Coal Country 2.0 - Official Route WIP Thread

S

scratchy

Strayan
Hi All,

Welcome to my thread on the latest update to Coal Country. For those of you familiar with the existing route released to Jointedrail.com and the N3V Store, or people new to my route building, feel free to follow along as I update areas and expand. As of August 2024 the update is about 70% complete. I hope you enjoy the screenshots.

I have called this version 2.0 because it is the first significant expansion of the route since its first release for TANE in 2016 (there have actually been four public updates so far to the route). It is currently being worked on in TS19 to maximize compatibility but I can likely see this changing in the near future.

I'll try to not just post screenshots of finished areas, but also the areas as I update them, so you can see how I go about it and the transformation.

Stay tuned, and enjoy :) Rich.

Route Map:
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Screenshots:
Parker
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Burning Fork
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Gilbert No.1 Tipple - The original Gilberts tipple has been demolished and is now nothing but trees!
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Clackline Tipple - This tipple is pretty much abandoned and only used for railcar storage
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Near Burning Fork - This is the old depot, tucked away and only accessible by train or a narrow gravel track
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My word scratchy, you've really put all the effort you can into this project! Keep goin bud!
 
Bit of a look at how Parker has changed over the last 8 years. Trip down memory lane to find these photos. Little has changed in Parker with the 2.0 update, as it is the first scene I made back in 2016 I was happy to keep it true to the original. The difference now being that the semi abandoned line to the forestry/log industry has been upgraded to a secondary line and continues on to Lefroy forming the big figure of eight that Coal Country now is.

Parker in TS12
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Parker in TANE
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Annnddd Parker in TS19/22
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The rails are shiny once more on the Parker branch
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Last edited:
We'll jump over to the new section of the route now. Posting these screenshots I've realised I dont actually have a name for this town - any suggestions? I blasted through this area with the track work as I was super inspired by the area around Clinchco VA. I really like the scene with the bridge that dives straight into the tunnel.

Nameless bridge - Here is a shot in real life Flickr Photo
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Townsite WIP
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Townsite - Shot in real life Flickr photo2
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A heritage bike trail crosses through the town too. Some cool bridges (I like bridges)
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Posting these screenshots I've realised I dont actually have a name for this town - any suggestions? I blasted through this area with the track work as I was super inspired by the area around Clinchco VA.
Click to expand...
Name the town Finchco?
 
scratchy said:
Posting these screenshots I've realised I dont actually have a name for this town - any suggestions? I blasted through this area with the track work as I was super inspired by the area around Clinchco VA.
Click to expand...
How about, Hinton?
 
For this post we can look at progress on the crossing between the old and the new sections which forms the figure of eight. This was the very first area where the expansion started and I was a bit annoyed at myself for jumping into it so quickly. We're now up to the third revision of the alignment... The first two used the bridge that I quite quickly lined up and committed to. This led to some pretty tight curves hugging the cliffs for a section and it was never an area I was happy with given the civil engineer in me. Because I had put so much effort into kitbashing the main bridge I kept it for the second alignment but crossed the valley on another bridge to improve the curve radii slightly. The more I looked at this second revision the less I liked that too, it was still only good for 15mph and now had two big bridges which while great for screenshots, made no sense if you were actually building this railroad in real life.
So here we are with the 3rd alignment, it has the best alignment but means I needed to either scrap or remove the original bridge. At time of writing I still don't want to do it, maybe it needs to be a rail trail!

Alignments, yellow is original, purple is what I've ended up with.
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This is the original valley crossing
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Here is the new alignment, I am still working out if I will use this Bendorsey bridge and dress it up, or complete kitbash a new bridge
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Rail lines everywhere!
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A name for the unknown town...

How about Bledsoe? For some reason this sounds to me like a town named after a settler and family that now controls it, much like parts of West Virginia and other rural areas. There's even a county named after that in Tennesse, another coal producing area.

Your old line would make either a rail trail or maybe a county road. There are roads like that all over the Appalachians, Poconos, Ozarks, and Ouita's. It makes for some interesting and sometimes scary driving. ;-)

I really like your "update" - it's more like a rebuild. This route has been one of my favorites to drive and the original JR release made its way into one of my own routes via some i-Portals. The RF&P ran a local down to an interchange yard and went back with some extra freight. This made for some interesting switching on either end.
 
JCitron - I like it, sounds a bit morbid but different!

So a couple of posts up I said I wanted to keep true to the original for Parker - turns out I lied and I have spent the last few hours tweaking the junction with the branch, the coal tipple now has some extra storage, and to capitalize on the new extension on the branch, Parker has a wye! I was wondering if I should make the station platform share both legs of the wye, but havent found much inspiration yet. Large screens below

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I've also raised alot of the surrounding terrain, it has made a big different to the feel, although it now mean more trees are needed to fill in the gaps of bare terrain.
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Which signal bridge do people like best? (or none at all)
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I'm the same PRR older bridge . Are you planning to use the signals shown ? Because if not , the newer version goes better with modern signals . My opinion .

Loving the rework on the route

Matt
 
sultan1966 said:
@JCitron Lived a few counties up from Bledsoe for 25yrs. Wife and I left TN in 2016 but son and grandkids still live there.
Click to expand...
I've traveled through the area in 2010 and 2011 while severe storm chasing. It's beautiful country down there. I live up north in southern New England where the countryside is similar but not as vivid green.
 
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