Cheap Erie Mining Co. Train Set (Software) Price

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Customer Reviews of Erie Mining Co. Train Set

A fun, interesting historical route in Minnesota
This add-on to Microsoft Train Simulator will not be of interest to everyone, but for those who are interested in Minnesota, mining operations, or historical routes, this may be for you. The route included is the route from the LTV Steel Mining Company (originally the Erie Mining Company) in northern Minnesota (near Hoyt Lakes) to Taconite Harbor on Lake Superior.

This route has some fairly steep grades, which can be a challenge when you have a train loaded with taconite ore! The route is a fairly long route, but the changing grades keeps it interesting, and the scenery is nice, too.

The included manual has a lot of information about the history of the mining company, details about the route, and even a section that explains what taconite is and how they obtain and use it. Very interesting reading.

This route is no longer in operation, as LTV Steel Corporation closed the plant in January 2001. Over 1400 workers lost their jobs as a result of the closing. According to the manual, "Abacus will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this software to the LTV Fund of the United Way of Northeastern Minnesota (UWNEM) to help the families of LTV Steel Mining."

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Erie Mining Co, Train Set Review.
I have most if not all of the Microsoft Train Simulator supplements. I like all the others very much. This is the first one I found inadequate. I installed it twice just to make sure I had not erred. There are only three activities. Each starts one place and ends at another with nothing in between. There are no Mileposts or scenery except trees. It takes a long time to get from one end to the other ... perhaps an hour ... with nothing to do but watch trees go by. It seems that this supplement was not developed to anything near what the others are. I think it is a waste of time and money.