Second Life Railroad

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Description

This entry is a description of the Second Life Railroad ( SLRR ) and its history on the Heterocera Atoll continent.

Please use the Talk page to add your comments, idea's and suggestions. Please don't add them in this text directly.

SLRR

Second Life Railroad ( SLRR ) runs over more then 60 sims on the Heterocera Atoll (Northern) Continent. Anyone with a vehicle designed to run on the SLRR tracks can use this public facility. Along the railway line there are many stations where you can rez a train to start a journey.

The track-building and maintenance are provided by the Linden Department of Public works LDPW.

SL residents can operating trains on the SLRR and other railroads, much as anyone can operate a car on the roads in SL. The SLRR standards for guidance and track will enable residents develop suitable vehicles.
Other rail networks may use different standards. Their owners are encouraged to make their standards public if these networks allow the public use them with their own rolling stock.

Standards have been established in-world as well as on these wiki pages. And residents have been using the SLRR for years. There are many train builders in SL that make a wide variety of trains using several different methods for locomotion. The current SLRR track standards support all types of trains. Already many residents have personal trains they use on the SLRR. Using the SLRR with its current standard is simple to understand and accessible to residents and builders of all skill levels.

HISTORY

Linden Labs decided to build a railroad in Second Life. They laid out tracks on the Atoll and held a design contest for stations along the first main line. At first the SLRR was used by automated train that the Lindens created. They set up sensors along the tracks to monitor the progress of their trains and the ANWR oil rig was used as a monitoring station. Unfortunately this system did not work very smoothly. The Linden train did not stay on the tracks. Very few people rode the train. Linden Labs discontinued the automated train service in 2007 and essentially abandoned the SLRR Atoll tracks.

Private residents began riding Arcadia Asylum hobo-trains on the abandoned SLRR tracks and several residents built their own locomotives. By 2008 there was a nascent personal train industry in Second Life, with several builders and several very different approaches to train building. Some proponents of automated trains suggested that the Lindens remove SLRR's solid center rail. Other residents successfully fought this change and the SLRR's solid center rail remains al part of the SLRR's track standard. That way they could keep riding the trains that where already made. No new SLRR tracks were built during this time.

By 2009 there was a thriving personal railroading industry in Second Life with a dozen or more active train builders. There was a reshuffling of the Mole staff and consequently the priorities for the SLRR moved away from "super-automated trains" on the SLRR Atoll tracks. The LDPW began improving and expanding the SLRR track system. The 'Spini Gap' was completed and more recently, the North Coast branch line from Pawpaw to Spangle has been taking shape. This may well represent a new "golden age" in the story of the SLRR.

In early 2010 the SLRR improvements continued and new tracks, junctions and stations began popping up everywhere. There was intense lobbying of the LDPW by several railroad groups and as a result that Michael Linden made the following public statements, summarized here:

  • The SLRR track specifications will not change anytime soon.
  • Signals will be installed but we will not be punished for example for "running red light signals".
  • Switches will be installed connecting the various branch lines to the main line.
  • Automated trains will not be put into regular service by the LDPW, if the residents keep using the SLRR with their private trains.
  • Residents may choose to run automated trains, consistent with the ToS.
  • In the future residents may make a request to the LDPW to connect their private track on the Atoll to the SLRR track via a switch.

Other Railway initiatives

There are several other standard gage railroads in SL, some on private land, some on Linden land. This is list of some other examples of large multi sim networks with different sets of guidance, control and track system. The different systems are not necessarily compatible with SLRR standards.

Source

The above information was initially collected by members of the Second Life Railway Consortium Tuliptree (107, 131, 30) with the help of Stryker Jenkins, Moundsa Mayo. Qie Niangao and Kitto Flora.

Additions have been provided by Jer Straaf and ohters associated with other SLRR related groups.

As well as Michael Linden who added the official branch line names