Seattle - W.I.P.

Falcus

New member
Well, a friend of mine suggested this, and after much thought I figured I'd do it. Hopefully get some feed back and or suggestions as I go. This all said, I Cannot Stress Enough, that this IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT for DLS content. At this point I have no Idea if I'll ever Release this or not. I do this to unwind after college & Work, and to be honest, to release it I would have to clear this through probably at least 25 Different Content Authors, and Google 3D warehouse (Unless someone wants to offer to make Buildings for me... HA!).

So, Seattle. I live here. I drive School bus for a living for Seattle Public School District, and am currently a Cover Driver (Substitute driver, but I get guaranteed hours because I'm rather good at it), which means I'm all over the city. The route is what I'm going to term Mostly Prototype, its not quite low enough (Of what I've done), to reduce it to Proto-Lanced yet, but this might change. I'm shooting for Late '90s/early 2000's, as this would present me with the most stability, particularly around certain Landmarks that are already included on the route.

This is the Area I'm focusing on. On the bottom Border is the North End of Tukwila, and the first Sounder Station south of King Street Station. On the North End is Salmon Bay (The big Grey void Top Left corner) with the Salmon Bay Rail Bridge (Created Curtousy of Ben Dorsey), and Interbay Yard. I actually have Track down up to Edmonds, which is the first Sounder Station North of King St Station, but I have done little more then Graded most of it, almost no Scenicing done as yet. Along the Bottom Right is a Spur out to Rention (Used to be MILW Mainline out to Snoqualamie Pass, but is now used exclusively by BNSF to move 737 Fusalage Bodies to Boeing Renton Plant), which I have laid, but again not done much else besides graded.


Thats downtown, from 4th Ave, just south of Jackson St facing North-Northwest. The key landmarks in the photo are King St Station of course, Smith Tower, Columbia Tower, WaMu Tower, and the other Scraper next to Columbia Center (Forget its name, I think its like Seattle Municipal Tower or some such silliness).


More to come as I adjust to trying to post these.
Falcus
 
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Looks very well done put out so far. Keep up the good work. Ive been to Seattle once and its a great city.
 
So Next Installment.

Most of what's close to being some level of Complete is around the south end of Downtown, from the Stadiums up to just north of the Southern Downtown Rail Tunnel Entrance. So, starting about where the tunnel entrance is looking South:



From here, the rest of the shots are all North Facing, getting further away from the Tunnel.








Next time I'll try and pick more specific locations. Its hard though because theres tons of areas that I've plinked assets down on, but the area isn't finished, usually because I've been there and remember certain details, but not enough to fill everything in. Further, I will say that all areas of the Map are subject to change at any time since this is a W.I.P. And again, questions or suggestions are welcomed, particularly as I move into less finished areas.

Falcus
 
Wow! :udrool: This is by far the most extensive city I have ever seen in Trainz.

It's great to see Seattle in something other than TeamSpeak avatar sized pictures. :hehe:
 


Forgot to add this map. Its hard to see on the map, but from the big Yard in Center (Union Pacific's Argo Yard), there are actually about 6 tendrils of Track running North. The Big Black Line Top Right that runs north to South is I-5, and just to the left of it is Airport Wy and a Spur that used to feed the Rainier Brewery (Before it made coffee.... yelch....).

To the west of that is whats left of the Former MLW line into Union Station, and is now a Spur Feeding a few industries further up before the much of the R.o.W is subsumed by the Port of Seattle for a Metro Bus only Road & The Link Light Rail line between the Seattle Bus tunnel (Now occupying all of the Old Sub-surface areas of Union Station and much much more) and Seatac Airport. I do have Rails down atm on the map for the Light Rail, but it is not currently my intention to realize the full Link Light Rail System.

West of that is the BNSF Mainline through Seattle (Though they'll let UP and CN run on it on their own from time to time, I'm sure the price has to be right though). Thats the Corridor I'm focusing on the most atm, as it will be the center of anyone's trip through Seattle.

