Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
Thanks bro!!!
Northeast Corridor Project (WIP)
- Thread starter Little_Boy921
- Start date
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
uuhhh dude, Im not apart of or associated with Auran or N3V games so I cant help you there. I really dont know what else to say. Also, idk why you chose my thread to vent this on lol
Last edited:
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
PENN STATION HAS BEEN REACHED
Ladies and Gentlemen, or whoever you would like to be addressed as, I've done it....I've finally reached PENN FEAKING STATION!!! Never in my life did I ever think I would utter those words for a Northeast Corridor that I made starting from Washington. Especially just over a month since I reached Trenton!!! Now I was going to do a post like this when I reached Newark...*checks date* LAST WEEK (Jesus), but uh since Newark is about 10 miles New York City, I thought I might as well expand it and wait until reached it to post. But first, we gotta make our way north from Trenton on what is known as The Race Track!
This section, next to Penn Station, was definitely the most difficult part of building this section of railroad, mainly because of how straight it is. There is a limit to how long a spline can be and from testing, it seems to max out at 5 to 6 miles. The section of track Princeton Junction sits is near double that length and figuring out how to do that and keeping the tracks straight at the same time was a source of some anxiety as I approached it. I ended up doing the same thing I did on NEC north to make the Rhode Island straight as long and straight as it currently is; copy the straight piece of track and pasting it in a way that would allow me to use it as a guide. Its a lot harder than it sounds due to the fact that the game's framerate slowed down whenever I did it. This, combined with the fact that I was dealing 4 tracks instead of 2, makes me really happy I managed to pull through and it was worth it! Also, no this section of the corridor is not rated for 150mph. For any new users that have stumbled upon this thread, this version of the corridor is set in the early 2010s (circa 2013), so the speed limit here is capped at 135 mph. However, I have plans of modifying the route to be more up to date and have gone the extra mile of narrowing down where cp clark is. Its a random signal bridge north of Clarksville road that's now the only place on this section of track (apart from Midway Interlocking) that still has position light signals as of 2023.
Now, I hope you guys wont mind if I take some time to vent a little about the creation of this portion. Earlier this year, dovetail released their new Northeast Corridor route that covers New York to Trenton for Train Sim World 3, and I was looking forward to using it as a reference for gradients once I reached Trenton. I had used them before for Boston to Providence, and Baltimore to Washington and I had no reason to suspect that their stats would be wrong, as they would have access to things that me, some 20 something college kid who's working on this all by himself, wouldn't know. Well, you can imagine my surprise and annoyance that in using that route as reference, I discovered a lot more inaccuracies than I had realized. Weather it be tracks going up hill and downhill in wrong places, them simplifying gradients which was really annoying, and using their original NEC route for Train Sim World 1 from 2018 one to one which has aged as well as the Emoji Movie...which I've just realized came out 6 years ago...... Anyways, you can imagine how annoying this was, looking at a cab ride video of this route put side by side with a rear view video covering that same section and seeing two different interpretations. Granted, there were sections that do line up with real life but most of it just wrong. I get the feeling this route was rushed in someway, because compared to their two previous northeast corridor routes, there were not as many quirks as this one had. This doesn't effect my ability to enjoy the route in game but I can understand why some people see this as a 'dovetail dud', and really disappointing for me because I have treated them as a trusted source in the past. This has nothing to do with the image of metropark, but I will say this is one of the few places where the gradients do line up with real life.
Onto Newark Penn Station and there's honestly not much to show here except the platforms. Its clearly not finished but I want to figure out what Im going to do for the PATH tracks before I build the exterior. Speaking off, I am open to any suggestions on what I can do for the Dock Bridge. Its definetly a more unique design, particularly for the bridge that carries one of the NEC tracks and the PATH tracks, and Im not really sure what assets to use or how to go about it in general. I guess I could use the same lift bridge I used on the right and overlap it with another one. What do you guys think?
Now onto the main event, Pennsylvania Station, New York, New York!!!
