Snow High Valley Distr Ctr (High Resolution 950x532) Approx

[blueodessey]

Murchison Install to TS-12.......Alps Progress update II

Good Thursday all,

:'( Well it's confession time, I have been up to a lot of no good, and I failed to do some proper cleanup and it cost me! And I have been busy digging new Valleys and Gorges, and re positioning the City Houses and Commercial Plants.

So here's the Rub, I had originally installed Murchison as Standalone version with WIN10 environment, it worked fine, except you don't have Content Manager Function, so I played a few days on/off while working with my Alps Project and decided I really missed my Content Manager.

Since Murchison is compatible up to TS-12, and I own TS-12, I decided to install a new copy into TS-12 fresh install. Problem was I didn't realize I had an older copy left in the computer that I didn't completely delete and I think it caused me issues with TS-12 also because I noticed my T:ANE was working slower too, who knows for sure, so I went in and made sure I deleted all TS-12 and Murchison files and I'll redo a fresh install after running my CCleaner to get any stubs left over in Computer or Windows Registry.

So next time I do something like this I have to do a better house cleaning....


For today's pictures, here is the back end connection in City Country USA Route that connects to the Beautiful and pristine Alps Mountains in the Background of this picture, this is 2.5-3.10% downgrade I cut into here to make into the Alps Valley via a Tunnel, which is probably 1.5 Miles or less thru the Mountains. Not to long and not to short of a Tunnel, and you get that good Transition feeling as you go from desert to high Snow Country.

Here is my DRGW Switchers taking some heavy test loads into the Alps Tunnel below, and it works perfectly, I am very happy with Grade and Curves I made. I think my work for here is done, I add some Shrubs and minor Plants, Trees etc later.

Below is the Alps Tunnel above we just went into, (in Grid View) looking in the middle to slightly right of center you can see the Tunnel below as it comes out this side of the Alps into Snow Valley. I like using Grid View, as lots of items are left from earlier construction and tend to get buried and lost, so I go thru and clean out all the hidden stuff, like extra Water Tiles left over etc, these are unused Resources that need to be eliminated.

This area was all torn up, but now is pretty cleaned up in later pictures you'll see posted.

In this picture I started rebuilding the area after tearing out Engine Sheds and Yard Tracks that were jammed into this small area. The Lake Girder Bridge on the left is replaced later on with a much Stronger and sturdier model.

There are several small cities in the Alps Country, probably about 8-9 each one I go thru and rearrange the buildings and Tracks and Grade%, add Some Alaskan Pines and other type of Pines too.

As you can see too, there are many Texture Bare spots too not finished, but their is a lot of Terrain Mending and filling to do too, so I'm not worried about it at this point, I want to get the Rails setup for Running, everything else will come into play.

In this area I moved Condos and Luxury Hi-Rise buildings across the Lake to the other side where I think they'll look better.

Another thing I didn't fully realize is how much a difference in Height and Depth of some of the Valleys in this Alp Route, it goes from +50 to -350 Feet down in the deepest Canyons, I have the feeling this is/was a Dem Generated Route, so where this Merge ends on the other side Far East 10-15 tiles away, I had to add some new connection tiles in order to due a transition height from -335 Feet to +40 feet on the other Merge Route this is connected too.

What that meant was extending the end of Main in that part till I could find a suitable elevation to make the connection to another Main Line and continue on East, I could have just left Alps Stubbed out on that end, but I like the option of being able to drive as far and varied a route as is possible.

Took about 1.5 hours or so to draw the new Track extension and due some deep chasm cuts in the new Tiles I added. Now what needs to happen, is to run a few test trains to check Grade %'s and curves.

Then once that accomplished I carve out the Canyons and other features, Add Tunnels were appropriate, Trestles as I mold the Canyons to blend into existing Canyons we come out of.

And when I h

 

[blueodessey]

Alps Rte update IV Heavy Reconstruction in progress now....

Sorry these picks came in late but I had to attend Memorial for close friend that passed away last month.

So I have been just terraining, moving huge mountains, tearing out Bridges, ooooooh my have I made a mess, but when all is said n done, we going to be a cruising nicely on less than 4-5% Grades in the high mountain ridge. Miles and Miles of Route had to be redone and reconfigured as we went from 50 feet to minus 335 feet,,a big jump in downward elevation, into massive canyons that are stunning. I had to add 8 new tiles to put some cross connections between 2 other nearby Merge Routes.

A 2 Tile Route had to lowered 60 some feet to match up to cross connections as I add new transcontinental Main Line connections, and be able to stream line some excessive winding Tunnels with double Spirals and Figure 8 rotations. It really is helping me learn ways of fixing mismatches at Merge Points.

Below is the final Yard Configuration for the new yard with Roundhouse, once I get back and do some shunting moves, hopefully most of configured lines I put in will work out ok with a minimum changes or additions as seen below.

Below is a a raw view of the area after I removed a lot of Homes and Passenger platforms, relined the track so it is 3% or less on approach, things below are mssing and still be dropped in as I rebuild this who Township. The most important thing for me, is get the initial Tracks in with correct Grade Slopes and Curves, then drop in the other items once I get the Main lines set.

