Northern NSW Flora

Vern

Trainz Maverick
Now I don't want to say too much specific at this stage in case the project goes dark, but I've been captivated by an old branch line in Northern New South Wales which I'm now attempting to reproduce in TS2009. From looking at the NSW topo maps overlaid in Transdem and aerial imagery in Google a fair bit of this route passes through forest lands.

Can anyone enlighten me as to the type of trees likely to be found in these areas - is it largely coniferous or deciduous etc? Obviously from 12,000 miles away at best it's going to be a generic attempt at the route but I would at least like to get the trees and foliage right.
 
G'day Vern,
While not living in the general area or even the state that includes your target line I can say with reasonable confidence that there won't be a lot of coniferous or decidous trees growing there as the dominant tree type in Australia is the Eucalypt or more commonly called gum tree. These tree types cover a wide range of climate types and geographic areas ranging from extremely wet rainforest to arid conditions, snow areas in the eastern ranges to the dry sandy center of the country. Of course there are other types as well but generally you could get away with using some of the quite good gum examples available from the DLS and don't forget to have a look at David Drakes excellent work. Good luck with your project.

Cheers
Russell.
 
If it's the branch line I'm thinking of, deciduous and conifers are among the rarest trees in the area, and are more than likely found in someone's garden! Eycalypt is the dominant species (tallowwood, brushbox, Sydney blue gum...) with areas of rainforest.
 
Okay - it's the branch line from Glenhaigh to Dorrigo. It only started with a quick recce in Transdem but having laid about 80% of the track I'm hooked on the hilly terrain (who says Australia is a desert!) and the steep undulating track.

As I said don't get too excited as quite a few of my recent projects have stalled but I'm fairly determined to make a go of this one.
 
Excellent references, thank you.

I have a feeling the Murchison 2 terrain textures will come in very handy, particularly for the distant mountains.
 
Streetview maybe good but So is having a local on the forums, the Glenreagh area is in my backyard so to speak if i can be of help let me know.

ghosty
 
I've had a look on Streetview and a few of the local roads are in there so definitely helps.

However the downside to Streetview I find is that it can start making you anxious that what you're creating in the sim is not very true to life. So I will say again that the end result is not guaranteed to look anything like the real thing, the aim being to generate a route that gives a pleasant two hour drive (or ride) through some wonderful hill scenery that hopefully resembles in part NSW! You might find a bridge where there should be a crossing or vice versa, and in laying out the track the averaging of the DEM means only one tunnel instead of two.

Anyhow with 70km to place scenery and terrain paint there's alot of work to do so I'd better get cracking!
 
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