How to model prototypical routes?

[Apogee10]

I know this topic has been raised in the forum before but I wanted to bring it up again just to get community input.

The question is "How do route builders build prototypical routes?". For example if you are building a 100 mile route between 2 cities do you actually use 200+ baseboards for the route?

For my prototypical routes I tend to emphasize areas of interest and take the liberty to shorten areas of lesser interest. This violates the definition of prototypical routes but for me it eliminates miles of boring or less interesting areas.

I would like to hear from anyone interested in this topic. I have a couple of routes I'm interested in building in my area of south Mississippi but can't get a handle on how to deal with mile after mile of pine trees.

Thanks

Apogee10

 

[SuperFudd]

Hi Apogee10,

First, 200 miles would be a bit more than 400 base boards in length.
I am all for selective compression, unless you intend to run prototype schedules at prototype speeds. Model railroaders have been doing this forever but only because of lack of space. Once us model RR types moved to Trainz, we (most of us) realized, even without space limitations, that selective compression is still a very good idea, for the reasons you mention.
I am working on a "route", WP and SP Stockton to Milpitas circa 1962 and overall compression is about 3 to 1. This is my first and last "route". I am going back to making "layouts". Easier and more fun to make and more fun to operate, in my not so humble opinion.
If there is some interesting prototype route feature, you can add it to a layout. With efectively no space limitations, you can have the best of both worlds.

 

[cascaderailroad]

My route is from Huntingdon to Johnstown, and northwards to Phillipsburg, and eastward to Bellefonte Pa. It is a DEM and has 10,000+ baseboards (567mb), not sure how it would work on a low end PC.

You can use flat baseboards, and make hundereds of merging mini dioramas, of all the favorite railfanning sites between the two distant cities (NY-LA), and condence the 2000 mile route to well under 100 - 200 baseboards.

 

[Klinger]

Im with Fudd, the idea of "layouts" offers a far more enjoyable experience, and allows freelancing.