Going further East I continue to get the Grade % set where I want to be, and this will continue for several other Town Ships to get the Main Line Grade % within my Tolerance of 3.10% or lower, and take out any sharp Curves as well. I have finished the area below, and you'll see much different picture, this one I just cleared large areas to one side so I can Terraform the base ground.

This area is almost finished and this is one of the Test Trains I use to checked Grades and Clearances I have improved.

Two major Passenger Stations and Freight Station were here, one had to be deleted because T:ANE caused incompatibilities with Height issues, which I don't know how to fix at the moment, they are AJS assets. Here our Test Train has come for Spec Check so far OK.

Here we are checking uphill Grades and close clearances in the Gorge areas, no derailments so far, I also am checking the Signal Coverage to see what I have missed, I know I haven't got all the Signal Coverage in just yet, I put in the minimum amount for now to get by.

:wave: That's it for now folks, have a great weekend and thanks for dropping in to see me.

 

[blueodessey]

Checking Alp new Main Lines

Good Sunday Evening all,

I have been busy working on the Transition Routes to Merger Points, lots of re leveling the Terrain.

While that is in progress, I am taking some time out where I can, and started our Test Train to check miles and miles of newly added or relocated main lines, Tunnels, Bridges the whole gambit needed to change our Routes. This has been a great experience in spite of the amount of work needed to make the changes, I have learned better ways to make Track Connections, Mountain Building ,Etc, for that I am grateful that I took on this crazy project I cooked up for myself.

Our Picture below, Test Train is entering the new Horseshoe Yard ahead, I added some Diesel Tanks for Locomotive Shops and other Fuel Needs.

We got our Locomotive Fueled up at the Yard and have now turned our Power around and now we have headed out Airport and Shipping area, will go thru our new re aligned Curves headed to the Alps Canyon.

The original Curve was so sharp it would have nearly derailed any long cars, Passenger Trains etc, so I removed the short Bridges, the tightly cramped housing and re dispersed them into a broader area, allowing for a nice Curve thru this portion.

Thru the Curve, and now we head to huge change in altitude, will take a short Tunnel to the next Canyon.

Tunnel thru and now we have come into a Green area with some Snow here and there, will also start using 3% downgrade as we pass thru PRADA Passenger Station.

Will stop here for Locomotive Engineer relief and pickup his new Train Orders, meanwhile the Track Crew looks over the newly Grade aligned Route. Behind them in Dispatch and Switch Building nearby.

Will continue our trip in the next picture post, we have lots of new area to see.

:wave: I bid you all a good week ahead.

 

[blueodessey]

Alps Rte update IV Heavy Reconstruction in progress now....(Criss crossing in Cyn's?

Good Tuesday Day all,

So now we have ventured over another set of high Alp Mountains, and we head down into a very deep Canyon here, with huge amounts of changing fairly sharp curves, which is about to Change in the next week. Our test train is going from 4% to 8% curves in this area and further down the Gorge it gets much worse as we will climb up in elevation in some spots and then have a sharp 11.5%, yes you heard that right, 11.5% curve into a U Turn almost........So I wanted to show the the pictures of the Rails and the Crazy Roads below, in fact in real life, there are some parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains I have visited that do have Roads like this and you can only drive 5-10MPH, and if your Motorhome is too long, well you don't travel this kind of Road, cause you bottom out or not even be able to make the extreme U-Turn, If I recall no vehicle over 25' long, no semis allowed. However it is one of the original Roads that was built before I was born, and that is old! LOL

Here is a better view of the Canyon, and you can see 3 Tunnels here, and a 4th hidden on the left side almost out of view. All this will be changed and improved without destroying the natural Mountains shown here.

How do you like the Semi Truck driving on the wrong side of the Road to make this crazy corner here? With an oncoming car.....Do you think they see each other, I can tell if the Car doesn't and is speeding like most vehicles do in Mountain Roads, like they shouldn't, well someone is going over the side of cliff here! Guess what, our Conductor in the Caboose above has a front seat to the whole potential calamity that might happen below him. :hehe:

Looking thru the rest of the Canyon you can see numerous criss crossing of RR and Hwy Tracks as we go down to towards Minus -335 Feet below Tile Level, we were at 45 above.

Looks another Semi is head up the Canyon below us, and we will head into a Tunnel immediately ahead of our Train and pop out 40' or so lower in the tunnel next to what looks like a Hotel or something.

Over here we came out of turn around Tunnel and are heading up in Elevation to make a test Stop at this Railroad Freight and Passenger, I don't remember at the moment, but I think from the changes I made after this Photo, I might have removed this Stop due to Main Line changes in elevation.

So that's all for today, and I will show more pictures I as I change things up in this area.

:wave:Thanks for dropping in Folks.

@ Railhead001 thank you sir for the PM, got it this morning..........

 

[Southern1581]

Nice work Blue! Looking good as always!

 

[blueodessey]

Nice work Blue! Looking good as always!

:wave: Thanks for coming by my friend,

It's taking a bit of Labor for love to get thru the Alps remodel project.

