![]() Outside my head: a rattling bus cockpit past which stream illuminated shop windows, Art Nouveau façades, and endless rivers of parked cars. Inside my head: an image of a skinhead proudly placing a barnacled brick on his mantelpiece. After the place was torn down in '87, the demolition rubble was dumped in the North Sea to discourage souvenir hunters. If you want to see Spandau Prison today, you'll need a submarine (The WW2 German variety of which were, coincidentally, powered by MAN diesel engines). The place where the likes of Hess and Speer were banged up. Just to the left of those traffic lights up ahead is the site of the district's most famous building. However much it offends my inner public servant (Hello Jürgen!) the beseeching eyes of bus stop users will be studiously ignored for the next 2km. Until I reach Rathaus Spandau - the start of the 13N route - I am driving a non-bus. That air of promise and poignancy that often seems to pervade summer nights in this city. A flick of the indicator and a quick glance to left and right and bus #3001 slips out onto empty Am Omnibushof. The red and white pole barrier at the bus station entrance rises as I approach. Like a grounded ship lifted clear of a mudbank by a rising tide, a day's worth of trials and tribulations breaks suction and begins to float away. The IBIS activation tune warbles briefly then gets lost in the canine pant of a stirring MAN D2566MUH diesel engine. Headlamps and interior lights splash candlepower onto concrete still radiating midday heat. In the midst of Spandau's bushof - at this hour, a vast dormitory of dozing doubledeckers - I rouse my ancient SD200 SD77 with a tender push of electrics key and starter button. What's it to be today? An angular D92 with plush seats, automatic stop announcements, and wheelchair-friendly doors, or one of the family of superannuated SD200s - all curves, cacophony, and carbon emissions? The type of bus I use, however, is up to me. It's authentic and totally non-negotiable. Pinned to the noticeboard above my desk is a timetable. Tonight I'll be taking the wheel of one of them. From Montag to Sonntag between 01:10 and 05:00 two 13Ns shuttle back and forth between the centre of Spandau (Rathaus) and the edge of Staaken (Stadtgrenze). Like bats, false teeth and timid transvestites, the 13N only comes out at night. If you've ever wondered what a gamer wedded to wings and war can find to love in a Berlin bus driving sim, then, hopefully, this diary will provide a few answers. I've come to the conclusion that an article penned two summers ago, explains my OMSI obsession far better than anything I've written since or am ever likely to write. The following - an account of one real-time '13N' night-shift - first appeared in the pages of PC Gamer magazine. After much chin-scratching, Digestive dunking, and keyboard bashing that plan was modified abandoned. In preparation I thought I'd retire to my den and write something about the appeal of MR Software's original omnibus opus. Informed sources claim we'll be playing OMSI 2 by Christmas. OMSI 2 is close - so close you can almost hear the trill of its IBIS and smell the liquorice of its exhaust. They wait, as they've waited this past two years, for the sequel to one of The Five Great Simulations. They sigh, they pace, they ignore precipitation, but most of all they wait. They mill beside the stops at Rathaus, Spandau scrutinising distant double-deckers, and scowling at timepieces. The electrical installation has also been changed and the power steering has been used."Ĭredit: Nick™ and greets for Michass (repaint, test), Szofeero (test), Dsiek17 (repaints), kuiama (repaint), Matej (help with materials), CraherPL (fixed bug), SzaLony (fixed bug), Sartorius (fixed bug), DarkWolf9608 (great sounds of engine).The anticipators are myriad. Above the windshield there is a place for an information board. The left side wall has a manually operated door leading to the driver's seat. The body is equipped with two pairs of doors located on the front and rear overhang, electro-pneumatically controlled from the driver's seat. The changes in this version mainly affected the interior, which was redesigned and adapted to the transport of 70 passengers, 23 of them seated. "In 1969, a prototype model of the H9 series in the urban version was built. ![]() It looks great, it sounds great, it's a simple bus but has many interactive features which is always great for role-play or just enjoying the ability to play with these vehicles! This is a manual bus, but it feels good to drive.
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