UK Screenshots for Pre BR Blue. High resolution warning.

[nathanmallard]

Lewisner - your Malton to Driffeld looks fantastic, I'm relatively local and I've visited Fimber a few times. Is the route available anywhere or is it still a work in progress?

I've just returned to Trainzing and there aren't too many high quality British routes, especially Yorkshire ones!

 

[lewisner]

Lewisner - your Malton to Driffeld looks fantastic, I'm relatively local and I've visited Fimber a few times. Is the route available anywhere or is it still a work in progress?

I've just returned to Trainzing and there aren't too many high quality British routes, especially Yorkshire ones!

Thanks Nathan I started building the route in 2009 and didn't do much with it for several years till Covid when I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. A rebuild of my PC last year vaporised about 2 months of work and my entire Easingwold route which took a month to build so obviously I don't have much enthusiasm for building now.
This is a WD hauling empty lime wagons under the loading silo at Wharram.

WD at Wharram Quarry 7.4.24 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr

I've also made a few videos, such as this one

 

[Tanker46]

Thanks Lewisner; it looks like I'm making quick progress but I'm not - this has been 2 months worth so far and I've only got the mainline down as well as about half the station yards. I still have the mainline from Poole to Bournemouth to finish off and then I need to lay Templecombe yard, Radstock yard, Wincanton yard etc. which will take time but the main track is down so I have a suitable foundation to work from. I need to finish off some bridges (I noticed I've missed an entire bridge near Evercreech) and then terraform the countryside in some areas - Evercreech Junction is completely wrong at the moment and needs levelling off somewhat. Templecombe will take quite a bit of time as I also have the SR mainline to take into account and the topography is challenging; steep gradients in very confined spaces make it a challenging one to build.

Your shots look excellent, as always. I often look at your pictures to see how you've done a certain area such as an embankment or level crossing and I've then applied that to my own route. It's nice to see your screenshots again!

Cheers,

PLP

I definitely can sympathize with the latter half of your statement Parker. The SR Mainline - specifically the Ex-LSWR Portion - is filled with tight corners and hard to model spots. It becomes evident upon modeling areas like Friary, Fratton, or Portsmouth that they were designed with small engines in mind and struggled to keep up with the rapidly increasing size of motive power and the trains pulled by them.


Speaking of Bournemouth I have to ask, are you just planning to include Bournemouth West or are you going to go full hog and include Bournemouth Central too? As an avid SR Modeller I can't tell you how helpful it would be to have a proper model of Bournemouth Central Station for future endeavors.

 

[lewisner]

I definitely can sympathize with the latter half of your statement Parker. The SR Mainline - specifically the Ex-LSWR Portion - is filled with tight corners and hard to model spots. It becomes evident upon modeling areas like Friary, Fratton, or Portsmouth that they were designed with small engines in mind and struggled to keep up with the rapidly increasing size of motive power and the trains pulled by them.


Speaking of Bournemouth I have to ask, are you just planning to include Bournemouth West or are you going to go full hog and include Bournemouth Central too? As an avid SR Modeller I can't tell you how helpful it would be to have a proper model of Bournemouth Central Station for future endeavors.

The funny thing is that on the first page of this thread in 2008 someone said they were building the S&DJR and it looked pretty advanced. Whatever happened to that ?

 

[PortLineParker]

Hi Tanker,

Only Bournemouth West I'm afraid; the DEM does include Bournemouth Central and a fair bit of mainline as far as Hamworthy Junction but I've already cut Bournemouth Central out and I think I'm going to get rid of Hamworthy too. The reasons for this are twofold; 1) they don't provide much scope for the period I am modelling as the main concern was Bournemouth West and the line to Hamworthy from Broadstone was not used by S&D trains and 2) I didn't feel I would be able to do Bournemouth Central justice with the assets we have available; I'd have only gone ahead with it if there was a decent station and canopy. Plus, with places such as Bath, Shepton Mallet, Blandford Forum, Broadstone, Poole and part of Bournemouth, I'll have enough on my plate with town building - and that's a part that I absolutely hate doing! So those will take the most amount of time; I kept procrastinating building Swanage town itself and that's a much smaller affair than most of those.

Had I done a later time period, i.e.: 1960s onwards I would have pretty much had to include Bournemouth Central but as it is I can get away with just including West. Beyond which, I think it's the more interesting of the two and certainly the most attractive.

Cheers,

PLP

 

[PortLineParker]

The funny thing is that on the first page of this thread in 2008 someone said they were building the S&DJR and it looked pretty advanced. Whatever happened to that ?

