A Big Thank you to Phil Skene

[R707]

I would like to sincerely thank a very talented creator Phil Skene.

I have been using his Port Ogden & Northern for some time now, and all this in TS2009. Apart from the already known TS2009 problems, the work that Phil has spent many hours creating is really excellent.

Myself being a Professional Railwayman, I understand how things work, and Phil has done a fine job to make everything not only look realistic, but function well.

By functioning well, I mean the design and implementation of the yards and sidings to make working in them more realistic. I have spent the last month configuring the industries to put out, and input goods in a well meaning way. I have tried to keep rolling stock to a minimum of varieties, but there are hundreds of items of rolling stock on the railroad, and dozens of locomotives.

No steam, had to remove them, another TS2009 quirk.

Thank you, once again Phil. Your talents in providing something very functional are most appreciated.

My thanks to Phil does not leave out credit for all the other Trainzers who have created realistic avenues for us to delve in to.

Pete

 

[Captain_Collins]

I would like to sincerely thank a very talented creator Phil Skene.

I have been using his Port Ogden & Northern for some time now, and all this in TS2009. Apart from the already known TS2009 problems, the work that Phil has spent many hours creating is really excellent.

Myself being a Professional Railwayman, I understand how things work, and Phil has done a fine job to make everything not only look realistic, but function well.

By functioning well, I mean the design and implementation of the yards and sidings to make working in them more realistic. I have spent the last month configuring the industries to put out, and input goods in a well meaning way. I have tried to keep rolling stock to a minimum of varieties, but there are hundreds of items of rolling stock on the railroad, and dozens of locomotives.

No steam, had to remove them, another TS2009 quirk.

Thank you, once again Phil. Your talents in providing something very functional is most appreciated.

My thanks to Phil does not leave out credit for all the other Trainzers who have created realistic avenues for us to delve in to.

Pete

Thank you PhilSkene!

 

[mikeaust]

Phil Skene Layouts

I would also like to add my thanks to Phil for his layouts.
I have been using Austral Bay 5a, Urban Industrail 8a, Yard Switching Co,Port Ogden & Northern, Riverside Railroad and really enjoying them.
Sometimes I run them as they were originally designed but mostly I modify them to allow the running of long distance freight trains with them all linked up. I even have one layout where I coupled in the Razorback Railroad Classic layout as well, Call this my Monster Layout.
I run TRS 2004 by the way.

Keep up the good work Phil, it is much appreciated

Mike:Y:

 

[R707]

I would also like to add my thanks to Phil for his layouts.
I have been using Austral Bay 5a, Urban Industrail 8a, Yard Switching Co,Port Ogden & Northern, Riverside Railroad and really enjoying them.
Sometimes I run them as they were originally designed but mostly I modify them to allow the running of long distance freight trains with them all linked up. I even have one layout where I coupled in the Razorback Railroad Classic layout as well, Call this my Monster Layout.
I run TRS 2004 by the way.

Keep up the good work Phil, it is much appreciated

Mike:Y:

Hi Mike,
That's a very good idea.
Now.....all we need is the ability to have one of Phil's masterpieces on a server, and we can all contribute to running his creation.
It's nice to dream, but it will become a reality someday. All it takes is the desire to do it.
I lile the idea of joining them together. Do you manage this with Portals?
Maybe you can tell us how you modified them for lon distance running.
One thing I did update was the Meat Packing Plants. They were still version 1. They were both at Armour.

Pete

 

[wmmeyer]

I'd like to add my hearty agreement with everything thats been said here so far. Its such a breath of fresh air to select a route and not have to hunt all over the world for the bits and pieces. Even Phil's sessions, where he uses some great locos and rolling stock, has clear instructions for finding what is not on the DLS.

Keep up the great work, Phil, and know that your time and effort is appreciated.

 

[aardvark1]

I too agree that the work that Phil has done with his routes is amazing.

If there was a "Trainzer of the Year Award" it should go to Phil.

I now nominate Phil as "Trainzer of the Year" and hope that the Trainz Community will second (and more) this nomination.

Thank you Phil.

Regards,
Ron

 

[Kiwikid1940]

I will second his nomination for "Trainzer of the Year"
He has brought me hours of pleasure from running his routes and sessions
Keep them coming Phil
Regards
Mike

 

[rweber95]

