Wow! These threads can get buried in the back very quickly.
I just bought: 'Cinders & Smoke: A Mile by Mile Guide for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail Road. I'm going to wait until I get the book to release the route. Want to make sure stuff is right. The information I gathered when I first started the route came from several internet sources and it was a bit difficult sorting it all out. Having everything in one place should make things a bit easier to keep track of.
I worked on the route for 5 hours today. Finding new information forced me to move the power plant in Silverton from near the depot to the north side of the creek, Cement creek I think it's called. After that was done it was just adding people, vehicles and grass. Every time I go back to an area I will find something to fix or tweak. At some point I'm just gonna have to say, "I'm done", and release the thing!
I spent about an hour playing around with those new "Measuring Wagons" available on the DLS. For those that don't know, connecting them end to end on the track 100 times gets a distance of 1 mile. So I started at Hermosa mile post, because it is by the creek and easy to reference, and went to Rockwood one mile at a time. Something is way off because Rockwood was 2 miles off course!! I know it's location is correct because it is referenced by the Highline. I assume rail road mile posts go by the track mileage and not as the crow flies. So I gave up on that idea. I feel as if most of the locations are fairly accurate and placed them all by google earth images and the topology of the DEM of the route. Ones I had difficulty with were Tank Creek, Needleton, Cascade and Elk Park. Hopefully the book will be of more help.
Randy