West of that is the Former N.P. Freight Yard at Stacy St. This Yard has not been constructed yet. There are alot of little details I'm working out before I tackle that mess. BNSF has a huge modern Container loading yard just north of the former Starbucks world headquarters (Yes, this building is modeled on the map as well), with 4 5+ Story Permanent Container Cranes.... I have NO stand ins for these cranes.... They're absolute monsters and I have nothing that even approximates their size or utility..... Stacy St is the Destination/Origin point for almost all freight with a terminus or origin in or South of Seattle. The North extremes of the City and what few business's are north of the city tend to be pooled at Interbay Yard (A future post I'm sure, as that Yard has been built, but very little scenicing).

Edit: Forgot one of the Tendrils. On the other side of Hwy 99 from the Stacy St Yard is a 5 or 7 Yard Well Car Storage Yard that UP has used for over 2 decades. I think at one time it was probably an actual container Loading capable facility, but has since been relegated to Storage. Not too sure on the history.

Finally, just visible south of where the Stacy St Yard would be is the connection out to Harbor Island and eventually West Seattle. I have done alot of work on that area with very little recognizable progress to most. The DEM I'm using has fairly well made a god awful mess of the Water line. Hogz screwed up a bunch of stuff too along the water front. So I've had to go in by hand and recreate the Waterlines in alot of places. This process is mostly done for Harbor Island and big chunks of the Water Front in the City. Barely tackled West Seattle though, and I still haven't come to a conclusion on how to merge the Duwamish River with Elliot Bay (SInce the River is present in a few place further back at different elevations no less.

Anyway, point being is to demonstrate that, with all this trackwork going on, I'm having to do alot more scenicing then the average "1 Board across" route.... The N-S lines through the central part of South Seattle are just close enough that theres little point trying to do anything else besides just plunking down buildings that you can view from both sides...... Unless someone has a better Idea they want to float, lol.

Falcus
 
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Very Nice I lived in Everett for about nine years (1996 -2005). It is nice to see Seattle they way you have done it up. BTW, where did you get all of the Seattle buildings and stadiums?
 
@Sentenal
Nice, I lived in Everett from 1995-2007. Don't suppose you ever went to any Mukilteo School District Schools?

That said, my Map actually extends from the south end of Tacoma (About 3 miles or so South of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. And yes, I have downloaded Ben Dorsey's rendition of it and placed it to just to see, lol. And Yes, it fits. IIRC its a little on the long side, by probably 20 feet or so, but thats excusable considering the size of the thing), all the way North to about 4-5 miles past the Slough that wraps around the North End of Everett. I also have (As you can see on the maps above), the old NP Branch line that ran between Renton and Monroe, and I then have the far West end of the former GN Mainline from just east of Monroe (Don't think it goes out to Sultan quite), all the way in to Everett. Most of this is virgin Territory on my map atm. But when I feel like Seattle is "getting there", I've toyed with the ideas of doing up Tacoma or Everett, since both were vital PNW Railroad Landmarks.

The Seattle Specific Buildings, with the exception of Smith Tower (Which is questionably Accurate), are imports from Google 3D warehouse via Sketchup.

Falcus
 
@Sentenal
Nice, I lived in Everett from 1995-2007. Don't suppose you ever went to any Mukilteo School District Schools?



The Seattle Specific Buildings, with the exception of Smith Tower (Which is questionably Accurate), are imports from Google 3D warehouse via Sketchup.

Falcus

Sorry I'm a bit older. I was working at the Kimberly-Clark plant in downtown Everett (which is now totally torn down) until 2001. I then had a job with INS/Homeland Security until 2005 when the wife and I retired and moved to the Philippines.
 
So, Next installment.....

