156, 31) but of course any other station can be choosen (I found out that rezzing a train is not possible at some stations)

At the SL Railway Consortium (SLRC), Tuliptree (137, 167, 29) you can fetch an engineers cap from a free SLRC recources kit. Very close to this place at Tuliptree (76, 135, 30) you will find very useful maps on railways (here I found the map depicted above)

This is the freebie ChibiTrain on its way somewhere along the SLRR track

The steam engine I eventually purchased seen high on the cliffs on the SLRR track

This ferry brings you from Station 1 to Station 16. Embarking point is Tuliptree (175,203,22) just click on the sign Boat ride to Bhaga Station. Arriving at Busiris Terminal at Urban Ghetto, follow the signpost Bhaga Station 150M North showing the way to the station.

Have fun and wear a suitable outfit......