TS2009 Downloaded Steam Locos

R707,
I have these 18 steamers now running in TS2009:
ATSF #3700 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10193:1>
ATSF 0-6-0 #9001,<kuid2:46075:6830:9>
D&RG #104 0-6-0t,<kuid:103021:1003>
Frisco 1522 4-8-2 'Mountain Type,<kuid:79097:1001>
GN 0-6-0 #27,<kuid2:7592:10174:1>
PRR #4557 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10195:1>
SP #4305 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10192:1>
SP 0-6-0 Switcher #1283,<kuid2:135744:1283:1>
UP #7000 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10180:1>
UP 0-6-0 #4609,<kuid2:46075:6930:4>
2ftshay,<kuid:96914:200>
30ng 2-8-2 IF,<kuid:96914:2005>
30ng 2-8-2 OB,<kuid:96914:2010>
30ng 2-8-2 OF,<kuid:96914:2007>
30ng 2-8-2 WB,<kuid:96914:2008>
36ng Clearlake 12,<kuid2:96914:1200:3>
36ng Colorado & Southern 9,<kuid:96914:39>
36ng Murchison 8,<kuid2:96914:800:3>

Took some correcting to get them to show but worth it in the end. If you need help with any of them let me know here or email me.

Bob

 

[R707]

R707,
I have these 18 steamers now running in TS2009:
ATSF #3700 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10193:1>
ATSF 0-6-0 #9001,<kuid2:46075:6830:9>
D&RG #104 0-6-0t,<kuid:103021:1003>
Frisco 1522 4-8-2 'Mountain Type,<kuid:79097:1001>
GN 0-6-0 #27,<kuid2:7592:10174:1>
PRR #4557 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10195:1>
SP #4305 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10192:1>
SP 0-6-0 Switcher #1283,<kuid2:135744:1283:1>
UP #7000 4-8-2 Mountain,<kuid2:7592:10180:1>
UP 0-6-0 #4609,<kuid2:46075:6930:4>
2ftshay,<kuid:96914:200>
30ng 2-8-2 IF,<kuid:96914:2005>
30ng 2-8-2 OB,<kuid:96914:2010>
30ng 2-8-2 OF,<kuid:96914:2007>
30ng 2-8-2 WB,<kuid:96914:2008>
36ng Clearlake 12,<kuid2:96914:1200:3>
36ng Colorado & Southern 9,<kuid:96914:39>
36ng Murchison 8,<kuid2:96914:800:3>

Took some correcting to get them to show but worth it in the end. If you need help with any of them let me know here or email me.

Bob

Hi Bob,
Thanks for letting me know.
One I had big problems with was the UP 0-6-0 #4609,<kuid2:46075:6930:4>
I mainly use Western Maryland locos, but seeing there is not much in that vein, I use other roads.
I do like the UP 0-6-0.
The biggest problem I had with it, and others, was that lovely little locomotive taking off at hundreds of MPH.
Just can't get any reliable crews these days
I haven't tried any of the others you mentioned, but I would love to know how you got them to work okay. I am sure a lot of Tranzers would love to know too.

Pete

 

[wmmeyer]

I now nominate Phil as "Trainzer of the Year" and hope that the Trainz Community will second (and more) this nomination.

Add my vote!!!

 

[ChutePilot]

Another Vote for Phil, and a request for help.

First and foremost, let me add my vote for Phil as "Trainzer of the Year." I can't imagine the number of hours he (and other content creators) has spent to put these things together.

I am brand new at Trainz - TS2009 is my first. I say this so you understand that I probably have 6 hours of experience, and that, I'm sure, is the reason for my questions. My TS2009 has SP1 installed, and the automatic patch that followed. It is now Build # 38285 and I run it on the following system:

Dell XPS 420
Intel Core Duo E6850, 3.0GHz
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1

Based on the many positive reactions to Phil's IndustRail creations, I downloaded a bunch of them to my system. I am not a content developer - heck, I'm barely a driver at this point.

I went into Surveyor so I could "fly" around his world, and I am amazed at the size and level of detail. I've gone into Driver and loaded a few scenarios, but I end up just driving an engine around for an hour - I never accomplish anything. Here's why: I'm LOST!

There are no names on the buildings, so I never am sure where I am. Which way is North or South? As an example, one scenario instructs me to Fuel the Loco. Where? How? Long-End South to Invercargill Transfer. I have no idea where Invercargill Transfer is. Attach the loaded Schnabel and proceed North to Dunedin. OK, I give up - where is the Schnabel? And if I knew which way South was, then at least I'd know which way North was too!

Now, it may sound like I don't have the maps, but I do, and I'm still lost! The scenario starts in the maintenance shed someplace. I have flown up and down this scenario (in Surveyor) and I can't find the maintenance garage I'm in. And I can't find the loaded Schnabel anywhere either. (Yes, I was trying to cheat and find out where it was in relation to where I am)

I had the same problem with one of the other scenarios. Take empty tank cars from Invercargill Chemicals for filling. My map doesn't show such a chemical company, but if I assume those tank cars across the yard are the ones I want, how many do I get? One set of 2, 2 sets of 2, does it matter? When it says something as general as "picking up more box cars along the way", is it going to be obvious to me where they are? Will I know I'm getting the right ones?

