Hello, history lovers! We continue our chronicle and today we will continue to discover the fourth generation of diesel locomotives. The German and American diesel locomotives are waiting for us, very important guys in their generation. These workhorses are not chilling in museums, unlike most of their steam ancestors. Let's go!

This locomotive is a familiar sight for all German train lovers: the definitive (and most numerous) revision of the most popular family of diesel locomotives in Germany, it became the backbone of the West Germany diesel-powered train fleet from the 70s up to the reunification. The DB class 218 had a B’-B’ wheel configuration (two bogies with two powered axles under the unit). Its main feature in comparison with its predecessors in the V 160 family was its more powerful engine that allowed for a single engine to provide tractive power and electrical train heating, thanks to an attached generator (while the DB Class 217 needed a separate engine for heating).

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Almost 400 of these locomotives were produced during the 70s. Thanks to its high power and speed (topped at 140 km/h), its ability to work in multiple with engines from other classes, and a low-speed gear capable of pulling heavy freight trains, it quickly became the most important locomotive in West Germany. With the increasing electrification of railway lines and the popularization of diesel multiple units (trains that have the engines incorporated and therefore do not require separate locomotives), the DB Class 218 progressively focused mostly on freight trains. Also, after the reunification of Germany, it proved useful for the still unelectrified lines in East Germany. For one reason or another, even if they are slowly being replaced by more modern machines, these veteran engines are still in use!



The Class DB 218 was revised in the 80s with the addition of two new exhaust devices, two chimneys that granted the new 218s the nickname of “rabbits” because they looked like, well, two floppy ears. Our in-game version (which has the same name), however, is more inspired by the first version of this locomotive. It keeps the distinctive solid and bulky shape, as well as its small windows – a machine that states clearly that it is 100% ready for any kind of hard work!

Amtrak, the operator of most intercity passenger trains in the USA, introduced the EMD SDP40F – a diesel-electric train intended to replace the aging diesel locomotives inherited by the company when it was founded, and therefore to become the most important engine for passenger trains in the US. However, in just a few years several derailments started to break the confidence of the company in this locomotive. The weight of the steam generators used for heating, the vibration of baggage cars – whatever the reason, this machines derailed one time after another, and railroads started banning it for good until Amtrak decided to move on to another diesel locomotive that was in use on short-distance lines: the EMD F40PH. With its B-B wheel configuration, a high power output, and a maximum speed range of 166 to 177 km/h, it rose to the challenge so well that the F40PH were in production until as late as 1998.

(Photo from Wikipedia)

The EMD F40PH is still in service in commuter railroads, especially in Canada, where they are the main pillar of the Canadian railway company Via Rail long-distance trains – up to the point that it was featured in the Canadian $10 bill! More than 500 of these engines have been produced (including variants), and its longevity has led to all kinds of conversions, additions, rebuildings, and customizations. They have been used mostly for long-distance trains, but also in short-line and freights. The Trains magazine estimated that each of them has traveled 282,000 km per year on average!



In its in-game cousin (his name is The Chief) you can find the strong lines of its front and the curved windows that make it look, if not angry, at least starkly determined to get to its destination no matter what. A serviceable and powerful train that picked up the gauntlet when the opportunity came, The Chief rose to the challenge and became a staple for trains in North America.
With this locomotive, we end the diesel era. As we will see in the next post in this series, in the 80s the most important railway lines started to be electrified, and with that, the new electric trains started to become the standard. We’ll discover this new era in the history of locomotives next week – until then, enjoy the ride! :tv2conductor:

Greetings friends! The schedule of our meetings has been changing lately (stay tuned), but the day of the release of “Choo-Choo Weekly” remains the same. Today is Monday, which means it’s time to take stock of the past week in the workshop. Today's winners are familiar to you, they show us their skills again. Let's see what they have prepared for us this time!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1682543945 Stone Island, massive gates at the entrance to the bay, ready infrastructure ‒ it seems, this is a reality show, and you participate! @reg promises us computers, but first, you have to go to the mines, and also graze cattle and work in factories. Just one city! The producer insists on strictly following the script (and tracks). By the end of the shift, you will open the long-awaited shopping. Try to finish in 35 minutes to collect all the stars. And @reg gets another place in the Featured.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1684028936 A beautiful map from @alphrost, the story of two twin customs and the lands behind them, which are so symmetrical but not that similar at the same time. One half is about liquid energy, the other is about the solid. They are forced to constantly exchange resources, so look, don’t confuse the gate! They are so similar… Make these cities friends in 30 minutes, don’t allow any accidents and false deliveries. Featured!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1680781503 And today's winner is "Men In Uniform". Wear your sunglasses (as well as a protective suit) and go on a special mission: you need to deliver a piece of rare uranium isotope to your paymaster. The scale of preparation for the task is impressive: you need to bribe as many as 5 customs officers, and the closer they are to the uranium supplier, the higher their requests. It is a pity that there is no one to pay for extra coal… It seems that this fierce action, unfolding in a picturesque gorge, will be later seen in the next part of “James Bond” ‒ so smile wider! You have to make it in 24 minutes, never confuse directions and avoid all accidents ‒ and this special operation will bring you all 5 stars. Great story, @wantok, 10$ Steam Gift Card is yours!