On the plus side, I learn how to do things better with lots of practice.

 

[blueodessey]

Alps Trip in the lower parts of the Canyon

Wow, Week has flown buy, that's what happens when your having fun,

So this is a continuation of the first trip across the Alps Canyon with CN #2527 before I changed the Tracks here, we are coming down thru the canyon and now are in a lower altitude as you see the Snow is above us, we have some nice greenery here. We are freight so will make a momentary stop to pick up our next set of Train Orders as move on thru the Alps Canyon Corridor.

Were passing thru a freight Station here, unfortunately I should have stopped here because this Freight location tried to load the Cars, which are animated. So I need to pass on the other Track. This track is a very grade which will be adjusted later.

We started the climb up a 6-8% Grade here, good for us, we have a short train and plenty of horsepower to pull up this steep Grade. If you look carefully in the back ground, we have some really high elevations to climb again.

8000' foot elevation here as these Alps are over 10K tall, we travel high on the Mountain Ridges in this photo.

Looks like T:ANE cut off the legs of another TS-12 Bridge Asset, but I will go thru and adjust all of this with the Main Line upgrade project. I guess will make it across the Bridge this time, we better not take this chance again!

We went thru the last tunnel here in the bottom of the Canyon, this particular section of curve is 11.5% very steep grade, this part of the track will be cut out of the main, and different path for the main line with 3-4% grade tolerance instead. And somehow I will make this a Stub Spur if I can reduce them climb? And if not, will shorten for helper Power in this area, which would work out too.
Right here is 10-11% Grade, so we head down at 10MPH I don't want a Runaway, could be deadly if we lose control!

Ok we made it too the bottom of the Canyon, only one problem, I ripped the Tracks out a mile ahead, so will stop the trip shortly.......The tracks ahead are in very bad shape. I didn't have a choice, they had to be fixed.

Like I said earlier, these grades are steep, and I didn't apply our brakes in time, so I went partially into the Ground, if you look down the path, you see the next train station ahead, and beyond the Tunnel coming up.

Slowly but surely I get this re aligned.

And that's it for today, I put some extra pictures in, I have a lot more to share showing the coming changes I've made.

Have a good day all.

 

[Southern1581]

Looks good Blue! Hope you've been well. I've had a hell of a day that concluded with me wrecking the scooter I use to get around campus, followed by a trip to the hospital to get my chin glued back together. I'm a little worse for wear but I'm otherwise alright.

 

[blueodessey]

Looks good Blue! Hope you've been well. I've had a hell of a day that concluded with me wrecking the scooter I use to get around campus, followed by a trip to the hospital to get my chin glued back together. I'm a little worse for wear but I'm otherwise alright.

Holly Cow! Sorry to hear about your crash, very glad to hear that your still with us, we can rebuild the scooter, it's not easy to rebuild you..... Your in my prayers for quick recovery.

Take care and get some rest my friend.

Thanks for sharing .

 

[blueodessey]

Ace Construction Project/ UP Local Shunting

Good Sat afternoon,

I went out bicycling today and snapped a few shots here,

UP Local is dropping off/picking up Loads from Chem Plant, brakeman on the left is getting a cut ready to pick up and haul off to the yards, they use Traditional Geeps and the Newer Gen-sets locals to move loads around here.

I for one would like to see more of this kind of Traffic on the RR versus, all the Intermodal, this is in regards to diversity, one of the Reasons, I see a major drop off in Coal Densities do to change of materials for Electrical Generating and it has hurt their (all RR's) earning power.

I've had some interesting talks with the RR's over the years about diversity hauling vs simplified Point A to B moves. It really is the bone of contention for sure.

Across the crossing from Picture above is Plastic Plant I believe and these loads are brought in probably twice weekly for the onsite plant.

Moving over to San Gabriel Valley Rail Corridor Project,

http://www.theaceproject.org/puente_ave_gs.php

It's most interesting to watch construction here, as to what machines they use on the project. This week, they have new Soldier Concrete Pilings some 50 feet or greater a few weeks ago, this week they brought in some very heavy Steel Cross member beams for the Concrete super Structure they'll pour in place for UP main line tracks.

The two cranes they brought in a while back where for Drilling and other needs, they looked like 100-200 feet tall, the one you see today is much shorter and a heck of lot stronger for the load capacity. I think it is a cool looking Crane too. You can see the Steel Bulk head piling to hold the main lines in place with active trains.

Rail Signals have there hoods turn 90 degrees off angle for out of service while the underpass is being constructed, 3-4 year project depending on how it goes.

The beams they brought in looks like 2.5' by 80' spanning across the False Platform for Concrete Form setup.

You wonder why it takes so long to build an underpass, well in this picture besides having to move utilities, they also have to move, or renegotiate Sewer and Storm Drain Pipes..

if I remember correctly they had to double the diameter of existing pipe with a new one from different direction, why you ask, well when drop the surrounding area, water can get trapped during a heavy deluge. Diameter was something like 5' to 10' to handle the flow. Construction worker on left in hand packing the dirt back into sides of new Drain pipe run, granted this not the main pipe but a feeder Drain that connect to larger one. This area is being graded for new underpass with Concrete poured Highway.

