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Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway :wave:

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As if your work wasn't impressive enough, knowing you did that terrain by hand makes it that much better! Your old CSX route that was posted on some site back in the days was great work with hand-made terrain as well. DEMs are a tough beast, as most terrain seems too flat. If your route was prototypical and you made a DEM of that area, I'm certain the topography would not turn out that defined and dramatic. And if you move into the mountainous areas, while the DEMs may have more dramatic scenery, you now have to deal with smoothing out all the pressure ridges that want to form at baseboard joints. Even while making model railroadz, I find that hand-building the terrain for such a small area to be perhaps the most difficult part (particularly on a mountainous model railroad). You've got some real skills, Conrail! Are these most recent photos off of a prototype route you're building, or just more from your continued free-handed awesomeness?

Hmmm, if you're talking about a route that was actually available, I think I know what you're referring to! And boy, that's an oooooooold project, surprised someone mentioned it! My route building skills have improved a LOT since back then (at least, I hope so ).

And you're definitely right about the terrain/dem information! Tried DEM's plenty of time, but never got too far with them. And the route in the pictures is just another diorama of sorts I've been working on. As of right now, dioramas are pretty much all I can do with my system (The built-in Mojave Sub route lags horribly in many areas without settings turned down), but I've been saving all the routes I've been making, so if I'm able to get a newer/better system in the next few months, who knows, maybe a route could be made from the dioramas!

And much appreciation for the comments! Having a lot of fun making the routes, glad people are enjoying the shots! Speaking of which-

Playing around with sun-sets, messing with the colors to see how they look-
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And since the evening's Amtrak train was having engine issues, a nearby SD45 was tacked on to help it over the hill-

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And amazing shots Keith! Might just be me, but I'm absolutely loving the electrical work! Actually looks like powerlines in an urban area!
 
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Stunning work Conrail45,the low light give's those shots some real life,enjoying your craft bigtime!!!,that just screams 'Southern' to me:wave:
 
Nice shots everyone! Man is there so real talent these days!

Just one from me. A GMTX GP38 spots a tanker on the siding in the "seeder" part of town.

 
Hmmm, if you're talking about a route that was actually available, I think I know what you're referring to! And boy, that's an oooooooold project, surprised someone mentioned it! My route building skills have improved a LOT since back then (at least, I hope so ).

And you're definitely right about the terrain/dem information! Tried DEM's plenty of time, but never got too far with them. And the route in the pictures is just another diorama of sorts I've been working on. As of right now, dioramas are pretty much all I can do with my system (The built-in Mojave Sub route lags horribly in many areas without settings turned down), but I've been saving all the routes I've been making, so if I'm able to get a newer/better system in the next few months, who knows, maybe a route could be made from the dioramas!

Yeah, I forget what site that route was posted on, but it's the one that really got me into route building. DEM routes seemed too big and I liked your building style, so I tried to replicate that. I added on to that route and still have it in my game! I'd say your skills have certainly come a long way since then though, so it's a win-win for everyone!
Like you, I'm also stuck on building just modules and small scenes at the moment because of computer limitations. Although I still can't come to creation levels near what you're putting down! I'm planning on getting a new rig this fall, just in time for TANE to arrive!!
 
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