These are the results of this week. We are waiting for you on Friday at our fiery competition “Let's play together”. It’s results will be available on Saturday, and after that, you will receive a fresh issue of our historical chronicle. Don’t miss, a lot of interesting things are ahead! Choo-choo!

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Greetings train lovers! In the
last entry in our blogs about the history of locomotives, we traveled to the United States and the United Kingdom to discover two iconic machines, the EMD-FP7 and the British rail class 37. They were the last ones from the first wave of diesel machines, the 3rd generation of locomotives that you will find in Train Valley. After these first years during which diesel engines were perfected and spread worldwide, they became the standard for the decades to come – and actually, there are still many diesel locomotives in use all over the world… as we are about to see in this blog because today’s machines are still in service!

Let’s travel to the cold north to discover the first locomotive of the fourth generation, the VR Class Dv12, which as of today is still the standard diesel-hydraulic locomotive of the Finnish railway network. The Dv12 was built as a general purpose locomotive, both for passenger and freight work. With a B-B wheel configuration (two trucks with two powered axles), the interconnection of its axles (that makes for an individual axle to slip pretty much impossible) give this locomotive great traction for its weight. In spite of having a comparatively low power of “only” 1000 kW, the Dv12 allows for just one crew to operate two or even three units at the same time.

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Thanks to its versatility the Dv12 didn’t become obsolete until all the main lines of the Finnish railway network were electrified. 192 of these locomotives were built during two decades until they went out of production in 1984. However, many of them are still in use, if mostly in unelectrified and less frequented side lines. Sometimes they are called back from the bench to pull cargo trains or do shunter work (moving wagons and railroad cars around for assembling or disassembling trains in classification yards). The oldest active Dv12 is 56 years old… and there are no plans to retire them for good in sight. The good ole’ Dv12 still has some fight in it!


And here you have the in-game counterpart of the Dv12! Look at the windows and the long front that make it look a bit like the muzzle of a (slightly worried) animal, but above all at the characteristic design of the horizontal white line. This locomotive is ready to cross any field, snow-covered or not!

In the next issue of our blog, we will continue our acquaintance with fourth-generation diesel locomotives. We will visit Germany and the USA and finally discover an unknown specimen of the orange locomotive! See you soon! :tv2conductor:

Hello everyone! You’re reading the new issue of “Choo-Choo Weekly”. The theme is tales and myths. In different eras, people believed in a variety of legends (and they still do). In some places these beliefs developed into customs and rituals, in some countries, people still naively believe that spring begins in March, for example. For a part of our development team spring has not arrived yet, though it definitely feels like the exit of Train Valley 2 from Early Access is pretty close. Let's leave them with these feelings for now, let's see what the workshop is rich with this week!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1675183334 Let's go to the legendary lake Guatavita. The thirst for wealth leads many travelers to these lands, the local tribes make many obstacles for them. To get to the middle of the lake and raise the gold from the bottom, you will have to slowly prepare for this hike: the Muisca require offerings and sacrifices in order to open the gates. Many sacrifices! By the end of the journey, you may find that gold has not made you rich enough to get all 5 stars. Continue to perform the ritual and the gods will give you a star. This meditative map from @unclekrusty slowly goes to Features.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1674251712 @h2onik plunges us into another myth. In the center of the landscape is Olympus, a mighty mountain where the gods have gathered to make a feast. Mortals are crawling under them, trying to provide for themselves and feed the Olympians. The gods have an excellent appetite, and man is weak and his age is short. But what is this black water? The old man Charon became so lazy that he built a bridge over the Styx for the transfer of souls and made a ticket window on his boat, now he sits in it and says: "Dear deads, pay the fare!". Well, in fairness it should be noted that he clearly improved the service. Thank you @h2onik for an interesting story, the map goes to our local Olympus!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1675764246 The author of the best map @striker700 does not make explicit references to any specific myth that formed its basis, but Hermes and Mercury (as well as guys from Wall Street) certainly inspired him. We have to go the way of a poor but lucky investor in order to start managing really big money. We see a cramped industrial district, a port, and there is a desert mountainous area across the cascade of dams. Sometimes the road passes in unexpected places ‒ don't be afraid to experiment! Before passing through the red wall, remember the advice of Mrs. Weasley gave Harry. Exciting routes, an interesting financial balance, and a great storyline ‒ a 10$ gift card is sent to @striker700!

