Thompson Expansion For Canton-Suddenly

By Rich Garber For All Aboard

Now available for Canton-Suddenly is the newest expansion pack, Thompson. Thompson extends mainline running to where the route is now up to 54 miles in length. Exquisitely detailed and still built to scale, the photo textures employed bring an enjoyable sense of realism to the route. And now that signals are added to the route, AI train running is more doable. Thompson features many new building structures not previously seen on the route. Seven new industries with over 15 spurs add to the wealth of industrial switching to do. Ten more activities gives the player over 70 activities to do. Many new features have been added to the route, here's just a few:

Animations. With Thompson comes brand new animations like airplanes that take-off and land, helicopters that hover and dust crop, construction cranes that swivel and pickup/drop scrap metal, and sailboats that move. And there's more. The animations are the feature work of Ed Hawkins and Dick Cowen.
Trucks and improved car textures by LHW Foundaries. Magnificently done, Bill's vehicles are some of the best looking, best textured and featured vehicles to have on a route. These vehicles are done in photo-textures as well and look very real. These trucks and vehicles add an amazing sense of realism to the Canton-Suddenly-Thompson experience.
Vegetation Improvements. New techniques, new textures and new ideas have created some of the densest looking and believable forests and foilage covering yet. Rural and country areas should be as interesting as city areas and with the extra work that was put into these areas, Thompson will provide an interesting and authentic feel that you're riding through the country.
Snow Texture improvements. Installing Thompson changes the type of snow you see on the route. A blanket snow texture now covers the countryside. And it's a very believable snow texture too! Tim Court the originator of the track textures for Canton also adapted his winter track textures to match the new blanket snow textures as well. Many adjustments had to be made to match the new textures so running in winter on the Canton RR is almost like running for the first time.

And once again Thompson has great support for getting it up and running. The installation routine is by now, routine. It's so easy! The Thompson manual is colorful and continues with the history of the area as well as an indepth Designer Notes section explaining many of the design aspects of the new features. In addition both Don Hughes and Craig Kawahara have their updated schematics for Thompson included with the install. Also included with the Thompson install is the previous 62 activities for Canton-Suddenly upgraded to work with Thompson and ten more activities for Thompson too.

These ten new activities feature longer running times because now you have signals and AI traffic in every activity. Each activity continues the story of Canton RR but now we have two new characters too. These two guys are part of the Family Lines Central RR which features its own gorgeous rollingstock created and is available for free by Dick Cowen. Included with the FLC is the same realistic physics used on the Canton RR rollingstock giving the player matching physics all around.

So just what is Canton-Suddenly-Thompson? CST is a route that combines industrial switching with mainline running, gorgeous and believable scenery and a ton of activities that combined with a storyline puts you right into the thicket of railroading history.

For more information including purchasing options: see

www.edmfamily.com/msts/co.htm

[ Home ]