Snow High Valley Distr Ctr (High Resolution 950x532) Approx

Flaam Story continues........

Good Day all,

Been busy working on Marias Pass, and will visit that on another day. There is lots to discuss on Marias Pass Route, now that I have had some time to play around with it.........

So let's go over to the Flaam side now.........

So one of things I have always marveled at, waterfalls and Rushing Rivers in the Canyon Cascades. I studied a few Routes I have downloaded. And try here to create something that will please the eyes.

This quick moving water Current, very icy up in the Altitudes, flows down thru and under the Tracks here. It took me a while to get the channels cut, and the right Texture Colors and River Water muddy color components......I need to go back and try to mix the color convergences in so they look more natural, but I think it is a good start.

This is how it looks as it flies out over the drain channel and down into the Dam Lake Storage below........

Now the one problem I have here, I have too much of V Channel effect, probably because the Channel is too narrow, so I will go back and adjust the way the Grid Tile Splines bend.......

A view of the the new Dam control area here.

This is how the Water Channel looks here, now the Color Textures need fixing, there not completed..........It's still very much a work in progress here........And we need Trees and Foliage too.....

One of the issues here, I think I put too much Rocks in the Dam area, I need to go back and retool that part of the Dam area.......

I evened off this area here, and put in some buildings, it is still in a rough state, here, no Roads and other items yet. The Track level is where I want it.

Dam view from another Peak area, I really like the mountains in the background........I have the elevation where it needs to be for my GPU, and now the tops don't get cut off like before when they were 500-700 feet higher.........

Down at the bottom of the Dam, I was able to make a Splash area here, and I plan on making one on the other side too, now that I figured out how to position everything.......

A train comes in here to check Grade and Signal aspects, so far so good, we have about 1.5% or less......

Time for me go to a meeting this AM........Got to run.......

Thanks for dropping in.......Have a great day all.

Grand kids make me happy / Aussie Merge Canyon Trip

Good Day All,

My Grand Kids told me it was officially the last day of Summer,,and I said good, that means we had lots of fun and now it's time for you get back in School and see some of your friends. And they agreed, they missed their friends and where excited to go back. And the most amazing thing they told me, they wanted to finish their education asap, so they could find a good job!

Grandparents couldn't ask for better in this busy and somewhat strange world we live in today.

OK.....Lets get to the Railroad, I took a lot of pictures on our cross country trip to Illinois and back, and I need to pull out the RR ones, and see if I can find out additional info on the Trains, both static and the ones on the move we saw.......

Now over to TANE, as noted before, we have a great forum and there is always good info to be had when you browse our forum......

Today, I read this thread and realized I didn't have as many 52 Bulkhead cars as I thought I did, only a smattering few. So I went over to JR site and downloaded the "52ft_bulkhead_mega_pack" and it installed perfectly with TANE other than I had 2 commodities missing, and had links to DSL and they downloaded perfectly in seconds.

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?148005-52ft-Bulkhead-flat-car-issue-in-TANE

Now my intention is to check out the amount of commodities these and my other cars have with respect to how many each have, and if there are any issues with Script errors. It seems to me, that 100 Commodities was the limit for T:ANE, I think I remember either someone mentioning it, or I saw it somewhere in documentation.........Maybe one of Folks could give me a link to that........?

In checking the 52 Bulkhead type cars, they all had 15 or less Commodities max or less in other cases........I got to thinking why they didn't have more, and checked several of my regular Flat Cars loads, and voila, they had tons of them listed on the Flats, why, YOU GOT ME, I really don't know........Strange

And just a quick Tip, when you install new Assets to T:ANE, I have found, that if you do a Database rebuild after installing one or many Assets, it helps T:ANE when you go in to find your new Asset(S) other wise you get the whirling Donut after opening T:ANE and you can't see any of your regular assets, due to the fact T:ANE is trying to update the Database for your new items, and run the whatever part of Program, Surveyor, Sessions etc your using..........

