Thank you Heinrich!
Yes I have made quite a few changes to the original track plan. I suppose it has been trainzified you might say. The original layout is only 10’x16’, while the layout I made here ended up using most of the whole baseboard which ends up making it roughly 16’x20’ or something like that. I also added a staging room on a second baseboard, staging for the barge traffic, and additional industries around the layout.
I know exactly what you mean about real life getting in the way of model railroading. I’ve always had a hard time getting the funds and space together. That’s what has always made trainz so much fun for me. It lets me do what I never really could. Its great.
I’ve hit burnout on routes as well. I’ve got a lot of derelicts over here that derailed for one reason or another. It is why I got inspired by Andrew’s work. I figured I could finish this one. What helped me getting there was not letting any limitations to the game, the track plan, or my own abilities stop me from finishing. I didn’t use basemapz, but instead just kept working at the general track arrangement until it started to look like what I wanted. And while I did use plenty of rulers, I didn’t let them run the show. The only curve I really measured turned out to be the worst one, which is why it owns a sign called dead man’s curve. And the reason it owns that sign is because I didn’t let it stop me. Instead it gave me a reason to chuck a few sintered boxcars into Rusty’s scrap yard. I imagined the charred husks of boxcars jousted from the rails, the fires from their hazardous contents having finally burned themselves out, being hauled up the side of the hill by a 250 ton crane into the scrap yard. As far as Rusty’s concerned, dead man’s curve is the best easement the PRR ever cut. Its his golden goose.
Like bob ross always said, happy accidents.
Good luck with your route Heinrich and thank you again for the compliments.