Club car chit chat: what are people simulating right now?

[RJPugh]

I’m curious as to what kinds of things people are doing in the Trainz world these days. This is just for fun, though it may spark some fun conversations.

I came from the world of conventional plaster and plywood model railroading. One of the things I like about Trainz is the ability to work on several layouts at one time, and being able to try new ideas with little or no fuss. Well, so long as the download station is co-operating.

One project I have is a largely faithful re-creation of the rail line through Crawford Notch in New Hampshire. That’s one of my favorite places on earth; the scenery is beyond spectacular. It’s a fairly simple line, all things considered. I used TranzDEM to follow the Boston & Maine line from Fryeburg, Maine, to Gilman, Vermont. I’m currently transcribing the route into the raster maps. The line has very few spurs, and only a handful of team tracks at some of the towns in New Hampshire, so it’s proving very easy to transcribe. This is turning out to be a good teaching map. I’m planning to include one very famous short line: the Mt. Washington cog railway. I might connect it to the main railroad with a length of dual gauge track, but I haven’t decided. I haven’t gotten to that stage yet. I’m hoping this one turns out to be fun to drive. If I can only manage to hint at the spectacle of the White Mountains, it will be worth it.

Two of my other projects include a fictional narrow-gauge line in my home area of the Piedmont region of Virginia, a re-imagining of the rail lines that operated in the Finger Lakes Region of New York (where I grew up).

My largest and most ambitious project is set in Northwestern Pennsylvania; it’s a very large, with lots of stations, depots, interchanges and yards. This one I’ve decided to re-start, because my existing version is very badly designed. I could use TranzDEM to use existing terrain, but I'm looking at this the way a plaster-playwood modeler would, so I may elect to go entirely from scratch.

For a time I was attempting to model a narrow-gauge railway set deep in the Louisiana bayou. The scenery had lots of Spanish moss, vines, and other “swamp” laying about. I even attempted to re-skin the rolling stock to look like it had been living in a swamp for several years. That line as a fun concept, but if fails just about every reality check you can think of. I still have some pieces of it, and may revisit it someday.

And some times I just open up an existing session and run a train. Just because I want to. I'm mostly a builder, but operation is fun, too.

 

[MeowRailroad]

I am making and running sessions for Industrail TS12, and working on a locomotive works, which I hope I can stay interested enough to keep working on it for it to become a route. That swamp narrow gauge sounds AWESOME. If I were you, I would try to make it again.

 

[flyboy559]

I've been having fun taking sessions for routes like Marias Pass, Donner Pass, and CCRX and either converting them to a transition era session or just generally changing out rolling stock to make it feel like a different railroad. I also had fun taking the Roseville Manifest session for Donner Pass v1.2 and changed out rolling stock to make it as close as I could to prototypical for the early 1990s when Donner was still a SP line.

 

[JCitron]

I have three routes I'm working on at the moment. The first one is one that I started back in December 2003 when I got my first copy of TRS2004 from CompUSA! This started out as a 6-baseboard test route and expanded from there to a full railroad system with a mountainous region, big cities, yards, and industries. It's theme and name, the Enfield and Eastern, started originally as a plaster and plywood N-scale route in the late 1980s and then again the late 1990s after a rebuild. Then I discovered virtual railroading, and with the development of some Parkinsonism shortly afterwards, my model railroading days in plaster, paint, and plywood were over. The layout collected spiders and dust until it was abandoned a bit after starting it in December 2003.

The route is based loosely on New England in the Merrimack Valley where I grew up and live today. The Enfield and Eastern was built to connect a mill town with a port to ship products. Over the years the line was merged with the Boston and Maine, and when Guilford took over, the line was abandoned. A local company took over the E&E and is now the designated operator of this plus other lines in the region, thus my mountainous region and other towns and cities. I have a complete story somewhere which I've developed around the route somewhere I can post elsewhere... The route has gone through a few rebuilds over the years, but the overall theme is still there. I've made use of DEMs, mergers and acquisitions from the DLS, and my own hand sculpting to build. As time has gone one, many sections have been rebuilt to reflect better building techniques especially track laying.

