Alan,
WOW!!! Okay, I downloaded your WIP and the session into TRS19, although it is in an older beta version, as I am somewhat reluctant to upgrade to SP3 at this point. There were some unknown assets, but they showed the author, thank goodness. Some of Don49plm's roundhouse sheds came up as unknown. I tried downloading them from The Erecting Hall, but they still showed as missing. So, I ported them over from my TANE version, and they loaded up fine. That left me with one missing/unknown asset:
<kuid2:210518:4777:1> bendorsey
Google search was negative. I've no idea what that one is.
The Greenwich Terminal area really looks slick! The yard is huge and much of it really looked familiar to me, as I'd recently finished Triumph III. I actually went back to check that section of the book after watching the session run for a while. You've captured things so very well. The photos in the book match up nicely with your recreation. You will have to get someone to create that ornate Grain Elevator though, as I'm sure there isn't anything even remotely like that in the CM.
Some words on the session are next. It was really a kick watching the cars uncoupling at the hump and rolling down into the sorting yard. I watched to see if they would overload the one track, as they all seemed to be going to that one outside siding. But, as soon as that siding took as many as it could, the switch changed for the following coal car and it diverted to the next siding. That is really some slick work there, as I've only seen hump yards that randomly divert cars to the various sidings, unless you actually handle the junctions yourself and manually divert them to specific tracks.
The coal unloading process threw me off at first. I'm used to seeing the coal cars pushed up the long and somewhat level ramp and into the rotary dumper, and after they are unloaded, the switcher then pushes the next one into the rotary and this pushes the empty out of the rotary. Then the unloaded one rushes down the steep rear ramp and up the next back ramp, slowing and stopping, and then rushing back down that ramp again, where it is then diverted to the lower track and rolls via gravity to a holding siding.
This one was working in the opposite direction. The Conrail switcher was pushing the loaded cars to a smaller hump, where they would disconnect and roll down to the steep ramps on the backside of the two high unloading trestles, and then the coal cars "mysteriously" rode up the steep ramp and into the rotary. I had to check my Triumph III and found out that there was a system of cables that were run by a stationary train engine, and the full cars were pulled up the steep ramp via the cable system and unhooked in the rotary. Once they were unloaded, they then rolled down the long ramp into the holding sidings.
Of course the "mystery" was solved once I checked the drivers for the session and found two listed to Rotary 1 and Rotary 2. Obviously, you are recreating this cable unloading system by using invisible engines, which is a really neat and fascinating way of doing things. Or, I am completely wrong, and it is all magic.
I can't begin to imagine how much trial and error it took for you to judge how high up the small hump needed to be and how fast the switcher needed to push the cars to allow them to time the roll down to the invisible engines for the push up the trestle. That is just incredible detail and I commend you for it.
I also took a flyover on the High Line and visited the power plant, checked out the 30th Street Station, and noticed the Famous Art Museum on the other side of the river. I didn't check to see if Rocky was climbing the 72 steps - I'll check later. The High Line was really cool, and very nicely done as well.
The ZOO looks really complicated. I really liked the work you've done on it already. It has a very good feel to it. Your main line also runs way out, and I recognized many of the places yet to be created on the route. I hope you can find a suitable structure for the Paoli Electrical Sub Station. That is such an iconic part of the history of the PRR. It looks like a giant box with all sorts of electrical components and catenary on the roof.
I am most impressed with the session. While it is slow-moving, it has to be, because of the hump tracks. And, it works in my TRS19, which is another really neat plus. You've done an incredible job at recreating the yard and coal operations for that wharve.
So, those are my first impressions. They are all positive. Very nicely done, so far!
I'd love to see it finished, and I am sure you would too.
Regards,
Gary