The Royal opening of Metro was part of a three-week transport festival on Tyneside, designed to encourage people to try the new Metro system.

There was a huge fireworks display, a transport treasure trail, competitions – including one with a first prize of a Spanish holiday – a balloon race, a public transport cavalcade and exhibition, specially commissioned souvenirs, and cheap fares.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh came to carry out an official opening ceremony on Metro on the morning November 6, 1981. 

Her Majesty would officially declare the Metro system open.

The new QEII Metro Bridge – the sixth across the Tyne – would be officially dedicated by the Queen, allowing passengers to travel into Gateshead, and beyond to Heworth.

David Howard was Director General of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Executive, now Nexus, when the Metro project was completed, and it was Mr Howard who had the job of showing the Queen around the new Metro system.

The Royal visit marked the opening of the of Metro’s underground route from Haymarket through Monument and Central Station, continuing across the Tyne into Gateshead and on to a new southern terminus at Heworth Interchange.

At 10.15am on a chilly but sunny autumn day, thousands of people lined Grey Street, and many waved Union Jacks, as the Royal limousine pulled up in the shadow of Grey’s monument.

All police leave in the city had been cancelled and street cleaners had made sure the area was spick and span.

The Queen took a ticket to ride, travelling on the Metro driver on the new line between Monument and Gateshead.

The Royal party and the invited guests travelled on Metrocars 4020 and 4007 from Monument to a specially erected gantry at the north end of the new Metro bridge. 

Her Majesty officially named the structure the Queen Elizabeth II Metro bridge. This continued a long tradition of Tyne crossings being opened by royalty, stretching back to 1849, when Queen Victoria opened the High Level Bridge. 

Even a bomb scare failed to halt the visit, though it was sped up on security advice as a result of that incident.

Meanwhile, the Metro Royal train was delayed further because Prince Philip had strolled short distance into the middle of the new bridge to admire the view of the Tyne. 

Once in Gateshead, the Metro was officially opened by the Queen who made a short speech before unveiling a plaque.

The Royal party then got back on the train to Heworth. On arrival there, in another unrehearsed move, Prince Philip spoke to the Metro driver, Jack Hall, and ended up sitting in his cab asking questions.

The visit then concluded with a lavish reception at Newcastle Civic Centre, where the Royal party and their guests dined on smoked salmon mousse, roast beef in truffle sauce and peaches flamed with brandy.

Tyneside’s rapid transport system revolution was officially underway. 
 

My Newest incarnation has been well received on Creators cub Beta Lets see how far we cam go!

This blog was made by simon schofield

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With the Train Sim World 2 Harlem Line coming soon, we take a further look at this remarkable and bustling Metro-North route.

The Harlem Line: It is one of Metro-North Commuter Railroad’s interlinked “Big Three” routes. Along with MNCR’s Hudson and New Haven Lines, the Harlem Line serves the pulsing urban areas north and east of New York City. Second only to the New Haven Line, the Harlem Line is Metro-North’s busiest commuter artery, alive with the hustle and bustle of Big Apple railroading!

And soon, the Harlem Line: Grand Central Terminal – North White Plains route is coming to Train Sim World 2, so let’s take a closer look at this busy and historic commuter railroad line.

The route:

As created for Train Sim World 2, the upcoming Harlem Line: Grand Central Terminal – North White Plains route extends from New York City to North White Plains, New York. The line begins at the bumper posts of legendary Grand Central Terminal (located at 42nd Street in Manhattan), then passes through the Park Avenue Tunnel until, at 97th Street, it bursts into the open air and rides atop the Park Avenue Viaduct to Harlem 125th Street Station.

Once past 125th Street, the route crosses the towering “DB” moveable bridge over the Harlem River to reach Mott Haven (milepost 5.4) in the Bronx. Between GCT and Mott Haven, Metro-North’s busy Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven lines all share common trackage. Then, at Mott Haven, the MNCR Hudson Line diverges (the upcoming Train Sim World 2 route will also include a short stretch of the Hudson Line extending to Yankees 153rd Street Station). Running largely in open air but below the surrounding street level, the four-track route extends through the Bronx with station stops such as noted Botanical Gardens (home to the famed Bronx Zoo). At Woodlawn Junction (milepost 11.8), the Metro-North Harlem and New Haven lines separate, and the Harlem Line begins a journey, much of it along the Bronx River, through a patchwork of urban and suburban territory to White Plains (milepost 22.4) and North White Plains (milepost 23.9), the latter of which is host to a large staging yard.

