East Broad Top Route

[ebtrr]

Thanks for sharing that! I finished laying track on the entire layout and just replaced it all with that track. Pretty nice track. I've got to work on the layout at Mt Union. Anyone know of any good maps of the area? The book is pretty good but it's very large scale.

http://spikesys.com/Bin/EBT/Maps/mucars.gif
It is based on the map in the book but updated based on on-site inspection. Shows what track is narrow, dual and standard. Some of the switches are noted with a T if they are a blade switch and a "lollypop" of they are a stub switch.

 

[cascaderailroad]

1000m, the equivelent of 0.944m (= @ 36") track on the DLS, by: Joxemai #148561: Via estrecha tm 1000 mm 2 mts <kuid:148561:38004>

 

[bigboy4014]

Thanks for sharing that! I finished laying track on the entire layout and just replaced it all with that track. Pretty nice track. I've got to work on the layout at Mt Union. Anyone know of any good maps of the area? The book is pretty good but it's very large scale.

Not much new on buildings for me. I got carried away filling in the areas between major points of interest with scenery yesterday and today. Mainly because I was test running the route from end to end and wanted something better than low res google earth images to look at. Nice work on the coles station cascade! That coles branch is fun as far as terrain goes eh?

http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/Tour/muyard.html
map of mount union yard setup

 

[philip114]

http://spikesys.com/Bin/EBT/Maps/mucars.gif
It is based on the map in the book but updated based on on-site inspection. Shows what track is narrow, dual and standard. Some of the switches are noted with a T if they are a blade switch and a "lollypop" of they are a stub switch.

That's helpful and quite interesting. A few pieces there that aren't in the book. This well help immensely. Thanks!

 

[simulatortrain]

There's also another EBT hopper:

 

[philip114]

There's also another EBT hopper:

That's a very nice hopper model! Those trucks are a nice upgrade too. I have a very high res 3d model of the 27/28 caboose that I made for injection molds that never happened. I should use that to normal map a low res version for the game. Any chance of getting those trucks? Is the hopper payware? Available anywhere?

 

[simulatortrain]

Thank you. It's not available anywhere yet, I have some things I'd like to go back and add to it. The trucks, maybe. I had been planning on making a big pack of EBT items available for sale where 100% of the profits go to the EBT, however I'm not sure who that money would best go to...

 

[philip114]

I got ya. I was thinking of the same thing, but honestly, I don't know either. This is kind of why I started this thread. I didn't want to redo work that's already been done. I was planning on doing a hopper too, but seeing yours it's probably better than I could do. Are you still planning on working on the EBT stuff?

 

[philip114]

Here's the caboose I did. Need to do a low res version.

 

[ebtrr]

Thank you. It's not available anywhere yet, I have some things I'd like to go back and add to it. The trucks, maybe. I had been planning on making a big pack of EBT items available for sale where 100% of the profits go to the EBT, however I'm not sure who that money would best go to...

May I suggest the Friends of the East Broad Top Restoration Fund:

http://www.febt.org/donate.html#b

Friends of the East Broad Top
Restoration Fund Treasurer
12-513 Shady Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15206

The funds go toward tools and supplies for the work in Rockhill and Robertsdale, and specific contractor work such as on EBT Combine #16 and the restored buildings at Robertsdale.

 

[simulatortrain]

That caboose is looking good, what is the poly count of that version? It doesn't look too terrible.

I have considered donations to FEBT, and this will most likely be the choice if something does get done, but I just wish it could be something that would go directly towards ensuring the site's future.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Someone told me that donations, and funds, that were supposed to go to the EBT RR, were diverted away from the railroad, and never even used for the EBT RR at all.

 

[ebtrr]

Someone told me that donations, and funds, that were supposed to go to the EBT RR, were diverted away from the railroad, and never even used for the EBT RR at all.