Lil Green excavator is carefully dropping dirt in place, so other worker can bring in Tamper, other wise the Pipe Connections could come out of alignment causing a major Water leak under the concrete highway.

Picture of new heavy left crane with Stack-able counter weights on back side, notice it is 2 Stacks on back not just one like most Cranes.......This baby Bull Crane can lift some heavy stuff.

I tried to take a close up picture here of heavy multi strung Wire Cable that lifts the main Crane Boom into position. And you can see the great Weights in photo detail.

Close picture here of how the balance works. I haven't seen a crane like this before, have seen others that are used in Tall Apt house and super structures, but this one caught my eye as to what I think is very well designed. Notice also the weights are easy to lift with built in hooking handles.

Take a look below at the heavy timbers laid in place for this Crane to set on when it's doing the heavy lifting, hmm, I guess the subsoil is not stable enough for the Tractor Treads you see below the Crane?

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and if you want, I provided the Construction Link in the beginning of today's post.

Like to branch off once in while with other things that capture my interest around the RR world.....

Thanks for dropping buy.

 

[blueodessey]

Derailment/ Port Building & Map overviews..

Good Evening all,

I have out of town family coming in, so I might not get a chance to post in the next few days depending on what we are doing etc. So I thought while I have the chance and good inventory of pics, I throw these in for your viewing pleasure.

Recall I said I was taking some test trains and checking Grade %'s and alignments since a lot of things needed improvement. Well dummy engineer me, forgot about the tracks I had pulled out to rebuild in this area, even though I was driving 20 MPH, when you come downgrade, well, sometimes your overshoot your intended stopping point, as the case below shows, I need to take 30 Fictional days off for poor train handling, I put us on the Ground and will have to have our Wheel re trued, and the whole locomotive checked for any other damages I did.......

Here is view of the End of the Main here, I should have put an out of order sign a mile back to remind myself, experience is truly the best teacher sometimes.........

On a higher note, I am installing port facilities here for Barge and reguler boat traffic. As well re building the yard tracks in this whole area. Those extra Docks you see in the middle of the Water, they were going to be used, but they are too big, and don't fit with the Scheme I had in mind. The long narrow Dock piece was intended too, but didn't work for me, its a Test Jig of what will or won't work in a confined space, but once you see the finished product I think it will do nicely. You just have to have patience when your work in someone else's workplace.......

Ok the pier docks are coming together, it took most of the night to get things lined up........I had to make a lot of changes to get the elevation to work with Rail Tracks nearby, but it did work. And these pier panels have to fit just at the right elevation so I can piece them together to form a seemless pier channel.

This is an overhead map showing the Port Facilities as I am building them, the Red Line you see running around is for airplane flights over the Canyon, pretty cool. It lands across the river in and rural airport. The yard tracks below, well they will look a lot different as there were several changes and additions as I came across certain things I wanted to add in the yards, and I still don't have all the unsundry items, like Sanders, and Diesel Service equipment in yet.....Just takes time.........However since I have changed the main lines extensively, my trains run a lot better on Grade % and smoother Curves........

Here is the other side of the view, and you see I dropped the Ground down as I worked backwards here installing the Dock Sections. There is a Dock Crane laying out on the side,, it will be placed at the extreme other end of the Dock facility to be used for Barge unloading, I know the Crane or unloader I need to have here, I haven't found it yet for the Barge, but I will. And they have different sizes based on what we need.


Ok in this section, I wanted to add the next piece of Dock, but have it Curve inward, so this way I could take a spur line easily into my Yard and Main line, oooops, I forget, I didn't tell you this area will have Dock rails, up to 2 Tracks, I just putting one in for now. And will have freight tranloaded right off the Cargo Ships onto the Consists, and then they are picked up by any freight coming thru to ship them to markets and Cities in the Route. We are only talking 25-30 cars for now, which is nothing when your talking 100 Freight potential on this route.

Because I add this at a Angle to the shoreline, it took a bit to get the Ground set correctly for the pieces to merge together......Again patience and learning how form the proper Ground Elevation is key to success.

I got the pier lined up ok, you see it looks like one continues piece of Concrete, but it is instead butted and overlapped by 1/2' between the adjoining pieces, and now I have layed the Dock Rails on top, another Challenge, since the Ground is below the Concrete, anything you add to set on the Dock, falls thru and hits the bottom of the River 20' below these Dock pieces, so everything, and I mean everything has to height adjusted over land to the left where you see the Semi sitting, and you have to increase all the heights of the items, other wise if you add from your menu over the dock, stuff disappears immediately, I didn't know this at first and thought I was having program error, until on the 4th try I found my stuff sitting in the water below the concrete Dock.......Lesson Learned, and when you think about it, asserts are made to touch the Ground,,,,,Duhhhhhhh!

Dock Rails are being laid into the Dock, and height adjusted so they look like they are in the cement, as it should be, over on the land, I throwing items around that'll I'll need to add later as I started putting what I think I want to be seen here.