And I have see in the past, and it could be my Laptop, but I don't think so on this, that it has taken 15-30 minutes to update the Database for Assets....

Also it could be for me, that because I now have 473,000 Assets it takes much longer to sequentially organize them when you install more.........(ANY COMMENT ON YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION IS WELCOME).

I also know some of the members in this Forum have over 500,000 Assets,, those probably our original Trainz owners from the beginning of this Simulator, that spans way over a Decade in years, it is so easy to accumulate things.......LOL

This is my Aussie Merge Route, about 9 sub Routes merged into one, over below is the Snow and Loops Canyon areas of this route.

It so much fun to run trains in this area, with the Rolling Rapids below and the steep high walls of the Canyons this author made......Look at the Fogginess from all the water on a very cool morning in the Mountains........

My Trio of SD40-2's I believe are pulling a heavy loaded consists for the mountain communities here. BTW no Drunk Driving on this highway or the River will eat you up and your vehicle too.

Back over at the Milling Plants, we pick up some Mineral Cars for Industry. Boy do my little SW1200's smoke a bit, but they are strong and mighty, and get the job done.......

I misspoke earlier on SD40-2's they are 6 pack for the heavy haul, and we need every ounce of pure, raw power too get this heavy consist up the hill.......Just looking these majestics Canyon Bridges tells one how rugged and dangerous this Canyon can be for unprepared........

We have a loop over loop to make up for the Elevation step down needed for our Pier area yards etc,, right across from here.

I see I need some texture patching below too, our work is never done......LOL!!!

Top view of the magnificent Rolling River below us, and this isn't in Winter yet, just imagine how cold and icy our River is in the middle of Winter.........Yup that right, we have people lost in here and never came back , because they didn't show respect for mother nature as they should, and it cost them and their families...........

We got thru the Gorges OK for now, into a beautiful Valley Floor that I redid for Yard switching etc.......No couplers was injured in this operation.!!!!!

I really like the Fall Tree Colors we see here too.......

A large factory on the left takes tons of Boxcars for Industrial needs.

Switch is clear for us and will drop some cars for processing and pick up some empty ones on the way back thru again next week.

Plenty of water coming off the side wall of the DAM........

Take a look how the Author made the Rocks in the river rapids......

I think that 'll do it of today........Thanks for dropping buy..........

Pictures from our Midwest USA Trip

Good Day all,

Recall I that I took a trip to see some family in Illinois, by way of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Newbraska Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona........

Wow did we really go thru these many states, well yes, and no, some mearly tips and short edges, but we did manage to dirve some 4200 plus miles and see lots of interesting sites, and a few Trains to boot.

Below is a list of the Trains in these states:

Utah has:

https://www.gwrr.com/railroads/north_america/utah_railway#m_tab-one-panel

and I didn't see any of these Guys running on the line when we passed thru.

https://www.colorado.com/articles/complete-guide-colorado-train-trips

We saw thw Georgetown Loop and the Rio Grande Scenic, didn't haave time to ride them, but someday, we plan to catch on the Roads we didn't stop for. We saw the Animas River, but apparently were just too far away on the highway to see Durango & Silverton Line........I heard from many friends this is a fun one to ride on.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.coloradotrain.com/about/ "RIO GRANDE La Veta Pass Route"

Locomotives and several types of Running Stock, static as we passed by, so this will another Railroad we need to come back to visit..........
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colorado/Utah "Deseret Power Railway"

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Deseret Power Railway

Thanks to "Dangavel" from the "Unitah RR project" for his help in finding me the strange electrified line I saw in the middle of the Desert between these two States?

Nebraska https://www.american-rails.com/ne.html

Looks like Union Pacific is the big dog in this state, and we did see a few here and there as we passed thru. Looks like they have some short lines, but we didn't see any of those Road Names, or we were near the right points of RR Lines.......But that's OK. We saw lots of other Road names on the Trip.

