What WE WILL RETAIN when UKTS closes

The closure of UKTS will have a massive effect on the UK train simulator community - UKTS is currently the largest repository of downloadable freeware assets for our hobby.

No matter which route you like, every route has a massive dependency of many, many inter-connected assets to be able run - when these assets are suddenly taken away, the vast majority of what we currently have will cease to run.

The purpose of this topic is to list, as far as possible, the existing MSTS/OR assets we will RETAIN, when UKTS closes. Other simulators are excluded from this topic.

Additionally, I want to encourage any 'currently active' content creators to use this topic as an announcement centre for which existing models (if any) they intend to copy over to TSSH for the future benefit of the community. Also, to announce any new replacement models being built to fill the 'potholes' in stock availability after UKTS closes.

Let's rebuild our hobby together, regards, Brian Bere-Streeter

I'll kick off with what is currently known :

Ged Saunders - all of Ged's valuable MSTS/OR utilities are already available via TSSH downloads.

Alec Ralph - all of Alec's excellent LNWR carriages and LYR wagons are already available via TSSH downloads.

Brian Bere-Streeter - I have today announced that all my LMS pre-group and LMS pre-war routes and stock will be moved over to TSSH downloads over the next six to nine months.

There are various other existing download files on TSSH, but I'll leave it up to their authors to make appropriate announcements of what existing or new models they will host on TSSH. So, please add new posts below for your model releases.

Hi Everyone,

It goes ithout saying but all of my files (2 that are outstanding to be added soon) are already up on TSSH.
And all the Making Tracks packs that were released are safe and sound on there as well.

I have reached out to a few former contributors to see if they will let me host their items, so I will keep you posted with that.

Regards,
Justin

Darwin Smith has just confirmed to me that he will be copying over to TSSH, all his current models.

That means his, LMS locos, with included soundsets and cabviews, and all his 100's of LMS carriages.

Hi All,

Over the coming weekend I will set up a "Saved" list of contributors, but I will add that Dave Babb and Martin Phillips have given me permission to host their downloads.

I have been digging through the Making Tracks files that I received, and most major Diesel class sound sets and Cabviews are in the files.
I may end up uploading them as Sound and Cabview sets.

Regards,
Justin

Hi Justin and all,

All of Kenji Kimura Cabviews that I uploaded to UKTS and TSSH were improved to include the "dusk", night and reverse cabviews, all done with his permission. Below is the original permission message sent from him to Ged Saunders:-

Good morning. Ged.

I will give permission, You and your friends create the CVF of all my
CABVEWS that are posted on the UKTS.
It also permitted you to use by modifying the part of CABVIEWS.
Please create a better CABVIEWS.
And, keep writing my copyright.

Kenji Kimura

He didn't specify whether they could only be uploaded to UKTS which is why I also uploaded them to TSSH. So far no-one has said that I've infringed his copyright so I've assumed that I have correctly followed the rules including crediting him with the original copyright as requested.

Some of my activities are already on both TSSH and UKTS so there's no problem with them. Some of the others only on UKTS I might add those already at TSSH. As I've said elsewhere I do have others that are finished for my own use but need to be finalised for uploading at some point in the future. Given the amount of work that this needs and the relatively few people who now run my activities I'm not certain when this will happen. These activities are for Greater Eastern ( NSE era ), Dorset Coast and Plymouth to Penzance, so if anybody is interested in these please let me know and I shall speed things up a bit.

Regards,

Stephen

Hello Stephen, I still use Dorset Coast and love P2P, so please keep them coming. Sadly I have not been able to obtain Great & Greater Eastern Discs, but would be very surprised  if they are still not actively used by many people.I like many others greatly appreciate your  Acts. Thanks Roger.

Hi Roger,
Today, Amazon.co.uk has one used copy, in very good condition, of the Great Eastern route for £15.64 (Free delivery!)

