Metro-North Railroad?

[CrashRooks 0]

I apologize in advance if this is a noobie kind of question or if I have asked it in the wrong forum.

I have been a long time lurker of these forums and have been amazed by the content of this site as well as its users. Many thanks to all those who contribute their time to keeping simcity alive and interesting to play.

Now to my question... 

I would like to build a Metro-North like railroad in my city or region. (For those of you who don't know, Metro-North is an above ground commuter train that takes people from Poughkeepsie, NY to Grand Central Station, NY.) I was wondering what kind of rail I should use and also if anyone could recommend some stations I could use.

Again, I apologize if this a noobie kind of question. I am sure many of you have done similar commuter rails in your cities...maybe a couple of screenshots could point me in the right direction.  

Thanks for any help, opinions, and or recommendations you can give me.

CR

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Welcome to Simtropolis.  We are glad you finally registered and joined our conversation.

First of all, in order to get elevated rail at all, you need the Rush Hour expansion pack (or Simcity 4 deluxe which includes it.)  There are two elevated rail systems:  Elevated Rail and Monorail.  These do not interconnect directly.

I suspect, from your question, that you want Elevated Rail because it can connect with the in-game subway lines.

Standard stations are provided, but you should be aware that no parking comes with these.  You should be prepared to provide bus lines to and away from the stations as needed.  At the residential end, you can have parking garages.

I haven't checked the STEX to see if there are other stations for elevated rail.  There could well be some, as well as for Monorail.  I use Monorail for really long jumps, especially intercity.

To connect up monorail to elevated rail, passengers have to leave one and mount the other.  Adjacent stations with a street between should do the trick.

However, if you download the Network Addon Mod you will get some real benefits.  Pedestrian malls are provided here, and you can use this between a monorail and an elevated rail station.  In addition, ground light rail is provided which connects to the elevated rail.  This can give you ground level trams in your downtown.  If you run two opposite going one-way streets instead of an avenue, you can run the GLR down the cener of this.  There is a caveat for the NAM.  All the stuff I have talked about here is laid using puzzle pieces tile by tile.  The drawback is that when your cursor is loaded with one of these, if you drag your cursor across a transit enabled lot, like a station, the game crashes to the desktop.  When laying puzzle pieces you should do an in-game save (CTRL-S) very frequently.  You will need to use a sandbox region and practice.  I always do this with high magnification (5), and very, very carefully.  It is worth the effort if you get what you want.

GLR stations are not provided by the NAM, but must be downloaded from the STEx.  Some of them have plopping protocols given in the read me's and you must follow them for correct appearance.  This is something like building a big crane with an erector set.  it takes a while, but you'll be proud of it when you are done.

My animated signature, below, shows a Pedestrian mall with a GLR station and GLR running through it.

An additonal set of puzzle pieces in the NAM allows you to double-deck elevated rail over a road.  This might also fit your scenario.

Have fun, and be sure to read all the documentation very carefully.  If there is something you don't understand, ask.

Have fun.

[CrashRooks 0]

N_O_Body:    Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.  I guess I should have been a little less noobish in my post.  I have rush hour and NAM (actually NAM and this site is what has brought me back to playing simcity).  I guess my question is more of an opinion type question.  Metro-North is kinda of a cross between GLR and Passenger Rail and I am wondering which type people use to get the same effect and also which stations to use.  (I understand that if no one knows what Metro-North is, it will be hard to give me an opinion.  )

Thanks again for your reply and also welcoming me into the forums. 

CR

[fivedayrental 0]

i think for the metronorth branch by me (the Harlem line going up to Brewster), I think the regular ground rail would be fine.

[ardecila 124]

Yes, use the Ground Rail. I don't think Metro-North is electrified, so Ground Rail should do just fine. There are plenty of good stations on the STEX, but I would recommend the ones by frogface and ill tonkso.

Lastly - if you are working on a NY region, and you need the electrified rail for Amtrak, LIRR, or NJT, I would suggest frogface's electrification modd.