Ever been to one of those railroad fares or shows? Lots of model train clubs showing their work. Every now and than those model train clubs even decide to combine their routes together to make one large route.
Wouldn't it be nice if we did something similar in Trainz?
These train clubs can combine their work because they work with a pre-defined module standard. As long as everyone sticks to the basics of the standard and can live with the different building styles and skills of the participants, together they can create very large and interesting routes.
So I thought: To do the same thing in Trainz, we need a standard; a few basic and clear rules that are not too hard to comply to.
And that's what I did: Create a standard (and give it a name).
Part of that standard is limited / enforced by the way Trainz is build; baseboards size and not being able to rotated them when merging. The rest needed some thoughts.
M120 module definition:
After a lot of thinking and some basic experimenting, this is the result, the "M120 standard" for "model railroadz":
Connection definition between modules:
Modules are on the Eastern and Western edge connected with each other by a 120m wide base plate in the middle of a baseboard.
The rail connection is a dual-track main line, positioned between 20m and 30m of the south-side of the 120m wide plate.
First 20m of track are straight on both East and West end, after that up to the choice of the designer.
First 20m of baseboard on both East and West end are flat, after that up to the choice of the designer.
Screenshot of the connection:
Module size: Modules are between 1 and 4 baseboards in size and setup in the way of "Model Railroadz".
Sides: Keep at least 120m of distance between the edges of the module and the edge of the baseboard, after that up to the choice of the designer.
Allowed content to use: Only DLS content and content built-in into TS2010 and TS12 (and later TANE). The idea is to be able to every now and than merge the routes and make a multiplayer session the combined route; MP requires this.
Tracks: Standard gauge main (connecting) line. Type of track and what you do outside of the main line is up to the choice of the designer.
Driving direction: Right-side driving on main line. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer.
Trainz versions: For your creation you can use every version that can be loaded into TS12 SP1 without extra tricks until we are 100% sure the final version of TANE supports merge without problems. After that every version that can be loaded into TANE.
Station platform length: 120m minimum on main line. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer.
Signaling: At least 1 signal in each direction on the main line; consider more if you have a long main line on your module. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer. Details open for discussion.
Country / theme: Totally up to the choice of the designer.
Here are some very basic empty module examples of a 1 or 2 baseboard module:
1 baseboard examples:
2 baseboards examples:
Hoping this will become a success, I took the liberty of renting a hall and with some basic particleboard constructed the western loop :hehe: :
I hope enough people are interested in this idea to make it a success and in a few months we can have our first combined trainz model route
.
![train_show_example.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/train_show_example.jpg)
Wouldn't it be nice if we did something similar in Trainz?
These train clubs can combine their work because they work with a pre-defined module standard. As long as everyone sticks to the basics of the standard and can live with the different building styles and skills of the participants, together they can create very large and interesting routes.
So I thought: To do the same thing in Trainz, we need a standard; a few basic and clear rules that are not too hard to comply to.
And that's what I did: Create a standard (and give it a name).
Part of that standard is limited / enforced by the way Trainz is build; baseboards size and not being able to rotated them when merging. The rest needed some thoughts.
M120 module definition:
After a lot of thinking and some basic experimenting, this is the result, the "M120 standard" for "model railroadz":
Connection definition between modules:
Modules are on the Eastern and Western edge connected with each other by a 120m wide base plate in the middle of a baseboard.
The rail connection is a dual-track main line, positioned between 20m and 30m of the south-side of the 120m wide plate.
First 20m of track are straight on both East and West end, after that up to the choice of the designer.
First 20m of baseboard on both East and West end are flat, after that up to the choice of the designer.
Screenshot of the connection:
![m120_standard.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_standard.jpg)
Module size: Modules are between 1 and 4 baseboards in size and setup in the way of "Model Railroadz".
Sides: Keep at least 120m of distance between the edges of the module and the edge of the baseboard, after that up to the choice of the designer.
Allowed content to use: Only DLS content and content built-in into TS2010 and TS12 (and later TANE). The idea is to be able to every now and than merge the routes and make a multiplayer session the combined route; MP requires this.
Tracks: Standard gauge main (connecting) line. Type of track and what you do outside of the main line is up to the choice of the designer.
Driving direction: Right-side driving on main line. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer.
Trainz versions: For your creation you can use every version that can be loaded into TS12 SP1 without extra tricks until we are 100% sure the final version of TANE supports merge without problems. After that every version that can be loaded into TANE.
Station platform length: 120m minimum on main line. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer.
Signaling: At least 1 signal in each direction on the main line; consider more if you have a long main line on your module. Everything else is up to the choice of the designer. Details open for discussion.
Country / theme: Totally up to the choice of the designer.
Here are some very basic empty module examples of a 1 or 2 baseboard module:
1 baseboard examples:
![m120_example11.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_example11.jpg)
![m120_example12.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_example12.jpg)
2 baseboards examples:
![m120_example21.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_example21.jpg)
![m120_example22.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_example22.jpg)
Hoping this will become a success, I took the liberty of renting a hall and with some basic particleboard constructed the western loop :hehe: :
![m120_loop_west03.jpg](http://members.chello.nl/o.knotsenburg/trainz/m120/m120_loop_west03.jpg)
I hope enough people are interested in this idea to make it a success and in a few months we can have our first combined trainz model route