A few years ago, I "redistributed" several CDs from a couple of users who no longer wanted them.  I still have a copy of Greater Eastern if you'd be interested, for the cost of post and packing.  The one caveat is that the original disk doesn't install properly, but I have made a working copy of it. Both disks will be included in the box.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Everyone,

After the announcement that the UKTS site would be closing in August 2023 the administrators of the site soon made it clear that any files hosted on that platform would be down to the sim community to preserve.
With this in mind I made the decision to download the entire MSTS/OR library currently available on UKTS. This has now been achieved. Routes, stock, activities and other miscellaneous files have now all been downloaded from the UKTS library for MSTS/OR only.

I do not suppose that these file downloads are much use to anyone else whilst they are sitting on a hard drive in my office, however the initial aim was to preserve the work of hundreds of contributors and model makers. The ultimate destination of the files will remain unclear until an alternative hosting platform is secured and the ability of the community to overcome any copyright issues.

Of course on these pages several contributors have indicated that they are willing to allow their work to be hosted elsewhere other than UKTS and that is very encouraging news.

I am not sure, having downloaded all of these library files (96GB 19420 files) how to go about making them available to the sim community at large. Suggestions would be welcome.

I have not seen any mention of the community CD’s on these pages and obviously there is a lot of content on these discs independent of the UKTS library. The fate of community CD’s is probably linked to the rest of the UKTS library and will probably cease to be available after the site closes. Is anyone trying to salvage the remaining discs? I would imagine that most members already have the various routes on disc that interest themselves. Any newcomers (????) to the sim community would however miss out on the opportunity to own “out of the box” routes.

The closure of UKTS, whilst sad and inconvenient, may be an opportunity for the restructuring and rewriting of many of the .eng and .wag files to bring them more in line with the requirements of Open Rails. The prospect of starting a new installation of MSTS for use as a simulator with all of it’s add on’s and utility requirements seems daunting.

Perhaps now to better to focus on OR which is easy to install but still uses all of the routes, activities and stock written for MSTS, even though most stock would benefit from some rewriting of .eng and .wag files.
I believe that this could be an opportunity try to move in that direction, thereby making it an easier experience for anyone wishing to start in the world of train simulation. And Open Rails is free!!!

In conclusion a massive “Thank You” to all of the contributors who have already indicated that they are willing to have their files hosted on this site. And another “Thank You” for all of the hours that you have given to the sim community.

And now finally could I urge anybody who has uploaded files to UKTS for MSTS/OR use to state now if they are willing to give permission OR NOT to have their files transferred to another download platform.

It may be a case of “Speak now or.....................”

Regards to All,

Terry White.

Hi Terry,

I am not sure, having downloaded all of these library files (96GB 19420 files) how to go about making them available to the sim community at large. Suggestions would be welcome.

This is what we are currently working through. The issue is that many of the authors are no longer contactable (either having abandoned their listed email addresses or they have passed away), so securing permission to host the files on another site cannot be obtained as some files are listed as UKTS only without permission.

I have been slowly making contact with authors trying to obtain permission to reupload their files to the TSSH File hosting Site (TSSHFH) (See this topic for what we currently have approval for: Saved for the Future)

At least now I have a fair idea about the overall library size (96Gb), I now know that I can host all the files in my 2Tb dropbox without too much problems, I just need the time to download all the files that I don't have.

Regards,
Justin

Hi Terry,

The closure of UKTS, whilst sad and inconvenient, may be an opportunity for the restructuring and rewriting of many of the .eng and .wag files to bring them more in line with the requirements of Open Rails.

Darwin Smith has done an excellent job in creating .eng files for most Electric and Diesel engines including EMU's and DMU's, some ( I think from memory ) steam engines plus some .wag files. I have used many of these and find that they are a big improvement on the original MSTS versions, a big thank you Darwin. As all of these are available at UKTS you will now have them in your mammoth download.

Regards,

Stephen