Paradise Pets Railroad

The Paradise Pets Railroad runs around the We Love Pets island in Second Life. It is a 2-track loop circuit, and runs the UR Trains on them. As of 14/02/2010, there is only 1 train station being 'Paradise Point', both tracks connect to it and has 2 platforms. It is maintained by Second Rail.

History

The 'We love Pets' island was created in 2007, for the 'Paradise Pets' store. In September 2009, refurbishment of the island began, a new design was chosen and a railroad was added. Only 1 ralroad track was planned to be built, but a second track came under construction in December 2009. Because the island is on it's own (not surrounded by other land) it creates fantastic views, which can be seen mostly on the inner track.

Inner Track

When the island underwent refurbishment, the inner track was created after the completion of the shop, the first pieces of track were laid on 20th September 2009, and took 2 weeks to complete. The Inner track is shorter than the Outer track, but the views and scenery are much greater. There is 1 Tunnel, 2 Bridges and 3 level crossings on the inner track, and the train speed limit is 30mph. The Inner track also passes through the Paradise Pets zoo, where the speed limit is restricted to 10mph.

Outer Track

The Outer Track was created in December 2009, and was supposed to have 2 Stations, but after the banning of Ns5 Xenga's account, that never happened, and a lot of the railroad left unfinished. Later on, the project got haned to Ns5 Xorbun, the co-creator, who completed the rest of the railroad. The outer track is almost twice as long as the first, and has a total of 4 bridges over water. The maximum speed limit is 50mph in most areas.

On the 8th May 2010, the outer track officially closed down due to maintainance costs and low usage, and on the 15th May 2010 most of the track was removed, leaving only a few rail pieces that were fixed into the bridges. The bridges the track ran across will stay there as a memorial to the Railroad. The double station was also kept the same with the outer track intact, but is cut off at both ends and is overgrown with weeds.

Train Services

Both tracks have seperate train timetables, and both run different trains. Track 1 is usually in service 24/7, and mostly runs the Benelux passenger train, and rarley the 4-4-0 Steam Train. Track 2 trains are now uncommon, the Koploper Passenger Train is the most commonly used train, but the Orient Steam Train, and the E-Train 1700 have been sighted.

Level Crossings

There are a total of 3 level crossings on both tracks, 2 of them are on main paths and have flashing warning signals, and the other is on a small footpath and has a train warning sign. There are 2 types of signal level crossing on the island, 1. AOC (no barriers) 2. AFB (automatic full barrier). The AFB crossing is placed where the 2 tracks meet, and the AOC is placed after the tunnel on the inner track. Due to consistent abuse, Second Rail want to close both crossings by March 2010, and replace them with bridges.

Future

After the closure of the outer track, it is unlikely that the inner track will be removed. The electronic level crossing signals are due to be removed in June, and be replaced with a warning sign, this is because there are not as many people on the island as there used to be, and now the running of trains is rare so it was decided they should be removed.

External Links

Paradise Pets Rail SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/We%20Love%20Pets/128/128/39 UR Trains Website: http://www.urtrains.com/