Montana Discussion Thread

[hangman005]

Montana's Not Alaska

[harishw8r]

Maybe Next April …

[Quark]

Means Nothing at All.....

[Ryley03d]

the underlined letters became a meme

[Xaagon]

My favorite is rbsanford's "Macedonian Nerds Accumulate". SCS is going to have to put on an exhibit in Skopje just for this.

[rbsanford]

For marking Dillon: maybe if it were an ETS2-style small dot city. The only places I can see that we could deliver to are the Safeway and a big hardware store, and then of course the talc plant in Barretts (Privateers?), and maybe a farm in the area.

I'm a bit worried about I-15 from ID Falls to Butte. There's a lot going on in that stretch, but there are a few key elements that I'm afraid might be overlooked. The first is Monida Pass, which, at 6870 feet, is the highest point of I-15; it's pretty high above the Snake River Plain, but the grade isn't all that steep, and I guess the summit isn't all that defined, so it might be easy to overlook the importance of it. The fact that it wasn't featured in the Border Passes blog is a bit of a red flag.

Second is the Beaverhead Canyon Gateway, one of the most impressive landmarks along this stretch of the highway. There's also a rest area south of the gate, and a truck stop on the north side (it has a Sinclair dinosaur with a saddle and reins).

What's unique about I-15 is that it's the only Interstate to cross the Great Divide three times. The first crossing is Monida, then south of Butte is Deer Lodge, which is also the third key element. Deer Lodge Pass (5879) doesn't stand out in satellite or terrain views on GMaps, which could make it easy to overlook, but the streetview shows some impressive scenery and decent grades. The third crossing is Elk Park Pass (6368) just north of Butte. If there's anything we definitely need on I-15 south of Helena, it's those three passes.

Here's a bit of a grade profile to show how everything compares:
[ external image ]
The summit south of Helena is an unnamed pass just south of Jefferson City. It's fairly scenic, especially the south grade, but I wouldn't say it's a high priority, just as long as we still get that grade into Helena with the view of the Sleeping Giant. North of Helena is that unnamed pass with a steep southern grade and a good view of the Giant.

[Optional Features]

If I-5 is any hint, they'll just do this:

[ external image ]

[rbsanford]

At least there was an excuse for the flattening of I-5, which was the lack of space for a realistic Siskiyou Summit. Eyeballing the map, there should be space for Monida and Deer Lodge passes, especially if the Red Rock and Beaverhead Valleys are consolidated.

[Optional Features]

Other than I-70 through Eisenhower (which is decent, but not incredible), most SCS passes are lackluster. I wouldn't expect Montana to break that trend.

Steep grades and dwarfing surroundings just aren't their thing: they'd rather have relatively flat hills surrounded by relatively short mountains.

Like here. SCS would put the backdrop mountains at the red line:

[ external image ]

[Midiangel]

The way it was done in the Sierra Nevada was incredibly impressive. The mountains felt real there. I would like the SCS to do the same, because it is possible.