The Blue Mountains route links Lithgow in the central west of New South Wales with Sydney on the coast. This implementation covers the section from Lithgow to Penrith in Sydney's west. The route rises some 1100m (3600 ft) above sea level.

Traffic on this line is fairly heavy with coal/wheat/container freight trains (headed by up to 5 diesel locos because of the gradients).

Passenger traffic consists of inter-urban 4 and 8 car electric sets (which are kept overnight at the Mt Victoria yards). Along with suburban Tangara and S-sets held at Penrith. The Indian-Pacific tourist train also transits this line en-route from Sydney to Perth in Western Australia.

Prototype Operator: State Rail Authority of New South Wales and its successors

1. Xtracks 3.18 or higher
2. Newroads 3.20 or higher

1. Download the file linked above;
    
2. You must have all six default routes installed BEFORE running this installer. The routes just need to be present: they DO NOT need to be unstored if you use Trainstore, nor do you need to activate them if you use Route Riter's ON/OFF utility.
    
3. You must have Xtracks 3.18 or higher installed.
    
4. You must have Newroads 3.20 or higher installed.
    
5. Run the installer by double-clicking on the EXE file.
    
6. Allow the batch file to run to completion. If you do not see this batch file run in a DOS box, you most likely are a Vista or Windows 7 user. TURN OFF "User Account Control" (Start | Control Panel | User Accounts | Turn User Account Control On or Off); then right-click on the installme.bat file in the Route folder and set "Run As Administrator". The batch file should now run correctly.
    
7. The first time you run this route, there will be a short delay as MSTS "generates terrain buffers" - this is a one-off and subsequent use of this route will load normally.
    
8. The activity packaged with the route requires two items of rolling stock from this site.

   The files required are:

   1. C30 class 4-6-4T Tank Steam Locomotive # 3112
   2. FO Passenger Carriages

   Click on each of the listed items to commence downloading the wagons.

   If you do not install these items of rolling stock, you may see non-fatal "error reading train database" messages when loading the route.

   
    

Version 4.2

The route has received the careful attention of Allan Lownsborough who has gone over the route adjusting terrain and in some cases, trackwork. In addition, Yuri Sos has implemented Wayne Campbell’s “Hidewire” technology on the route to mask overhead catenary over non-electrified track.

Hidewire Technology: This route employs Wayne Campbell's "Hidewire" technology to remove wire from the non-electrified portions of the route. The only disadvantages are that points don't animate on non-electrified track (they work correctly and the indications in the F8 window are correct) and wire cannot be removed over dynamic track. Generally the pleasing visual effect of removing the wire far outweighs these minor disadvantages.

If you intend to edit this route for your own purposes, please read the "Hidewire" readme and run the "EditRoute" batch file before editing this route. Once editing is complete run "Runroute" batch file. See Using Hidewire to Remove Catenary Over Part Of Your Route for full information.

Version 4.0:

Virtually same as v3.1 except for removal of copyrighted items such as Target, Smiths Crisps machine etc. I also added building site where Westfield is being expanded in Penrith.

Version 3.1:

I have added Distant Mountains and also a path for the ZigZag railway.

Version 3:

I have now replaced all the signals and gantries on BM2 with Colin's great NSW ones, as well as relaying a lot of track and correcting crossovers and track layout etc. V3 now includes extra roads, scenery, NSW signals and NSW gantries and the Lithgow ZigZag. The Coal Loader at Newnes Junction is included as well as new Penrith Station buildings and animated people on the platform at Penrith.