Also I brought in a Retaining wall to make up for mismatch height between Dock and the yard dirt height....It worked out nicely and I stretched it here to all the way at the other end of my Dock, gives it a more finished look......

This will be it for tonight, I probably post more stuff on Tuesday or Weds next week.

:wave: Thanks for coming by, and I hope what I showed you here made some sense and allow you to create some things on your route.

 

[blueodessey]

Lots of Construction in Progress this week.

Good Mon all,

Did the weekend pass by already, whooooooo! Guess so,

Had a min to drop in before I meet with the house guests,

So below is a picture of the area with Houses and Streets in place now, Mountains sculpted out, and some new buildings across the river at the Airport and many more changes to come......

Over at the docks, my Terrain got out of alignment, so I have to go back and get the Concrete Tile reset.

You can see the new Curves in the corner over here, the train can ease around great now. Part of this area needs the housing repositioned.....



I fooled around with this new Bridge and was able to drop some Girders in.....I think it looks good now. I didn't want any middle supports do to Barges coming thru and clearance issues with Bridge Piers.

Ok here is what I am proud of, I got the Port Facilities lined up ok, Dock Rails in place, and actual Rail Car Traffic too, maybe a second parallel line later, will see in future. Lots of Boat and Barge Traffic here...........I think we have a nice looking backdrop too?

:wave: That's about it for now, thanks for dropping in folks.

When I get a chance today, I add some more notes of things I'm working on too........Lots of Progress in the other Merge sections of the layout.

 

[blueodessey]

Work in Alps continues and adjoining Merge Points

Good Weds Morning all,

Looks like it is hump day, we are 1/2 way thru the week and I am going into a Hot Spell out here in Ca and Az areas, 100+ Temps right around the corner, and unfortunately no clouds for now and high Fire Danger, so everyone please be careful, and watch your Fire Activities.

Ok so now back to work, this is one of the 5-6 small town areas that I have been redoing, we are on the left side of the River Bridges, or EAST portion, with the Port/River new facilities right over on the extreme left of us. I widened and Dredged the River Deeper for the new heavier boats that will come into port for this and nearby other large Valley areas.

I some industries in this area, but I don't want to over build this part of the mountains, to maintain the back woods feeling here.

So we Lumber (naturally growing and cultivated here) Mining, Cement Product, Lots of Freight Stations, Fuel Oil and other products from the Port Facilities, some Small Shipping Containers for our Towns and semi Commercial Tourism for our Ski Areas, Lodging or year round living. Every small city here has Rail Station, and Amtrak will come thru too, once I get things setup.

The really back woods layout at the extreme south end of our Alps Route has taught me a lot about Bridges, and other small items that I now have a better understanding of small details that I can add to other parts of the Merge areas. My biggest problem was the change of Elevation, 335' below Tile and 70' above on the part of the Merge, I knew this when I put these two Routes, ALP and Snow Creek I think is the name of the other one. So now I have been actively throwing in Tunnels, and moving large parts of Mountains to accommodate the difference.

Also on the small Merge which has beautiful Foliage Terrain and Track Work, I found that some of the Curves where extremely tight, so I had give some better Curve patterns and change a few things. So it is getting much better.

Now of course there are Portal's I can use if it really gets down to it, and that may be a good option later on, once all is said and done.

I might also raise the Alps very deep Canyon in some spots too, it will just take some time to work it out......

Have to say this is one of most interesting projects I have worked in Route and Merge building, and it teaches you a lot about Grade%'s and critical clearances. So will see how it comes out as I progress with it.

The picture below, New Station and Grades % laid, buildings rotated and repositioned and on left I redid the Ski area Slope and our Skiers are having a fabulous time in packed Snow. Got Protective fencing (red) to keep them from skiing off the side of mountain into our mainline below.

Here is latest map, and new Route, it looks funny above, but when you drive it, it is a lot of fun.......I also need to redraw some water ways to for new connection points. But the Grade % are my primary concern for now.

Below, follow the heavy black line from bottom of Alps cyn. to the right into Snow Creek Route, lots of Twisting and turning as we use 2.5% to 3.5% upgrade allow us to transverse 330' difference in elevation changes! Originally I had a nice Round curve here to start, but the problem I encountered was not enough room to make up for the height difference. I might do some track work later on in the lower Alps Canyon for another Main Line out to one of my other merges? Will see?

Red outlined Circle was where I added new Tiles to allow for this change of Elevation.

Closer look here of the uphill grade.

This is Snow Creek area, and Red is where I am running the Main line in, Yellow is where I have to rip out some of the Tracks, because they are too tightly packed with serious Curve issues, some problem with elevation changes in spots. But I want to get the main line in first, then find my connecting point to the next Merged Route over, which is easy, I have lots of options to choose from.

Below over here, I had serious Grade % issues.

This area was reworked and the Grade is so much better now.

Heavy Tunnel Closure and better thorough fair established.......You'll also notice I do a lot of my work in Grid View, if not, I tend to leave pieces of stuff buried because of changing elevation heights etc. Be surprised how many routes I have downloaded over the years and found all kinds of things the Author left buried from construction. That's just normal part of Route Building..........

