TS20: Heavenly Heartland!
Oct 17, 2019
Written by: Gary Dolzall.
Railroading in America’s magnificent heartland is coming soon to Train Simulator with the Union Pacific’s bustling and historic Kansas City – Topeka route!
Anchored on the great railroad town of Kansas City, Union Pacific’s Heartland Service Unit is perfectly named, given that it stretches across middle America’s vibrant heartland. And very soon, extraordinary Union Pacific granger-country main line railroading is coming to Train Simulator with the new Kansas City – Topeka route!
By tradition a part of the First Subdivision of Union Pacific’s famous and historic Kansas Division, UP’s 67-mile Kansas City-Topeka line is today a key route amid UP’s sprawling rail system. Union Pacific’s Kansas City-Topeka line is bustling with traffic, as typically some 60 trains a day hustle across the route, laden with tonnage including grain, coal, automobiles, aggregates, and manufactured products.
The upcoming TS2020 Granger Heartland: Kansas City-Topeka route extends from Union Pacific’s 18th Street and Armourdale yards in Kansas City (Kansas) to Topeka, junction point with three important Union Pacific lines that extend on westward. In addition to hosting expansive main line traffic, the route is home to multiple and diverse lineside customers including skyscraper-tall grain elevators, auto distribution facilities, quarries, and manufacturing companies. Lawrence, 40 miles west of Kansas City, is an important city along the route and other key, traffic-generating locations along the route include Muncie, Bonner Springs, Loring, and East Topeka, Kansas.
For much of its distance between Kanas City and Topeka, the double-track line traces the north bank of the wide Kansas River, curling through rolling and scenic farmland. Freight train operating speeds on the main line are typically in the 60-mph range. As expected on such a critical and active route, Union Pacific’s Kansas City-Topeka line witnesses a variety of modern motive power and the upcoming Train Simulator route will include Union Pacific’s Electro-Motive SD70ACe and GP40-2 diesels along with a selection of Union Pacific freight rolling stock.
The origins of the Union Pacific’s Kansas City-Topeka route date to the 1855 formation of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad, but the line’s important grew in manifold fashion in 1863 when it was designated the Union Pacific Eastern Division to serve as a southern branch of the then-envisioned transcontinental railroad. Tracklaying began that same year and reached Lawrence in 1866. Renamed the Kansas Pacific, the route stretched all the way to Denver, Colorado by 1870.
Today, in the state of Kansas alone, the Union Pacific operates more than 2,000 route miles of railroad and arguably none of those miles are more important, vibrant, or captivating that the steel rails that stretch between Kansas City and Topeka! The experience of modern, challenging, and ever-bustling big-time railroading in America’s heartland is coming soon to Train Simulator – with the Granger Heartland: Kansas City – Topeka route! – Gary Dolzall
Coming soon to Train Simulator is the new Granger Heartland: Kansas City – Topeka route, which will bring to life one of Union Pacific’s busiest and most captivating rail lines! Stretching 67 miles through America’s heartland between the famed Kansas railroad towns of Kansas City and Topeka, the route traces the north bank of the wide Kansas River (above) and is host to skyscraper-tall grain elevators (below). Screenshots by Gary Dolzall.
Few cities in America are richer in railroad action and history than Kansas City, which serves as the eastern terminus of the upcoming Kansas City – Topeka route. Amid Union Pacific’s sprawling yard complex on the west side of the Kansas River in Kansas City (Kansas), UP GP40-2 1381 spots equipment at the yard’s car shops (above). The first light of dawn is breaking as a pair of UP EMD SD70ACe diesels draw a grain consist across the Kansas River with the skyline of Kansas City, Missouri in the background (below). Note: Screenshots depict content still in development.
By tradition a part of the First Subdivision of Union Pacific’s historic Kansas Division, UP’s 67-mile Kansas City-Topeka line is today a key route amid UP’s sprawling rail system. Union Pacific’s Kansas City-Topeka line is bustling with traffic, as typically some 60 trains a day hustle across the route, laden with tonnage including grain, coal, automobiles, aggregates, and manufactured products. At Bonner Springs, a duo of UP SD70ACe locomotives forward a manifest west (above), while at nearby Loring, GP40-2s tend to quarry tonnage (below).
Union Pacific’s Heartland Service Unit, of which the Kansas City-Topeka line is a key part, is perfectly named, given that it stretches through and serves Middle America’s vibrant granger country. Leading grain tonnage east of Lawrence, a trio of Union Pacific SD70ACe diesels roll through the captivating and fertile farmlands of Kansas (above and below).
Symbolic of heartland railroading and memorable to witness are the gigantic grain elevators of the region which are superbly re-created in the upcoming Granger Heartland: Kansas City – Topeka route! A duo of Union Pacific GP40-2s work under the massive grain elevator adjacent to Topeka Yard (above), while at dawn in East Topeka, a lone GP40-2 handles switching at a smaller grain storage facility (below).
Along with the route’s awe-inspiring grain elevators, the upcoming TS2020 Kansas City – Topeka route will re-create in beautiful detail the line’s most famous features and landmarks, including Union Pacific’s Great Overland Station in Topeka.
Under a brilliant Kansas sky, Union Pacific SD70ACe diesels lug coal from the distant Powder River Basin eastward. The experience of modern, challenging, and ever-bustling big-time railroading in America’s heartland is coming soon to Train Simulator – with the Granger Heartland: Kansas City – Topeka route!
Screenshots and images displayed in this article may depict content that is still in development. The licensed brands may not have been approved by their respective owner and some artwork may still be pending approval.
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