Cheap Railroad

My main suggestion for you is to stop using Bullhead track in places. The darker colored track is higher quality and is a US style track; the lighter track is a 2004(or 6, I dunno) asset made to look somewhat like bullhead style track, which is uncommon in the US(that is to say I have never heard a single case of any US railroad using it beyond the mid 1800s). If your choice of bullhead rail is intentional, there is a more modern version of the same bullhead track built in to TS2010 and 2012 as well as several high-quality reskins of same on the DLS. If the choice of bullhead rail is accidental, however, I would recommend you replace it with a track relatively similar to the deep gray jointed rail(the type of rail, not the organization, to clarify) instead.
Cheers.
 
Does anyone know where I could find information on how to design my industry tracks to be more prototype/operational. I have the hardest time trying to figure out how a certain industry will receive and switch cars around. I don't want to add just a bunch of useless tracks cause I'm trying to go for a prototypical look and operational feel.

On a side note, I did see a layout in the January issue of model railroader that I may try to model in trainz. It's the n scale project layout for anyone with a subscription to MR.
 
Not sure if you wanted to spend money on books, but Kalmbach has the "The Model Railroader's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks" series here. I don't know why they don't have volume 1, which I bought years ago, but I see that 3 more have come out in the series. I find that these type of books apply equally well to virtual model railroading. Another one I like is "Track Planning for Realistic Operation".

Andrew
 
Just spent the last 20 mins downloading some of the freeware items from JR, including their high detail track. Did quite a bit of work last night shaping some more terrain. Should have an up-date later on tonight.
 
Here is the update I promised.

Firstly, I did some work on the industrial area. I redid the track a little bit, and started playing around with some buildings. Ignore the random houses to the side, I randomly found them and just placed them for future use.









Looking towards the industry area from the coal mine sidings.



Where the mainline splits off, did some terrain work



This is the branch line leading to the forestry and I don't know what else yet.





The track closest is the mainline, looking out you can see the branch line.

 
Got a few questions: 1) how do you reskin locos and cars in ts12? 2) need some suggestions for a name. 3) where can I get some more steam locos. This route is based in the steam/ diesel transition period so I'm needing more steam. Any help is muchly appreciated
 
chevyman9195 said:
Got a few questions: 1) how do you reskin locos and cars in ts12? 2) need some suggestions for a name. 3) where can I get some more steam locos. This route is based in the steam/ diesel transition period so I'm needing more steam. Any help is muchly appreciated
Click to expand...

Reskinning works just the same in TS12 as any other version of Trainz. Right click content manager, edit, edit in explorer.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Basic_Reskinning_for_beginners

Cheerio John
 
Learning how to reskin, without covering up details, or making it a one dull unweathered color, is an art, better only after thousands of hours of practice.
 
chevyman9195 said:
. . . 3) where can I get some more steam locos. This route is based in the steam/ diesel transition period so I'm needing more steam.
Click to expand...

Go to subpar productions (http://www.steammachine.com/bdaneal/) and go to the 'Generic' section (http://www.steammachine.com/bdaneal/gbdl.htm). Download whatever locomotive you want. Please note that they will be 'Faulty', represented as a red '!' in Content Manager. It's a relatively easy fix.
Once you've got that problem resolved, go to the Download Station (http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS.php), and search for 'cincysouthernrwy' as the 'Username'. Be sure to check the 'TRS2004' and the other boxes to get the results. He has reskinned just about every one of the generic locomotives to represent various locomotives, mostly eastern railroads. He has also made several early diesels, mainly Geeps (GP7, GP9's).
Magicland has made several early diesels, specifically E-series locomotives, along with a variety of passenger cars on the DLS (Download Station) (http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS.php).
Whitepass has made high-quality passenger cars and several ALCO locomotives, including PA and PB's, all of which can be found on the Download Station also (http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS.php).
If you want high-quality F-series diesels, JointedRail's F-series diesels are the way to go (http://jointedrail.com/). They can be found under the 'Freeware' section.
For reskins of both Subpar productions steam locomotives, SD9's, and JointedRail's F-series, Trainz Forge is the place to go (http://trainzforge.weebly.com/index.html).
For more reskins of JointedRail's F-series, The Erecting Hall is a good place to go (http://www.theerectinghall.info/)
If you want every paint scheme Southern 4501 has worn over the years, and a really good reskin of Subpar Production's Norfolk and Western J 4-8-4 into Norfolk and Western #611, Peter's Trainz is also a good place to go (http://www.freewebs.com/redboy747/).

Hopefully this helps.
 
A little back ground on me, I played MSTS for years before swapping over to trainz. I was pretty good at reskinning in that game and figured it can't be much different in trainz. And thank yall for the links and what not. I do gotta say though, to those who can do scenery and textures and make it look real my hat is off to you. I can't for the life of me make my scenery look real, it always feels it's missing something. It would be nice for me to be able to build the route and then have someone else do the scenery.
 
I've got some good updates coming tonight. I've added about 15 miles of track and got most of the terrain sculpted. I played around with some texturing last night but I'll have to wait to get a better computer, it bogs my laptop down way to much to play when I texture.
 
Need some help, didn't like how my track was looking so I deleted about half the route and gonna start over. My question is, the built in oil field industry, does anyone have any pics of how they designed the tracks for it? I'm trying to keep from having a bunch of random tracks and need some ideas of how to set it up.
 
The oil industry or as its called ingame, Oil Field. It has 1 fixed track to load tankers. To set this up, all thats required is attaching your track to the spline points set on the model.

Now if you're talking about the Oil Refinery, its setup the same way. Attach your track or a branch of it to the spline points of the fixed track sections and you're good to roll.
 
I was more asking how to design the sidings going to it, should have been more specific. Should I have sidings for storage of empty and full cars, where I can stage a train for pick-up or should I just have 1 siding where I run my train through and load the tank cars as I need them.
 
A holding siding would benefit with having extra cars if need be, but A.I. may not run right. I usually run the train off the main onto a side track that runs through the asset to load. However you want to setup is your choice.
 
Some new screens of what Ive been working on with this route. First off, after learning some new stuff, I deleted half the route and redid the other half. I think it looks a lot better. Second off, I have been playing around with some scenery but I will really need to wait till I can get a new computer to really get into the scenery part of this route...it does suck knowing I will be looking at mostly blank base boards for awhile. Anyway, on to the screens.

The area with the coal mine and lumber mill has been completely redone.





Engine house for local switchers



Coal mine, and new track work designed for longer trains



Redid the industry track, only two now.





I was playing around with trees, yes they will be removed. I was mainly looking at what the terrain shape would be like with trees covering it. Eventually a town will be in the middle.



The lumber mill, pretty much the same.





Also, can someone recommend a photo hosting site other than photobucket?
 
Little more work done. I didn't like how to coal mine seemed out of place where it was. Ive never seen a coal mine inside of a town before, so I decided to move it. I added an entire new spur line(guess thats what its called) to get to the coal mine now. The terrain aint fully done yet but its getting there, so be easy haha. Also, I started to build the town where the coal mine use to be. I could use some pointers though if anyone has something to add.







Tunnel #1 leaving the coal mine. First tunnel Ive ever made btw.



Tunnel #2.





Passing over the first tunnel.



My first attempt at a town.





 
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