I do know the funds donated to the EBTPA "Ticket to Preservation" program DID get used in its entirety to partially fund the professional bard restores that performed structural repairs on the EBT Blacksmith Shop. The rest was paud for by Joe Kovalchick (from his own pocket, I believe, rather than from the company.) Beyond that I do admit that The EBTPA has very little transparency, in either finances or management. That is part of the reason I suggested the FEBT restoration fund. It goes to many projects to prevent the EBT from disappearing physically. Anyway the EBTPA seems to focus on getting government grants rather than grass roots fundraising.

 

[philip114]

That high poly is 33,978 polys including the trucks. Probably not terrible and if I just re-did the body and used the modeled board joints to render out a normal map it would knock it down to usable size. That's kind of what I planned.

 

[flyboy559]

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing that caboose

 

[philip114]

alright, I got sidetracked again. Took a while to figure out the correct placement etc for everything to get the caboose to work properly. I searched everywhere and it was only through trial and error that I discovered that the order/position of the attachment points matters. So in the positive "Y" should be a.limfront then a.bog0 then a.bog1 then a.limback. Arghhhh. Seriously, is there a guide for this somewhere I'm missing or is this stuff a big secret?

Still need to do the couplers and I'm still just a tiny bit off vertically on the trucks. Oh, and the wheels aren't animated. I exported them w/ the animation but I'm assuming I need to include the .kin in the config. Just need to figure out where. Wasn't a major issue so I didn't pursue that very much. Need to finish the texture too I guess.

Anywho, here's the caboose in game. I guess I should make the numbers replaceable by the operator so you could do 27 or 28? Also should do a red version. Too busy w/ work to spend a ton of time on this.

 

[philip114]

Rockhill #9 tipple at Alvan

 

[cascaderailroad]

I don't know how you lay gradients ... but I have a trackchart ... and if I start at Pogue and lay a 2.6% grade, by the time I get halfway to Sidling Hill tunnel, the track is 200' in the air.

I have all the gradients in, and they look true to the DEM heights, now.

I drove from Orbisonia to Wrays tunnel with the jetsled, at 786mph ( 1min 40 sec ) !

 

[ebtrr]

I don't know how you lay gradients ... but I have a trackchart ... and if I start at Pogue and lay a 2.6% grade, by the time I get halfway to Sidling Hill tunnel, the track is 200' in the air.

I have all the gradients in, and they look true to the DEM heights, now.

I drove from Orbisonia to Wrays tunnel with the jetsled, at 786mph ( 1min 40 sec ) !

The grade from Pogue to Saltillo is pretty gentle, and it gets fairly steep from just beyond Saltillo all the way to Robertsdale. I'm actually wrighting this from Saltillo, but that is not very helpful as you can't look at the track and tell the gradient.

 

[philip114]

Yeah, ebtrr is right (of course!). I think it drops slightly in a few places too between those points? Bottom line is the route doesn't follow a gradient line from point a to point b. While it shows it that way on a gradient chart, I think in reality there was a lot more "up and down" in between. Think of the ruling grade in the chart as an average between the points.

While somewhat off topic, I just got back from southern Virginia and I saw some crazy trackage down there on some branch lines off the NW. Track w/ crazy grades up and down and all over the place! A lot of these grade changes between + and - occured over half a mile or less. I don't think a track chart would reflect that. It reminded me that especially back when the ebt was laid and especially on some of the branch lines like coles, that the trackage was probably pretty brutal. With the terrain through some of those areas it had to have done some acrobatics through the hills and hollows. Not a pretty, smooth mainline like the PRR etc al. I think they also redid a lot of the grades through the years which may be important depending one when the grade chart you're referencing was created.

I'm laying the route over the DEM using the track layout and known right of ways as the guide and then going in and checking the grades to get it to be fairly correct. In that shot of Alvan you can see the track was on a bit of a steep grade off to the right. I've corrected that since then. In a lot of cases when you adjust the spline point heights and smooth the grade you can see it makes sense with the terrain and is probably darn near what the railroad did. I don't think there's any way to make the route 100% accurate. I think as long as it's probable or close it's good. Unless you want to hire someone to go and survey all the row's and build it spot on. Of course even then it's likely to be slightly off from what it was 50 years ago.