Need Help Starting a route

DerCal

New member
I plan on starting a new route from Fond-Du-Lac Wisconsin to Sault Ste. Marie Canada I plan on finishing in about a year and a half any recommendations before I start. :eek:
 
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Recommendations regarding what ??

Era?
Type of operations - passenger, freight, MOW, etc ?
Season of year?
 
Then you need to start your research looking to identify the typical locomotives and rolling stock used by the railroad company/ies on that route in that era. What are the industries, what are the raw materials and products shipped in and out?
 
Once you have researched the stock then you will need to research the lay of the land. Are you using Transdem to create the land or doing it by hand? do you have maps of the route and facilities provided along the route?
 
Transdem (as noted) also track plans, gradient profile, speed restrictions, specific operating rules (the latter two contained in what is known as the "timetable" for US routes, sectional appendix for the UK).

Having just had a look at the scope of your proposed route, which on Google maps is shown as 355 miles, I would suggest an element of divine intervention too, or failing that a healthy dose of realism.

You do realise just how long building a route can take, done properly? Reckon on around one month per 25 - 30 miles of linear route and that may increase if you have substantial towns or industrial complexes to include. At a minimum you would be looking at around 15 months, by which time TANE should be out and most people will be switching to that. You're also likely to hit performance issues both in Surveyor and Driver with a route that size.
 
DerCal,

The guys here have given you some really great advice so far. Building a route, whether large or small can be a big task which should take a very long time. Why did I say should? Well it's relatively easy just to lay track and plop buildings and stuff down much like we'd do for a loop around the living room or under the Christmas tree. But... to get a route that is worth driving takes a lot of work and lots and lots of time.

Now having said this, there are other considerations too. You've thought and mentioned your brief thoughts on the route. One of the biggest things that helps is what is known as the back story. This means having a history of the railroad's operation, whether present or previous, and using this to keep the plan consistent and as a goal seeker.

So you've come up with a route that's modern and runs in the summer. Where is it located?, What kind of trains run? Is it a short line, a branch of a major operation, or perhaps a tourist line? Perhaps a bit of it all... You see you're thinking at the top level and too broad. This is a first step in defining your route, but you need to take this and narrow down things a bit. It's a great idea to investigate, Wikipedia, your local library, even a good internet search of a railroad you are interested in will give you ideas for your route, combine this and with a bit of imagination, you can now come up with a good song and dance - a story of your railroad. Let's use a small short line as an example...

The Shoreham and East Sandwich was built as a branch off of the Eastern Railroad in 1878. This line served the fishing industry, located on the east side of Sandwich Bay, as well as some passenger service between East Sandwich, Little's Cove, and Shoreham. The service was successful and by 1888 this line, like the rest of the Eastern Railroad, was absorbed into the ever growing Boston and Maine Railroad, which by this time was now operating everything in northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of Maine. The passenger service remained popular up until the late 1950s when it was discontinued in favor of bus and car service as the B&M gave up short-turn passenger service and focused on freight. (This is true by the way). By the early 1970s, the freight service was dwindling as well as the fishing industry closed and freight moved to trucks. By the time Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI, now Pan Am Railways) took over, the line was mothballed by the state, (pick, Maine, New Hampshire, Mass.) for a potential future use or even a rail trail. In the mid-1980s some local business men saw the potential for a tourist operation and rebuilt the line for summer operations... You can fill in more.

So now we have an old seacoast branch line that had some freight operation before, but now has only a tourist train running. What kind of equipment? This is now another question that needs filling... How about a 44-tonner pulling some old B&M or New Haven American Flyer coaches. Perhaps throw in a dining car for a dinner cruise service... We're getting adventurous here! The thing is let the imagination grow, but keep things in perspective and within the story that you created.

So now we start building. You can use existing Trainz DEM files which are up on the DLS, or generate your own with TransDEM. At this point, though, being a first route perhaps, let's keep it simple and we'll make our own landscape using the existing Trainz tools. We squish, and lift, flatten and manipulate a little bit of topology at a time. We lay some track, and now we're on our way to building a route. Being eastern New England, we can't have steep mountains coming down to the shore so you'll need to flatten things down. I recommend looking at Bing Maps, bird's eye view, and even Google Earth and going into Street View there. Look at stations, trackside views, streets, downtowns, etc. to get an idea what the area looks like.