Not going to lie, I was dreading this, even more so than the race track. I have found in recent years its been much more difficult to remake Penn Station than it has been in the past. The more I strove to be as one to one with the real thing as possible, the more I realized the challenges that come with Penn Station. To where I don't think I could do what had done in the past and start my route there. Combine this with the open area between Dyre Avenue and 9th Avenue no longer being shown as open to air on google maps, Im basically working blind. The only silver lining throughout all of this is the fact that detailed blueprints of the North River Tunnels, Penn Station, and the East River Tunnels are easily available online (and are much more trust worthy than train sim world' nec route). Without them, I would be going insane right now. I spent about a week working on it and I think I've done a pretty good job. While not perfect, I do think its an improvement over the Penn Station on my original NEC route. And its probably the most accurate Penn Station I've ever built for one major reason; the station isnt on level. From the Hudson River tunnels, the line levels out at a 0.4% uphill before switching to a 0.4% downhill gradient between 8th and 7th Avenues. This is something I hadn't realized at any point when making Penn Station in the past, nor is it something that's been replicated in any train simulator I've seen. And once you realize that, its really hard to unsee it. Go online and look for any cab rides of Long Island Railroad trains. You'll see that as the train enters the platform, it looks like the line isnt on a flat surface but is going upward before it levels out in the middle of the platform. Really interesting tidbit, though this realization came not early enough in the building process. I will say this will make placing the third rail a lot more tedious since the asset Im using has to be lowered by 0.24 meters in order for the third rail shoes of the m7s and/or mp54s to not clip through it.
Now I would've loved to show more pictures comparing locations here to ones on my original nec route, but I feel its too early to make that comparison and because there is a limit to how many photos you can have in a single post, something I found out when making the last update, which was going to have a lot more pictures than it currently has. But I have realized that a better way of comparing the two routes is by driving them. If you go on my youtube channel, KentheNugget's Archive (which was originally going to be art focused but since I suck at making art related video content I just use to upload trainz stuff), you'll find two videos that cover my original nec route. Both being filmed at different times and both being filmed off my iphone because I didnt have a video capture program on my pc (at least in the case of the first video). Since those videos exist, I can do a run through my current route (and maybe my original one again for better video quality) and stack them up to see how far I've come as a route builder. That will be at some point in the near future but that will only be after I've developed this section more thoroughly.
Ladies and Gentlemen, or whoever you would like to be addressed as, I've done it....I've finally reached PENN FEAKING STATION!!! Never in my life did I ever think I would utter those words for a Northeast Corridor that I made starting from Washington. Especially just over a month since I reached Trenton!!! Now I was going to do a post like this when I reached Newark...*checks date* LAST WEEK (Jesus), but uh since Newark is about 10 miles New York City, I thought I might as well expand it and wait until reached it to post. But first, we gotta make our way north from Trenton on what is known as The Race Track!
This section, next to Penn Station, was definitely the most difficult part of building this section of railroad, mainly because of how straight it is. There is a limit to how long a spline can be and from testing, it seems to max out at 5 to 6 miles. The section of track Princeton Junction sits is near double that length and figuring out how to do that and keeping the tracks straight at the same time was a source of some anxiety as I approached it. I ended up doing the same thing I did on NEC north to make the Rhode Island straight as long and straight as it currently is; copy the straight piece of track and pasting it in a way that would allow me to use it as a guide. Its a lot harder than it sounds due to the fact that the game's framerate slowed down whenever I did it. This, combined with the fact that I was dealing 4 tracks instead of 2, makes me really happy I managed to pull through and it was worth it! Also, no this section of the corridor is not rated for 150mph. For any new users that have stumbled upon this thread, this version of the corridor is set in the early 2010s (circa 2013), so the speed limit here is capped at 135 mph. However, I have plans of modifying the route to be more up to date and have gone the extra mile of narrowing down where cp clark is. Its a random signal bridge north of Clarksville road that's now the only place on this section of track (apart from Midway Interlocking) that still has position light signals as of 2023.
