Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

[HawkeyeFultz]

Fantastic job, looks like we have another Rio Grande narrow gauge fan!
I just took a trip to Chama & Durango over the summer and have a bunch of pictures of the Chama yard, so just let me know what you need and I can send some pictures your way. Keep up the great work!

(I'm actually working on the Durango to Silverton portion (D&RGW days) betsy was working on the line to Farmington, Todd's working on the entire RGS, and now your working on the Chama to Antonito portion)

Dietrich

That's funny...I have also started a little work on the D&S in it's current days, but halted it to work on the C&TS! I'm thinking of also doing the C&TS in the D&RGW days, with the Antonito wye and yard...just a thought

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

Look forward to seeing this one finished. I would be very carefull using the TIGER data. I haven't checked this route, but the D & S route from fishlips atwork on the DLS is a bit of a joke in this respect. Rivers flowing halfway up the canyon walls, and anything other than single line track is very distorted. I'm having to overlay with basemaps to get it reasonably accurate, and that seems to take forever ! Only up to Hermosa so far.

Dave Bird

I'm using the official guide to the C&TS, Ticket to Toltec, by Doris Osterwald (she also wrote Cinders & Smoke for the D&S) and there are extremely detailed maps in there. I simply use the rulers in Trainz to measure out the distances. I have found that the TIGER data is often 50-60 meters off-place.

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

I know what you mean, I wish the C&TS hadn't painted them red, I liked the pullman green. However the red is ok for the parlor cars.

I may still have the original faded colors somewhere on my PC. I had painted them according to the C&TS Coach Roster, which had the faded green colors with the exception about half of the New Mexico (clerestory roof) coaches. As soon as I got them done, photos on the Cumbres & Toltec railroad shops indicated that they had painted them RED TWO WEEKS BEFORE!!!! So, to keep the accuracy, I decided to repaint them, but I will probably release the coaches in their old colors. The different faded greens give them some individuality.

Original appearance of the Colorado side coaches

I will add the rest of my new screenshots with C&TS 483 sometime today. I had to convert the *.TARGA images to JPEGs. Is there any way that I can configure Trainz to save them as JPEGs? my 130 screens across the route with 483 took up 450MB, and converting them one by one can take a couple hours. Thanks!

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

looks good...but I think your senic railway company needs a sage bush or two to put trackside

peter

I've been working on that...The sagebrush spline doesn't hit on framerates too badly. I tried using individual brushes, but just half a baseboard full brought the pc to a near standstill...that wasn't an option

 

[betsy662]

I will add the rest of my new screenshots with C&TS 483 sometime today. I had to convert the *.TARGA images to JPEGs. Is there any way that I can configure Trainz to save them as JPEGs? my 130 screens across the route with 483 took up 450MB, and converting them one by one can take a couple hours. Thanks!

Okay, I don't know what TARGA images are, as far as I can tell, all my screenshots come out as .BMP images, usually too large to use online anyway, so I pick out the best ones while in my photo editing program, those are the ones I usually post here and a few other places..........:wave::wave::wave:

 

[Ferrous]

Okay, I don't know what TARGA images are, as far as I can tell, all my screenshots come out as .BMP images, usually too large to use online anyway, so I pick out the best ones while in my photo editing program, those are the ones I usually post here and a few other places..........:wave::wave::wave:

Aren't TARGAs .tga's?

 

[PerRock]

Aren't TARGAs .tga's?

yes they are

peter

 

[DRGW489]

I agree, the cars would look so much better in Pullman green, or even in D&RGW yellow and black for that matter, but hey, he wants to be accurate for the tourist line...:wave::wave::wave:

I'm pretty sure Pullman Green is accurate for the C&TS. :hehe: Infact, I liked it better when the cars were green. But I must admit, I've gotten used to the red paint. Besides, it's not my route or car to say what color they should be.

Just a little bit of fast facts here; in 2002 is when the first red-painted revinew coaches appeared. Those were the 510 and 511 that were converted into parlor cars. The parlor cars had black roofs, and were repainted with silver roofs in 2007. The first batch of red cars appeared in 2005. As of October 21st, 2007, only one coach remains in a very faded pullman green.

-DRGW489

 

[betsy662]

yes they are

peter

Ah! You learn something new everyday!!!!!!!!!:wave::wave::wave:

 

[betsy662]

From what some were saying here, I was thinking they were something similar to HOG textures, which I guess are used for map making, I guess everything in Trainz has a .tga file...........:wave::wave::wave:

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

I'm pretty sure Pullman Green is accurate for the C&TS. :hehe: Infact, I liked it better when the cars were green. But I must admit, I've gotten used to the red paint. Besides, it's not my route or car to say what color they should be.
Just a little bit of fast facts here; in 2002 is when the first red-painted revinew coaches appeared. Those were the 510 and 511 that were converted into parlor cars. The parlor cars had black roofs, and were repainted with silver roofs in 2007. The first batch of red cars appeared in 2005. As of October 21st, 2007, only one coach remains in a very faded pullman green.