The route is about 180 miles long end to end, but it has been divided up into divisions to make traffic planning and AI control easier. There is commuter service on the lines out of Eastport which connect to the bigger towns and then go on to Boston, while there are some major through freights, local switching operations, and some long haul passenger trains as well. There is one section, based originally on the Bangor to Bucksport, ME DEM from Fishlipsatwork which I call Plymouth to Bristol. This connects to the outside world on both ends with a major yard at Northern Junction. In this region is also the Bristol Industrial Railroad which is a wholly-owed subsidiary. This line serves many warehouses and industries in and around a branch line off the mainline in greater Bristol. In reality this was once the line that ran to Bangor International Airport, but in my world the airport is a woodland with industries scattered about.

The second route building project is a DEM-based route of Cape Anne, which I call Cape Anne Transit. I originally created a modified version of this route from something that George Fisher created called the Gloucester Terminal Railroad. I turned this into an electric route which ran both freights and passengers under wires, then eventually freight by diesel and passengers in trolley cars. I had built an extensive yard near Gloucester which held more than enough cars to serve the various warehouses and industries. I then expanded the route out to Eastern Point and to West Gloucester having it follow Route 127 and Route 133 respectively.

Since that time, I've started it from scratch. This time I've built out to Annisquam, and Rockport and over to Wingersheek Beach in addition to the greater Gloucester lines. This route is a bit different as I've focused my branch line activity around electric passenger trains while the greater Gloucester region is freight and passenger service. I've included some branch lines to some quarries which were originally served by small disconnected rail lines. This project is definitely a WIP as it's taken me much longer than I thought to build it.

My other project, which I'm doing on a really part-time basis, is a collaborative project with another Trainzer. He's working on a project for a historical society and museum located in North Adams. This route is the Boston and Maine through the Hoosac Tunnel and up to Eagle Bridge. The main focus will be a video, whenever the route is completed, of the action around the Hoosac Tunnel to North Adams in the 1940s just before the electrics were discontinued. This route is based 100% on DEMs and uses historic topographic maps as the basis for the route. The most difficult part was getting the grade proper into North Adams and placing the buildings. Our various trips out there have helped, but so much has been wiped out that nearly none of the yard exists anymore. We also have to deal with many, many custom buildings which are being created slowly and this has taken the momentum away from the route building on this project.

If I'm not building my two main routes, I'm driving a couple of favorites. Alterr's U-Bahn routes are great for sitting back and going for a ride in the trams as the AI go about their business. The other route is a bit more extensive and is a nearly 99% merger and acquisition affair of Dave Snow's Ozark Valley, Deremy's East Kentucky and Mt. Vernon routes, Jointed Rail's Midwest Grain 4.0 and the recent add-on for that, and MSGSapper's rebuilds of the Indiana and Western, and the Watseka and Kankakee by George Fisher. This line is caller the Ozark Valley and Western and has extensive freight operations, some through passenger trains, and lots of industries to switch. As the route plays, the AI become more and more dumb because of it's extensive size. In order to connect the routes together, I build some tween boards and texture blending. If one is in the cab riding along, there's no way of telling where one section begins and other ends. This took quite a lot of work in its self, and has been a great learning tool as I've learned other people's texturing and building techniques.

John

 

[ricketts]

Am working on and adding stuff to my trainz 2009 and having a great time only wish I was more knowable of how things work without having to keep asking but being a senior things don't come has fast but enjoy running a layout any way Cheers

 

[RJPugh]

The (Rail)Road of Bones

One fictional route I tried to make was set in Siberia! It followed the M56 Koluma Highway, also known as the "Road of Bones," from Yakutsk on the Lena river, to the Pacific coast port of Magadan. It was long, twisty, treacherous, and full of terrain challenges. However, acquiring elevation and terrain data for areas north of 60*N latitude has proven difficult, and large portions of the M56 lie that far north. Since I couldn't gather this necessary data, I tabled this idea. I've retained the map tiles and route data, in the hope of eventually obtaining the necessary terrain data.

