behemoth14
New member
I've been playing Trainz on and off now since the first edition was released in 2001, and it has often crossed my mind that by now I should have completed a large, fully scenicked Trainz route featuring frequent, scheduled trains that service many varied industries.
Suffice it to say I haven't.
I've tried, a couple of times, to build routes located in places that I'm familiar with and whose railways I enjoy. TransDEM has been invaluable, and a bit of professional geographical information systems (GIS) experience doesn't go astray either. I started building an interpretation of the Donner Pass route in California in TRS 2004, which fell by the wayside, and then an interpretation of the railway network in the vincinity of Tübingen, Germany, which also went nowhere. What I have had a degree of success with is a few diorama-style (three- or four-baseboard) routes, mostly because my main interest is in fine-detailing the scenery.
So I intend to get back into it, and really do something this time. My interest is in the Union Pacific/ex-Southern Pacific trackage in northern California, so I intend to build from Oroville on the Feather River sub via Roseville and the J.R. Davis yard, through Sacramento and up the Valley sub to Chico.
Yes, it'll be a (very) large route. Yes, it's probably a foolhardy task. I'm not sure that I will ever finish it (hey, take a look at my track record, so-to-speak). But most of the route is pretty flat, and straight, and much of the land use in the vincinity of the track is agricultural.
Suffice it to say I haven't.
I've tried, a couple of times, to build routes located in places that I'm familiar with and whose railways I enjoy. TransDEM has been invaluable, and a bit of professional geographical information systems (GIS) experience doesn't go astray either. I started building an interpretation of the Donner Pass route in California in TRS 2004, which fell by the wayside, and then an interpretation of the railway network in the vincinity of Tübingen, Germany, which also went nowhere. What I have had a degree of success with is a few diorama-style (three- or four-baseboard) routes, mostly because my main interest is in fine-detailing the scenery.
So I intend to get back into it, and really do something this time. My interest is in the Union Pacific/ex-Southern Pacific trackage in northern California, so I intend to build from Oroville on the Feather River sub via Roseville and the J.R. Davis yard, through Sacramento and up the Valley sub to Chico.
Yes, it'll be a (very) large route. Yes, it's probably a foolhardy task. I'm not sure that I will ever finish it (hey, take a look at my track record, so-to-speak). But most of the route is pretty flat, and straight, and much of the land use in the vincinity of the track is agricultural.