Since May, the track machines and construction cranes building Southwest Lines’ Empire City Subdivision have been dormant following a building rush in Dertinia. A few days ago, however, the heavy equipment began its roar again as SWL management restarted construction along Olympia’s Gold Coast. Recent efforts have brought sweeping changes to the line. Trainz Global News sent a helicopter over the massive construction zone to survey what changes have taken place. An overview of what the route looks like now. North is at top, I think.

Ogygia Beach’s GoldRail commuter station, and the surrounding urbanity.

The Ogygia Exit on the Gold Coast Highway, and subsequent interchange.

Hermes Int’l Airport and the airport station on Olympia’s newest high-speed rail line.

Construction on a new high-rise building in Minos Bay and the long railroad trench leading to the bay tunnels.

The GoldRail yard and terminal in Minos Bay. All trackwork in this area is new.

Detail shot of the terminal in Minos Bay.

A new signal bridge goes up near Foamer’s Park, the now famous railfan park where the Troy Subdivision terminates in a wye. To the west is SWL’s large Minos Bay classification terminal.

The entrance to the twin bay tunnels. Each tunnel is 3.5 kilometers long.

Port Minos’s downtown area and the west end of the bay tunnels. The tracks climb a rather stiff grade into town through another trench.

The famous suspension bridge crossing the mouth of Minos Bay. This bridge carries the Gold Coast Highway into downtown.

[/character] Ok, enough newspaper article-ing! This route is actually the first route I ever began building in Trainz. I just recently went back to it and gave it a new backstory and a new location, as well as some of the things you see here. As you can see from the map above, the route’s pretty wide, but it’s not particularly long. I’m…getting to that. Right now, I’m focusing on the southern terminus, Port Minos, as scenery is one of my weaker points (especially urban scenery). If you want to give me pointers, I’d be glad to listen. Anyway, thanks for looking! I hope you have enjoyed. More pictures will be coming! I promise!

Also I do apologize for the lack of posts. I was figuring out how I wanted this whole blog/Youtube channel to go, and I think I’ve found a direction, so posts should get a bit more regular. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get a video! 🙂