The Canadian Pacific Railway's Mountain Subdivision in the Late 1880s

[Cayden]

I think this website is far enough along that I can draw attention to it. It is an upgrade of my route which was started back in 2009/2010 and was published on my website as a Trainz: A New Era (T:ANE) route in 2016/2017. Lately, I have been adding Physically Based Rendered (PBR) texturing and High Density (HD) terrain. It is still a work in progress. My hope is to make available a Trainz 2022 version, although I have some reservations as to whether this is possible. My understanding is that HD routes are only available to those who have Trainz Plus. I am also having some issues with porting the route from the Mac to the PC. These I may be able to address, I just haven’t yet made time. I am also scratching my head as to what to do about packed assets. These are few in number but several are textures. The current route file is 5.46 GB and can’t be saved as a .cdp file, but this isn’t a problem.

The Canadian Pacific Railway’s trans-continental railway was built across Canada between 1881 and 1885. The Mountain Subdivision was the last section to be completed. The construction and the decade that followed are considered to be the railway’s “Golden Age”. Trainz enthusiasts who have not downloaded my 1887 T:ANE version will be familiar with the more recent era version available from N3V and online, and the Rocky Mountaineer, the luxury vacation train that currently traverses the route.

It is my hope that a downloadable route, perhaps with sessions, can also be forthcoming, so that Trainz enthusiasts can not only learn a little of the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway and it’s Mountain Subdivision, but also operate trains over the route.

https://doug56.net/CPRMS1880s/

Note: Over the years it has been challenging maintaining links to the pages on my website due to software no longer being supported or compatible with system software upgrades. A new index page has thus been created to provide access to all of the content.

However, it has not been possible to provide links back to this page or in many instances between other section on this website. It is suggested that you note the URL to this page so that you can al least explore all section of the website.

https://doug56.net/Index/

Cayden

 

[Cayden]

Been working on historical notes for the Mountain Subdivision. They follow a west bound passenger train, the Pacific Express. Videos in the play list have now been put in order and are complete up to the approaching to Rogers Pass.

https://doug56.net/CPRMS1880s/

Cayden

 

[Cayden]

I have again upgraded my route the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Mountain Subdivision that I started back in 2009/2010 and published a Trainz: A New Era (T:ANE) on my website back in 2016/2017. The Trainz 22 update adds Physically Based Rendered (PBR) texturing and High Density (HD) terrain. These modifications have significantly improved the look of the route on a Mac. But, unfortunately have made the route not compatible with the PC version of Trainz, specifically PC version 128486 and presumably newer versions. The issue seems to be with the use of PBR materials close to the tracks, as others have observed. Trainz 22 SP 5 introduced blurry assets on a Mac, and SP 6 introduced the same problems with PBR textures that I experienced when I tried to port the route over to my PC. Fortunately, I was able to recover my Trainz 22 SP 4 setup from a Time Machine backup. This was possible since I had essentially stopped development on the route when I encountered the burring of assets back in February.

It is indeed sad that N3V has chosen to use SP (Service Pack) upgrades to introduce new features, Plant Factory trees, etc. Unlike new version of Trainz, T:ANE, Trainz 19, Train 22, etc., usually one cannot go back and load a version that came out before a particular service pack was released. I got lucky. It also seems that we have now entered an era where routes are only compatible with the platform (PC or Mac) and version (SP release) that was used to develop the route. Recently, a thread on this forum asked why few route were making it to the Download Station (DLS). The introduction of PBR texturing and High-Density terrain may be playing a part. File size may also be a limitation. I had intended to make may route available on the DLS but it exceeds the file size that can be saved in .cdp format. I could make it available on my website but then again, at the moment, only Mac users could access it and only if they are running Trainz 22 SP4. To bad N3V doesn’t release new features in new versions of Trainz or, at least, make loading of specific SP releases an option. Think about it. We haven’t had a new version of Trainz in almost four years!

So, the best I can do to share my route with you is to upload YouTube videos. Here, I have had a freight train traverse the Mountain Subdivision from west to east. I wanted to record the whole route for my edification, but thought you might like to see what I think traversing the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Mountain Subdivision might have looked and felt like shortly after it’s complete in 1885.

There are 11 videos on YouTube totalling 11 hours and 15 minutes.

Enjoy.

Cayden

A Website Dedicated to Model Railroading Both Real and Virtual

The Canadian Pacific Railway’s Mountain Subdivision

Blender to Trainz

 

[JCitron]

I'll take a look at your upgraded route in Trainz-Plus on the PC. I turn off the 3d-rendering of PBR textures by setting the shaders to Basic. I hate the jellyfish guts and overly done 3d-effect seen on most PBR textures. The other advantage is it keeps the temperature down on my video card.

 

[Cayden]

I'll take a look at your upgraded route in Trainz-Plus on the PC. I turn off the 3d-rendering of PBR textures by setting the shaders to Basic. I hate the jellyfish guts and overly done 3d-effect seen on most PBR textures. The other advantage is it keeps the temperature down on my video card.

I'll take a look at your upgraded route in Trainz-Plus on the PC. I turn off the 3d-rendering of PBR textures by setting the shaders to Basic. I hate the jellyfish guts and overly done 3d-effect seen on most PBR textures. The other advantage is it keeps the temperature down on my video card.

Well, there you go. And all this time I thought it wasn't PC compatible when it was just that on the Mac I had the shader set to Extreme and on the PC I had it set to Basic.

Thanks John.

Now I can have a look at uploading the route if there is interest. I'll still likely have to put it on my website as the route folder is 5.4 GB.

Cayden