I remember seeing screenshots on the main UK screenshots thread but it looked to me as if it was a 2006 era route and I don't know if it included DEM.

Cheers,

PLP

 

[Tanker46]

The funny thing is that on the first page of this thread in 2008 someone said they were building the S&DJR and it looked pretty advanced. Whatever happened to that ?

It probably fell by the wayside as a lot of great early Trainz routes did. UK Sussex Lines, The Withered Arm, Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill, all of them great routes but unfortunately victims to the lack of detailed assets and accurate modeling tools that plagued Trainz back then. I'm not even sure DEM Routes were a factor back then, given how much file space they take on the game's drive.

The amazing thing is that a lot of them are still extremely salvageable. Although far from accurate, in the hands of a decent route modeller they could be brought up into a fantastic TRS19/22 Era route!

 

[PortLineParker]

I agree that thy can be bought up to the latest standards insofar that you can replace assets with updated ones, but some routes do show their age as it is in their 'DNA' so to speak - you can often see on a route exactly how it has been constructed. Fictional lines are probably easier as there is no precedent to say what is right or wrong but prototypical routes can be a pain - there are some where I have no doubt it would be easier to start from scratch then to try and bring them up to date, especially if they don't make use of DEM.

Cheers,

PLP

 

[Tanker46]

Hi Tanker,

Only Bournemouth West I'm afraid; the DEM does include Bournemouth Central and a fair bit of mainline as far as Hamworthy Junction but I've already cut Bournemouth Central out and I think I'm going to get rid of Hamworthy too. The reasons for this are twofold; 1) they don't provide much scope for the period I am modelling as the main concern was Bournemouth West and the line to Hamworthy from Broadstone was not used by S&D trains and 2) I didn't feel I would be able to do Bournemouth Central justice with the assets we have available; I'd have only gone ahead with it if there was a decent station and canopy. Plus, with places such as Bath, Shepton Mallet, Blandford Forum, Broadstone, Poole and part of Bournemouth, I'll have enough on my plate with town building - and that's a part that I absolutely hate doing! So those will take the most amount of time; I kept procrastinating building Swanage town itself and that's a much smaller affair than most of those.

Had I done a later time period, i.e.: 1960s onwards I would have pretty much had to include Bournemouth Central but as it is I can get away with just including West. Beyond which, I think it's the more interesting of the two and certainly the most attractive.

Cheers,

PLP

I understand. If it's possible do you think you could keep the section for Bournemouth intact even if you don't intend to model it? Having such an integral station already DEMed in game would be enormously helpful to me once I make it west after I finish the Central and Eastern Sections of the Southern Region. I understand that I am sounding pushy but given the difficulty of the entire project I would very much like to make that request.

Regardless, the entire route is shaping up to be an incredible experience. I'm glad that this lovely portion of the Southern Network was undertaken by a man as talented as yourself!

Btw, if you ever need help with town building, give me a ring. I do enjoy that part of the process- I might need a few significant buildings made from Sketchup though!

 

[lewisner]

It probably fell by the wayside as a lot of great early Trainz routes did. UK Sussex Lines, The Withered Arm, Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill, all of them great routes but unfortunately victims to the lack of detailed assets and accurate modeling tools that plagued Trainz back then. I'm not even sure DEM Routes were a factor back then, given how much file space they take on the game's drive.

The amazing thing is that a lot of them are still extremely salvageable. Although far from accurate, in the hands of a decent route modeller they could be brought up into a fantastic TRS19/22 Era route!

I did make a halfhearted attempt at revamping the NYMR route but I found that the elevation at Whitby was so different from real life that I abandoned it and I'm too thick to do DEM's .

 

[Tanker46]

I agree that thy can be bought up to the latest standards insofar that you can replace assets with updated ones, but some routes do show their age as it is in their 'DNA' so to speak - you can often see on a route exactly how it has been constructed. Fictional lines are probably easier as there is no precedent to say what is right or wrong but prototypical routes can be a pain - there are some where I have no doubt it would be easier to start from scratch then to try and bring them up to date, especially if they don't make use of DEM.

Cheers,

PLP

Agreed. If you are intending to create an accurate route then DEM is the way to go. I was absolutely shooting in the dark before Borderreiver appeared and DEMed the LBSCR Region for me. Although progress has been slow, the accuracy of the entire thing is like night and day compared to before.

The only drawback is the sheer amount of filespace needed to accomplish the task. Besides Eastbourne, Fratton Horsham, Dorking and a little bit of the Bluebell Railway, the entire LBSCR Network is almost complete. However, the sheer amount of filespace it takes to not only process the route but also merge pieces of it together is staggering. The LBSCR Section is going to make it but I most certainly will need to take some chunks of the landscape out in far map areas once I start expanding outside the LBSCRs borders. Never mind merging the three regions together. It's part of the reason why I am splitting the SR Project into three separate routes for the time being. South London is the only constant.

