Share Your Desktop – July 2024

Middle of July means it’s time to join in with Clare’s Share Your Desktop Challenge. As usual I have two desktops to share.

To give some background to the Gaming PC desktop this month, I need to talk a little about Euro Truck Simulator. As long ago as May 14th, SCS Software released a major map upgrade for Switzerland bringing completely new roads and scenery – a massive improvement to the reality of one of the oldest regions in the core game. They also gave us, the playing community, a huge challenge – deliver 20 million tonnes of cargo to and from Switzerland. We had until July 14th to get it done. So we set off on what would become a nightmare struggle and keep us busy for nearly all the 8 weeks allocated.

You can’t just drop Switzerland into the middle of the surrounding countries in game. The Swiss map upgrade also resulted in improvements to other areas like northern Italy, Southern Germany and Eastern France which is where we find Mathilda hauling a large bulldozer…

When creating the maps, SCS Software have to walk a line between realism and compromise because of the scale. This scene is one that encompasses both. This is a representation of the A40 between Lyon and Geneva. In real life this is a dual carriageway rather than the single carriageway presented. Below, in the valley, is the D1084. The body of water is the Lac de Sylans which is accurately represented. The waters of the lake are very pure, such that ice formed on the lake in the winter could be used to chill drinks. An Ice Factory was built here in 1865 and became one of the largest in Europe. It closed in 1917 but the ruins can still be seen at the western end of the lake – these are also reproduced in the game though they’re hidden by the A40 from this angle. You can find a detailed history of the Glacières de Sylans on Wikipedia and also see the remains on Google Maps by searching there.

The Photo PC has a shot that I only took last Thursday. My previous Spotting 2024 post details a day out photographing freight trains on the North London Line. Trains booked to travel up the West Coast Mainline leave the North London Line at Kensal Green Junction and descend past Willesden Junction Low-Level station to Harlesden Junction. I have not been very lucky in the past at catching photos of trains using this line. It was rarely used back in the 1970’s-80’s. The major upsurge in freight services since privatisation has seen it become busy once more, so all I had to do was keep an eye on what trains were running using Realtime Trains and plan to be on the bridge above the station at the right time to catch one of those freights that use the chord…

…Here, 66538 is drifting down the grade with a Chelmsford to Wembley train of stone wagons. On the right are the Willesden Junction Low-Level platforms, the tracks serving which are 4th rail electrified so that Bakerloo trains can share them with the London Overground. On the left, are the backs of houses on Tubbs Road, Harlesden – Yes, Willesden Junction is actually in Harlesden! The railway itself presents quite a sylvan scene. Back in the 1970’s we sometimes joked that the railway was the UK’s largest nature reserve – Modern track maintenance methods that leave plants, shrubs and even trees to grow have turned the joke into a truth!