Maybe I'm trying to do something that is way ahead of my experience level. If so, feel free to tell me so and point me to a better beginner scenario. I've tries the ones that came with TS2009 and they don't work.

I am willing to learn, if someone is willing to get me started! Thanks in advance!

Greg

 

[wmmeyer]

ChutePilot,

AH, Grasshopper, welcome to the wonderful world of Trainz. Remember, patience is a virtue. I think Phil does this kind of stuff to us on purpose, just to see if we're paying attention. There is no one simple answer to your questions. Let me throw out some tips to make things just a tad easier. On Phil's routes and sessions it makes it a lot easier if you print out the maps and have them in front of you during the session. Another trick is, in Driver, to look at the clock and then your shadow. If its in the AM, and your shadow is to your right, you know the sun is in the east so your shadow is pointing west. Another trick is, if you're looking for a certain industry in Driver, go to the top of the screen and the 5th or so Icon from the far left side is "Find Object". Select that and the dropdown box will display the category "all". Toggle the category until it displays "industry", and look thru the list. Now, another thing Phil does to us on purpose is use a lot of LARS industries which don't give you a clue what they load or unload. You can select any one of the industries and "Go There". Once at the industry, hover your cursor over the industry track until you get a message to hold CTL and right click. Hold CTL and right click and it will display the specifics of that industry. It generally takes me a LOT of wandering around before I can successfully complete a session. As you find things and figure where a few of them are, make notes on your printed-out maps. If you're intending to "pick up some boxcars on the way" again go to the Find Object option, toggle the category until it displays "vehicles" and it will give you a list of all the rolling stock on the route. If you are in a trainshed, for example, and want to find it in Surveyor, use the "find object" option in Surveyor and select on your loco that you were in in Driver.

You ask if it makes a difference whether you pick up all the cars or only some. It depends on your goal. If you want to be able to complete the session perfectly, a noble quest, then you may have to run the session many times to figure those kinds of things out. If, however, your goal is to simply have fun with it, then it makes no difference whatsoever. A rule of thumb I usually use is to pick up all the cars I can see. Its good shunting practice.

Remember two things: as you spend more time tinkering in Trainz, this kind of stuff will come a lot easier. The other thing is patience is a virtue. If you find yourself stressing out over some of this stuff, you're not having fun anymore. Relax and have fun. No one is keeping score.

Hope this helps with some of your questions.

 

[MountE]

I too am a big fan of phil's work since the 2004 days.

ChutePilot
Just to add to what WMMeyer said, in most of the sessions phil places maps either in the session or on his site. If you check the forums you will see the links. If they are in with the session justrun CM2 and open the session for edit in windows explorer to print or view.



Rob

 

[ChutePilot]

Thank you!

Thank you! Now, not only do I have the overall Industrail maps, I also have the specific maps for the scenario I am running! (Thank you MountE)
And Grasshopper says "thank you Master" to wmmeyer. I have learned a few more things about the operation under Driver. I will be sure to try everything out. I think I figured out why I couldn't find the Schnabel - missing dependencies! I just assumed everything was there. (I know, I know - I shouldn't assume anything). I've got some more work to do before I try running it again.

Still, it's a beautiful layout!

 

[philskene]

WOW!~!

Thanks for all those very kind comments. I'm actually very flattered and quite humbled by what has been said.

A couple of remarks:

Forget Austral Bay. PortOgden&Northern is a much improved version of this route. There will be a PO&N for TRS2009, soon.

The YardSwitching and PortSwitching modules can be used as stand alone mini-routes, but they are also incorporated as the termini of IndustRail and RiversideRailroad.

All the dependencies for PO&N, IndustRail, RiversideRailroad, YardSwitching and PortSwitching are on the Download Station. When searching for any missing dependencies make sure the search includes TRS2004, UTC and Trainz assets.

For some reason TRS2009 TC2 (and possibly TRS2006 CMP) fails to capture one of the dependencies of the mine loadout used in IndustRail. If using CM2 or CMP, right click on the route and select "View Dependencies", then "View in main list". If any show the "?", drag and drop to the Download Helper pane and click start. The missing dependencies should download.

There are detailed maps for all the routes. The link for the maps is shown in the text under the thumbnail on the Download Station, accessed here:

http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS.php

These can be printed out if necessary.

Until I began following this thread I didn't appreciate that some do have problems understanding the sessions. My maps will certainly help, as will the Map View (Ctrl-M in Driver). If necessary, rotate the map view in Driver (Crtl with left or right cursor keys) to correspond with my maps. North in my maps is always towards the top.

Again, all the dependencies for all the sessions are on the DLS or shown in a link under the thumbnail. However, Download Helper, CMP or CM2 may fail to capture all dependencies. Download Helper, for example, never seems to capture the skins for the loco crew used in some steam locomotives. And the loads for some items of rolling stock (the DB oversized plate carrier, for example) just do not exist anywhere, but this can be safely ignored.