Anybody Remember THIS:


I won't even put that on my bucket.... It was ok for its time, but oh em gee.... Today however, we have THIS:


One of the things I really haven't gotten about route creators, is that so few ever even try to make a decent parking lot.... Go to your local store, what do you see? A Parking lot! Go ANYWHERE you can shell out cash for ANYTHING, and what do you see? A Parking lot.... They're EVERYWHERE! And they take up so much space! They're rarely full to boot.... Looking for ways to eat up space on your route? Make a Parking lot! This isn't the only one I've built, but to date its the biggest Flat one I've cobbled together.

Next Item: Building Tetris


I'm not overly keen on reusing Models ad naseum.... However I bow to inevitability..... Just like our outdated friend up at top, theres only available assets for whats available.... No more, no less... And believe me, I've spent over a year trolling for decent Assets.... If anyone wants to make recommendations, feel free.

That aside, I think you can see what I meant when I say "Building Tetris". Making bigger ones from small ones. Again, those 2 warehouses are the biggest I've done to date, but not the only ones. They're also two of the bigger single warehouses in Seattle (Thank god), so I wanted to approximate them as best I could. Some liberties were taken, but their over all layout is the same. Mostly, theres more track there then there is in real life, but that was done because I'm here to make a Trainz Route, not a Copy of the World.


THeres a shot further back. The foreground is on its way to becoming a Short Haul Container Yard. Macmillian-Piper Dry Bulk Transload is off the screen to the right, I want that place closer to being finished before I take shots of it though.

Now, I'd like to add at this point, that this game is seriously lacking in some very ubiquitous Assets..... I've been told that people have lamented these before, but, considering something like 70%+ of the Class1's (And others) Profit Margins comes from Intermodal.... WHERE'S THE FRIGGIN CONTAINER LOADERS? There isn't a single modern, or even pre-modern, example in the game yet? I'm doin friggin Seattle, and theres almost nothing BUT container Yards EVERYWHERE.... ANd yet I can't find 2 container loaders to rub together...... Unless you want me to post more outdated assets..... muahahahaha.

Another Point of contention.... Box Trucks.... SHORE, we got TONS of Trailers and Containers..... But right now, I can't find barely any box trucks.... Mostly JP or EU.....

Anyway, enough of that. I'll post one more as a teaser for a future post. Work on it has halted because I'm waiting to hear back from Spain Trainz Rutas about their interest in expanding their assets (Honestly, Im not holding my breath, but who knows?).

Thats been posted elsewhere, but if anyone here knows Seattle, you should be able to guess what I'm going for XD. Edited to add, I just noticed, thats an older Screen Shot, I did actually finish it with moderately accurate Handrails (Thanks Ben), but like I said, it might be entirely re-done, and more accurately, if I can get the assets.

Falcus
 
cities are A LOT of work! i commend you for getting this far, i have a Pittsburgh route i work on from time to time and you are further than me on this route. so great work.
 
@Stratuspheretrish
I have some Place Holder Tracks down atm between the South Enterance of the Bus Tunnel and where the Light Rail Tracks turn East Just north of Forest St to head over to the Light Rail Maintence/Shed Facility and then up through the tunnel through Beacon Hill, but I have ZERO assets to do the Elevated portions.

Further, my attention to detail would demand that I learn to use Wedge Antilles AC3/4 Assets, and thats going to be a SHARP learning Curve..... Finally on that score, the Baseboards get REALLY thin on the east side of Beacon Hill. I'd have to check again, but I might be 2-3 Baseboards short of having the whole line through that area, and Im 90% Sure I don't have the line west of Southcenter up 518 to Tukwila Station and ultimately Seatac Airport, and thats far enough off the map it'd be a Royal PITA to try to add it..... I suppose it could be done, but its not a focus of mine atm. If someone wanted to make assets for the Elevated portions, I might be swayed to do at least parts of it, but we'll see.

I also currently have track down for the old Waterfront Trolley line (Subject to change based on what happens with the Viaduct issues), but no Catenaries, and inquiries to Jamieboy(Sp, I KNOW thats wrong, but can't remember his name atm) about his Melbourne W-5 Models have gone unanswered and without those models theres not much point fighting with an unfamiliar catenary system for that line.