I mentioned sticking to the story. The reasons are many, but you'll find that it really does help in keeping the railroad together. What you don't want to do, although no one is stopping you from doing it, is have an oilfield next to a big canyon with skyscrapers across the street. This will look odd and also it doesn't fit the theme. Another reason is it makes building the route easier by narrowing down our selection of assets we want for your route. On the DLS, plus installed, there are close over 300,000 assets. This doesn't count any that you can obtain from other websites, or even payware. And yet another reason... Should you decide to give up the route and start it again later, all this ground work is already done and you can rebuild this again and again without having to remain stuck in this step one rut.

So anyway, no matter how big or small a route is, you need a backstory and defined period as this helps bring the rest together.

John
 
Another planning idea is to take an abandoned railway and imagine that it has either been restored or never closed in the first place, but the contemporary setting allows a fair bit of licence as to what can be done with the infrastructure, without upsetting the historical purists. Following on from John's semi fictional example above, there are numerous former railroad lines in the Cape Cod area which could be brought back to life such as the Wood's Hole branch or indeed the main line to Provincetown. The course of the line is still easily recognised where the rail trail now runs. These would be much more achievable and interesting to drive than 350 miles of muskeg and low(ish) forest land across northern Wisconsin.
 
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One important item to consider - do you love the subject enough to stick with it. I have found that when building a scale model, it takes that passion to be successful. Another thought is to what scale you are building. If you are going to duplicate the line one to one, that's a lot of real estate, and once completed will take a long time (real) to go from point A to point B - like hours. I have built three versions of the Maine Two Foot SR&RL RR, which had a total of 100 miles of track. In one version I built in "O" gauge using 50 feet of virtual track for every mile of real track. Another had 14 feet of virtual track for each mile of real. The third was a model layout of 50 by 50 feet. Operationally, each had the same towns and industries and track arrangements. The bigger version took over one hour to go between two of the principle towns. In the second it took 20 minutes, and in the third only a few minutes. The different sizes allow different levels of enjoyment.One last thought is what to do about the unique structures, bridges, and rolling stock you will need to replicate your chosen line. If these items are not available, than you will have to build them in GMAX and/or BLENDER. In my SR&RL example, the DLS contains a lot of the rolling stock, but only a few structures, and no bridges. I had to create them in GMAX. Looks like you will be very busy for a while - enjoy!
 
Lots of wise words in this thread from several very experienced route builders. Here's a tip from someone far less experienced but who is gradually learning. Build and finish your line a bit at a time - say one sub division or even less so that it becomes fully operational at an earlier stage. Otherwise you'll go out of your mind long before 350 miles. The keynote to enjoying Trainz is variety. Do a bit of landscaping, lay some track, do a bit more landscaping, now for some streets and buildings, don't forget the vegetation, run a train or two and now move onto the next bit.

Above all, have fun.

Alan
 
Lots of wise words in this thread from several very experienced route builders. Here's a tip from someone far less experienced but who is gradually learning. Build and finish your line a bit at a time - say one sub division or even less so that it becomes fully operational at an earlier stage. Otherwise you'll go out of your mind long before 350 miles. The keynote to enjoying Trainz is variety. Do a bit of landscaping, lay some track, do a bit more landscaping, now for some streets and buildings, don't forget the vegetation, run a train or two and now move onto the next bit.

Above all, have fun.

Alan

This is an excellent tip, Alan. :)

On my "big" route which I've worked on since the beginning of time, I did just that. I'd finish off 6 baseboards then go out for a walk, ride, etc. This gave me a chance to experience and enjoy my labor as they say. I'd then start at the end of the track and continue on. Even today I do that as it not only gives me a chance to proof things for the more obvious floating buildings, trees, and roads, but a chance to take a break from the long track laying part.

John
 
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