East Broad Top Route

[axis3039]

So the idea is to have some version of the route be releasable by the fall. I don't want this version of the route to be like the others where progress stalls and the route never sees the light of day. But with that said, the progress on the route is hit or miss honestly. Some months we get alot done, and others, nothing at all. But we still intend to finish both versions. I myself am more interested in the Common carrier operations than I am with the tourism side of things. Don't get me wrong, I love visiting and riding the train, but there's alot more to the EBT than just the current operations. And that to me is alot more interesting. Asset wise, currently it's all Ben Dorsey assets. I'm not going to give away too much but, there are certain "things" in the works, of varying types. That's all I'll say about that...for now. But further on down the road, you'll see an update that will divulge my secrets.

As for work remaining to be done on the tourism side of things, we still have a ton of work to do in order to release the route going all the way to saltillo. The only completed scenes at this point, are pogue trestle, Saltillo pond scene, a mostly completed 3 springs made by yours truly. I'm not the best town maker, but I think it looks pretty good. However other than those, it's all blank DEM and trees. So depending on progress, we shall see what gets released and when.

 

[rick1958]

So the idea is to have some version of the route be releasable by the fall. I don't want this version of the route to be like the others where progress stalls and the route never sees the light of day. But with that said, the progress on the route is hit or miss honestly. Some months we get alot done, and others, nothing at all. But we still intend to finish both versions. I myself am more interested in the Common carrier operations than I am with the tourism side of things. Don't get me wrong, I love visiting and riding the train, but there's alot more to the EBT than just the current operations. And that to me is alot more interesting. Asset wise, currently it's all Ben Dorsey assets. I'm not going to give away too much but, there are certain "things" in the works, of varying types. That's all I'll say about that...for now. But further on down the road, you'll see an update that will divulge my secrets.

As for work remaining to be done on the tourism side of things, we still have a ton of work to do in order to release the route going all the way to saltillo. The only completed scenes at this point, are pogue trestle, Saltillo pond scene, a mostly completed 3 springs made by yours truly. I'm not the best town maker, but I think it looks pretty good. However other than those, it's all blank DEM and trees. So depending on progress, we shall see what gets released and when.

I couldn't agree more... The mines to M.U. with the mines, tunnels and bridges will be a lot more interesting. I'm 67 and have been riding the tourist train longer then I can remember. First with my parents, then on my own as an adult. To be honest. I've riden it so many times, it falls into the it-is-what-it-is file. I'd love to see the EBT end to end.
Just a thought... thinking out loud... for the script writers out there... I wonder if the Timber Transfer could be made to swap NG trucks on STD cars?
Reminiscing: "Back in the day" the EBT was a different world. Everything was open to self tours. Shops and roundhouse. It was very easy to spend half a day, wondering around, "unleashed". Sorry for the derail...back on topic.

 

[axis3039]

So I've been fighting with getting the grading right from Saltillo to Robertsdale now for about a week. I have several grading charts and the 1917 evaluation maps but the issue is that each grading chart has different grades and at different places. So with that being said, I have laid out my best educated guess for gradients and the tracks now officially extend to Robertsdale. However I will put a PSA out there saying I can't guarantee that the gradients are 100% correct (even going of the grade charts) and may have to be fudged a bit in certain places. Issue is that no matter what radiant short you follow, when you lay out the track with the grade specified they do not line up properly with the DEM. It ends up being to high. So I believe that the chief engineer's grading chart is the most accurate. However I have determined that the grades are more than likely the ruling grade, rather than a continuous grade. It has gotten me into trouble specifically from pogue onward. In fact, if you follow the grade as a continuous grade from Pogue all the way to Saltillo it ends up being 10 m in height off, which by the time it hits robertsdale was 50 m off in height. I have adjusted the route in make this better, however too much work was done between Pogue and Saltillo that wouldn't allow me to easily redo the grades. So the fix I made was making Saltillo flat and resuming the grade after the wye. It does follow the specified 2.7% grade all the way to Kimmel. However after Wrays Hill Tunnel, the grades will fluctuate from the official gradient chart to some degree.