@applgath
Those are Rail-loading Doors, and the spacing there is a bit of guess work. UP redid the tracks that are currently used as Wellcar storage so they're not in their original Alignment (That whole Spur was originally the MLW Mainline into Union Station, which is now where the Bus Tunnel sits). But there IS space for the old Industry track that ran up the side of that honkin warehouse (And you can still see the stub of it on the North End where it would have met the next crossing street, so I think I got pretty close with the spacing). So I included it. At one time, almost every street in Seattle south of Denny Hill (The area where all the skyscrapers are) had tracks down them (I have a copy of an Old GN Rail Map of the area around King St Station dated 1948 which included NP and MLW lines), and many of the streets around the water front had track as well.

Space has always been at a premium in Seattle, as I had to explain to Ben Dorsey, what isn't crammed onto what little flat ground there is, is probably clinging for dear life to the side of a hill..... I did align the track so that there is probably 4-6 Inches clearance between the doors and any prospective boxcars, and thats pretty close to prototype for spacing around here (I've visited, exterior only mind, a few still operating Transload warehouses around the city). The real warehouses do still have their Rail Access doors (Though most have been bricked over, and of course the track is gone anyway), but they're not modern, they're the old "Concrete Ledge with a Sliding/Swinging door", and probably at one time had wooden or Metal Ramps inside.

If you want to hear some horror stories about the lack of space for railroads, theres a website I'll try to dig up that was written by a former MLW employee about his experiences on that line in the last few years of their operation (Think he went BN after MLW died), and there were all kinds of misery stories about their yard, which was parallel BN's (Former NP) Stacy Street Yard, crammed between a Substation (Might've even been built by MLW originally for all I know, I've been meaning to look into this, its still a Substation to boot), and the area where the Starbucks World Head quarter's currently sits. The tracks were so close together Yard hands actually lost limbs if they didn't ride on the END ladders of the cars they were working rather then the sides AND kept their hands to themselves. This scenario is pretty unanimous all over the city up through the late 70s or so, as the Death of MLW brought more available space to work with, and the loss of industry rail clients meant less track was needed. To top it off, I've known a few Rail hands personally that will all attest that Track space, particularly in Yards, even in flat open areas, are often tight enough they feel like they'd break their arms off if they stuck them straight out the window, so I've intentionally made alot of my track work close together. Though of course I test it as I go (Hence all the consists scattered around on the Maps above, lol).

Hope that wasn't TMI, (har har, 6+ Paragraphs for 10 sentences, 10 pounds of cure for a 2 ounce cold! Hope its interesting at least!)
Falcus

Edited to add, thanks for all the kind words by the way. Makes the roughly year I've been tinkering with this feel better XD.
 
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So, on the eve of installing T:ANE, I thought it would be good to do an update, since I've made some notable progress in a key area of the city. Might as well post some shots before T:ANE Totally messes me up. I also want to add that Its take me the better part of a year and a half to learn about vegetation well enough to feel like I could take a stab at recreating even a small part of the Flora/arboreal ecosystem around here..... Its been quite a learning curve with more then a few dozen hours downloading every asset I could find that I thought had a chance of looking like a decent stand-in (Since there is essentially NO Arboreal or Floral models that really come specifically from the PNW. Even the Evergreens I find are at best from California.... le sigh).

So, we all remember an earlier mention I made of a little Bridge Ben Dorsey Made for me for Salmon Bay between Ballard and Magnolia yes?