What I'd really like to see in some future version of Trainz is multiple on-line play. Imagine IndustRail or PO&N with one player taking the role of the Dispatcher controlling the movements of several other players who are the drivers of various trainz undertaking switching and line-haul movements.

Finally, I think it is the content creators that deserve most of the praise. All I've done is assemble what they have made.

Thanks again.

Phil

 

[R707]

Hi Phil,

Port Ogden & Northern works well in TS2009
Both of these are faulty
CityScene1,<kuid2:184151:224:2>
CityScene2,<kuid2:184151:223:2>
And they have the same error;
Error: Texture 'maincscape.texture' is missing or could not be loaded for mesh 'hash-7A\content cqs47c18240\CityScene1.im'.

Decker_SG_industry,<kuid:86528:38012>
This has the following faulty;
Dll scenery incline track SG,<kuid:86528:38105>
Error: Texture 'mtal clair.texture' is missing or could not be loaded for mesh 'hash-1E\content t208cd10763\Dll_Track_SG.im'.

I also renewed the Meat Packing plant to version 3
MeatPackingPlant,<kuid2:69695:106:3>

Hope this helps Phil.

I have also configured all the Industries, took about a month.

Pete

 

[mikeaust]

Hi Mike,
That's a very good idea.
Now.....all we need is the ability to have one of Phil's masterpieces on a server, and we can all contribute to running his creation.
It's nice to dream, but it will become a reality someday. All it takes is the desire to do it.
I lile the idea of joining them together. Do you manage this with Portals?
Maybe you can tell us how you modified them for lon distance running.
One thing I did update was the Meat Packing Plants. They were still version 1. They were both at Armour.

Pete

Hi Peter,
sorry for not answering sooner. Had a stay in hospital for an op.
Phil's layouts have the connections in place to join them.
You have to remove a section of lower wall on the building behind the loco area at Van den H this gives you access to a tunnel that leads to Invercargill on Industrail.
For the long distance freights, I removed the class 1 trains, using the tracks to create dual tracks. I was able to run Coal trains from Paluden to Newcastle and container trains from Huff to Van den H. The other thing I did on one layout was to place portals in the coal and iron ore mines and run regular consists , ending at a portal in Van den H after unloading.
This was a way of lowering congestion as I run up to 30 consists on my layouts
I extended the track past the Lewisham station on RBR Classic and connected to the short branch near Mad River station. These mods gave me tracks that I could spend many hours driving a freight from one end to another.
As I am retired I have lots of time to fill in so sometimes I can be immersed in my virtual world for up to 18 hours a day. ( do you think I might have an addiction problem!!).
Cherers to all
Mike

 

[R707]

Hi Peter,
sorry for not answering sooner. Had a stay in hospital for an op.
Phil's layouts have the connections in place to join them.
You have to remove a section of lower wall on the building behind the loco area at Van den H this gives you access to a tunnel that leads to Invercargill on Industrail.
For the long distance freights, I removed the class 1 trains, using the tracks to create dual tracks. I was able to run Coal trains from Paluden to Newcastle and container trains from Huff to Van den H. The other thing I did on one layout was to place portals in the coal and iron ore mines and run regular consists , ending at a portal in Van den H after unloading.
This was a way of lowering congestion as I run up to 30 consists on my layouts
I extended the track past the Lewisham station on RBR Classic and connected to the short branch near Mad River station. These mods gave me tracks that I could spend many hours driving a freight from one end to another.
As I am retired I have lots of time to fill in so sometimes I can be immersed in my virtual world for up to 18 hours a day. ( do you think I might have an addiction problem!!).
Cherers to all
Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info on the hidden tunnel. I will look into that (sic!) today.
Phil's routes are very addictive, but I think you have beaten me hands down.
When do you eat?

Pete

 

[mikeaust]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info on the hidden tunnel. I will look into that (sic!) today.
Phil's routes are very addictive, but I think you have beaten me hands down.
When do you eat?

Pete

Hi Peter,
I use Trainz as a diversion therapy for my aches and pains from chronic arthritis, once I get immersed in my virtual world athey are all forgotten.
Sometimes I will be up nearly all night, so the hours add up
Cheers
Mike

 

[R707]

Hi Peter,
I use Trainz as a diversion therapy for my aches and pains from chronic arthritis, once I get immersed in my virtual world athey are all forgotten.
Sometimes I will be up nearly all night, so the hours add up
Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

I only stay up until 1 or 2am, depending on the level of involvement.

I looked very hard, but I could not find that hidden tunnel! Maybe you can post a picture please?

You should tell your doctor you have found a wonderful cure for arthritis. I am sorry to hear you have that affliction so bad. But you seem to have created a positive out of something very negative. Kudo's to Auran, and all the content creators.

Pete