We're waiting for your latest works. Maybe we'll see maps with new letters soon. What did you want to write all this time? We’ll see next week!
Stay tuned! :tv2conductor:

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Greetings train lovers! Our weekly look at the history of locomotives is back. Last week we unveiled the 3rd generation of locomotives: the Diesel Era that dethroned coal and steam in the mid-60s. We learned more about the TE3, a locomotive that started as a knockoff but quickly became the staple engine in the USSR for decades. Today we’ll cross the Iron Curtain to discover two Western machines: one from the US and a second from the UK. Just as the TE3, both of them were diesel-electric: engine and wheels were not mechanically connected; instead, the engine drove an electrical generator, which in turn powered the traction motors. Hop in, take your seat and enjoy the ride!

The United States of America had started to develop Diesel-powered engines in the 30s. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) pioneered this endeavor by producing custom streamliners (custom engines designed for specific purposes). General Motors decided to join very soon after seeing their success, so they started producing standardized locomotives under the banner of their subsidiary Electro-Motive Company, later rebranded as Electro-Motive Division. In 1935 they started building their E- and F-units line of locomotives for passenger trains. They quickly became popular, but they had a problem: their wheel arrangement made them less useful when crossing mountainous terrain. The newly designed F locomotive addressed that problem, with a B-B wheel arrangement (two trucks with two powered axles), but there was another issue with them: they used a steam generator for heating passenger trains in long travels… and there just wasn’t enough space in the F7 for the extra water. They tried to fit water tanks here and there, even putting them in the baggage cars and piping the water to the engines – but at some point, they just acknowledged the problem and designed the FP7… which is pretty much just a 1.2 meters-longer F7!

(Photo from railpictures)

Check the side of the locomotive in this picture: can you see there’s a large distance between the first side porthole and the first filter grille? That’s where the extra space for the water tank was added. The corresponding extra space under the body either remained empty or was filled with another water tank that looked like a transversal barrel. 381 FP7 were produced for 4 years to made different routes all over the United States. They, along with their smaller (but more popular) sisters the F7 locos, remained in service until the 70s (a bit longer in Canada). Thanks to this, its shape (and that of the F7) is one of the easier to recognize by American train lovers, being now entrenched in the popular memory of the whole continent.



And what about our in-game version? Here you have it, with his high front, double windows, and frontal lantern and lights, making it look a bit like a dog’s muzzle. As you can see, there is also a lot of space between the portholes, and the long longitudinal grille is also very recognizable.

By the 50s, the British railway system was a bit of a mess – slow, unreliable, operating at a loss and even unsafe. The government decided to bring it up to date and take measures to make it more attractive, both to passengers and freight operators. The main measure to be taken was the quick substitution of steam machines for diesel locomotives: it took them less than 10 years to produce implement up to 2,500 engines. Sadly, this haste meant that there was no time for proper research and development, building and testing prototypes thoroughly, etc – and actually, the whole plan is now regarded by historians as an incredibly expensive failure, but that’s another story.
The Class 37 was one of these machines. The company English Electric had some experience producing locomotives for railways in East Africa; they adapted one of their designs and presented it to the authorities. The design was quickly accepted and even more quickly produced: they didn’t even bother with building and testing prototypes! Luckily, they worked well enough – so well that some of them still remain active in different duties.

