Dukey's Railway: History.

In 2009, my good friend and companion for most of my youth had to be put to sleep..

Duke or Dukey.
Its odd a dog has a connection to a Train(z) Simulator/World builder but somehow he did.. Having a 3d version of himself for placement in peoples own creations/routes being created by a good friend. This now rather crude model ended up being bundled with various versions of Trainz sold throughout the world after being used in routes included with the software.. sometimes just hidden around the place to spot or being usefull in fields where sheeps reside.. (Try finding him on the Settle Carlisle route :))..

Somehow Dukey developed a celebrity status on the Trainz forums and popped up on many routes where people would share screenshots of Dukey in scenes.. I of course fuelled this fire by making other items such as billboards. It wasn't till some time later Dukey finally got into the cab and on the footplate having a driver version of himself made.

Dukey drives Stephensons Rocket

Dukeys Railway

At some point I myself developed an interest in steam which lead me to start creating a fictional route on Trainz, this route was to be a preserved railway enabling it to run almost any rolling stock imaginable.. I named it in tribute to Dukey. Throughout years I extended it and fiddled numerous times, never really finishing it to the standard I wanted so it never saw the light of day enabling other people to enjoy it other than one or two beta testers.

The year I started it I don't remember.. However I do remember doing it and where I started. It was around 2003-2004, that's all I know. Anyhow this route layed on my harddrive throug various versions of Trainz where I would tweak it and never finish it... I rarely seem to finish anything.

Fast forward nearly 10 years..

(The Real) Dukey sadly had to be put to sleep in 2009.. two years later after looking at the route I thought it needs to be finished, the 100s of Dukeys scattered around in hiding places were a testament to his life for me.. Somehow a 3D version of a Rough collie gives me great comfort and a route in his name even more so...

Last year I decided I wanted to touch up the route in time for the universalism of his death as a memorial edition, a full package with activities and timetables, stocklists etc.

This anniversary was just over a month away.. I did not realise it would not be possible to complete in this amount of time. I wanted to do it well... so naturally it was touched and started on until being left alone due to the pressures of doing a degree and just being bad at getting things finished!

Few months later and here we are. I feel much more confident I can do the route proud with the great features of TS12 along with all I've learnt on other routes through my years using Trainz. I know I can complete it and give it realistic operations that run before your eyes.. something I look forward to achieving.

This blog.

I decided to do this blog as an experiment so I can log my progress and various findings, giving people if interested a chance to see it develop and maybe gain some interest. I'd rather not post on forums about it as it gets people too interested and asking when it will be done when that may be as long as a year away.. the pressure would cause me to lose interest so this blog I feel is a good way of logging and publicising it in the early days..

So feel free to check this and see what i'm up to and give feedback.. in the hope that one day you may ride the rails of Dukey's Railway :)