Train Simulator: Arizona Divide: Winslow - Williams Route Add-on DLC

Look, this route is great, but it definitely has it's flaws. If you're looking for rolling stock, expect to be disappointed, there's not much to see in terms of that as none of the stock actually has branding. As for the locomotives, as of the new year, all locomotives have their branding, but in terms of audio, I recommend custom sound files. The audio is completely off for every locomotive in this pack. The SD40 is too tall compared to the other locomotives, the B40-8W is way too small compared to real life, and the F45 is just missing some things. The cab controls are a copy paste, considering there's a ditchlight switch without ditchlights ever being present, and most of the in-cab features are lack luster, with not much to interact with besides throttle and brake. The dynamic breaks hardly work on the F45 which could cause runaway trains. The other locomotives in this route are decent, and have more features to work with, plus working dynamic breaks! Overall, I give this route a 7/10. I would listen to some of the more present reviewers who give a more in depth look at the route itself, but this is my opinion. Wait for a sale before you buy this, unless you really don't mind the flaws.

When you think of the famed Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe for short), you usually think about their Super Chief passenger train, their colorful paint schemes, and of course their Super Fleet in the final years of their existence. But in Train Sim Classic logic, you also have add-ons devoted to the beloved route of the Chiefs. The Arizona Divide: Winslow - Williams is no exception. But did it age well? Let's have a look, shall we? Pros: -The route map. Very scenic and well-developed, especially with Williams Junction, Coconino National Forest, and of course, the bridge spanning Canyon Diablo, to name a few good examples. -The locomotives for the most part, particularly with their paint schemes. -The rolling stock, especially with the tankers, boxcars, and piggyback flatcars. Cons: -The horns. The GE B40-8Ws have Nathan K5Hs. In real life, they sported Leslie RS3Ls, and then eventually Nathan K3LAs. The same goes for the EMD SD40-2s and F45s, both of them have Nathan Raised-Letter K5LAs. Both models had Leslie RS3Ls and then K3s back in the day. So clearly, this is all wrong. -The brake settings, mostly on the F45. -The dull briefings. They really aren't informative. Final verdict? Although it isn't great due to a few issues like the bland briefings and inaccurate loco horns, it's a fairly good route, with the scenery being the standout. Therefore, I rate this a 7/10.

I love this route. The detail is very good, especially the Flagstaff and Winslow depots. I am working on Amtrak Southwest Chief #3 and #4 scenarios for this route. Having tried to create my own route (UP Cima Sub) I can greatly appreciate the skill(!), care and time spent on this work of art.

TLDR: Go ahead and buy it, but wait for a sale, first. Introduction/general information: It's nice to see another section of the Southern Transcon (and another Santa Fe-era route) in TS. Scenery quality: 4/5 [Grade B] The scenery is quite well done. The desert around Winslow has plenty of scrub brush, certainly a lot less barren than the deserts of Cajon Pass! The scenery transitions nicely into the foothills of the mountains. Many rock assets are used along the sides of canyons, cliff sides, and other steep geographical features. The forests are quite well made, with the 3D tree assets used as a barrier between the tracks and the 2D trees that comprise most of the forest. It creates a nice transition between the two types of tree assets (most of the time, some of the 2D trees stand out from the rest and are more obvious, and the illusion completely falls apart on the sides of mountains where you can see the ground behind the tree). The towns along the route are quite nicely done as well. Winslow, Flagstaff, and Williams all are pretty densely populated, and seem to have had a lot of work put into the layout of each town (e.g not just majorly comprised of generic city block assets, like some routes). While there appear to be some reused assets in places, they seem to be kept to a minimum, or at least fairly far back from where the player is likely to see them. Even places out in the middle of nowhere have had a decent amount of effort put into them. In some places (mostly between Winslow and the foothills), old track right-of-ways have been modeled adjacent to the main line. The old bridge columns and pilings have been modeled alongside the new bridges that the tracks currently use. However, there are some areas where I believe a little more care should have been taken. The discount-Purina mill in East Flagstaff is partially clipping through the track (and cars if they're parked there) in one spot, and the asset has a track running through the building entirely in another (there is a garage door on one side of the building where the track is, which makes it seem like this was intentional, but there isn't a door on the other side, which as you can imagine, looks pretty... odd). I'd probably rate the scenery a 4 out of 5. Route length: 4/5 [Grade B] The route is ~91 miles from Winslow to Williams, which is a pretty decent length. It takes a little over 2 hours to run the route end-to-end (at least on a freight run, passenger would probably be faster). Route length is also a 4 out of 5 from me. Performance: 4/5 [Grade B] The route performs pretty well for me (although, I have a pretty powerful machine running TS). FPS in the desert areas of the route was around 100, give or take 10, and the FPS never dropped below 60, even in the more dense areas of the route. I did notice a pretty significant drop (below 30) around Winslow yard, but I think it was just because there were a lot of locomotives grouped together at a fueling pad (the FPS jumped up whenever I wasn't looking at them). Performance is a 4 out of 5 as well. Functionality: 3/5 [Grade C] The functionality is the route's weak point. The signals are extremely difficult to read from a distance, and the mileposts and speed limit signs are downright impossible to read from the cab (unless you zoom all the way in on them). Additionally, some of the speed limits don't show up on the HUD in the right spots, and most of the signs are placed half a mile or so ahead of the actually speed reduction (this may be deliberate, serving as a warning of the upcoming reduction. It would have been better if there were purpose-built signs for that purpose). (If the ATSF never used advance warning signs, then please disregard the second half of the above paragraph.) Functionality is a 3 out of 5, solely for the signal visibility issues. Versatility: 4/5 [Grade B] The route seems to be primarily set up for end-to-end freight runs, but it can also support passenger operations (the Southwest Chief between Winslow and Williams Junction), local freights, and switching (Winslow yard, Flagstaff and East Flagstaff, and Camp Navajo National Guard Base). The route is set circa 1993, according to the manual, but I think it could also somewhat realistically support operations from the early 80s to the late 90s. Versatility is a 4 out of 5 from me. Extra credit and nitpicks: I'm covering the included rolling stock in here because it's not the main focus of the route; it's usually just thrown in so you can have something to drive the route with. The stock is pretty bottom-of-the-bargain-bin, with the Dash-8s being ripped directly from the Raton Pass route, and the SD40-2s and F45s just being reskins of preexisting stuff. The only new things included might be the spine trailer cars, and maybe a bulkhead flatcar filled with pipe segments. (Poor quality) traction motor sounds were added to the F45, and the engine sounds for the SD40s and F45s are the sounds from the GP40-2, instead of the Kuju SD40 sounds (which I'm pretty sure existed right alongside the dinosaurs), and the (much better sounding, despite the weird backwards-sounding turbocharger) original BN F45 engine sounds. It is nice to have some non-warbonnet Santa Fe power in the game, though (outside the ancient GP9s and whatever the Santa Fe retro pack included), at the very least for A.I train usage. No extra credit awarded here. Closing remarks and final grade: Ultimately, I think this route would be a pretty good addition to someone's collection, as long as you wait for it to go on sale. I'm giving it a 19/25 [Grade B].