Historically, the M56 was never intended to be a railroad route. I understand that feasibility studies were done to this end, especially during the "BAM" -line development in the 1970's, but the terrain is so hostile that it was never seriously considered. According to one Soviet civil engineer, building and maintaining the motor road was almost impossible, so the idea of building and maintaining a railroad was hysterically unthinkable! However, I recently read that the Russian Federation is again re-visiting the idea, because new technologies are available that can overcome engineering problems that were insurmountable in the past. What happens with that idea remains to be seen.

The M56 motor road has a tragic, bloody history. It was build during Stalin's reign, and largely using gulag labor. It's estimated that over 1500 people died during it's construction. The highway has the morbid nickname "Road of Bones," because the bodies of dead workers were interred next to and within the roadbed itself.

Modeling a rail simulation based on this route may be of highly questionable taste. But from a strictly engineering and simulation standpoint, it's a fascinating scenario.

 

[PerRock]

One fictional route I tried to make was set in Siberia! It followed the M56 Koluma Highway, also known as the "Road of Bones," from Yakutsk on the Lena river, to the Pacific coast port of Magadan. It was long, twisty, treacherous, and full of terrain challenges. However, acquiring elevation and terrain data for areas north of 60*N latitude has proven difficult, and large portions of the M56 lie that far north. Since I couldn't gather this necessary data, I tabled this idea. I've retained the map tiles and route data, in the hope of eventually obtaining the necessary terrain data.

Historically, the M56 was never intended to be a railroad route. I understand that feasibility studies were done to this end, especially during the "BAM" -line development in the 1970's, but the terrain is so hostile that it was never seriously considered. According to one Soviet civil engineer, building and maintaining the motor road was almost impossible, so the idea of building and maintaining a railroad was hysterically unthinkable! However, I recently read that the Russian Federation is again re-visiting the idea, because new technologies are available that can overcome engineering problems that were insurmountable in the past. What happens with that idea remains to be seen.

The M56 motor road has a tragic, bloody history. It was build during Stalin's reign, and largely using gulag labor. It's estimated that over 1500 people died during it's construction. The highway has the morbid nickname "Road of Bones," because the bodies of dead workers were interred next to and within the roadbed itself.

Modeling a rail simulation based on this route may be of highly questionable taste. But from a strictly engineering and simulation standpoint, it's a fascinating scenario.

Interesting. The little info you mentioned here reminded me of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in China (and Tibet). I watch a TV show about the engineering feets this railway went thru, I'll see if I can't find it, but for now here is the wiki page for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinghai–Tibet_Railway

peter

 

[Enzo1]

I have been working on my own route that pits a shortline in with the action of long-heavy haul mainline. The shortline goes to the industries along the main and picks up and set-outs cars and takes them back to their railyard where the Class 1's interchange their stuff with them in the form of transfer trains. It also has a Class 1 yard with a re-fueling pad that can handle 4 trains at one time. Most of the line is extensively single track with sidings, but there are some dual track sections along the line. The route is set well enough that I can take a trip back to the 90's and represent CNW before it was taken over. BN Coal trains back when they still serviced the powerstation at Irish City. I can present UP trains before the 2000's and run just about any road I want too along the line. Currently, the line is specifically set for UP/CP/CN and occasionally and NS train shows up. Along with my fictional shortline known as Irish City Co-Op Railway. Of course this is entirely fictional, it is built to my taste to do what I want with it.

I have a thread for it as well which can be found here

 

[JCitron]

I have been working on my own route that pits a shortline in with the action of long-heavy haul mainline. The shortline goes to the industries along the main and picks up and set-outs cars and takes them back to their railyard where the Class 1's interchange their stuff with them in the form of transfer trains. It also has a Class 1 yard with a re-fueling pad that can handle 4 trains at one time. Most of the line is extensively single track with sidings, but there are some dual track sections along the line. The route is set well enough that I can take a trip back to the 90's and represent CNW before it was taken over. BN Coal trains back when they still serviced the powerstation at Irish City. I can present UP trains before the 2000's and run just about any road I want too along the line. Currently, the line is specifically set for UP/CP/CN and occasionally and NS train shows up. Along with my fictional shortline known as Irish City Co-Op Railway. Of course this is entirely fictional, it is built to my taste to do what I want with it.

