SoCal Progress

[N5VAV]

Howdy!
Since I updated the status of the MRL II project, I thought I'd give a quickie on the SoCal project.

100% of the trackage is in ! Just ran an SP tank train from Colton yard to Bakersfield. 178.6 miles according to the HUD odometer.
Ran a Santa Fe mixed freight from San Bernadino A yard, around Valley Junction to Bakersfield, but at 186 miles.
Ran from Bkfld to Needles and San Bern. to Needles before and was (a lot - forgot the number) of miles. 240 something I think.
SO, all that remains now is scenery!

Been trying to be very careful about scenery for performance issues. Replaced the track and objects several times now and I THINK I've found a balance of realism and performance. I can make it look great but creep along, or I can make it fast and smooth but look pretty bad. Gotta find the balance...

Textures are done from San Bernadino up Cajon to Barstow and from Mojave to Bakersfield (Tehachapi Route). Been playing with some textures to again, find a balance of performance and looks.

The area around Palmdale and Edwards AFB are the least-decorated areas, but should be a very fast scenery addition for miles of Mojave desert!

I'm wondering if this will be a successful multiplayer map - or is it too large. If one player starts in San Bern, one in Bakersfield, and one in Needles, it may be 3 hours before they meet!
Does anyone have any thoughts?

After I decide on some objects and finalize the textures to use, I may put up a public ALPHA for people to start playing with, if anyone is interested.

Below is a screenshot of the area along Cajon Pass of 2 SP trains meeting and a Santa Fe train in the distance. Again, playing with textures to get a dry look yet not barren. It looks better when I put the bush/tree layer on, but this way allows me to test the various assets for looks and performance.
Enjoy!

I've just finished putting the milemarkers, lubricators, speeds and detectors, in accordance with the trackcharts, up the Santa Fe line all the way to Barstow. Tonight, I will do the same with the SP line from San Bernadino (Colton Yd) as far North as I can... Hopefully to Phelan is my goal.

I may never finish the project, but having a blast trying!

Here is the area around Sullivan's Curve with the plant-life in place:

I think there are only 4 different types of plants, but judiciously placed, look pretty decent. A bit slow, so I'm thinking I'll thin it out a bit.


Next, here is a shot of the new trees around the Loop. Same textures as before - still haven't finalized them yet.

Bakersfield area is mostly done except for textures.
Here is Kern Junction:

And Bakersfield Yard:

Here is San Bernadino:
Not sure what era this is... I wanted the trackage of the old engine facility, but modern enough for intermodal... a bit of an anachronism !
This way old-school guys like me as well as the modern folks can both get a little of what they want.

Some newly decorated areas -
Here is an early Victorville:

Ahh - BARSTOW:

I'll try to get some shots of the Needles sub and Needles Yard and add them to the thread.

So, is the route too big for multiplayer?

Respectfully,
Jeff

 

[N5VAV]

Needles and More

Can only post a maximum of 10 photos per post, so here are some more.

Between Barstow and Needles isn't much but dry Mojave desert.
Cadiz is about 1/2 way between Barstow and Needles.
Like a lot of the Needles sub, not much to see but hot desert:

At the far East end at the Arizona border is the town of Needles, CA.
A depot and a small yard here.

Between Barstow and San Bernadino there are several interesting points.
Oro Grande is the home of Riverside Cement:

On the North side of Victorville is Portland Cement:
The tracks cross the Mojave river in the distance.

All done with screenies for today - gonna go play in TRAINZ!

More to come later as progress continues...

ENJOY!

 

[socalwb909]

-Good stuff. As big as this route sounds, you might have to break it up into pieces to get it on the dls. Then have the end user merge it back together.

-Joe

 

[n8phu]

WOW, You HAVE been busy....

Question, will the San Joaquin Valley Railroad be represented in Bakersfield (Wye connection just east of Kern Junction) Magunden, and all it's other connections ?

 

[Bob5446]

A great effort and well worth it from the look of your screenies.

 

[N5VAV]

Thank you for your comments. Much appreciated.

Joe,
Yes, SoCal, it is huge. I had originally worked on it in 3 sections. Cajon, Tehachapi, and Needles - all of them were to be separate routes. As you know, I (we at TPR) were working on Tehachapi II for release. Of course, your awesome Tehachapi made the release of ours unnecessary, so I just decited to put it all together for a mega route. If I broke it up, it would be in those 3 routes, Cajon, Tehachapi, and Needles. I know that there are several attempts at Cajon, and at least 2 Tehachapis. I didn't want to get into a "route war" and compete, so just decided to put them all together. You may be right though, I may HAVE to break it up.
I'm just conderned that some will never be able to merge it,,,, I see all the time that a lot of folks just do not know enough to do that. So, we'll see.

Are your Safetran C's going to be on the DLS? If so I'll use them in the route to be accurate. Otherwise I'm using your searchlights and the Safetran NS ones.
The reason I ask, is I'd like to make this multiplayer, and as you know, everything in the route has to be on the DLS.
Another question - your new bethgons are AWESOME! There is a link to them on the DLS and I got them from there... but will they work in a multiplayer session? If so, I'll use them in all the sessions for all the routes, MRL, Powder River, Sandpatch, etc.

Chris, not planning on the San Joaquin. I guess I could, but it is pretty large as it is. LOL Get me a DEM and we'll see... . . .

Bob, thank you. A good way to go yet, but I'm having fun! Isn't what this is all about in the first place!

Last night (this morning) I finished the UP Palmdale cutoff signals, dietctors, speeds, and mileposts up to Palmdale Jct. MP 414.45. Hopefully today I'll start working from there northward toward Mojave. Or, I may work on more MRL scenery..... hmmmm what to do???????

This is fun!

 

[qassaquyangli]

Looks great Jeff!!! DL'd your Prospector route and edited it to be snowy.
EDIT: You should use the YARN system, built-in to TS12 under both scenery tabs, just search YARN.

 

[n8phu]

...

Chris, not planning on the San Joaquin. I guess I could, but it is pretty large as it is. LOL Get me a DEM and we'll see... . . .

Nah, not the whole system, I was wondering if the wye and a bit of track to a portal on the edge of the layout would be included in Bakerfield near Kerns Junction, basically a interchange to deliver and pick up cars from.

Also, it looks like the SJVR took over operations of the jointly owned (ATSF / SP ) line that starts in Magunden and goes to Arvin...Could be fun to have a few of those industries and run the track to the edge of the layout to a portal.

Eh, could be fun to muck up operations, and a reason to have a SJVR loco around.....