Absolutely horrible. The Route itself is great however the Locomotives are inaccurate and rushed. Paying 40 dollars for 90 miles of track and no good rolling stock isn't worth it.

This DLC is another great addition to the southwest region, and pays homage to the era of ATSF, but at it currently stands, even though it just released, there are some problem that obviously needs to be addressed. 1: As some of you have notice, if you have just bought it, All the locomotive lettering except for the numbers are missing, even if you're living in the United States. A big white sign on the sides and nose of each locomotive has the words MISSING in big bold letters. 2: the dynamic breaking system is not that great either. (using the F45) Heading downhill on a 1.5% grade with 4 lead locomotives using dynamic breaking is just basically non-existence. Even in full 100% dynamic breaking, you're still gaining speed and results in having to use the train break to keep you under the max speed limits. 3. Obviously we all can agree that the basic stock sound for all TS products aren't all that well. With that being said, the horn for the F45 is completely drowned out even using other locomotives. With these three being what i can simply point out, especially the missing logo's and the awful dynamic breaking, it's a pretty good route to use for either ATSF or modern BNSF eras. Of course, since I bought it the day it released, there are going to be some problems and bugs, but we can navigate around these problems easily till they hopefully update it and make these problems a lot better. I will recommend this DLC but keep in mind of these problems for the time being.

The route is amazing! None of the issues from the earlier release are still present. First off i want to state YES U.S. customers will get logos and the locos are stunning. As for the rolling stock, I am pretty impressed. The intermodal cars for both containers and trailers are nice. The mixed frieght cars are pretty typical, BUT the tank car that comes with this route is not a old generation 2 tank car no this one is ether rebuilt or rerendered because my jaw dropped when i saw it. The route senery is stunning and immerses you in the route and makes it feel real or at least as real as you can get in railworks. In my opinion this route is way better than yellowhead pass but that my be my bias. I would suggest this route to anyone who enjoys fast mainline frieghts and high desert railroading. 10/10!

I love this route [because I had the MSTS version of it from TrainSimulations], but obviously, the glaring issue with the missing textures has been pointed out. I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one; hopefully somebody will patch this out in the next few days. In the mean time, I'll just be primarily using other locomotives. By the way, did the B40-8W that came with Raton Pass have the missing texture issue as well? Apart from that, I'm quite pleased with it. I'm currently running the Amtrak "California Zephyr" trainset that came with Solider Summit on the route as "The Southwest Chief" while I'm typing this. Yes, I'd recommend it, but I'd also recommend you wait a little bit until the missing texture issue is resolved. Maybe scoop it up in a Steam sale later in the year.

Unfortunately, the logos do not appear for me (yes, I'm a USA customer.) They appear as missing textures. I will ignore this for a while to drive the route, but it is a dire patch needed.

*edit 4/13/21 - route now features proper markings for SF & ATSF for US residents* Now, with that out of the way - did i buy this product for the engines that come with? Absolutely not, its the same recycled stuff but that's nothing new or noteworthy honestly. The route itself is gorgeous, south west railroading from sweltering barren deserts in the east to the major city on line of Flagstaff Arizona halfway and mountains with dense forest dotted about 2/3 of the way heading west. This route is a great mixed bag when it comes to the scenery. The railbed looks great, same ilk as Montana Hi-Line imo, signals seem to work well and are visible from a decent distance. Crossing arms and bells ring at level crossing, bridges look cleanly built and leveled. Some of the yards and old passenger stations seem a little bare as well, bit too clean You also get 8 scenarios, 11 pieces of slightly revamped freight cars and of course QD compatible As always with alot of NA TS content, if you're in this for the rolling stock alone, bad news - its not good. With that said there are tons of reskins out there to fill the void with far better rolling stock, does it stink you've gotta pay full price for basically the map, sure - but I almost wanna put this up there with the likes of Hanover Sub... the scenery really is a notch above Because of the rolling stock --- 6/10 If you want a great route and dont care about the locos, get it If you want a great route and care about the locos, sale ---- A vid a hair more in depth than a few words... https://youtu.be/jh7WGgnuyjw