Kauai Plantation Railway Project Idea...

cressjl

Member
I just came across this real-life layout:

kauai_plantation_rr_map.jpg


You couldn't ask for a better Model Railroad layout that actually exists!

I was thinking that this might be a good practice route to refine my route-building skills.

Any ideas?
 
Actually many miniature railways would form a good basis for an upscaled route. A year or two ago I did a similar exercise for the Strawberry Line railway (about 30 miles from where I live), in RW-TS (Trainz version still pending). I also started but never finished our "local" Coate Water miniature railway, may try that again now I seem to have TANE working better.

Of course the daddy of them all is Train Mountain in Oregon, but I fear that behemoth would actually take more work than some actual prototype routes!

Edit: Ooops, just wikied it and see it's actually a NG line, not miniature. Still an interesting prototype for a quick build, I may look at this myself.
 
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Have your seen this:
Kauai 2008...
Ish
Thanks, Ish! I downloaded it, and there was no mention of faultys or missing dependencies, but it would not load correctly in T:ANE (white board issue...). From the description, this would be an interesting route that might provide some great starting material (baseboard elevations, for instance). On the other hand, it will be much larger overall than what I will be needing!

...Still an interesting prototype for a quick build, I may look at this myself.
A quick look at their website reveals some great pictures of the narrow gauge diesel engine and passenger cars. There are some good photographs of surrounding buildings, and when combined with Google Earth and associated photos, I think there is enough here to get started.

I downloaded the 1/9 DEMs, but beyond that I haven't had a chance to do much yet. I figure that something like this is a lot less daunting for a learner like me to tackle. I'll see what I can do!
 
Thanks, Ish! I downloaded it, and there was no mention of faultys or missing dependencies, but it would not load correctly in T:ANE (white board issue...). From the description, this would be an interesting route that might provide some great starting material (baseboard elevations, for instance). On the other hand, it will be much larger overall than what I will be needing!

Hello,

You're welcome, sir!

At another thread Deane, the creator of the route had issues importing it into TANE -- I can't recall the detail, tho!

However, if you do process forward use this thread -- :wave:

Kind Regards
Ish
 
Hi cressjl & Ish
You need to import the Kauai route into TS12 first make a change ie add a tree and save then export the CDP and import into Tane the route should work fine then.
 
@ cressjl

Joel,

Butler57 is correct. T:ANE can't read the map format used in TRS2004, hence you need to run it through either TS2010 or TS12 and save from there first before the format becomes readable in T:ANE. You don't have either of those old editions of Trainz, but I have just sent a trainz-build 4.2 update of the route to the DLS. Hopefully it will be available in a day or two.

The length scale of the DEM that I used in the Kauai 2008 route was reduced to one-third so I could fit the whole island into a reasonable number of boards. I imagine you won't need to downsize anything for your Plantation route, but you might still find it interesting to see the island as a whole.

Out of curiosity, I navigated to the area on the route where the Plantation railway is in real life. It shows the Kilohana crater and highway 50 (the Kaumualii highway), but little else. Obviously my research at the time didn't pick up on those details.


~ Deane




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Well not having anything else to do yesterday afternoon, I did a Transdem extraction and laid the track in TANE. I'm not sure if the mapping and DEM are a bit off but there was a significant "hump" in the middle of both ovals which required a fair bit of gradient twiddling to get it to work. I've used the 3'6" Protrack as opposed to 3'0" on the prototype as once you've experienced auto-formed points and frogs, there's not really any going back. There also seems to be more in the way of 3'6" rolling stock that can be used including, if desperate, some Japanese railcars.

Now to start scouring the DLS for some up to date trees that suit the Hawaiian climate.
 
Well not having anything else to do yesterday afternoon, I did a Transdem extraction and laid the track in TANE. I'm not sure if the mapping and DEM are a bit off but there was a significant "hump" in the middle of both ovals which required a fair bit of gradient twiddling to get it to work. I've used the 3'6" Protrack as opposed to 3'0" on the prototype as once you've experienced auto-formed points and frogs, there's not really any going back. There also seems to be more in the way of 3'6" rolling stock that can be used including, if desperate, some Japanese railcars.

Now to start scouring the DLS for some up to date trees that suit the Hawaiian climate.
Wow, Vern, you need to change that signature of yours...you're moving out quickly in T:ANE! And as far as TransDEM is concerned, I'm still trying to make sense of the two documents...I suppose I'm making it harder than it really is.

I'm not surprised that DEM includes some altitude anomalies; I've seen these artifacts in early route development, but hey, I've seen them in Google Earth as well!

It will be interesting to know what vegetation and trees will come close enough to what they have growing to be convincing.
 
but I have just sent a trainz-build 4.2 update of the route to the DLS. Hopefully it will be available in a day or two.

~ Deane


...