Passed thru a small southern portion of this area, and I didn't realize how close we were to some of the Short-lines in this state.......We flew by pretty quick as we had been driving for 3 days, and this particular day, we were only 300 miles away from our destination in Illinois.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iowa https://bsvrr.com/wp/ Des Moines River Valley
==========================================================================
This is one Car Tunnel you won't get thru in Winter most likely, why, well it is 11300 Ft of elevation, and lots of Snow at Winter.
c
Coming thru Az Desert, we have BNSF trains coming for a meet on parallel iines and Temp is 113 Degrees.......Hotttttt!!!

Closer

And they meet............Phew that looks close from far away on our highway,,,,,Thank goodness they have Air Conditioning out here.....It was stinging hot.......

Colorado to Utah Power Plant,,,,,Electrified Coal Train, dedicated single track line, this is all it does everyday of the Week.....

Here is the Track bed as of now, there was nothing running at this time of the day, I think they run in the Mornings, and we came by late in the Afternoon very hot time period........I also get the impression on this Road Bed that they are doing Flash Flood protection too, as there are several areas where the Track sub Bed is way higher than surrounding Desert ground level, and suspect some of it too, is rapid elevation changes......but you can see from highway that this engineered with lots of 5-10 foot drain Culverts, the engineers know how weather can turn into Flash Floods from the high heat and heavy humidity build up during parts of the year........

Found some Steam Trains in this city.......

https://www.coloradotrain.com/route/
Alamosa, CO
610 State Ave Alamosa, CO 81101
Set amongst the dramatic Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges in Southwest Colorado, Alamosa is the San Luis Valley’s cultural and economic center. The depot is located on the town’s main street and a range of dining, lodging and recreational opportunities are all a short distance away.


Crossing the River at California and Arizona Border.

And here is the rest of the Bridge on another day in the past. Santa Fe all the way baby....Grew up around these guys......Great Railroad......


Enjpy your Holiday tomorrow.......

And one final note here, thanks to Robin_Hoods and Dan Gavel for their export help with some items I needed this week.

As always, take care of the Forum, it is a great Resource,,and have patience when you can....That helps too......


That'll do for today.......

Pictures from my Illinois Trip

This doesn't have anything to do with my Trip, but rather something I have been following for 30 some years, hoping that some day, this Railroad would be restored, it is sorely needed, when you read what could be accomplished if it was renovated......In todays technology, there is no reason why not, yes it costs money, what doesn't, that is a no brainer. It's what's in the outcome, once it is open and operating, if they can do these railroads in much higher mountain passes in our country, they sure as heck should be able to do it here!

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/transportation/sd-me-desert-line-20171221-story.html

In retrospect, I hope they figure out a way to make a rail connection where it is really needed?

And when you read this next link, check the part where an offer was made to restart the line by another company out of Another STATE, and then the offer was resended? Special interest(s) against this move! I don't know, but we sure stub ourselves in the foot sometimes, when I travel the Freeways these days, I see way more trucks on them than should be, and way more weight than our freeways where designed for....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_and_California_Railroad

Yes We need Trucks to keep this nation moving, I get that, but we also need to look at how much we don't use Rails where effectively where they are really needed, and there is this mind set in the RR Industry, point A to B straight as possible, and nothing out of that parameter, meaning as much intermodal as possible, in other words, we rely on few eggs in the basket.......

Business wise, not a good decision. But that is where we have headed........
================================================

Ok.....Over in Colorado is this Narrow Gauge Route in the Mountains..

AKA georgetown loop railroad

https://www.georgetownlooprr.com/

....This was moving fast on the mountain, and we were too......So We tried to catch some quick Pics of it........

Tight turns and quick Elevation, amazing to watch for about 30 secs, and then we were out of site.

Rial Yards over in State of Kansas near Iowa I think.........Lots of cars.


He and I were racing down the mountain to the Valleys below, I'll bet he'll beat me, he has a much straighter line, I have a bunch of Mountain Curves......LOL

BNSF headed downhill with mixed power here........He was going close to 70, that's all I can tell ya.........Stay out of his way........

