Get ready to journey to the fabulous and rugged Rocky Mountains of Canada and take the throttle of Canadian National trains crossing the Continental Divide with the upcoming Yellowhead Pass route for Train Simulator!

This remarkable Train Simulator route will feature the Canadian National mainline crossing of the Rocky Mountains via Yellowhead Pass, from Jasper, Alberta to Valemount, British Columbia, approximately 80 miles. The route will feature the eastern section of Canadian National’s Albreda Subdivision and also include CN’s Robson Subdivision extending west from Red Pass to where it rejoins the Albreda Subdivision at Charles, British Columbia.

The upcoming Yellowhead Pass route is set in the 1980s when the CN line from Jasper to Red Pass (a distance of 43 miles) had just been double-tracked and the new Robson link line built between the Albreda and Robson Subdivisions, thus creating a double-track route with a grade separation west of Red Pass to where the lines reconnect at Charles. Traffic on the busy CN mainline includes general mixed manifest traffic with significant tonnage of lumber and grain as well as unit coal trains, sulfur trains, and intermodals.

The Yellowhead Pass route has been masterfully created for Train Simulator by Milepost Simulations, known for its creation of other superb Canadian routes including the popular Canadian Mountain Passes route and the Canadian National Peace River route.

Surrounded by towering and majestic mountain peaks and beautiful lakes, Yellowhead Pass and the route of the Miette and Fraser Rivers provided railroad builders an extraordinary favorable crossing of the Continental Divide, with a maximum elevation of 3,711 feet above sea level and favorable grades never exceeding 1 percent. That said, the Yellowhead Pass crossing of the Rockies is a wonder to behold, with the western slope of the pass in particular being extraordinarily rugged and imposing.

What are now CN’s Albreda and Robson Subdivisions were built in 1910-1913 by the competing Canadian Northern and Grand Truck Pacific railroads, respectively. Albeit at times situated at dramatically different elevations, the two lines were built often within sight of each other. But construct costs proved untenable for both roads and by the early 1920s each had been folded into the Canadian National. Today, CN’s rail traffic generally moves westbound via the Robson Subdivision and eastbound via the Albreda Subdivision and the route is a busy funnel for tonnage moving to and from both Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. On its east end, the upcoming route will include Jasper’s large yard, engine facilities, and famed station and on the west end, the connection at Taverna, British Columbia with CN’s Tete Jaune Subdivision and the Albreda Subdivision’s stylish station at Valemount.

As an engineer on the upcoming Train Simulator Yellowhead Pass route, you will take the throttle of Canadian National GMD GP40-2LW and SD40-2W diesel locomotives, both of which feature CN’s distinctive “comfort cab” design. The route will also feature a variety of appropriate freight rolling stock, including intermodal equipment, covered hopper, rotary gondola, flatcars, boxcars, tank car, and a Canadian National steel caboose. A superb selection of ten career scenarios will put you right to work hauling heavy tonnage across the Canadian Rockies.

The experience of railroading in the Rockies, complete with its scenic splendor and extraordinary operating challenges – is coming soon to Train Simulator with the Canadian National’s Yellowhead Pass Route! – Gary Dolzall