My big mess over here too, as I re-sculpt the mountain and canyon area.

That's about all for today.......See you soon with some more pictures......Hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting here.

 

[blueodessey]

Alps and Snow Creek Route work up......

Good Friday All,

It's quite late here, almost 2am, so I'm just going to post pics for now, and I'll annotate what's going on tomorrow morning, I don't want to type while I'm tired and make a mess of things.

See you later in the day........Thanks

Sorry it took me a bit to get back here, so lots of things going on here,

We are in the deepest part of the Alps Canyon, -340 feet deep, below Tile depth of 0.0 feet.......Below in the picture, I have re sculpted the Grade into a new Canyon of 10 Tiles added last week, will go from this depth to +45 feet in the adjoining Merge Route from Snow Creek, a stunning Route with awesome Foliage and twisting Route Tracks.......Our Grade going up, is 2.5% to max of 3.5-3.7%. with averages of 3.0% of climb.........This entails lots of Ground movement to get the proper Grades in place, and I will need to add a Tunnel in the upper Canyon for better Curve and speed designs.

Here is another Grid View if my new Canyon, with steep Cliffs on both sides....This will look even better once I get the Grade set, the issue, is this merge point has a huge difference of Grade height, which means at this point, I need to go all the way to Snow Creek Rail Yards and re align the Downgrade for 2% to 3.5% so that when it gets into the back of this upper Canyon it flow correctly into the established Grade seen here.

We are in the deepest part of the Alps Canyon, -340 feet deep, below Tile depth of 0.0 feet.......Below in the picture, I have re sculpted the Grade into a new Canyon of 10 Tiles added last week....

The Merge Route "Snow Creek", is a stunning Route with awesome Foliage and twisting Route Tracks.......Our Grade going up, is 2.5% to max of 3.5-3.7%. with averages of 3.0% of climb.........This entails lots of Ground movement to get the proper Grades in place, and I will need to add a Tunnel in the upper Canyon for better Curve and speed designs.tary point if you know what I mean.

Here you can see the edge of the Merge Route, Snow Creek on the left, and looking down below, way down, is the lower Grade almost 400 feet drop, now that might change a bit, when I redo the township in the bottom of the Canyon. All the cliff face in the exact middle of this picture needs a lot of redraw to blend the merge point which is the Grey Grid you see between Rock Faces here.

From a 3rd Merge Route, of which I don't remember the name, we look over what might be described as mini Grand Canyon, of course I have to fix the straight wall look on the right side, these are initial rough cut areas here when I first added the new times in for Merge point Translation points for Main Lines.

Now you can see the deepest part of our Canyon and there is much to do, fix relocate etc.........When I do get it done, I'm hopefully a very natural look once I finish the elevation changes, and lots of new highway design thru out this canyon. If you look to the left you see there is some serious Track Elevation installed, and this will all be smoothed out to flowing hills extending into the canyon river below.

Looking across from the mountains above the city is another view of the valley, now if you look straight across to steep hills to middle left, you can barely see the old line above in the top Mountain Range, those grades up there were in the 9-11.5% range, way to steep and unsafe for my Railroad, so I dropped the Rails downward, further........

The route above will just be turned in a Stub Spure, with reduced Grade for helper power or something else, maybe a small industry of sorts?

In the bottom 1/2 of this picture, I show the newly laid main line, and here we are finding the best % elevation for it relative to 3-3.5% Grade specs I want to achieve without too much of mess or messing up the nice mountain features......

Our little Grain Test train for Grades, new switches, signals etc.......He is headed to the Alps and beyond! Maintain 10-15Mph range till we validate the % I have installed. That mountain in the very back is our connection to Country City USA Route,, then to Outback Australia Routes Etc on the West end of the Route.

Surprise here, did you know they run asphalt and stripped roadway, upside down too, well I guees they do, I need to find a way to cover this undershot.......LOL

I'm happy with the new Bridge clearance here now, before it was so low, some of the Rail Cars scraped there roof tops, and the locomotives as well.......I gave it a 7' foot raise......

Crossing over into the new Span Bridge and enter locking Signal, which protects the pre warn for crossovers diamonds ahead.........

That's about it for now folks, I have lots more pictures to share............Thanks for coming by to visit.........

 

[Southern1581]

Hello Blue! Your work has been looking very good indeed lately. I've been healing up nicely thus far and the last of the scabs are starting to go away. Gonna have a few new scars from the ordeal, but otherwise I will be completely alright. Hope you've been doing well yourself!

 

[blueodessey]

Glad to hear the good news

Hello Blue! Your work has been looking very good indeed lately. I've been healing up nicely thus far and the last of the scabs are starting to go away. Gonna have a few new scars from the ordeal, but otherwise I will be completely alright. Hope you've been doing well yourself!

:wave:Thank you Southern1581 for the kind words, I am so glad to hear your doing OK, I was going to send you a PM to dbl check on your healing yesterday!

When I was young lad, long ago, I fell into a Water Grate with my Bicycle, 15MPH to Zero in and instant!!!!!