Well, the area around it originally looked something like this:
bdfcc24be701a8ad59a3d7f6bd1494bd.jpg


Now it looks more like this:
f5c18a06b4c291af0e91b785444f2c1b.jpg


I spent alot of time trying to figure out the vegetation around this area of the route. And this was what I came up with (wanted to share this before I played with T:ANE since I'm still hearing T:ANE Is going to butcher these speed trees):
606f6eb8cb75f4266ca10d43db8c88d0.jpg


And just for some scope.... I've seen some towns in some pretty nicely done routes be smaller then this:
2300f97966982555c2c46e43e37bbb82.jpg


Then you zoom out and see what I've been playing with:
c81134ae05c4fca604548e513311d277.jpg


And yes, Im aware of the Red Bug signal. That was from a piece of rolling stock I was trying to play with at one point. All Fixed now, Promise. The foreground is a quasi-industrial area that sprung up around servicing the Alaskan fishing fleet that docks here.... If anyone ever thought about modeling Piers, Docks, Wharfs, or fishing boats of any description (Crabbers & Factory ships notably, there is a distinct lack of both. Factory ships are notably non-existent), now would be a wonderful time.... lol.

Regardless, still very WIP. I'm focusing on RoW and whats likely to be seen from the cab to begin with. I have bits and pieces all over the city worked on, usually until I hit a neck I can't get around (Usually missing objects), then revisit later when I have the where-with-all. College keeps me busy as well, but hey, rockin a 3.97 GPA atm XD.

One last shot before I go. In the above 2 screens, you can see the North End of Interbay Yard. Its actually starting to approach some level of "More done then not". Here it is looking the opposite direction from ground view:
aa9b9e708acaa116f2e2ebc10e3e218e.jpg


Hope this was entertaining at least,
Falcus
 
Nice, I Alway love the city of Seattle and I have an uncle who lives there. This is a route that I would love to get my hands on when finished. Keep up the good work. Will you included the monorail in there as well as possibly the Sidney Trolleys.
 
I am absolutely donating the WIP W2 trolleys to this project upon their completion, as well as some sounder equipment upon their completion! You don't know how excited I am to see that this is going along, riding the Sounder yesterday rekindled my interest. I believe I also have some ST and Amtrak signs on my hard drive if you're interested.

Best of luck, i always wanted to see my hometown recreated in trainz. Now if only West Seattle had our Link extension...
 
@Everyone:
Thanks for the kind words. They mean alot.

@Landshark229
Tried to tell you about it earlier when you mentioned Seattle ~.^. That said, Im excited to hear you say that you're excited about it. I've been at this route for about a year and a half. I have exactly one creator that will reliably make me things when I ask. If this project is ever to see the light of day, I need more help then I've been getting (Not just creating either). At this point, I'd be willing to release it at some point, with all the work that one act would entail, but it would be dependent on how complete I can get it. Particularly with T:ANE's new draw distance abilities. I plan this weekend on loading it up and seeing how T:ANE Handles the Redraw issues that TS12 has (There are several places already on my map that TS12 will constantly redraw, for sheer amount of assets on the ground Im fairly certain). Someone local, particularly if you live in the city, and with your modeling abilities could be a huge help. I'll PM ya my Email if you want to talk more. Added Bonus to anyone that reads this, I'll share what I have done at points TBD, and certainly when I'm done with the route, I'll make sure anyone that has helped me along the way has a copy (Meaning either I can't, or won't work on the route anymore for whatever reason), whether I release this to the DLS or not.....

I will ask though, have you seen Robin Hoods Sounder stuff? Its pretty good (These are old shots. The area around King St Station is much more complete now, though still not done):
1a18c27416a62bfee556906259a85f8e.jpg


Looks better in Seattle where it was meant to be in the first place to boot:
f6723a10b5ab8d6914b9597ef49b3d1e.jpg


The scripting done on it is pretty good too. The cab Car works very well. And the Red EoT lights on the Locomotive work in tandem with the Cab Car Headlights and EoT lights:
01432bb674dd63ac7ce25a2700c93294.jpg


I don't bring his up to say that the Sounder couldn't be done better. Just to bring your attention to it if you haven't seen it yet.

Add: And Yes, Amtrak Signage would be a great help. So would some BNSF Location Signage (Theres tons of signs like these around, but none are really like the ones we have here in the PNW, I know I've been looking!).

Falcus
 
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