I have a thread for it as well which can be found here

That's one of the things I like to do myself. I like the idea of interchanges and short lines working in conjunction with main line operations of a major railroad. This is why I have my Bristol Industrial line and its interchange along the busy Mountain Division. The switcher has to cross over from the yard on one side of the main line to its branch on the other while staying out of the way of the through traffic.

John

 

[PerRock]

I should probably reply with what I'm working on, instead of just commenting on other people's stuff.

In the Trainz world, not much. I constantly have a few dozen projects in different stages of complete-ness. The current one I'm "Actively" working on is, my Amtrak Phase VI project, where I'm updating the Amtrak brand. You can read up on this project here: http://s4.zetaboards.com/amtkz/topic/10262453/

In the Physical world I've recently started the planning stages to build an HO-Scale layout in my spare bedroom. Being in a small (single-wide) trailer I don't have much room, so it's a fun experiment in seeing how much I can cram into such a small space. Off the top of my head the usable "bulk" of the room is approx 8' by 7'. I'm thinking about posting progress pics as I work on it, but thats in the far future at the moment.

peter

 

[AntonyVW]

Im doing what Ive promised myself I would do for a long time. Learning to make my own assets. So far I have a signalbox and goods shed mesh near completion. The goods shed has no textures as yet but the signalbox is getting there. By far the hardest part of the learning curve so far is the texturing. Im at the stage of having a separate texture for each part of the mesh. Still trying to get my head around having all the textures in one. Biggest issue I have when I try that is the scale of the textures no longer matches what I want it to be - ie the bricks are rather larger than they should be. The guys on the content creation forum have been very helpful and I doubt I would have gotten this far along so quickly without their help. So thanks guys.
My eventual aim is to build my own assets for a route Ive started over a few times - that of my local area but set in a "what if" scenario - in this case the "what if" is what if the salt industrial estate still existed with a rail network? (the industry collapsed in the early 1920s and is now mainly shops and a carpark). There are several buildings I want to model but one in particular I can only find one photo of - and that's when it is being dismantled - is the old wooden goods shed. One building I made an attempt at some time ago was the old workhouse which stood near the railway. Maybe now Im producing something reasonably like what it should be - I shall have another go at it.
Apart from that I have a fictional route Ive been working on for some time. I would like to populate it with at least some buildings Ive created myself.

 

[AntonyVW]

Forgot to mention. Outside of all things Trainz - Im currently learning sign language.

 

[jkinzel]

I'm working on three terrain only files, two created by "fishlipsatwork", Generic Coast and Stampede Summit and one by "smooz", Seaport3, Seaport stands for Seattle to Portland. Why am I working three? I don't know, I guess I'm just nutz.

Seaport3 is the third of three files that cover the BNSF Seattle Sub from Seattle to Vancouver, WA. (I believe part one also crosses the Columbia River to UP's Brooklyn yard). Seaport3 is the northern part ofthe line from South Seattle including Harbor Island and the old Milwaukee Road rail slip at pier 27, UP's Argo yard, King Street Station and the Sounder Rail maintenance facility.

As you move south on the UP's line the next big town is Tacoma: UP's Fife yard and BNSF ex BN ex NP's Bay Yard and the entire Port of Tacoma, switched by the MUNI, AKA the Tacoma Municipal Beltline Ry. will give you plenty of varied traffic.

From Tacoma south there is not a lot until you get to Olympia and not a lot there. Over they ears Olympia has never been a big generator of rail traffic. A half mile south of Olympia and Seaport3 ends and Seaport2 begins.

I'll try and post info on the other two later.