Railroading delivers a variety of captivating experiences – and that’s certainly the case with the latest release for Train Sim World, as the now-available Amtrak SW1000R Loco Add-On puts you at the controls of both Amtrak’s slow-and-steady SW1000R diesel yard switcher and high-speed ex-Metroliner® Cab Car!

In previous articles here at Dovetail Live (“Introducing Amtrak’s Yard Goat” and “Amtrak’s Cab Car is Coming”), we introduced this fascinating railroading version of the “tortoise and the hare” – the sure-of-foot SW1000R and racehorse-fast ex-Metroliner Cab Car – both of which are ideally suited for service on Train Sim World: Northeast Corridor New York.

Amtrak employs diesel yard switchers at its major terminal locations, such as New York’s Sunnyside Yard, Washington (D.C.)’s Ivy City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where the diesels pull together consists and move equipment to and from maintenance shops. Among the diverse roster of switchers that Amtrak has employed is the railroad’s distinctive SW1000R locomotive.

Amtrak in 1994 acquired a group of ten second-hand Electro-Motive switchers that had been built as EMD SW9 or SW1200 locomotives and which dated to the 1950s. For Amtrak service, the veteran switchers were put through a rebuilding process at NRE (National Railway Equipment) which included repowering the locomotives with a 1,000-horsepower EMD 645-series power plant. Following their rebuilding at NRE, the Amtrak SW1000Rs have served long and successful careers at Amtrak locations across the U. S., although in recent times a number of the units have been retired or further rebuilt.

Regularly employed today on Amtrak’s New York - Philadelphia – Harrisburg (Pa.) Keystone Service® trains (as well as on other short-haul, “push-pull” services in the U. S.), Amtrak’s distinctive Cab Cars have a long and storied history in which they began life as the Pennsylvania Railroad’s innovative high-speed electric-multiple-unit (EMU) “Metroliner.”

Developed in the mid-1960s by the Pennsylvania Railroad and U. S. Department of Transportation and built by the Budd Company, the Metroliner was one of America’s first ventures into modern high-speed rail. Along with its heritage as a high-speed train (the EMU was designed for 150 mph and in service operated at 120 mph), the Metroliner also left an enduring legacy to American railroading in that its design provided the basis for Amtrak’s landmark fleet of Amfleet passenger cars first introduced to service in 1975.

Even as the Metroliner’s career as an EMU wrapped up in the late 1980s, the equipment found renewed life as Amtrak began converting the Metroliner cars into unpowered cab control cars for use on various short-haul “push pull” services. The cab cars have seen service on a variety of routes, including working on the San Diego-Los Angeles Surf Line, short-haul runs from Chicago, and on Amtrak’s New Haven (Ct.)-Springfield (Mass.) line. But the cab cars are most synonymous with duty on their old haunting ground - the Northeast Corridor.

Now available, the Amtrak SW1000R Loco Add-On features both the SW1000R and Amtrak Cab Car re-created in exacting detail and with realistic operations features, as well as a selection of three scenarios for the Train Sim World Northeast Corridor New York route (included in Train Sim World). And both the SW1000R and Cab Car are included in TSW’s popular timetable “service mode.” The Amtrak SW1000R Loco Add-On is available now! – Gary Dolzall