steamboateng
New member
Several of us at Yesterdayz Trainz have taken on a new project involving several northeastern Massachusetts community organizations and a museum. John Citron and myself are the prime movers for the project to date.
We call it the 'Hoosac Project'. It is a rather simple one; it will cover operations of the Boson & Maine RR from Hoosac Station at the East Portal (Hoosac Tunnel) to the North Adams, Massachusetts yards, about two miles north of the West Portal. The time frame is about 1945, when steam was still king and giant 2-8-4 Berkshires and 4-8-2 Mountains ruled the grade into the Berkshire Hills of northwestern Massachusetts. The Hoosac Tunnel was still electrified (and would be until 1946), Triple headed electric locos pulled the steam trains through the 4.75 mile tunnel powered from an 11kv/25 cycle overhead catenary system. The electrics coupled/decoupled at Hoosac Staion westbound, or North Adams, eastbound. We wish to recreate some of the busy activity between those two points. We won't recreate the tunnel in its entirety; a 30 mph speed limit would take a visually boring 10 minutes; so, only a mile or so of each end will be modeled.. The entire route will be no longer than 5 miles.
The goal of the project is to provide the Heritage Gateway Museum of Science and Technology, located in North Adams MA. with about 20-30 minutes of video (MP4) depicting freight and passenger operations in the area circa 1940's. The video will be shown at the museum as part of the Hoosac Tunnel exhibit. This is a non-profit undertaking on our part. In exchange we get access to old photos, maps and etc. from the North Adams Historical Society, and the Rowe Historical Society. The photos and maps will be used to model the area.
John and I, last December, spent a week in the North Adams area. We met with Robert Campanile, who runs the museum, and author of 'Images of America – North Adams'; a pictorial publication depicting the town's citizens and industries over time. We also met with Charles 'Chuck' Cahoon, president of the North Adams Historical Society. Chuck has been sending us photos and maps from the Society's collections, weekly. At the Springfiild (MA) train show this last weekend, we met with Carl Byron, who wrote 'A Pinprick of Light – The Troy and Greenfield Railroad and its Hoosac Tunnel'. The book is a history of the building of the tunnel, and a pretty good read. Carl is a member of the Rowe Historical Society, and has promised us its cooperation in providing additional photos and maps for reference. Rowe, by the way, is the town nearest the east portal (although the east portal is actually located in Florida, MA.)
Progress:
The TransDEM maps have been generated for each side of the tunnel and Trainz CDP's made for TS12. John is laying track and scenery for the west side, which includes the North Adams yard area. I'm doing the same on the east side. John, by far bears the brunt in the scenery department as the east side is all mountains and river with only a few buildings. We are presently laying track and coordinating scenery details. I'm building the Hoosac Station in Blender and will build the North Adams Station also. In total, only about a dozen building need be built. We are still looking for at least one other content creation artist to help and/or tutor in Blender. We are looking for an April 30th completion, including the video shots.
Anyone wishing to assist with the project can contact John or myself via e-mail or pm on this Forum .
I'll post every now and then, on our progress, in these Forums.
Happy New Year and regards to all………………..
We call it the 'Hoosac Project'. It is a rather simple one; it will cover operations of the Boson & Maine RR from Hoosac Station at the East Portal (Hoosac Tunnel) to the North Adams, Massachusetts yards, about two miles north of the West Portal. The time frame is about 1945, when steam was still king and giant 2-8-4 Berkshires and 4-8-2 Mountains ruled the grade into the Berkshire Hills of northwestern Massachusetts. The Hoosac Tunnel was still electrified (and would be until 1946), Triple headed electric locos pulled the steam trains through the 4.75 mile tunnel powered from an 11kv/25 cycle overhead catenary system. The electrics coupled/decoupled at Hoosac Staion westbound, or North Adams, eastbound. We wish to recreate some of the busy activity between those two points. We won't recreate the tunnel in its entirety; a 30 mph speed limit would take a visually boring 10 minutes; so, only a mile or so of each end will be modeled.. The entire route will be no longer than 5 miles.
The goal of the project is to provide the Heritage Gateway Museum of Science and Technology, located in North Adams MA. with about 20-30 minutes of video (MP4) depicting freight and passenger operations in the area circa 1940's. The video will be shown at the museum as part of the Hoosac Tunnel exhibit. This is a non-profit undertaking on our part. In exchange we get access to old photos, maps and etc. from the North Adams Historical Society, and the Rowe Historical Society. The photos and maps will be used to model the area.
John and I, last December, spent a week in the North Adams area. We met with Robert Campanile, who runs the museum, and author of 'Images of America – North Adams'; a pictorial publication depicting the town's citizens and industries over time. We also met with Charles 'Chuck' Cahoon, president of the North Adams Historical Society. Chuck has been sending us photos and maps from the Society's collections, weekly. At the Springfiild (MA) train show this last weekend, we met with Carl Byron, who wrote 'A Pinprick of Light – The Troy and Greenfield Railroad and its Hoosac Tunnel'. The book is a history of the building of the tunnel, and a pretty good read. Carl is a member of the Rowe Historical Society, and has promised us its cooperation in providing additional photos and maps for reference. Rowe, by the way, is the town nearest the east portal (although the east portal is actually located in Florida, MA.)
Progress:
The TransDEM maps have been generated for each side of the tunnel and Trainz CDP's made for TS12. John is laying track and scenery for the west side, which includes the North Adams yard area. I'm doing the same on the east side. John, by far bears the brunt in the scenery department as the east side is all mountains and river with only a few buildings. We are presently laying track and coordinating scenery details. I'm building the Hoosac Station in Blender and will build the North Adams Station also. In total, only about a dozen building need be built. We are still looking for at least one other content creation artist to help and/or tutor in Blender. We are looking for an April 30th completion, including the video shots.
Anyone wishing to assist with the project can contact John or myself via e-mail or pm on this Forum .
I'll post every now and then, on our progress, in these Forums.
Happy New Year and regards to all………………..