112 Degrees, and this UP was on the run to Chicago hot intermodal loads, in fact these were stacked across the desert, 2-3 consists deep.........But they were all moving....And they had a Junk Train in the Siding here waiting for clearance on the hot inter-modals........

Out in the middle of the hot desert these poor guys were left high and Dry with no power, and no were to go, I suspect Rock and Sand Loads etc.

From the hot desert, it was 113 degrees in the valley to 84 degrees at 6000 feet, wow, I'll take the cooler mountain air.......No Clouds around today.......

This is the Coal Silo, that goes underneath our Highway, and loads the only 2 Electrified Coal Trains, I talked about earlier this week.......Never seen a setup like this before.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_Power_Railroad

Don't laugh, it works great, and they have been doing it since 1983 or so, read the story on how they got their Rolling Stock and Locos, and where they got them from....This Railroad is point to point Circle on the ends of one mainline, not connected to any other Railroad.....! How's that for running a Railroad line?????

OK Folks, time to run.......Hope you like the pictures...

Funny Crackling sound tonight & more of my Illinois Trip Pics.

Good evening Folks,

A funny cracking sound started to go off next to my favorite Sofa Chair, had just sat down to eat, and thought that sounds really odd. I leaned over, and started smelling something like burnt smoke emanating from where my Computer Cords lay......End of Story, my portable surge protector had just gasped it's last breath. And I'm not sure if it could have caught fire, but I don't ever want to chance it again. I think from this point on, I won't leave my Laptop plugged in......Have any of you ever had this happen? From what I can find out, it pretty much just smokes and stops working, but it still doesn't put me at ease! I dropped some links here for you too read what has happened to others.

In fairness, this Surge item is probably close to 10 yrs old, even though I don't use it everyday, I should have replaced at least in 3 yrs, so I really goofed here on that one. I need to go stand in the corner in embarrassment.

Your opinions would be most welcome if you have some for suggestion. This Surge protectors was portable and specially made for Laptops only, bought possibly at Fry's or Best Buy way in the past......Can't recall it has been too long..........

As I final note, now that I think about it, my laptop in the last day or so, stopped charging, and I thought I had a loose connection at the Surge point, now I know it was starting to fail yesterday, unbeknownst to me........

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2648868/electronic-smell-from-surge-protector

https://www.howtogeek.com/212375/why-and-when-you-need-to-replace-your-surge-protector/

Over to the Galesburg Museum in Illinois........Another place we stopped out to visit, and was truly a great experience, really nice folks here. So please, if you pass thru here, drop and see some really timeless items.......

Just passed here is where the museum can be found.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1&ei=WPCRW63OEcqO0wKXzYjYBg&q=galesburg+railroad+museum&oq=galesburg+Railroad+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.1211707.1222731..1225469...0.0..0.280.1891.19j1j1....2..0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i131j0i10j0i3j0i22i30.u8tBmNXwyrM

Collection of Speeder Carts lay quietly here for you to ponder about all their travels they had on this railroad. An original Date Stone from long ago.

Here is old faithful here, I got to climb inside of the Cab and see what she is all about.

Pic from above and there is a spur track right close by, never know, more things could end up here?

Inside here is all the regulators and other assorted items.

Really nice side view, I couldn't quite get all the tender, so you'll need to visit sometime too see the rest of the Lady.

This Caboose is fascinating, I won't say why, but when come by, and see how it designed and why, I think it will be quite rewarding when you see how special this Caboose is, and you know all about my affinity for Cabooses, I insist on having them for all the local Runs, not just the long ones. Never met a Caboose I didn't like.

Here is the other side of this Cutie.......

And of course we are huge mainline, for BNSF, and Amtrak Station Stop too, I have to say, every 10-15 mins or possibly 20mins, there were trains coming and going.