Funny now, but back then, I didn't think so, :hehe: I literally did a somersault over my bicycle bars, landed on my 2 hands with some serious ROAD RASH, on back shoulders and hands!!! Never forgot that crazy fall!!!!!! I know now, I could have broken some bones, I was lucky then.......

Anyway, I said several prayers for you last weekend............The good Lord was definitely watching over you.

Did your Motorcycle survive?

Now to my big mess I created all by myself, this week has been a great experience, in each of my Merge Routes, about 18 or so, I learn something, Well, a lot of things from other Author's talents and designs, It has really broadened my understanding in respect to Structures and Textures for Grid, intricate Track designs in Yards etc........

At the moment I am both carving and adding Mountain Ranges to get what I want for Canyon Scenes etc, just takes a long time and lots of patience to get those grades % in compliance. But once you get there the views can be phenomenal......

The other night I made some changes on one end of the Canyon, but totally messed up on the other side, with 8-11% Grades in some spots, I think I moved something in the middle of 15 mile long Alps canyon and forgot to go back and check the balance % on the affected side.......

Now I found a resolution to my Dog Bone upgrade in a steep canyon, with the addition of a long, but not too long Tunnel, simplifying some upper Elevations clearances with a foreboding Portal that hangs over a Cliff above the deep canyon below, and I don't want to remove the Portal due to it's importance of connection point to other Main Lines.

So you keep healing there!

 

[blueodessey]

Airport and new yard areas update

Good Saturday all,

It's not summer here just yet time wise, but it's been near 100 F. too hot to work outside much, I have some Drought and beetle damaged trees to replace, after 25 yrs,,very sad but drought as you know can be brutal for plants. I know other areas of the US are getting quit warm too, make sure you hydrate your body well!!!

OK, so since I've been in the house from the heat, I have been real busy making the planned changes in the deep Canyon to Snow Creek areas and trying to fix my Tricyclops UP Loco grrrrrr!

This loco from SRC his awesome except for trying to get it to run consistently for what I think were 2 different reasons not immedialtely understtod by me, shot out to @Railhead001 and others for their great insight and help the last couple of days.

In working the Deep Canyon areas I have made some really good progress now with the Mountain changes, because I have figured out the Leigh of the land so to speak, and where I absolutely need to put in tunnels to cover constriction spots from Rails above the Canyon Walls, this is all normal stuff when you merge your tiles together, and now what I realize is that I should really allow blank area spots for connector Tiles in some spots, don't want to go back at this stage and redo these areas, but when I merge in the future, I will make sure I do, it would have really helped in some spots where elevation changes are extremes, which isn't my whole layout just in about 4 spots out of 19 merge points. This is what they call experience, you can't teach as well as you learn sometimes, and I am learning it.......It's all good.....

There is much more to tell, but not for this set of pictures.........So this is a more current view of my new Yard I rebuilt, here is CN helper getting Fuel at the Pump, as we see an all RED interlocked signal showing stop for all lines as Dispatch is setting routes for Test Trains. Im using a small 2 position turntable to the left for storage of some of power with Sheds for Snow and Cold Ice protection.....

Test Train is comming across our new bridge, which allows larger ships to cross underneath, and we slow a bit to make sure Diamonds are clear, yes we have signals, but we still take a hard eyeshot to make sure someone isn't coming into our path, it would be disastrous for both of us. Alls clear so we head in to pick up Cement loads and other Freight in the yard.

Over here this much later in the day, and we are at the outside edges of a small airport to the right here. Unfortunately for the planes, we have an overturned tanker on fire, but hazmat and Fire with all the Police and Feds are on scene to handle this emergency.

Good thing is no aircraft our involved, if you know about Aviation Fuel, it burns extremely hot, and is extremely volatile due to high Octane Mix.

You can see some of the smoke from fire here on the Right, we don't know what happened, but we are allowed to continue our operations subject to closure when needed. looks like the the Driver went to Hospital with moderate burns to body......I have a feeling Black Ice and Driving skills are at Fault? Will await for the official investigation reports when they come out.

We need to get these Beer and Ice Loads out to market!

Below is the latest new yard map below........I probably will need to make a few crossover connections once I do some more Shunting to see how my connection points work as we work around our new industry leads? We have Port, Barges, Cement, Wood, Freight Transfer Points with Ice House and Fuel support for both land and river Company's ...

We can handle several different commodities, with minimal Loco and Caboose support, remember we have new Horseshoe Yard that will handle a lot of carloads on the East Side of our Alps Lake.

Of course I have yet to plan out a defined Passenger Storage Yard, where? I have no idea at the moment.......That's a bit far in the Future.......

Overview of the newly arranged area........And at this point I think it will have good flow characteristics....Buildings, Grade %'s are well settled out, Lake Widened and Deepened for good access. The Airport area which has 2 Strips for one landing and one take off is Rural, and will stay that way permanently..........

Signals are basically in, but I need to do lots of Shunting too see what spots might need more coverage for protection against Main Line Traffic.

Here is a CN Switcher moving our ready to go Beer and other commodities out for the Yard across the River.

:hehe: That's it for now, you all have a great weekend and thanks for coming by.........Remember if you have any ques, please ask here, I'm more than happy to answer and here your thoughts........

