About New Haven County:
To start, I was wary about this one, because of reports of horribly reused sounds, and reused rolling stock, but, I was pleasently surprised!!! Model: The model, to my knowledge, is dead on…. Nicely done small details featuring items like cooling lines on the roof, extra fans, and nice MU cables on front and rear really help this one along! The trucks (bogies) are really nicely done, with the distinctive 5-axle setup! Nothing wrong with the model that I can tell! Cabview: The cab may be my favorite part of this DLC: DTG built this cab what looks like completly from scratch, and I daresay they did a stupendous job! The control stand is beautifully modeled, with lots of little switches and lights to look at! You have both cab lights and instrument lights (I and L keys respectively) to play around with, and many of the switches on the control stand have a function. Cab is superb! Physics: DTG almost got the physics correct. The acceleration seems more realistic then previous DLC’s, it doesn’t speed up to 20 MPH in 10 seconds, it actually takes a while to get up to speed. The brakes are where it falls short, brakes coming on very fast and releasing very fast. All in all though, they are easy to look past and do not affect gameplay too much. Sounds/Miscelanious Features: The sounds are where this loco takes a very large and very quick downfall, DTG, for some reason, decided that this loco has the EXACT same sound set as the old F7 from KUJU. Yes, in real life, it would have the 567 Prime mover, but I’m talking EVERY sound was the same. The good news is that sounds can be easily changed, and once they HAVE been changed, then the loco becomes much more enjoyable. Lights for this loco have a number of ways to be set up. Headlights have the option to be red (marker lights), bright, medium, and dim, in that order, and really make you feel like you have control over the smaller points of the engine. The ditchlights can be toggled with the “J” key, but do not flash, which I have a problem with. Since this loco has been modeled for when they were in service for ConnDOT, the ditchlights should come on with horn and bell (bell comes on when horn is pushed, which is nice.), but honestly, its not that big a deal. Also, this loco features one of my favorite things so far for TSxx, which is the ability to ACTUALLY switch from Diesel to 3rd rail power… This feature was supposed to be implemented on the P32, but to my knowledge does not work. In conclusion, the FL9 is one of my favorite locos for Train Simulator 20xx, and as to wheter or not I recommend it: That would be a DEFINITE yes, with a final score of 4/5 stars!!!
