Some Train Modding Questions (Lashups And Cabcars)

[Jazzmaster 716]

Hey, I hope there is not already a thread where this should go, if there is mods feel free to move/merge this thread as found appropriate.

First of all great job to all the NAM Team and even non-NAM transit network modders for making this game much more optimized. There's tons of great things I've been using and they make designing my networks much easier and more enjoyable.

Now away from the kissing up I've been wondering two things, about modding train consists in SimCity 4. First thing is...lashups, are they possible? For those who aren't rail savvy, a lashup is multiple locomotives linked together under power to move a train. Example picture below:..

Locomotives linked behind the head of the lashup face either forward or backward and I've seen as many as 8 locomotives in a lashup. I'm not sure if it's possible to 'control' what spawns as the second or third car or so on in the game, being within the limits of plugins and not modifying the game .EXE which is why I ask. Realistically, you would not need more than one locomotive to pull the length of the trains in SimCity 4, at least not without modding an automata file to make the trains up to eighty-five cars long. I just thought it would be pretty cool to have either way.

Second question, cabcars. For those who don't know this terminology, it's something you see used by Amtrak and many other American passenger commuter rail services like Metra in Chicago and Coaster in San Diego. In Europe and other nations they usually have one locomotive in back and one in front for this situation...but what I'm talking about is when you see a train gong 'backwards' but it's not actually going backwards...it is a passenger car that has one end modified with a horn and cab controls so that engineers can control the train from the back. This prevents time consumed by turning the trains around on a turn-table or building bulky railroad loops. This is especially beneficial for commuter trains on extremely busy, minute-by-minute rush-hour clocks. Another example below:

Are either of these possible/have they ever been explored before? Any feedback would be great...thanks!

[jim 546 43]

"Lashups" aren't possible in the game, I don't think a reversible train is possible either.

[617squad 52]

there's a "dead" cabcar in the STEX. You can't drive it or anything, just behaves like a normal coach. Look up "Pacific Surfliner" and the repaint should be there. oh, and lashups arn't possiable due to game constraints.

[Jazzmaster 716]

there's a "dead" cabcar in the STEX. You can't drive it or anything, just behaves like a normal coach. Look up "Pacific Surfliner" and the repaint should be there. oh, and lashups arn't possiable due to game constraints.

Pacific Surfliner...well I already have that mod actually since it was the closest thing to a cabcar I could get..thanks for the tip though.

And thanks for your input @both.