New Premium Gift [Update]

Premium account Residents check your emails! There's a new gift for you and it looks pretty cool! Or skip your mail and head right to a gift kiosk (list here) and get started right away at a railroad near you (here or here or here).

[Update May 9, 2012 - Added a pic of my customized handcar below and more info.]

Zipping through the yards in Calleta (SLurl).

The handcar is customizable via a menu system. I made the body of mine a shade of purple, changed the wheels to red-centered, and plastered it with rainbow stuff all over then took a copy back into my inventory after renaming it. With full Mod/Copy perms (No Trans) you can make "manual" tweaks, but the textures on the mesh prims are very, very shape specific. There's no way you would be able to match the baked in shading, for example, so your edits would be rather cartoonish. Maybe not even as good as cartoonish.

Any rider can help you drive — using the Up arrow key repeatedly and endlessly, otherwise you stop — but only the owner can apply the brakes. Three friends can join you and each position is animated. If you rez the handcar away from approved railroad tracks you are tossed off and the car suggests in chat that you visit the train station in Tuliptree (SLurl). An included note card lists other suggested starting points (no pun intended, I tell the English railroaders who read this) and explains all the options for customizing and driving. This really is a pretty cool gift. I've seen over half-a-dozen folks out on the rails having fun already and I've been out for no more than a couple hours total.