This is one of original Passenger Cars at the museum, it too has an interesting story, I think you'll be amazed at what these cars did for the Railroad.

Hope you enjoy the pics.....And this was one of many cool places we visited on our Eastward Trek through the USA.......

Night all......

Got some more pics from our Trip home to share........

And I have been playing, installing Signal upgrades on Marias Pass Route, Straightened out some bent Tunnels, changed a few curves in the Track........I knew this Route was large, but never realized how big it is, if just go by the Mile Markers, it something like 150 miles long....Wow, what a cool route it is.......We'll some more pictures from it, once I finish my Illinois Trip Photos, just a few more left to share.

Also been busy looking over the whitepass and Yukon NG Route, that is a humdinger of a Route too. Jango and the Crew certainly created a very realistic looking Route.......I did a flyover with my Mouse it covers a huge area, and everything as go from one area to another in distant mountain areas looks unique. It certainly will be a Keeper for me.........


On our way back to Los Angeles California we found this sign..........And a locomotive to go with it.

And we continued to find this Fine looking historic models along the way.





And right next to display is this BNSF Mile Marker and main lines, from which I think said Locomotive was dry towed here as a final resting place.......

This is old guy is leased probably, and he has a side kick Green Slug (next picture) to help him move Grain Cars from a nearby industry.

And is Slug, looks like old BNSF Livery...........

I was able to look this up, and found out some better information.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelthumbs.aspx?mid=139&Page=4

The two locomotives owned by the cutely-named Right Cooperative Association 110 car shuttle elevator sit next to BNSF's sleepy La Junta Sub on a nice Saturday morning in Wright, Kansas. The 101 is a former Norfolk Southern, Norfolk & Western GP9 rebuilt with a Caterpillar 12 cylinder engine. The green locomotive behind the 101 is a former Burlington Northern GP9B.

This was a Rest Stop if I recall near the main highway.......I ran into quite a few of this old Fellas........

That'll do for today......Have a blessed Sunday......Night All.

Dodge City & items of interest

Good evening all,

Looking from Dodge City here and we run into some more Trains.

Behind the sign is some waiting Auto Stacks headed out later in the day on BNSF Lines.

I put in some links with some of the pictures shown here that give additional pics and information too.

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_City_station
[/URL]
And we got to see ATSF #1139 Static here for all to admire.......Take a look see how far this Baby Traveled!

Iron Horse is the talk of the town back then, imagine riding horses for everything you needed to survive and then a Train was made that changed all of that.

Lamar Co and this is a redone passenger station......

https://www.colorado.com/articles/complete-guide-colorado-train-trips

Another view of the station.......

https://mapio.net/pic/p-52291843/

#1819 Steam Locomotive comes to the party........This is a really nice done presentation. I thought the Windmill Design in the back set it off quite well......

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/atchison-topeka-and-santa-fe-railway-1819/view/google/

Of course when there is Steamer in Town, the Water Tank should be near to as well......

And on down the Road here is another Lady to enjoy...........

In the background, this is some kind of Sand Hauler Train coming thru the Town to Points West.......

Of course we have to have smart looking ATSF Caboose to set the Tone of the day......Today was a good day for sure.....

https://www.google.com/search?clien...j0i30j0i8i30j0i8i7i30j33i10j33i21.yKBN-Ds-Fko

I think it says well of the Towns where the Rails come thru, allowing us to see what once was part of this great Story, long before some of us where born......

Thank you for coming by, I bid you all a great day ahead..........Cheers

Last of Trip Pics/Aussie Merger Route Canyon Shots

Good evening my Friends,

Getting ready to head out on the Road for some more travel fun.

Working on the Huge Marias Pass Route, changing some Tracks, re-signaling the whole line.........And as previously noted, I had several dozen tiles that got corrupted, elevation wise, so I am rebuilding the mountains and who lot of other things that mashed up or removed........It happens folks, that's why backups are good, in this case same me even more damage from File Corruption..........And I actually ran 3 opposing Trains on 3 Parallel lines, went quite well.

