Questions for route creators.

[joshmeister]

Ive been working with trainz for years now but I still have questions for those user's that are good at route building. While taking break's here and there from working on the Oahu Railway route, I am also working on a route or two for some buddy's of mine and need some info on a few things, particularly in the area's of ground texturing and proper building of a working hump yard. On one of the bigger routes Im working on, there is a section of the route that transitions from a forest into a rather large desert and I was wondering if anyone had some pointer's and tips on how to blend ground textures for a smoother transition from a forested area into an open desert. My second question is about hump yards. The biggest issue I am facing is building a proper hump. Things like how long the ramp leading into the yard tracks should be, what the down hill hump grade should be, and how tall the hump it self should be. Im wanting to build a few good sized hump yards between half a mile to a mile long with 10-20 yard tracks. any links to tutorial's as well as tips from other route builder's would be very helpful in this little predicament if you could call it that.

 

[pware]

... there is a section of the route that transitions from a forest into a rather large desert and I was wondering if anyone had some pointer's and tips on how to blend ground textures for a smoother transition from a forested area into an open desert

In reality, there would be no such direct transition from forest to desert. I would select an intermediate texture (or probably more than one) between the two extreme textures. I would then use that texture or textures between the two areas with a blending or mixing of them in a pattern. For example:

Forest Texture = A
Intermediate textures = B and C - where B is closer to A in appearance and C is closer to D in appearance
Desert texture = D

A-A-A-B-A-B-B-B-C-B-C-C-C-D-C-D-D-D

etc

 

[joshmeister]

I could give that a try and see what I come up with, Spread it out over about 15 miles or so since the forest like part of the route isnt that densely packed with trees. I might post a screen grab or two as well once I figure it out to show what Im trying to accomplish in the aspect of this route.

 

[cascaderailroad]

A hump can be much less than a meter high, with a downhill gradient of 0.25%, @ 100 foot long ... that gives 4 mph humped cars a downhill, slow, realistic, rolling speed of @ 15 mph. There are retarders, and automatic de-couplers, that I have included on my 8700 car ALCO Land Hump Classification yard WIP:
https://www.cubbyusercontent.com/pl/New+Folder+(3)/_e7d9f750513842bfb03c4d0c7375d28e