Truckee, CA to Lake Tahoe DEM needed
- Thread starter HiBaller
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nfitzsimmons
New member
@Bl4882:
Well, I'm going to give it a whack. I plan on doing the earlier years when it was still narrowgauge. In 1926 it was ripped up and replaced by standard gauge. I'll work on it and if I finish it, I'll post something in the Freeware panel and host it on my site.
It will be for 2010/SP3
@Nfitzsimmons: Oh, yeah. I use that site all the time. I even wrote a tutorial for making DEMs but I thought I'd ask first. No reason to re-invent the wheel is there?
Bill
Well, I'm going to give it a whack. I plan on doing the earlier years when it was still narrowgauge. In 1926 it was ripped up and replaced by standard gauge. I'll work on it and if I finish it, I'll post something in the Freeware panel and host it on my site.
It will be for 2010/SP3
@Nfitzsimmons: Oh, yeah. I use that site all the time. I even wrote a tutorial for making DEMs but I thought I'd ask first. No reason to re-invent the wheel is there?
Bill
It has been pointed out to me in a PM that I already know how to make a DEM map. I do, but the tools I used before were MicroDEM and TRS2004. It was labor-intensive, and the results were not always satisfying. I've tried this twice with my older tools and have not been able to reproduce the DEM I'm looking for. When the resulting map is finally imported into 2010, it looks like crud. There are large gaps, puzzling "X"'s deep into the terrain, and blank spots with no features at all.
I have a very nice black & white DEM JPG picture and all I really need is the top-left quadrant where the Truckee River leaves Truckee and travels directly south to the West bank of Lake Tahoe.
I can't locate an already-made DEM of that area, I sure could use some help making it from this JPG.
http://narrowgaugetrainz.com/pics/dem_image.jpg
Bill
I have a very nice black & white DEM JPG picture and all I really need is the top-left quadrant where the Truckee River leaves Truckee and travels directly south to the West bank of Lake Tahoe.
I can't locate an already-made DEM of that area, I sure could use some help making it from this JPG.
http://narrowgaugetrainz.com/pics/dem_image.jpg
Bill
Hey Bill - TransDEM makes this pretty easy. If you can wait a couple of days, I can make one for you.
In addition to the terrain, what additional information would you like? Any baseboards with Google Maps images? I'm not sure how useful it would be, because all of the development that has happened since then. Lines showing the approximate position of the railroad?
I'm assuming you are just interested in the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company - were you interested in modeling portions of any connecting routes? Maybe parts of routes of the connecting steamships Tahoe & Nevada, for example, or a couple miles each direction of SP in Truckee?
Curtis
In addition to the terrain, what additional information would you like? Any baseboards with Google Maps images? I'm not sure how useful it would be, because all of the development that has happened since then. Lines showing the approximate position of the railroad?
I'm assuming you are just interested in the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company - were you interested in modeling portions of any connecting routes? Maybe parts of routes of the connecting steamships Tahoe & Nevada, for example, or a couple miles each direction of SP in Truckee?
Curtis
Hi, Curtis. I would be very happy to have this made for me. My efforts with MicroDEM were a disaster. I just couldn't make it come out right. This was probably due to all the mind-numbing gyrations I had to go through to get it into 2010.
I don't really need any additional information as the route was abandoned in 1943 and that was a long time ago (I was born in '42). The traces in Google Earth are inconclusive so wherever I want to run the tracks will probably be fine. The height difference is only 945 feet and the canyon is about 17 miles long so the grade isn't that bad. The period of the LTR&T I'm attempting is around the turn of the century. It was changed from narrowgauge to standard gauge in 1926.
The writeup I found tells of the many crossings of the Tahoe River by the line so I get to add a lot of nice trestles.
I have some pictures of the Tahoe end which show a long dock parallel to the shore with a track running at the edge. There is also a long finger pier out into the lake where the steamships put in. I'm assuming that there might also be a track out there, but probably didn't allow motive power other than maybe a donkey engine. I'll wing it.
