Pre-order now on Steam - 10% Pre-order Discount!

It stands in the great natural amphitheater of America’s ancient and magnificent Allegheny Mountains, nestled below the tree-covered slopes of Kittanning Point and above the rushing, chilly waters of Kittanning Run. It was, in the 1850s, hewn from the jagged rocky ledges of the Alleghenies by the railroad that called itself “The Standard Railroad of the World. Its name is Horseshoe Curve – and it is coming soon to Train Sim World 2!

As developed for Train Sim World 2 by Skyhook Games, the soon-to-arrive Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route will re-create Norfolk Southern’s contemporary multi-track crossing of the rugged Alleghenies, from Altoona, home of renowned Juniata Shops, to historic Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a distance of 40 route miles. And the upcoming Train Sim World 2 route will also include the rugged, steep (with grades of nearly 3 percent), and coal laden ex-PRR South Fork Secondary, stretching some 15 additional miles from a connection with the Norfolk Southern main line at South Fork to a remote coal loading facility near Windber, Pennsylvania.

There are, in all the world of railroading, few places that evoke more history and drama than Horseshoe Curve. It was J. Edgar Thompson’s engineering marvel and the signature achievement of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s mid-19th century taming of the Allegheny Mountains. To lift its rails over the eastern slope of the Alleghenies and complete the monumental Horseshoe Curve line, the Pennsylvania Railroad faced the daunting task of ascending nearly 1,000-feet in elevation between Altoona and Gallitzin, Pennsylvania. To do so required a torturous climb with a 1.85 percent ruling westbound grade, and even that was achieved only through the building of 3,612-foot-long Allegheny Tunnel at the summit and the line’s masterstroke, the great horseshoe-shaped curve at Kittanning Point, which itself carries the line from an elevation of 1,473 feet on its east end to 1,706-feet on its west side.

Long a part of the Pennsylvania’s famed Pittsburgh Division, Horseshoe Curve and the Allegheny crossing became a property of the 19,500-mile Norfolk Southern system in 1999 and today serves as the heart and soul of Norfolk Southern’s vibrant Pittsburgh Line, a constantly humming polished steel artery over which tonnage of every description moves between America’s Northeast and Midwest. Indeed, as an engineer on the upcoming Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route, you’ll be called to handle trains ranging from hot intermodals and stacks to heavy coal movements, from urgent manifest freights to ponderous unit grain and crude oil trains.

To keep all that tonnage moving 24/7, 365-days a year over the Horseshoe Curve route’s unforgiving mountain path, you’ll climb aboard a pair of American diesel workhorses of two generations – Norfolk Southern’s powerful third-generation, six-axle, 4,400-horsepower General Electric ES44AC behemoth, and the versatile and veteran NS Electro-Motive 2,000-horsepower, four-axle GP38-2. Each of these meticulously re-created Train Sim World 2 locomotives will deliver the full and exhilarating experience of working aboard modern diesel motive power, with complete and realistic cabs and interactive controls as well as authentic operational characteristics and sounds.

The upcoming and remarkable Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route is certain to keep you busy at the throttle, as the route will include four training tutorials, five scenarios, and 75 timetabled services which will see you venturing to all of the Allegheny crossing’s timeless and extraordinary locations – Altoona and its Juniata Shops, Johnstown, Gallitzin, Allegheny, and New Portage Tunnels, remote MG Tower, the daunting “Slide,” the helper station at Cresson, and, of course, the famed Horseshoe Curve itself. It’s all coming April 12th to Train Sim World 2!

Take your very first look at the famous Horseshoe Curve in Train Sim World 2, Thursday 7th April. Natalie will be joined by Skyhook Games from 8 pm UTC on Twitch and YouTube

Developed by Skyhook Games, the Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route extends 40 main line route miles across the Allegheny Mountains from Altoona to Johnstown and also includes 15 miles of the rugged and steep South Fork Secondary between South Fork and a coal facility at Windber, Pennsylvania. Providing the power to move heavy tonnage will be Norfolk Southern’s veteran 2,000-horsepower Electro-Motive GP38-2 and third-generation GE titan, the 4,400-horsepower, six-axle ES44AC.  

Standing at the base of the east slope of the Alleghenies, the railroad town of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is legendary unto itself, in no small part due to the railroad’s sprawling Juniata Shops. NS GP38-2s congregate with the historic shops complex in the background. Altoona, Gallitzin, the Allegheny Tunnels, Cresson, Johnstown, and, of course, the renowned Horseshoe Curve – it’s all coming soon to Train Sim World 2!