I'm not sulking about the corruption, been here before, just take it in Stride and keep on trucking as they say......LOL

But before we leave on Friday, I want to get the last of my Trip pics posted. this is Children's Museum in Colorado?

Not sure, but pretty cool too see this little guy with the large Box Cars......We had just come thru some thundershowers out of town, when we drove by this in Town.

Pic of the Rest of the cars that were staged here..........It was a bit of an odd setup, but it might have been the best they could do with the allowed land space they had.

Now over to Trainz side, we are here on my Aussie Merger, I had to relay all the tracks and trees in this area, for my wishes of how I wanted this area to work. We have several Freights coming thru from the Port Operations with heavy load of Boxcars to the factory. We have Milwaukee Road Power passing by on the other Sub Mainline.

I didn't do theses Bridges, they came with this Route that I downloaded, and look at the stunning Rock and Water Fall decoration.

Really good visiual effects by the Author here.

Steep Gorges here as our SD$0's pull heavy tonnage up the Canyon. Train Handling is key here, or you go in the Drink and no one will find you, I can rest assure you of that hard brutal fact......That means, no Speeding, No losing your brakes, and certainly no short cuts........

At the other end of the Canyon is where all the Water Volume controlled by huge Dam Spillway..........

So much Cold Water coming thru the Canyon, that Fog and water mist has filled in the area, so it can be hard to see thru this area at times........
Hope the train crews can see the signals ahead..........?

A larger view of all the Rails cutting thru this mighty Canyon of swift running Water Currents.

Looking down from a well protected Roadway, you see the Train well below the level of this highway, quite a separation here. Better not drive this Road Drunk, the swift river might swallow you up if end up in the Drink so to speak.

Here we exchanging the loads and empties with this large Transfer facility on the left.

This Factory and Trans-load, handles like 50 Carloads a day or more depending on what they are handling.

That'll do for now..............Night all.

Good Day all on Humpday, Wednesday,

Sorry I have been absent here for bit, had some minor surgery done that just could not wait any longer, Sabeous Cyst that bonkers on me. Good thing I got some treatment.

And took some time to be with nature, camping in the wilds of my local Mountains here, for most of the week, while I healed up from the surgery.

Now lets talk a little Trainz here......I did the bullet and installed SP-3 upgrade from Sp-2 on T:ANE, and here is what I did, and how I did it.

I already backed up my T:ANE in the cloud and on external Drive.

Made sure I did a Database Repair before and after the installation of SP-3

Download was 60 Megs. took about 2mins to download.

Installation was probably about 15mins, fairly quick no errors, it took maybe a minute to load initially after the install.

After the 2nd and 3rd startup and editing of my Marias Pass Route, I found T:ANE really loads a lot faster. As for running Trainz I have yet to do that, probably this weekend when I get a chance then I can report more how the upgrade went. In surveyor mode, I don't see any issues as of yet.


Over to the Aussie Merge Route, This is a corner section of the large route, called the Chemical Branch, we mover everything you can think of except Nuclear in this area. lots of shunting action here seen, as Boxcars, flats, tankers, hi pressure Liquids, Wood Chips, you name it, we move it. And looks like we have fresh Oil too.

On the left is full featured Ethanol Plant, Cement in the middle and some Grain milling, lots of industry's here to play with.

And behind Ethanol plant we have a small Coal Mine Tunnel loading.

Here we are loading empties for transport.

Boxcar Canyon here, meaning we have a huge factory with 50 car day load outs.........

Couple of hot freights coming thru.

Load of Wood Chips coming thru and we have another power move ahead of us with Chemical Loads to pickup. Will shove back, and he will come in on the Spur line next to us to catch those Tankers from the Ethanol.

Freight sitting her on the Coal Mine Facility, and in the back is Leather Factory.

Cement and Coal Loads on the left, and various commodities on the right, this is one vary busy area. We can have as many as 4 Crews working this area simultaneously too keep this industries fed with Way loads.........All good stuff for the Railroad.