Hello Guys --

This is great news - Thanks Deane for take the time to update to TANE version -- TANE here runs superbly ... I am one o the luck one's I suppose, so I know your bueatiful route will run great too ...:udrool:

Also, to be honest, with all due respect to the route masters that may have done similiar tourist theme route, nothing, in my opinion beats what Deane has done! It's why I have recommend the route on other threads, especially on the New Aircraft thread, in which Pascal, a mater reskinner of airplanes have done great work on small tourist planes to circle the island! -- The route is clean, not overraley crowded with contents ... very user friendly!

@Joel -- If you do go forward with your plans take your time, do it right, shows your progress, sir ... I am sure we will keep a close eye on this thread! -- The important lesson, no rush -- :hehe: Why I say this, well because there's really isn't any type of real tourist routes like Deane ... It''ll cool to see your progress as time goes on! --

@Heinz, dear buddy --- glad to see you around the forum -- I know, your job, real life ... gets in the way sometimes LOL ... Drop me a PM or email ... anything ew down under?:hehe:

Take Care guys

Ish
 
Wow, Vern, you need to change that signature of yours...you're moving out quickly in T:ANE! And as far as TransDEM is concerned, I'm still trying to make sense of the two documents...I suppose I'm making it harder than it really is.

I'm not surprised that DEM includes some altitude anomalies; I've seen these artifacts in early route development, but hey, I've seen them in Google Earth as well!

It will be interesting to know what vegetation and trees will come close enough to what they have growing to be convincing.

Well there are certainly lemon and orange trees available, along with a pineapple spline - that is a bit old so might not display so well in TANE. No lime (citrus) trees I can see or mango, but there are plenty of acacia varieties. Guess palms could be substituted or at a pinch any "waxy" looking tree. I suppose a grape or similar vineyard could be substituted, too.
 
...
@Joel -- If you do go forward with your plans take your time, do it right, shows your progress, sir ... I am sure we will keep a close eye on this thread! -- The important lesson, no rush -- :hehe: Why I say this, well because there's really isn't any type of real tourist routes like Deane ... It''ll cool to see your progress as time goes on! --
...
Ish
Well, with your kind words and encouragement, I feel that I have no choice than to get to work!

Initially I was researching the Maui Sugar Cane Train, which was a small tourist operation in Lahaina I had the pleasure of riding years ago (a month after hurricane Iniki devastated Kauai). I had visited Kilohana on Kauai a few years earlier, but there was no railway at the time.

Now, the Maui Sugar Cane Train has closed, but I believe it is scheduled to reopen in the fall of this year, if they can garner enough support to meet their financial obligations.

Then I discovered the Kauai Plantation Railroad site.

The Maui line is not as interesting in that it is a spur line, if I can remember correctly. Besides, the Kauai Plantation Railway has provided enough information to model a fairly accurate representation without having to ""fictionalize" too much. This little route is also quite like a typical model railroad layout (as Vern clearly noticed!), and is tempting to implement this way. I really like the model railroad layouts philskene has made, and this little layout would be perfect for this kind of layout!
 
It will be interesting to compare the two Joel, assuming I can actually get something finished!

Other similar routes which come to mind are the ng park railway in Dresden (Germany) and the steam ng/electric tramway operation in Whiteman Park near Perth.
 
From our 2014 visit to Kilohana and the Kauai Plantation Railway
At the station
2014-02-28-09-41-25.jpg
Out among the groves
2014-02-28-13-11-15.jpg
Switch detail
2014-02-28-13-28-09.jpg
One of the passenger cars
2014-02-28-09-40-38.jpg
Looking forward to see this recreated in T:ANE
 
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I also heard they plan on restoring at 0-6-2 tank engine as well. Did you get a chance on seeing it there on your visit? Plus Hawaii NG would make an interesting route like the Oahu NG.
 
Just a heads up to the OP - I've abandoned my effort due to TANE being about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle, even for a small route like this. Knock yourself out...
 
Just a heads up to the OP - I've abandoned my effort due to TANE being about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle, even for a small route like this. Knock yourself out...
Yes, I wonder how some, like philskene, are so successful in T:ANE. I wonder if they aren't simply working in TS12 and then importing everything. I believe TS12, which I had removed from my system, is going back on.
 
Why not just ask the people like philskene who have routes in T:ANE where they made them instead of speculating?
 
Why not just ask the people like philskene who have routes in T:ANE where they made them instead of speculating?
This was intended to be a rhetorical question, not speculation. It really doesn't matter what the answer is for them. I do know that T:ANE is cumbersome to use for route creation though...
 
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I had the thought of tackling the small plantation route and then place it into the Kauai route - that way it could be a mini model railway standalone route and/or added to the Kauai route as an interest factor - not hard to do in TS12 but I agree Tane can be a bear on occasions.
 
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