Now, I hope you guys wont mind if I take some time to vent a little about the creation of this portion. Earlier this year, dovetail released their new Northeast Corridor route that covers New York to Trenton for Train Sim World 3, and I was looking forward to using it as a reference for gradients once I reached Trenton. I had used them before for Boston to Providence, and Baltimore to Washington and I had no reason to suspect that their stats would be wrong, as they would have access to things that me, some 20 something college kid who's working on this all by himself, wouldn't know. Well, you can imagine my surprise and annoyance that in using that route as reference, I discovered a lot more inaccuracies than I had realized. Weather it be tracks going up hill and downhill in wrong places, them simplifying gradients which was really annoying, and using their original NEC route for Train Sim World 1 from 2018 one to one which has aged as well as the Emoji Movie...which I've just realized came out 6 years ago...... Anyways, you can imagine how annoying this was, looking at a cab ride video of this route put side by side with a rear view video covering that same section and seeing two different interpretations. Granted, there were sections that do line up with real life but most of it just wrong. I get the feeling this route was rushed in someway, because compared to their two previous northeast corridor routes, there were not as many quirks as this one had. This doesn't effect my ability to enjoy the route in game but I can understand why some people see this as a 'dovetail dud', and really disappointing for me because I have treated them as a trusted source in the past. This has nothing to do with the image of metropark, but I will say this is one of the few places where the gradients do line up with real life.
Onto Newark Penn Station and there's honestly not much to show here except the platforms. Its clearly not finished but I want to figure out what Im going to do for the PATH tracks before I build the exterior. Speaking off, I am open to any suggestions on what I can do for the Dock Bridge. Its definetly a more unique design, particularly for the bridge that carries one of the NEC tracks and the PATH tracks, and Im not really sure what assets to use or how to go about it in general. I guess I could use the same lift bridge I used on the right and overlap it with another one. What do you guys think?
Now onto the main event, Pennsylvania Station, New York, New York!!!
Not going to lie, I was dreading this, even more so than the race track. I have found in recent years its been much more difficult to remake Penn Station than it has been in the past. The more I strove to be as one to one with the real thing as possible, the more I realized the challenges that come with Penn Station. To where I don't think I could do what had done in the past and start my route there. Combine this with the open area between Dyre Avenue and 9th Avenue no longer being shown as open to air on google maps, Im basically working blind. The only silver lining throughout all of this is the fact that detailed blueprints of the North River Tunnels, Penn Station, and the East River Tunnels are easily available online (and are much more trust worthy than train sim world' nec route). Without them, I would be going insane right now. I spent about a week working on it and I think I've done a pretty good job. While not perfect, I do think its an improvement over the Penn Station on my original NEC route. And its probably the most accurate Penn Station I've ever built for one major reason; the station isnt on level. From the Hudson River tunnels, the line levels out at a 0.4% uphill before switching to a 0.4% downhill gradient between 8th and 7th Avenues. This is something I hadn't realized at any point when making Penn Station in the past, nor is it something that's been replicated in any train simulator I've seen. And once you realize that, its really hard to unsee it. Go online and look for any cab rides of Long Island Railroad trains. You'll see that as the train enters the platform, it looks like the line isnt on a flat surface but is going upward before it levels out in the middle of the platform. Really interesting tidbit, though this realization came not early enough in the building process. I will say this will make placing the third rail a lot more tedious since the asset Im using has to be lowered by 0.24 meters in order for the third rail shoes of the m7s and/or mp54s to not clip through it.
Now I would've loved to show more pictures comparing locations here to ones on my original nec route, but I feel its too early to make that comparison and because there is a limit to how many photos you can have in a single post, something I found out when making the last update, which was going to have a lot more pictures than it currently has. But I have realized that a better way of comparing the two routes is by driving them. If you go on my youtube channel, KentheNugget's Archive (which was originally going to be art focused but since I suck at making art related video content I just use to upload trainz stuff), you'll find two videos that cover my original nec route. Both being filmed at different times and both being filmed off my iphone because I didnt have a video capture program on my pc (at least in the case of the first video). Since those videos exist, I can do a run through my current route (and maybe my original one again for better video quality) and stack them up to see how far I've come as a route builder. That will be at some point in the near future but that will only be after I've developed this section more thoroughly.