(Photo from Wikipedia)

This machines had a Co’-Co’ wheel arrangement, a common wheel arrangement with six-wheeled bogies with all axles powered by separate traction motors (similar to the TE3, which had two of these). Capable of hauling heavy trains without problems, they were used for pretty much everything, from passenger lines to freight work; so they became one of the most popular in the British islands, especially in Scotland and the East Anglia region where they formed the backbone of the InterCity services. Train lovers nicknamed them as “Tractors” because of the sound of its engine. And the story goes that a Class 37 loco is haunted by the ghost of a driver who was killed by an object thrown from a train passing in the other direction – if you are in a British train and a horn blows by itself, or a fire bottle randomly sets off, maybe you are riding the infamous British Cursed Loco…



Its in-game counterpart features no ghost, but you surely can recognize the shape and design of the Class 37 in it. See the curved triple window in the front, the short square front with its stoppers, and how the roof goes down again in its back.
That’s all for this week! See you soon with the next entry in our history of locomotives, when we will see more modern diesel machines from the 60s and 70s. Enjoy the ride! :tv2conductor:

Hello everyone! Here is a small hotfix to our recent update.

- Market object rotation problem.

Stay tuned! :tv2conductor:

Hello friends! Here is our new update. Sorry for the delay. It means that we are first of all focused on implementing new mechanics and features for the full release. But we have prepared something for you as well:

- Debug mode is officially off! It means that now we can trace fewer bugs in logs (we hope that most of them are fixed already). The good thing here is that the game should work faster. Especially on macs. Let us know.
- The option that allows hiding of completed levels in the workshop list. Should help to find levels that have not been played yet.
- Anticheat. We have added some magic to make hi-scores tables more reliable. You can check your results and let us know.
- Arrow smile from the market object is removed.
- Added "Letters" objects to the workshop, that allows you to place custom messages as a part of the map. Please don't use bad words, we have kids and moderators playing the game :lunar2019laughingpig:.

Please let us know if you face any problems with this update. We are here to help as always.
Don't forget that we have a "Let's play together" challenge today after 1,5 hours!

Stay tuned! :tv2car::tvvagon::tv2loco:

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Hello friends! It's a new month and new race for a place on the cover of Train Valley Time. There are more and more game mechanics, the authors are finding new uses for old features and give us a fresh look at the game. Let's sum up the first week!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1666962362 A need has led man to dangerous lands. Previously, shamans called these rocks the Land of Grief, however, it didn't deter pirates from encroaching on the impressive treasure reserves. Nowadays, there are warehouses, markets and enterprises of heavy industry. It seems there is nothing mysterious if it were not for these trains with energy ... well, that's mystical. Leave them crashing on the rocks, better to attract investments to start production. Your trains will have to literally squeeze between sharp peaks and do not mistake the gates, or your trains will not be able to maneuver on a narrow path. Nice colors, an unusual way to supply electricity, and cool design ‒ @striker700 drive into the Featured on his steam cabrio!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1668061099 Today, the sponsor of relaxation for your eyes is @gemanera. The Fifty Rails of Gray map initially leads us into nostalgic melancholy with its restrained palette, colored groves, as if from different seasons, and slow trains, but it gets hotter over time. Moving up in a circle, we have to go through customs, and each of them has bizarre requests: one wants dynamite, others want ore, and the fourth needs books of all things. What would we do without markets? Get to the last city in 28 minutes and three stars will be yours! Of course, no accidents and wrong deliveries. And the work of the February winner @gemanera is traditionally sent to Featured.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1669074561 This week's winner is Party at the Customs Post! @reg gives us all the railroads but leaves no money at all. It seems that everything is predetermined here, but no: you have a lot of opportunities to optimize traffic. The main obstacle is customs, but customs officers celebrate something, so they invite everyone to join them and don't want to work at all. We'll have to figure out how oncoming trains with workers will disperse with freight trains. Which market to build first? And who will make the rubber? An interesting quest and a beautiful picture bring @reg 10$ Steam gift card. Great job, congratulations!

That's all! Don't forget that your map besides of being featured can also become a “track” for our new “Let's play together” competitions. Create, share your results and join our cozy Discord server.

