Locomotive, Railcar, and Cargo Upgrades - August 2022

This latest update includes improvements to locomotives (Rusty and Dutchess), railcars, and cargos with new details and textures.

Locomotives Upgrades:

Previously, Rusty and Dutchess shared a common body type (the same model of locomotive), and while they still share many components, they are now modelled and textured as unique individuals.

A special detail has also been added to all the steam locomotive boilers - selecting the letter 'P' on the keyboard will now open / close the boiler door to reveal the fire burning within. The locomotive must be activated by the player to see this feature.

To recap a few of the locomotive controls (tip: the front / back headlights are direction-of-travel dependent):

Q = bell E = whistle I = headlights P = boiler door

Railcar Upgrades:

The railcar fleet has also been upgraded with new details and textures, which provide for a more realistic appearance. The old ore cars that carried rock from the mine to the smelter have been replaced with a new model entirely that are now capable of carrying 3 cargo units of ore.

The box car doors can now open and close which indicates whether the car is locked. If the door is open it is unlocked and will automatically load / unload cargo, and when it is closed the car is locked and the auto-load feature is disabled.

Locking a railcar is a useful way of controlling what is loaded at the various factories and resources along the way (another way is to load specific cargo at a warehouse loading point), which is toggled via the train manifest panel ('left-shift' on keyboard to view panel, select the car with the arrow keys, then select 'L' on keyboard to lock / unlock - a locked car will have a purple indicator showing on the manifest).

Cargo Upgrades:

With improvements to locomotives and railcars, it seemed fitting to upgrade the cargo they carry as well. The resource, product, and supply cargos have been upgraded with new details and textures, and can now be identified by the labels on the various boxes - which is especially useful when looking at a factory to gauge how much of a particular cargo type is already there. Of course the building's information panel (select 'R' on the keyboard) will also provide the inventory amounts.

Next Time:

My plan is to spend the rest of the summer on additional upgrades to a few more models, textures, and artwork ... it's nice to take a break from coding to do artwork and it means I have a bit more time to volunteer at our local streetcar museum. Please let me know in the Steam Community forum if you have any suggestions!

As always, thank you everyone for your support of Whiskey Island!