Wow, this is incredibly impressive! You should really give yourself a huge pat on the back for getting this far. I, alongside many others, are really looking forward to seeing this project get completed. Congrats with getting up to Penn Station, and all the best of luck with the rest of the route!
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
Thank you for your support and interest! ^^ This is honestly a surreal moment for me because ever since I was a kid, I had always dreamed about driving on this specific section of the corridor between New York and Washington, in attempt to recreate the emotions of riding the Carolinian, the first time I had been on an Amtrak back in 2014. Recreating that experience and eventually, the entire northeast corridor, has been something I've been striving to do since that trip, and since I had gotten Trainz on my ipad. And now, 9 years later, that dreams is finally close to become a reality. I wonder how my 11 year old self would react if I came back in time and showed him this route XD.
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
Hey guys! I know its been a hot minute since I last posted anything here. Part of that was due to not much really happening in terms of both NEC routes (I decided to take a break from them to try out other projects like a New York Central Hudson River Line route set in the 40s) but also because of, if you couldnt tell, the forums have been completely updated. However, a major downside of this is that I cant log into my trainz account on google chrome. Anytime I try to, Im taken to a blank white screen. Im only having this problem on chrome because I can log in no issue on internet explorer Microsoft edge. So I guess I'll be using different browsers to post updates for the time being.
Besides that, I got nothing else to say. Just wanted to update this thread to keep it alive. Expect the next update to be on NEC North: Boston to New Haven, because I really have been neglecting this year havent I?
Besides that, I got nothing else to say. Just wanted to update this thread to keep it alive. Expect the next update to be on NEC North: Boston to New Haven, because I really have been neglecting this year havent I?
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
Heeeey guys! I know its been quite a while since the last post ^^' I have been meaning to update this but since I havent been working on both nec routes since August, I havent really been able to update this thread with any real updates. The truth is, I've been having trouble trying to muster up motivation to continue both routes, and it started back when I reached Penn Station in Northeast Corridor South. The goal of remaking the Northeast Corridor in Trainz dates back to 2014 when I took my first Amtrak train, the first time I had ridden a train that wasnt going to New York and back. And specifically, I wanted to recreate the part of the trip between New York and Washington via the Carolininan, recreating the magic so to speak. And since most of my love has gone to NEC South over North, that goal has been completed and now Im left of the question of "what now?". Of course, completing the section between New York and New Haven is next but that will have to wait until I can work on NEC North since there is a specific location where I want the two routes to meet up at that I dont want to pass if I continue expanding NEC South. What also hasnt been helping is a recently annoying trend where my the framerate on my pc slows down to a crawl whenever I launch Trainz, when that was never the case in the past. And the fact that after accidentally spilling juice on my keyboard, part of the keys (specifically the arrow keys) get stuck easily which will make going in surveyor mode tricky until I can get a new one.
However, despite what I've said, I think the next real update regarding this project will be on NEC North. I have played it recently for the first time in a while, and I realized something. It is not as bad to drive...if you're in anything except an Acela. If you're driving a regional service in an AEM-7, HHP-8, or if you go old school and drive a F40PH Northeast Direct service, its pretty good because you don't get to experience the constant sudden and harsh speed changes on a line which, for most of its length, was never meant to host high speed trains without major track realignments and upgrades. Its pleasant when you're not constantly speeding up then breaking because the curve in front of you has a speed limit that's 10x slower than the speed section you're currently on, and getting annoyed that you cant build up the BC after releasing the breaks because there's no such thing as gradual self lap in realistic mode. Because of all of this, I feel a little more inclined to work on NEC North for the time being, and most of it will be around New Haven station which I've left untouched since earlier this year (Jesus). And who knows, the next update might even been in Trainz 2022 as I've noticed that the price for it on steam has mercifully dropped from 80 dollars to 40 and perhaps even less once it goes on sale again soon!