Electrified throughout via third-rail D. C. power, the multi-track Harlem Line: Grand Central Terminal – North White Plains route will include 18 stations, of which Grand Central Terminal, Harlem 125th Street, and White Plains are the busiest, and the line will offer a captivating and challenging mix of express, semi-express, and local commuter runs that are brought alive in five scenarios and more than 260 timetables services.

The Equipment:

The upcoming Train Sim World 2 Harlem Line: Grand Central Terminal – North White Plains will feature two generations of notable Metro-North electric-multiple-unit (EMU) trains, the venerable Budd-constructed M3A and modern Bombardier-built M7A.

Metro-North’s Harlem and Hudson Lines were long owned and operated by the great New York Central. During the NYC (and later, Penn Central) years, the Harlem Line was host to NYC’s own EMUs, the last of which were the railroad’s Pullman-Standard 85-foot-long 4600- and 4700-series cars which arrived in the early- to mid-1960s and then served into the Metro North era. In assuming control of the line, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and later Metro-North inherited the challenges of replacing the aging ex-NYC equipment. That process began in 1968 with the purchase from the Budd Company of 770 EMUs for use on the Long Island Railroad, which was followed in 1971 with a purchase of 178 similar M1A cars for use on the Harlem and Hudson lines of what is today Metro-North. In the early 1980s, more new equipment acquisitions followed, including the M3 for LIRR and M3A for Metro-North. The M3As were quite similar to the earlier M1As, and MNCR received 142 8000-series, silver-and-blue-clad M3As in 1984-85. The M3A were constructed in married pairs and train lengths on the Harlem Line are typically up to eight cars in length. While the M3As will eventually be replaced by MNCR’s newest M9 cars, the veteran M3As are expected to remain in service for some time.

Today’s workhorse EMU on the Harlem Line is the flat-faced Bombardier-built M7A. Like its predecessors, the M7A is a kindred spirit to Long Island Rail Road equipment, in this case the LIRR M7. Long Island M7s began arriving in 2002 and M7As made their appearance on Metro-North in 2004. Eighty-five feet in length and with a capacity of up to 110 passengers per car, the M7As are equipped with 265-horsepower traction motors on each axle of their four axles. A total of 336 M7As entered MNCR service by 2006. Also configured in married pairs and authorized for 80 mph operations on MNCR, the M7As serve both the Harlem and Hudson lines.

With a masterfully created and highly detailed route and two generations of EMUs which will offer authentic controls and realistic operating characteristics, together with a bevy of timetabled services and scenarios, the upcoming Train Sim World 2 Harlem Line: Grand Central Terminal – North White Plains route will deliver the full and varied experiences of American commuter railroading around the “Big Apple” – and it’s coming soon to Train Sim World 2!

I was presented with my certificate on Monday the 14.3.2022 i have achieved the following in English skills Entry 2 and NOCN Entry Level Certificate in Preparing for Further Learning or Employment Entry 3

i create a new train on my tsw2

I am looking forward to play the new expansion pack that comes out on Thursday the 17th of February the route i am go to play on London underground Bakerloo line

Pizza Hut was founded on June 15, 1958, by two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, both Wichita State students, as a single location in Wichita, Kansas. Six months later they opened a second outlet and within a year they had six Pizza Hut restaurants. The brothers began franchising in 1959. The iconic Pizza Hut building style was designed in 1963 by Chicago architect George Lindstrom and was implemented in 1969.

PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in November 1977. Twenty years later, Pizza Hut (alongside Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken) were spun off by PepsiCo on May 30, 1997, and all three restaurant chains became part of a new company named Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. The company assumed the name of Yum! Brands on May 22, 2002.

Before closing in 2015, the oldest continuously operating Pizza Hut was in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping and tavern district known as Aggieville near Kansas State University. The first Pizza Hut restaurant east of the Mississippi River was opened in Athens, Ohio, in 1966 by Lawrence Berberick and Gary Meyers.

The company announced a rebrand that began on November 19, 2014, in an effort to increase sales, which had dropped in the previous two years. The menu was expanded to introduce various items such as crust flavors and 11 new specialty pizzas. Work uniforms for employees were also refreshed. In 2017, Pizza Hut was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 24 in the list of 200 Most Influential Brands in the World.

On June 25 and 27, 2019, it was reported that Pizza Hut was bringing back their logo and the red roof design that was used from 1976 until 1999.