-DRGW489

Nice photo! I originally had all of the coaches painted their faded green. Since support is still out there for the green I will release two packs, one with the 2002 season like I originally had, and one with the current tuscon red.

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

Here are some more shots with C&TS 483!

Hangman's Trestle, three miles out from Antonito
Also known a Ferguson's Trestle, in the early days of the branch, some vigilantes in Antonito reportedly condemned a man named Ferguson to death by hanging. Since the trestle was the highest point around, they commandeered one of the D&RG locomotives sitting idle and used the trestle for the job.
One of the many crossings of the Colorado/New Mexico border on the C&TS I created the sign my self...easy task. It is just a board bolted on to an old 30lb piece of rail.
Another crossing. Here the track curves back into New Mexico less than a quarter of a mile away.
At the top of Gravity Hill You can see the crossing sign back into NM.
Another shot of the top.
Beside 483's tender on the final couple miles to Lava.
Looking back at the connecting track at Lava
I've added a few more of David Drake's CO Junipers in the sagebrush.
Yes, I did delete some of the sagebrush across the track from the watertank. Some recent photos taken on the route showed that.
Lava Tank
Stopping for a couple minutes at Lava
Shot from the gondola
Arriving at Bighorn
Last crossing into New Mexico for quite a ways

 

[joneau]

Is this the last unpainted car? (Taken on June 19)

The route looks really good! I got photos if needed, but they're only of the Chama-Osier half...

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

The route looks really good! I got photos if needed, but they're only of the Chama-Osier half...

I have a few pictures of the Chama-osier section from when I rode the route a couple years ago. I also have a few pics of Sublette but nothing much afterward. Does anyone know where to find dimensions/specs of the buildings at Sublette? I have track laid to about half a mile out of Sublette, and a section from a couple miles west of Coxo, CO to Los Pinos Siding.

As for that coach, I think I may have seen it repainted. It probably was the last unpainted coach.
Here is the C&TS Shop updates page for 2007. There are some good pics showing the whole train on the 4th week of October. The consist I used in some of the screenshots is based upon this photo.

 

[Prowler901]

WOW! I think we have another scenery genius here. That looks just like the real place Great work!

On the issue of the coach colors... I'm not a big fan of the red. Green is by far the best I think. I'd like to know what their reasoning for that color was. But, oh well, that's the way it is now. So, if I may make a suggestion on the red textures for the coaches. You should tone them down a bit by reducing the saturation. That will flatten the red a bit and then it will look less cartoonish. What program are you using for the textures? In Paint Shop Pro there is a tool to adjust "Hue, Saturation, Brightness". I'd leave hue and brightness at 0, and pull the saturation down. It will give you a more realistic red tone. And, speaking of cartoonish... I need to do something with that gondola interior...

Keep up the great work!

Regards,
Todd

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

WOW! I think we have another scenery genius here. That looks just like the real place Great work!

On the issue of the coach colors... I'm not a big fan of the red. Green is by far the best I think. I'd like to know what their reasoning for that color was. But, oh well, that's the way it is now. So, if I may make a suggestion on the red textures for the coaches. You should tone them down a bit by reducing the saturation. That will flatten the red a bit and then it will look less cartoonish. What program are you using for the textures? In Paint Shop Pro there is a tool to adjust "Hue, Saturation, Brightness". I'd leave hue and brightness at 0, and pull the saturation down. It will give you a more realistic red tone. And, speaking of cartoonish... I need to do something with that gondola interior...

Keep up the great work!

Regards,
Todd

Thanks, Todd! It feels good to know that you like it! As far as textures, I use a freeware program called Artweaver. Basically a poor-man's rendition of Paint Shop. I will look into the saturation. Again, Todd, great work on the K-36s, I really appreciate them!
Tim

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

I'm not getting anywhere fast with Artweaver...I may resort to going back to the original faded greens.

 

[DRGW489]

On the issue of the coach colors... I'm not a big fan of the red. Green is by far the best I think. I'd like to know what their reasoning for that color was. But, oh well, that's the way it is now.

I've heard three different stories as to why they were painted red.
1) To make the train more noticable
2)Give the C&TS it's own idenity
3) and this one is a major one, MAKE THE TRAIN MORE VISABLE AT CROSSINGS!

I guess safety is the biggest reason for painting them red.

-DRGW489

 

[AllisChalmers]

This layout is very nice! I hope this layout is released in the future. Are you going to release the coaches anytime soon?

 

[HawkeyeFultz]

Yes, I will be releasing both the route and the coaches...coaches in the next month or so, route...whenever I get it done I have to build seats for two more parlour cars and make all of them passenger interactive, and then I will release them. coming soon!