However, despite what I've said, I think the next real update regarding this project will be on NEC North. I have played it recently for the first time in a while, and I realized something. It is not as bad to drive...if you're in anything except an Acela. If you're driving a regional service in an AEM-7, HHP-8, or if you go old school and drive a F40PH Northeast Direct service, its pretty good because you don't get to experience the constant sudden and harsh speed changes on a line which, for most of its length, was never meant to host high speed trains without major track realignments and upgrades. Its pleasant when you're not constantly speeding up then breaking because the curve in front of you has a speed limit that's 10x slower than the speed section you're currently on, and getting annoyed that you cant build up the BC after releasing the breaks because there's no such thing as gradual self lap in realistic mode. Because of all of this, I feel a little more inclined to work on NEC North for the time being, and most of it will be around New Haven station which I've left untouched since earlier this year (Jesus). And who knows, the next update might even been in Trainz 2022 as I've noticed that the price for it on steam has mercifully dropped from 80 dollars to 40 and perhaps even less once it goes on sale again soon!
Hey there! It's great to hear from you again. Exploring other projects like the New York Central Hudson River Line sounds intriguing. It's a bummer that the forum update is causing login issues specifically on Google Chrome, but it's smart to adapt by using different browsers to keep the updates coming. Can't wait for the NEC North update; your dedication is truly appreciated. It's alright to take breaks and try out different projects, but looking forward to the exciting developments you'll bring to the community. Keep up the fantastic work!
bnsffan757
New member
How long do you think until the route will be finished? A year or two?
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
It does depend how much free time I have. While also working on this project, Im working on a webcomic series which can be very draining due to how much you have to draw per page, and other personal stuff in my life like applying to schools and such. I think now, since Im currently taking a semester off until Fall 2024, I can definitely spend more time on this project. Especially now since I have a new keyboard and wont need to worry about keys sticking haha. (make sure you dont spill orange juice on your keyboard guys........or as a matter of fact, any sort of food or drink)
Little_Boy921
Route Building Rocks
Hey guys! It's certainly been a while since I updated this thread. Seeing as how Im making this post, I can assure you that I have no forgotten about this thread, or the project. Speaking of which, I havent really made any posts about it since July, mostly due to the fact that I havent been working on it as much. I havent scrapped it, dont worry, but I am taking an extended break from this project. Im not exaggerating when I say this is the longest I've spent on any given trainz project, from November 2021 to July 2023. And its safe to say I have become burnout with NEC North and South because of it, which is inevitable if you work on the same thing for extended periods of time without doing anything else. That being said, I will come back to this project eventually and when I do, it will be in Trainz 2022 which I have to say, is a great step up from Trainz 2019 in terms of features. Specifically, Im refering to surveyor 2.0, which is not available if you dont purchase the platinum edition like I did for some reason. I havent been building routes souley in 2.0, but I have been switching between 1.0 and 2.0 for certain tasks. And I gotta say, despite being intimidated at first, there are plenty of features in that mode that make it 10x better than the original surveyor. Dont get me wrong, Suveyor 1.0 is great but I realize it was somewhat limited in what you could do. Limitations can be both a good and bad thing. Limitations can force you to think outside the box for certian situations and come up with creative solutions, but they can also hold you back from achieve a project's full potential. With Surveyor 1.0, I felt like the limitations in that mode held me back from doing certain projects which would be very tedious and annoying like building a route where the lowest elevation is 50 meters (160 feet). What Surveyor 2.0 does is take those limitations and throw them out the window, and allows you to do a lot more things which you couldnt do in 1.0, like moving signals which are right handed only to the left, setting the elevation on multiple baseboards at once, and a bunch of other awesome things which I'm still discovering as I type this. Honestly, building the remaining portion of the NEC will be so quicker now that Im in Trainz 2022, but for now I'll probably make another thread detailing one of the routes Im working on in this new version.
Before I wrap this up, Im thinking of releasing a beta version of NEC North or South just to not keep you guys in the dark and serve as a sneak peak to what you can expect. Im not sure to have it be a google drive to also include custom made assets for the route, or replace said assets with ones that are packaged in game or on the download station. Let me know what you guys think!
Before I wrap this up, Im thinking of releasing a beta version of NEC North or South just to not keep you guys in the dark and serve as a sneak peak to what you can expect. Im not sure to have it be a google drive to also include custom made assets for the route, or replace said assets with ones that are packaged in game or on the download station. Let me know what you guys think!