On August 7, 2019, Pizza Hut announced its intention to close about 500 of its 7,496 dine-in restaurants in the US, by the middle of 2021.^]The first Pizza Hut opened on June 15, 1958, in Wichita, Kansas.

On August 18, 2020, it was announced that Pizza Hut will be closing 300 restaurants after the bankruptcy of NPC International, one of its franchise providers. A company representative stated, “We have continued to work with NPC and its lenders to optimize NPC’s Pizza Hut restaurant footprint and strengthen the portfolio for the future, and today’s joint agreement to close up to 300 NPC Pizza Hut restaurants is an important step toward a healthier business

Concept
Pizza Hut is split into several different restaurant formats: the original family-style dine-in locations; storefront delivery and carry-out locations; and hybrid locations that have carry-out, delivery, and dine-in options. Some full-size Pizza Hut locations have a lunch buffet, with “all-you-can-eat” pizza, salad, desserts, and breadsticks, and a pasta bar. Pizza Hut has other business concepts independent of the store type.

In 1975, Pizza Hut began testing concepts with Applegate’s Landing.[22][23] These restaurants had exteriors that looked like Colonial Style houses and had eclectic interiors featuring a truck with a salad bar in the bed. The chain offered much of the same Italian-American fare, such as pizza and pasta dishes with some additions like hamburgers and bread pudding. Applegate’s Landing went defunct in the mid-1980s except for one location in McPherson, Kansas that closed in fall, 1995.

An upscale concept was unveiled in 2004, called “Pizza Hut Italian Bistro”. At 50 U.S. locations, the Bistro is similar to a traditional Pizza Hut, except that the menu features new, Italian-themed dishes such as penne pasta, chicken pomodoro, and toasted sandwiches.[25] Instead of black, white, and red, Bistro locations feature a burgundy and tan motif.[26] In some cases, Pizza Hut has replaced a red roof location with the new concept. Pizza Hut Express locations are fast food restaurants; They offer a limited menu with many products not seen at a traditional Pizza Hut. These stores are often paired in a colocation with WingStreet in the US and Canada, or other sibling brands such as KFC or Taco Bell and found on college campuses, food courts, theme parks, bowling alleys, and within stores such as Target.

Vintage locations featuring the red roof, designed by architect Richard D. Burke, can be found in the United States and Canada; several exist in the UK, Australia, and Mexico. In his book Orange Roofs, Golden Arches, Phillip Langdon wrote that the Pizza Hut red roof architecture “is something of a strange object – considered outside the realm of significant architecture, yet swiftly reflecting shifts in popular taste and unquestionably making an impact on daily life. These buildings rarely show up in architectural journals, yet they have become some of the most numerous and conspicuous in the United States today.”

Curbed.com reports, “Despite Pizza Hut’s decision to discontinue the form when they made the shift toward delivery, there were still 6,304 traditional units standing as of 2004, each with the shingled roofs and trapezoidal windows signifying equal parts suburban comfort and strip-mall anomie.” This building style was common in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name “red roof” is somewhat anachronistic now since many locations have brown roofs. Dozens of these restaurants have closed or been relocated or rebuilt.

Many of the older locations with the red roof design have a beer if not a full bar, music from a jukebox, and sometimes an arcade. In the mid-1980s, the company moved into other formats, including delivery or carryout and the fast food “Express” model.

