TS10-12 assets fora Californian route? Trees? Industry? etc

[Davie_UCF]

Could I have some advice on assets for a Cali style route? I started a layout years ago... 6-9 years ago which morphed into a route, which I then never finished.

I've been bringing it back as I feel trainz has caught up with my vision's with regards to AI, assets and industries. However i'm a bit lost at assets to use for a Cali style route. thankfully the Mojave route has helped a lot as its near identical to the feel my layout is going to have.

Could I have some suggestions of assets that would suit a Californian route? Its mostly based on the feel of the desert ala Tehachapi but has a mountainous area that I thought would be more green, along with a town/city area.

I love how the Mojave route has pulled off Cali as well as i've seen it from photo's but I don't like the trees much.

Cut to the chase! Trainzers, could you recommend me assets that would fit a Californian layout, for TS10+...

• Trees? Any decent trees for TS10+ Preferably good speedtreez.
• Passenger stations? I used the Marias Pass Amtrak stations on my old version but I want to keep to assets that are on the DLS and not payware.
• Industry, what kind of industries are in Cali? Any good examples of them on the DLS?
• General housing

This is all for now! Until I think of something else.

Thanks guys!

By david_vi at 2012-06-05

 

[steamboateng]

Davie_UCF,
I don't know how to to break this to you, but I will be gentle in my approach. California is not a real place! It's a place where only Arnold Swarzenager and the Kennedys live. There are no California blondes, they're all bleached Mexicans, and Humphry Bogart is a runnaway Connecticut native. The BNSF exists only in Trainz lore as a mystical connection to the Orient. Stop watching all those old movies!

 

[JCitron]

Davie_UCF,
I don't know how to to break this to you, but I will be gentle in my approach. California is not a real place! It's a place where only Arnold Swarzenager and the Kennedys live. There are no California blondes, they're all bleached Mexicans, and Humphry Bogart is a runnaway Connecticut native. The BNSF exists only in Trainz lore as a mystical connection to the Orient. Stop watching all those old movies!

LOL, Mike.

Seriously though, Dave check out Dave Drake's trees or those by McGuirel, Pofig or others. California has tall pine trees, oaks, and cactus, depending upon which area of the state you're in. California is a big state, both long and wide, and covers different climates ranging from desciduous forests, mountainous pine forests, rolling plains, to desert.

John

 

[steamboateng]

Certainly meant it in good fun, no disrespect intended; unfortunately Capt Morgan was raisin' ugly his bearded head yesterday afternoon; and he is soooo difficult to rein in sometimes!
You're right about Dave Drake's assets, he has a load west coast stuff on the DLS.
You can also check out his 'Tall Trees and Boardwalk Railroad' site for more.

 

[bl4882]

Hello David,

You also asked about industry. At one time in the recent past California was a microcosm of the rest of the United States. It had every industry you could imagine, from agriculture, food processing, and ranching to steel mills, auto parts manufacturing and vehicle assembly, aerospace, general manufacturing, defense industries (e.g., armored vehicle manufacture by Food Machinery Corporation right here in my bailiwick of San Jose), and, of course, electronics. We even had mining of mercury, copper, and other precious and base metals, to go with coal (but not much) and oil extraction (still a lot of that). So if you are modelling, say, the '60s or '70s, anything on the DLS goes. There were even cotton gins in the southern half of the state.

Unfortunately, the State has, in the last 25 years or so has seen fit to drive all industry away. If you are modelling present day, there is almost nothing produced here except government and a few other things that will never see the inside of a boxcar. Anything that involves physical assets that can be taxed to death has fled to other states, such as Texas and Virginia where a good deal of our electronics industry now resides, unless they are heavily subsidized by the Federal government, such as the green industry. But there is no law that says you can't imagine that this didn't happen.

Google is a great friend in finding out what went on and where. California governments, even down to some of the smallest towns, all have chamber-of-commerce style websites that give a lot of info on the municipal history, including industrial development. Wikipedia also has a large body of source material that can be relied on since no one's money or life depends on what is contained there. I've gathered a quantity of material on line and would be happy to share if you like. Just PM me if you have questions and I will see what I can do.

Bernie

 

[Davie_UCF]

Thanks for the help so far.

Along with the replies I've been doing a bit of research so feeling quite confident and know what I want to achieve.
The layout isn't a specific era, but want the best of all. So currently it already has a container port, coal mine (had that already from the old version but haven't got to fixing so don't know if it will stay), a main yard at the main city which will have spurs for switching to industries for boxcars and the like. Planning an oil field to produce oil that can be shipped at the port..

I'm having trouble with assets, on my old version of the layout and subsequent routes I had used the Amtrak stations from the Marias Pass route, however they don't work in TS12 and I want to keep to DLS content for multiplayer.

Could anyone suggest a way of making US style passenger stops?