ALL ABOARD! HOW TO GET YOURSELF BACK ON TRACK

ALL ABOARD!

HOW TO GET YOURSELF BACK ON TRACK

COCO ST. GEORGE

In a world where teleporting is the standard means of transportation, one would think there would be no interest in replicating the old art of railroad travel. To understand how the vast railroad network arose and developed into its current expanse, we have to consider that teleporting was not the universal feature we know today where we can go any place we wish (or for which we have the landmark).

Railroads in Second Life first appeared as an initiative of private residents who were looking for a way to provide transportation where teleport wasn’t available. Seeing this interest, in 2006 Linden Labs invited residents to submit their designs to build train stations. From all 103 entries in that contest, eleven stations were chosen and built. And after all these years, they are still operational. By 2009, the Linden Department of Public Works built new stations. And of course, to link all those stations together, hundreds of miles of tracks were laid.

In order to facilitate the use of the tracks for everybody, a standard was developed by the Virtual Rail Consortium, one of several organizations that take care of the railroad industry in SL. Nowadays, anyone can get the open-source script to use it in their own builds and ride the tracks around more than 80 regions on the Heterocera Atoll continent, among others. All this data may sound boring, but believe me, it has deep implications.

First of all, it means that you can rez a box, drag the open-source script in it and, bam! You have yourself a machine that will drag you through the numerous railroad stations scattered through the Mainland.

Not interested in traveling by box? Of course not! Why would you be when there is a magnificent and perfectly functional locomotive you can get for free?

So, here’s what we’re going to do: the first stop in our journey will be Tuliptree Station, the headquarters of the Virtual Railroad Consortium. There, you will see a freebie wall with everything you are going to need for your newfound passion. For starters, get a train, of course. There are several available, and any of them will work. You may have noticed by now that you are in a rez zone. The station masters are kind enough to allow rezzing so you can enjoy the ride. The auto return times, though, can be strict— if you happen to get off the train to wander in the natural landscape, you may find your machine is gone, back in your Lost and Found folder.

Once you sit on the locomotive, you’ll see a set of basic instructions. Don’t worry if you didn’t have time to read them all because you were distracted admiring your new toy. Simply click your ride, and you’ll see a menu with all you need to become a hardened engineer. After you press the start button, the locomotive will move forward on its own. You don’t need to press any key, except Page Up if you want to go faster. The initial speed is 10; every time you press Page Up, it increases by another 10. Conversely, every time you press Page Down, it decreases by 10 until it comes to a full stop.

Since you are running on tracks, you don’t need to steer, either. The only time you need to worry about the direction you’re heading is when you reach a junction. There, you will find that the track splits in two and you have to choose which way to go. That’s what the track switches are for. These switches are round signs with an arrow pointing to the way selected. All you need to do is click the sign to switch tracks. Be sure to pay attention, as you will need to

click the sign at the right time to avoid going the wrong way. There is no reverse in these trains, but you can flip the locomotive (Shift + Left Arrow) to literally retrace your steps, go back, and try to switch tracks again. Don’t despair: as in any other human endeavor, driving a locomotive requires practice and patience. And all your efforts will be rewarded when you roam the continents aboard your powerful machine.