By blog was made by simon Schofield

Horseshoe Curve! In American railroading, there are few places that evoke more history and drama. Horseshoe Curve was J. Edgar Thompson’s engineering marvel and the signature achievement of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s 1850s crossing of the Allegheny Mountains. More than a century-and-a-half after its construction, the Horseshoe Curve route remains bustling and dramatic as a key Norfolk Southern rail artery – and soon, it’s coming to Train Sim World 2!
The upcoming Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route will re-create Norfolk Southern’s contemporary crossing of the rugged Alleghenies and deliver the opportunity to haul tonnage ranging from priority intermodals to ponderous coal behind high-horsepower NS diesels.
To climb the eastern slope of the Alleghenies, 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 and twisting climb with a 1.85 percent ruling 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.
As part of the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh Division, Horseshoe Curve and the Allegheny crossing from Altoona on the east to Johnstown, Pennsylvania on the west was (and is) one of America’s busiest and most critical railroad arteries, home to a seemingly endless passage of tonnage and passenger trains, including PRR’s premiere Broadway Limited. And Horseshoe Curve itself was far from the route’s only classic and memorable location, which included the Gallitzin, Allegheny, and New Portage Tunnels, remote MG Tower, the steep eastbound “Slide,” key coal feeder lines at Cresson and South Fork, and the sprawling yards and Juniata shops at Altoona.
After more than an uninterrupted century of being one of the gemstones of the great Pennsylvania Railroad – known as “The Standard Railroad of the World” – the Horseshoe Curve route, during the latter half of the twentieth century, entered a time of tumultuous change. On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with its long-time rival, the New York Central, to form the Penn Central. Integration of the two sometimes bitter rivals proved problematic and, burdened with miles of duplicative and often unproductive trackage, the 20,000-mile Penn Central in 1970 entered a bankruptcy from which it would never reemerge. By the mid-1970s, under the auspices of the United States Railway Association, it was decided to roll Penn Central together with other troubled Northeastern railroads, thus forming Conrail.
Given its status as an amalgamation of not only bankrupt Penn Central but other equally troubled railroads, many observers held little hope for Conrail, but like a phoenix it rose from the ashes of Penn Central to become one of railroading’s greatest success stories. As part of the 12,000-mile Conrail system, the Horseshoe Curve route served as a vital rail link between the American east coast and Midwest and its infrastructure was modernized to contemporary requirements, including a reduction of the line around Horseshoe Curve from four to three tracks. Having admirably and remarkably served its purpose of rejuvenating eastern railroading, most of Conrail was divided in 1999 between eastern rail giants Norfolk Southern and CSX. Norfolk Southern acquired the lion’s share of Conrail (7,200 miles) including the Horseshoe Curve route, which now serves as a busy segment of Norfolk Southern’s Pittsburgh Line.
Today, the Horseshoe Curve route remains one of railroading’s greatest shows of big-time, tough, mountain railroading, constantly humming with traffic ranging from double-stack container trains to coal tonnage, manifest freights, grain, oil, and autos. And the line is also host to Amtrak’s New York-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian.
As developed for Train Sim World 2 by Skyhook Games, the upcoming Horseshoe Curve route extends 40 route miles from the renowned railroad town of Altoona and its sprawling Junita Shops to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, climbing over the daunting and scenic spine of the Allegheny Mountains and representing the railroad circa 2018. The route also features a portion of Norfolk Southern’s steep (with grades of up to 3 percent) and historic South Fork Secondary line extending 15 miles from South Fork to a coal mine near Windber, Pennsylvania.
The upcoming Train Sim World 2 Horseshoe Curve route will feature Norfolk Southern’s powerful third-generation workhorse, the six-axle, 4,400-horsepower General Electric ES44AC, as well as the versatile NS Electro-Motive GP38-2. To replicate the diverse traffic flow over the Horseshoe Curve route, a full range of modern freight equipment will be provided with the route. And with the upcoming Train Sim World Horseshoe Curve route, you’ll be ready to climb aboard and immediately take the throttle for challenging and realistic railroading with a selection of four training tutorials, five scenarios, and a variety of timetabled services.
In the coming days here at Dovetail Live, we’ll be taking a further look at the legendary Horseshoe Curve route, its locomotives, features, and operations, so stay tuned! – Gary Dolzall

This blog was made by simon schofield

Snaking its way past rivers, through rocky valleys, and into the beautiful Eastern German Hills, Tharandter Rampa: Dresden – Chemnitz will be arriving soon on Train Sim World 2. We take a look at some of the features you can look out for as you climb through this challenging and historic route towards your final destination of Chemnitz Hbf.Situated in the Eastern German state of Saxony, Tharandter Rampa forms part of the Deutsche Bahn’s Dresden to Werdau Railway. With parts of the line dating back to the mid-1800s, it is one of Germany’s oldest routes and has adapted consistently as railway technology and the capacity of the line has evolved. The start of the modernisation of the route began as early as the 1960s, its electrification heralded a new era of locomotives and more economical transit across the routes inclines that at times reach an incredible 1 in 39. The modern electric locomotives rendered previously vital banking locomotives redundant and brought huge advantages to operations along the entire route.The route is also home to the unique DB BR 612 DMU, designated as the RegioSwinger by manufacturer Bombardier, this curious multiple unit is the first tilting train to appear in Train Sim World 2. The maximum tilt it can achieve is 8°, although this sounds like a modest amount, once onboard passengers certainly feel the angle of the train change, they also benefit from the reduced journey times this brings as the train no longer needs to slow down on the winding curves of the route, whereas a non-tilting train would do so regularly.

This blog was made by simon schofield