 

[Southern1581]

Well, good news is, the motorcycle did survive, although I was not riding a motorcycle. It was a kick scooter actually, it was late and I was heading back to my car from class, and I had a good bit of speed built up. That's when I drove it off a curb. Never saw it, but it tossed me a good ways. My chin got the worst of it, although oddly enough it hurt the least. Had one good strip of road rash on my chest, other than that just several spots where I skinned myself pretty well. Glad I've almost gotten past all of it though. I am thankful for your prayers for a speedy recovery.

Your work is looking great as usual! Keep at it!

 

[blueodessey]

Glad to here your on the mend there Southern 1581........

Wow, that sounds like and mini evil Knievel jump, crazy, glad to hear your OK and no broken bones too!!!

:wave: You have a great day today, it's Father's Day............

We and the Grand Kids our going out in a bit to see :udrool: Wonder Women Movie, one of my many favorite Marvel Comics Characters............I really happy they brought her back after Linda Carter retired........

 

[blueodessey]

Happy Fathers Day and some Canyon Picture updates......

A special Happy Father's day to the gentleman out there, and wishing you a great time on this Blessed Sunday, mine is in heaven, but I still said hello to him.........

Now for confession time, I was off on the depth of my canyons, I thought it was around 365-380, it actually was closer to 400',,,,,,,I was tooling around refining huge sections of the canyon when in one spot I did a depth check and found out to my surprise it was much deeper in some spots.

So I did some serious re leveling, texturing, Grade, Roads, building adjustments etc.....I think now I have the worst of it cleaned up and looking better, just like you I'll see something later on and go back for changes/touch ups.......Below is my large dog bone loop, or horseshoe bend, 2/3's of it is buried in a Tunnel, giving me much better flexibility now....I also signaled it with some long distance intermediate Signals in the canyon, going downhill it allows me advance approach options for better speed control.........I think my speeds with be 25-25, I'll have to paly with some heavy Coal or similar trains to see how it works out 3% or less downgrades.

Speaking of control, I sent a msg to sRs folks to see if I can some more info on my Tricyclops Loco issues with Eng performance and Fuel usage etc.


Here is my little friend down the newly graded hill in the deepest part of the canyon.....Curves are spot on..........I kept them sweeping for better control with heavy trains, and visual around bends versus sharp and hard to control ones.......This section of the Track, these Walls here are newly cut, so I have gone back and sloped out the mountain side, for more gentle slope, this is an earlier picture.......

This is where our Locomotive will turn the bend and then head upwards a bit as it travels west bound towards Snow Country. The cut off Rail Bridge legs courteous of T:ANE will removed and that is closed to 400' deep below too.......These tracks going across to the other side of this valley into a small Rail Tunnel from Author, I decided since I had the merge above this spot, and the there too deep down now from my elevation changes, I don't need them at all, so they'll be removed here.

You remember this week I showed you a bunch of Tracks in this area hanging above the canyons below, in huge lift up to relevel everything. Well now after yesterdays work, I have leveled the whole city area, with buildings reset into the mountains on the right, there are a few more Freight Tracks to drop in here bottom right corner for Steel and other small dropoff, not to much though, I don't want clutter in this area, it is a pristine view of the Canyon.

Now this is what I'm really happy about, I redid all the mountains in the background, (3pt merges from 2 other Routes in the back upper left corner of this picture, and I think I finally got a nice flow to the Mountains as they head down into the valley below.....It's about 90% finished, I need to add some more trees (sparse) not to much and some foliage here and there if you look real carefully to upper middle and to the right mountain top, that is where the main line below goes along the ridge line to the Snow Creek Route above....I'm thinking about adding some Snow Tips to the mountains up there for effect on this side.....Have to experiment some with it too see if I can make it work out the way I see it in my mind?

This is side view, looking across our broad canyon, and way on the other side is the Dog Bone, below you see some small mountain streams, and I will try and add Water in some spots below too.....Bottom middle to the Right is small hill side Farm below with some kind of Crops Growing, just some little detail here and there in the mountains............And if you can see across in my new City, there is lone Steeple Church sitting up on beautiful hill side, I also have Funeral an Cementar close to the church, but I don't think it's visible at this distance.

Top left corner is 3 point merge here, you can't tell now, since I did some very extensive Grade and Texture work, well? I'm hoping you can't....Adding a few small housing dwellings here, just like you would expect in a massive canyon like this.......

Up on Dogbone pass, I fill in this whole area here, and dropped in two tunnels with double Tracks for passing, and I might extend the double tracks up and down later on for more capacity.....That's a future project.......The massive forest to the left 1/4 quadrant above is the Snow Creek Route, and the trees are awesome from the Author who built this part! You wont believe how long it takes to move these mountains and valleys around, and then go back and reshape some more, becaues they look to rough and Rocky, Volcano like.......

Added a new Texture Asphalt I found and it will work out nicely, sorry about the lighting effect, I should have taken the picture at a different angle....

It's time to go see the Gran Kids and take in a Wonder Women movie today.....

Thanks for coming in, have a great day..........