TrainZ baseboard or Table

[Robertb0b]

Maybe I haven't read far enough in the manual, but what are the dimenensions in miles from N to S, E to W..and the depth...of the baseboard or table?

For the fun of it for my "own" personal use, I merged 3 baseboards with the Barstow portal...It worked except, for some unknown reason (because I am a newby and learning) the section I join to Mojave was down at the bottom with the high wall of Mojave raising above like something in the movies...So I started making a slow decline through the desert to lay track to the section I joined..It took me 7 or 8 hours and still working on it to smooth out the path...It appears I am going to the bottom of the world...So I need to figure out how many miles or meters coverted to miles I had to dig...

Also is there a simple tool that would help carve a deep "smooth" hole into the ground besides the ones on Topology tools?

Thanks,
Robertb0b

 

[4ndylloyd]

Rob,

Each baseboard is 720 metres by 720 metres. I am not familiar with the route that you mention but it is likely that it's track height is set higher than the standard baseboard. This can always be a problem when you merge routes.

An easy way to get a smooth grade/fall in the track is to lay it in one length from the point where it starts to the point where it ends. At this stage dont worry about it not going in the right direction. Expand the advanced tab on the bottom of the track tab, and click on the height adjustment icon. Now click on the spline points at the start and end of your track. This will then set the track at a smooth falling grade from start to finish, the spline points will turn yellow. Now add your spline points along the length of track and use them to move the track into the position that you want, introducing curves etc. The fall of the track will not be effected by this and will stay smooth. Once you have your track how you want it use the far right hand icon in the advanced tab under track. It is just a rectangle with red and green on it and I think that it is called the smooth spline tool? Click on this icon and then click on each section of your new track making sure to click between each spline point. The ground will not be brought up to the bottom of the track

Andy

 

[Irving]

Section Dimensions

Robert;
The dimensions are not given in the manual, however using the ruler tool in surveyor a section is 720 meters or 0.720 KM.
Multibly KM by 0.66137 to get miles:
720 meters = 0.447 miles. I round that to 0.45, so that two sections is 0.9 miles or approximately 1 mile.

There are threads discussing why 720 meters was choosen, but no good answer.

Irving
Correction: the dimension of 720x720 meters is given on page 130 of the TS 12 manual

 

[Robertb0b]

Baseboard measurements

Thanks very much for the information...I live in the USA and wanted to design something in particular for Eastern California, and the state of Nevada...I am sure there are plenty of ideas out there, but being a "newbie" on TrainZ I have already spent hours and hours designing...Being retired, I have more time than money, as the old expression goes...

I have checked out several train books from the public library on trains that were popular in the 18th hundred used for mining and transportation from Salt Lake City, UT to San Francisco, CA and points South to Las Vegas...My wife, grandkids and I enjoyed the train ride at Ely,NV. From these experiences we are using some of the ideas to design a track layout on the computer...