Buy Train Simulator Classic Train Simulator: Pipestone Pass: Three Forks - Butte PC key

Train Simulator Classic Train Simulator: Pipestone Pass: Three Forks - Butte adds a 70-mile route across the Rocky Mountains, from Three Forks, Montana, over Pipestone Pass and west to Butte. You operate Milwaukee Road freight trains over steep grades, high trestles and through tunnels, crossing the Continental Divide at 6,347 feet above sea level.

The Milwaukee Road

The route recreates the Milwaukee Road’s Rocky Mountain Division and its mountain railroading with General Electric boxcab electric motors. The railroad, formally the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, was founded in 1874 and was the last of three railroads, along with the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, to extend west across the Rockies to the Pacific Northwest. Between 1905 and 1915, it spent $60 million extending its rails through South Dakota, Montana and Idaho to Washington State, crossing five mountain passes.

The Milwaukee Road electrified significant parts of its western route, including 440 miles between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho. The route’s central stretch runs from Piedmont to Butte, with a ruling grade of 2 percent westbound and 1.7 percent eastbound. Its catenary has variable voltage, and the route includes ABS signals and track signage.

Locomotives and equipment

The route includes Milwaukee Road General Electric boxcab electric motors built in 1915–16, in EF1, EF2 and EF5 lash-up configurations. They come in two unbranded Milwaukee liveries typical of the 1950s and 1960s. The Electro-Motive GP9 diesel road-switcher is included in unbranded Milwaukee and Northern Pacific liveries.

Freight equipment includes a range of period-authentic cars and the Milwaukee Road’s home-built, ribbed-side steel bay-window caboose. Milwaukee Road yards and facilities are represented at Three Forks, Piedmont, Janney and Butte, alongside classic high trestles.

Career and Quick Drive scenarios

Eight challenging career scenarios feature Milwaukee Road freight operations along the route. The included Career and Quick Drive scenarios are:

• Autumn Train #263 Part I
• Autumn Train #263 Part II
• Extra Freight West Part I
• Extra Freight West Part II
• Three Forks Switcher, using a GP9 for 30 minutes
• Winter Train #264 Part I, using an EF-5 for 90 minutes
• Winter Train #264 Part II, using an EF-5 for 65 minutes
• Work Train