uintah railway

Ben:

There is a link to a disscussion forum with a link to a google plot with the positions of the two drawn on it easrlier in this thread. The large one was about half way between and parallel to La Due Ave and CR-110S. The smaller one (about half as long) was next to 9th St. and about 350 to 400 ft from the end of the larger table.

Time to start the pit (does that mean todays progress will be the pits) lol.

EDIT: Anyone know what the center to center track spacing was for the car shop the long transfer table serviced? I have it about done but would like to have the tracks correct in case someone makes the building.

Ben
 
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jrockey said:
As has already been pointed out, GILSONITE was the "Bread and Butter" of the Uintah Railway. At the Utah mines, it was sacked and loaded onto 36ng flatcars which were hauled over Baxter Pass by the URY to Mack, Colorado for transshipment onto the standard gauge D&RG. Since those flatcars were by far the most numerous piece of Uintah rolling stock, any plausible virtual simulation of the Uintah would do well to include a whole bunch of URY flats - both empty, and loaded with sacks of gilsonite.


Although there are already a good number of 36ng flatcars available on the DLS, a closer look at the Uintah prototype will reveal some subtle characteristics which are not exhibited by any of the currently available Trainz models. Most notably, the Uintah flatcars feature a rather peculiar brake pipe arrangement (raised up above the deck at each end). Also, nearly every piece of URY rolling stock was equipped with metal "buffers" at each end. These unique features contribute a distinctive look to the otherwise typical rolling stock; one which screams "Uintah" to the rail buff, just as much as the "URY" lettering painted on the sides.


Take a look at these shots taken during a fairly typical Uintah switching operation. In the first, a short string of URY flats is being pushed along a spur line near the mines. The raised brake piping is clearly visible on all cars, and the "buffer" plate can be seen on the nearest car. Also, the distinctive stacks of gilsonite bags can be seen on the leading car:

I've modeled these Uintah flats for Trainz 2006 (using Gmax) based on plans and photos from “Uintah Railway; the Gilsonite Route” by Henry E. Bender, Jr. and “Uintah Railway Pictorial” (both volumes) by Rodger Polley. I've also modeled a “Sacked Gilsonite” ProtoLARS product which interacts in typical fashion to load/unload the gilsonite bags onto the flatcars.


I guess from this thread that some other Uintah fans might be interested in my efforts. Although most of the work on the flat cars is complete, I've not uploaded the cars or gilsonite product... The flats still need LOD work, and I'd like the final version to include random numbering and random textures. Maybe some of the experts could help me figure those things out... I'm just a beginner, and awful shy about putting my models online...
Click to expand...

Oh wow--that's simply gorgeous! Don't be shy! :eek: I assume the route is yours also?


@Ben: http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,117283,117355#msg-117355 is what I assume you're referring to. I have an aerial shot of Alamosa somewhere in one of my books--I'll see if I can scan that page for you.
 
Hi Robbie:

Yup - thats it. Nice bunch of gents.

Appreciate any and all info you can provide. It might even show both transfer tables (I hope I hope I hope).

The photos I have show it electrically powered but I suspect it was originally steam powered. The boiler/engine, etc wouldn't have to be very big. Might explain what the metal bin is next to the operators shack (coal bin).

Ben
 
i like the flats but have you thought about making the cast trucks uintah used. and on pg 227 of the book u mentioned these a table of rolling stock numbers
and very good work on the gilsonits load i hope i can finish the steel water car soon to add it to the collection of uintah stuff
i also hope cmp will work to .
jrockey you wouldn't mind sending me the air hoses and buffers
 
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Bdaneal – thank you for clarifying the gauge issues... sometimes the terminology confuses me!


Thanks for the kind words, robbiehanson. The route shown in the pictures is not based on the Uintah, it's another (fictitious) desert one I've been building.


I've not yet attempted anything with animation in Gmax, so building trucks (bogies) from scratch is probably beyond my ability for now. Maybe someone with more experience can tackle that? I'd love to learn, but it will take me awhile.


Skol587 – I'd be happy to pull the buffers and air hoses out of my flatcar files, but give me a little while to do that. I'm working a full time and a part time job at this time of year, so I don't have as many opportunities to fiddle with Trainz as I'd like.


I read somewhere that someone has figured out a way (with animation and scripting?) to make air hoses actually attach when you couple wagons together. That would be REALLY nice for Uintah rolling stock, since the hoses stick up and are very visible. At present, the hoses are static and don't attach when the flats are coupled together. Does anybody know how to do what it takes to animate the hoses? I still haven't even been able to figure out how to make that ARN numbering thing (for auto-numbering rolling stock) work!
 
ill ask prowler109 if he can teach me how to animate the hoses
i know how it is i had to quit my job just so i couls spend my day at school till 6:30 almost every day
 
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i have gotten bored with the water car and started modifying pencils a&ba vented boxcar into the uintah box cars and its almost finished all it needs are air hoses and couplers which is not my area of expertise
 
Once my computer is running well again (I had a massive trojan invasion), I can make you the air hoses. Then all you'd need to do is make a mesh in gMax for attachment points, and link the air hoses to the attachment points.
 
(continued from last post on first page)...and you could also interchange them with 24in (2ft) gauge tracks. Or, you could use 36in, 30in AND 24in stuff all together on 30in tracks. This looks fabulous, so long as the locos and stock don't clash in size to much...
 
Hate to bring back a dead thread but I would be very interested to know if anyone is still working on a layout and/or loco's and rolling stock for the Uintah Railway:udrool:? I have been interested in the RR for many years. Got the books and video and many links to it. Being known as the "Crooked Railway In The West" and the ridiculous 7.5% grades make it a very interesting railroad.

Hrm2701
 
I share your thirst for this topic; but I ain't sure if anyone's busy even though there's a 2-6-6-2T, a NG Bobber Caboose and two 0-6-2Ts available for download. So I think we need to give somebody some time before new stuff for the URY would come up.
 
I know that, thank you. But it was hrm2701 who started it. I was telling him that nothing new has popped out. Luckily SusenM74 is busy reskinning some of the content into Uintah Railway stock such as the combine and the coach.
 
1. He didn't start this thread. He bumped it in the same way you did.

2. He probably isn't still looking for an answer to a question he posted over two years ago.
 
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