Stay tuned! :tv2conductor:

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Good day train lovers! In the last post in our series about the history of locomotives, we talked about the P36 and the DRB Class 41, two of the best-known machines from the last years of steam-powered engines. From a romantic point of view, those were the golden days of locomotion, when daring entrepreneurs and engineers crisscrossed the world with railroad networks and trains were symbols for freedom and progress. Trains needed to negotiate through difficult terrains with increasingly bigger loads, and at some point, engineers realized that steam locomotives had serious limitations in terms of power. As you know, a steam engine burns combustible (in the case of the locomotives, coal) in order to boil water so as to use the pressure caused by the steam to push pistons. In these engines, heat loss is a huge disadvantage that set serious limitations to their power. So they started working in internal combustion engines which, in its early versions, started using kerosene and gasoline as their fuel, until a nice gentleman called Rudolf Diesel patented his first compression ignition engine.
After some more iterations, these engines improved its performance and reduced its size and weight enough to be mounted in a locomotive. Technically speaking, “diesel” is not the right term for a type of fuel, but a kind of engine. Anything that can power a diesel engine is called diesel by extension, and funny enough, these prototypes didn’t run on petroleum-derived liquids but on peanut oil! Soon, the advantages of diesel engines started to become clear: they could be operated by just one person, where at least two were needed in the case of steam engines; a single crew could control many locomotives in a train, thus increasing dramatically its load capacity when needed. Diesel engines can be started and stopped almost instantly – which means shorter and easier stops with zero fuel cost and no cooldown times. They needed less maintenance, could work in freezing cold, were easier to repair… By 1925 there were already diesel locomotives implemented in the US, and they started spreading slowly to South America and Europe. The Second World War practically stopped the building and adoption of diesel engines, but when it passed, the whole world started enthusiastically adopting them. From the 70s onward, they became the new standard until the introduction of electric trains.
Today we’re going to start with one of the first post-Second World War diesel locomotives: the TE3 (ТЭ3 in Cyrillic alphabet), built in the USSR for the first time in 1953.

(Photo from Wikipedia)

During the Second World War, 70 RSD-1 diesel locomotives, designed by the American Locomotive Company, were shipped to the USSR to be used in ordinary line service. Also, these engines were shipped to Iran for use on the Trans-Iranian Railway. They were diesel-electric, that is, they burnt fuel to produce electricity, and that electricity, in turn, powered the traction motors. When the war ended the Soviets kept many of these engines, and Stalin ordered to reverse-engineer them to adapt them to the metric system and Soviet norms and regulations. Thus was born the TE1, which was pretty much a knockoff of the RSD-1; in 1953 they started prototyping the third iteration, and three years later the TE3 entered mass scale production.
The TE3 is a Co’Co’+Co’Co’ machine, which means (these wheel arrangement notations are crazy) that it had two units with two six-wheeled bogies (a chassis with a wheelset) with all axles powered, with a separate motor per unit. It’s a common enough wheel arrangement, most suited to heavy freight work because of its good traction. Let’s remember the harsh climate of the USSR, where ice and snow were not precisely uncommon – this locomotive surely made use of the traction provided by its extra wheels!
Its main weakness was its difficulty to work with variable loads, which lead to constant power cuts, as well as its tendency to overheating resulting in water losses from the cooling circuit. When this happened in water-deprived regions of the USSR, engine drivers were forced to use diesel as coolant… which, as you surely imagine, it’s a fire waiting to happen. In spite of this, the TE3 became rapidly popular, and in time it became the most widely spread locomotive in the USSR. Almost 6,800 were built until it went out of production in 1973.


Our in-game version is this locomotive with a similar sturdy and pragmatic design – a no-nonsense machine that will get you and your load there through snow, ice and sleet. The plow, as well as the frontal lights and lantern, will surely remind you of the TE3.

That’s all for today! In the next entry of this series, we’re traveling to the other side of the Iron Curtain to learn more about a couple of American and British diesel locomotives.

Hello everyone! Glad to meet you again! Congratulations with the end of winter! The first day of spring is the perfect time to recollect all the great workshop levels we have played in February and choose the best one. And the winner is:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1640153191 It is one of the most beautiful levels of this winter. Tropical islands with azure water perfectly render the feeling of warm sand and taste of pina colada! And challenging task from radical environmentalists (do not destroy any object) makes this level a really interesting puzzle! Congratulations @gemanera with your well-deserved success! Thank you very much for all the levels you created for the last months. You brought so much fun to us and all the community! We are sending you a 20€ steam gift card and a special t-shirt from our friends at fretshirt. Congratulations! ːsteamhappyː:tvvagon::tv2car::tvloco:

Want to see your name on the next cover of Train Valley Time? It's absolutely real! Give your imagination a chance to be expressed! Open our level editor and play a bit. It's really fun! Jump in, we are waiting only for you! :tv2conductor:

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