All we can do is wait until N3V starts increasing the capacity of the Trainz software to include bigger and bigger routes. Then maybe one day we'll see routes of entire nations in game!!

 

[spitfire98462]

It probably fell by the wayside as a lot of great early Trainz routes did. UK Sussex Lines, The Withered Arm, Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill, all of them great routes but unfortunately victims to the lack of detailed assets and accurate modeling tools that plagued Trainz back then. I'm not even sure DEM Routes were a factor back then, given how much file space they take on the game's drive.

The amazing thing is that a lot of them are still extremely salvageable. Although far from accurate, in the hands of a decent route modeller they could be brought up into a fantastic TRS19/22 Era route!

Speaking off anyone seen Georgem2010
lately with his Ashby route? Last time I heard he was at sea around Christmas time

 

[KotangaGirl]

Speaking off anyone seen Georgem2010
lately with his Ashby route? Last time I heard he was at sea around Christmas time

I last heard from George on the 13th of January when he got back from his holidays and there's been no further messages since then.

 

[2995Valliant]

The funny thing is that on the first page of this thread in 2008 someone said they were building the S&DJR and it looked pretty advanced. Whatever happened to that ?

They are both on the DLS - but as PLP says they aren't DEM based so distances and elevations are wrong. They are also in the "one baseboard wide" style, so not much can be done to upgrade them really.

If you're serious about a DEM for the NYMR, let me know while I'm fresh from doing the S&D and I can still remember how!

 

[2995Valliant]

It probably fell by the wayside as a lot of great early Trainz routes did. UK Sussex Lines, The Withered Arm, Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill, all of them great routes but unfortunately victims to the lack of detailed assets and accurate modeling tools that plagued Trainz back then. I'm not even sure DEM Routes were a factor back then, given how much file space they take on the game's drive.

The amazing thing is that a lot of them are still extremely salvageable. Although far from accurate, in the hands of a decent route modeller they could be brought up into a fantastic TRS19/22 Era route!

DEM has been around around since the 2006 era - for proof see the S&C - albeit at only 10m resolution. Before that there was HOG (hand of God) with which the WSR was originally built using HOG for TRS2004. It's had much laborious manual modification since then to improve cuttings etc. with 5m grid, but the overall terrain is pretty good and it's only really since the advent of HD terrain and LIDAR that I'm looking at and thinking it might be time to start again.

 

[nathanmallard]

They are both on the DLS - but as PLP says they aren't DEM based so distances and elevations are wrong. They are also in the "one baseboard wide" style, so not much can be done to upgrade them really.

If you're serious about a DEM for the NYMR, let me know while I'm fresh from doing the S&D and I can still remember how!

For anyone considering the NYMR, there are a bunch of high quality specific buildings based on Pickering, Grosmont, Goathland and Levisham now - can't remember the username off the top of my head but I think they were made by the same person who made the original NYMR route on the DLS.

I had considered it myself!

 

[spitfire98462]

I last heard from George on the 13th of January when he got back from his holidays and there's been no further messages since then.

Ah ok so he still with us but props got board of Trainz for the moment

 

[lewisner]

They are both on the DLS - but as PLP says they aren't DEM based so distances and elevations are wrong. They are also in the "one baseboard wide" style, so not much can be done to upgrade them really.

If you're serious about a DEM for the NYMR, let me know while I'm fresh from doing the S&D and I can still remember how!

Thanks for the offer but I couldn't honestly commit to such a huge job !

 

[lewisner]

For anyone considering the NYMR, there are a bunch of high quality specific buildings based on Pickering, Grosmont, Goathland and Levisham now - can't remember the username off the top of my head but I think they were made by the same person who made the original NYMR route on the DLS.

I had considered it myself!

You've boggled my mind. The authors name is hiskey and I've had a look on the dls and many of his buildings such as Goathland signalbox and the NER timber waiting rooms and sheds are ideal for my M&DR route ! I will have a lot of replacing to do tonight.

 

[spitfire98462]

You've boggled my mind. The authors name is hiskey and I've had a look on the dls and many of his buildings such as Goathland signalbox and the NER timber waiting rooms and sheds are ideal for my M&DR route ! I will have a lot of replacing to do tonight.

Glad to see your back at the route. Been following it since a few years ago, it will be such a sight to see it on the DLS one day : D, Keep up the good work.