As for the Truckee end - I'd just deal with the Southern Pacific as maybe a very short section of mainline and a portal at each end to generate through trains. The actual interface, I've managed to figure out, is a couple of dual-gauge sidings and a transshipment warehouse.
Thanks a bunch.
Bill
I don't really need any additional information as the route was abandoned in 1943 and that was a long time ago (I was born in '42). The traces in Google Earth are inconclusive so wherever I want to run the tracks will probably be fine. The height difference is only 945 feet and the canyon is about 17 miles long so the grade isn't that bad. The period of the LTR&T I'm attempting is around the turn of the century. It was changed from narrowgauge to standard gauge in 1926.
The writeup I found tells of the many crossings of the Tahoe River by the line so I get to add a lot of nice trestles.
I have some pictures of the Tahoe end which show a long dock parallel to the shore with a track running at the edge. There is also a long finger pier out into the lake where the steamships put in. I'm assuming that there might also be a track out there, but probably didn't allow motive power other than maybe a donkey engine. I'll wing it.As for the Truckee end - I'd just deal with the Southern Pacific as maybe a very short section of mainline and a portal at each end to generate through trains. The actual interface, I've managed to figure out, is a couple of dual-gauge sidings and a transshipment warehouse.
Thanks a bunch.
Bill
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Here are two shots of a pier at the Tahoe City end - the steamship 'Tahoe' is docked, and locomotive #1 'Glenbrook' is alongside.
http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/tahoe,892
http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/tahoe,87
http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/tahoe,892
http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/tahoe,87
Yes. I saw those. Both of them were taken on the finger pier perpendicular to the shore. Did you know that the 'Tahoe' was finally found where they scuttled it? Down about 650 feet or so. One diver said it looked like they beat it with sledgehammers to make it sink. A sad end.
I think I might model that finger pier as the tail of a wye. A great way to turn short passenger/goods trains.
Bill
I think I might model that finger pier as the tail of a wye. A great way to turn short passenger/goods trains.
Bill
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Further to your noble project
I just realized I have access to Sanborn fire insurance maps showing extensive trackage of both the Central/Southern Pacific and the Tahoe narrow gauge trackage in Truckee as of 1898 and 1907 (you would need both) at 50 feet to the inch. This includes details of the tram system serving the lumber mill and industries and other structures in the middle of town. If this is something you think you can use, pm me your email address and I will send you PDFs.
Bernie
I just realized I have access to Sanborn fire insurance maps showing extensive trackage of both the Central/Southern Pacific and the Tahoe narrow gauge trackage in Truckee as of 1898 and 1907 (you would need both) at 50 feet to the inch. This includes details of the tram system serving the lumber mill and industries and other structures in the middle of town. If this is something you think you can use, pm me your email address and I will send you PDFs.
Bernie
Well, here's what I have so far. This is just a small patch about a mile out of Truckee.
I still have a long way to go though. I want to spiff up the river a bit and make it wider down at this elevation.
How does the ground cover look (for the Sierra Nevada's)?
Bill
I still have a long way to go though. I want to spiff up the river a bit and make it wider down at this elevation.
How does the ground cover look (for the Sierra Nevada's)?
Bill
Sek_Hakuna
Active member
Ground cover looks really good.
What track is that? I like the ballast part, makes it look realistic instead of flat on the ground.
What track is that? I like the ballast part, makes it look realistic instead of flat on the ground.
Well, like I said. It's a long way from being finished. The whole line is only about 15 miles long, but that's quite a bit of scenery to generate. Fortunately, copy & paste works well in this case. My tough part is going to be the UP yards at Truckee. Even though they don't connect to the NG line, I have to represent them to make the scene authentic. I'm thinking of putting portals at either end of the UP line and just let them emit/catch SG trains that will transit the yards.
Bill
Bill