It took me me a few weeks to make this section up, I wanted a heavy industrial presence that would work well for loads in/out for other areas of the Railroad, and this section Rocks with the best.....

That'll due for now.....Have a great week all........

Good evening all,

Just got back from a nice trip into Central Ca, areas, among part of the Trip, I learned a few things about Santa Cruz RR's in the area, We wanted to ride the Trains in the area, but time was not enough for that, so I decided to read up on the different routes both used and unused........

Here are some links,

http://www.santacruztrains.com/

https://www.google.com/search?sourc.........0....1..gws-wiz.......0i131.du3jQsH15pY

And for you NG folks, yes they have one of those too, and it's active,,,,,,,

https://www.viator.com/tours/Santa-...MI5aGk0LjQ3QIVlshkCh11mgtDEAAYASAAEgIp2PD_BwE

Now while I was on the road, I continued my signalization of Maria's Pass, and still haven't finished just yet, all the mainlines are done, and working great! But, and yes there is a But, the hard parts to do, is making sure, crossovers get signaled correctly, and especially when they end up into massive yards and Stub Tracks. So when I come across this situation, I will use invisible signals in conjunction with regular signals to get that Green or Yellow aspect needed to get across multiple switch puzzles......Of course I do realize not everything needs to be signaled either.......RR's do have lots of Dark Territory (no Signals) paper or radio authority etc, and they can work quite well depending on the frequency of moves.

Here is a link for Dark Territory information:

https://www.google.com/search?sourc.......0j0i131j0i10j0i13j33i22i29i30.oIPujCZhz4s

What I am using are mostly Safetrain C Signals, and CNR Dwarfs, SA1's Dwarfs.

What does take time, is too figure the spacing, and what type of aspects I need to accomplish the moves between blocks, and proper aspects to follow that movement. One of the things that is very cool to me, is when I get signals to show Lunar Aspects.

The other thing i have done is to make slight changes on some of Curves and Speeds in the Route for my own needs, not because anything is wrong. This Route is fantastic, and it has so many things to keep you busy, and lots of main line running....Can't go wrong in that regard. The Texture and Trees are very random, and you have flat land, to low hills, too high steep Mountain runs to play with. Some really interesting water effects as well........Lots of attention has been given by the author and contributor.......


Below are Aussie Merge, we are over here on the Chemical Branch, we are behind the Ethanol plant......This is a nice floral shot here showing fall colors with with Seasonal Trees.

Changing out Cement Loads here.

Oil Tankers coming in for Ethanol plant.......

Oil and Cement Local working away on the same branch, I have added enough tracks here, strategically placed so these 2 Crews can work in Tandem with different loads, and not slow down this busy branch.

Also have Chip wood and Sawdust loads going out to furniture and wall board factories, you'd be surprised at what is made with sawdust etc......

Looking across the Chemical Branch we have a variety of Cement, Oil, Ethanol, Rock n Sand, Leather goods, and exotic Compressed Gases being delivered........We even have a Passenger Station for our Passenger Trains that come thru............

Coal Gon Empties sit with Compressed Gas Tankers etc await Shunt moves......And my trusty Switchers, and they work perfect for the tight Rail switching setups here. Everyone of the crews know their job, and do it well, Safety is not just a requirement, it supersedes all other things, without safety, you can lose lives, and quite possibly your whole bottom line......So we practice what we preach, job one is doing it right, safe, and coming home at night with all your limbs attached.........

Oil Local is coming around the Curve........

Another part of the Chemical and Wood industry Branch lines hard at work........All different kinds of loads going out today.......

Pair of I believe Norfolk and Western's pulling out some Boxcar loads out of our small trans load in the back here. It holds about 18 cars across 3 tracks with some additional spur stubs to assist with Team Track action.

Almost forgot to mention, on the left side, we have Metal Recycle yards with Rail Gons........

Alrighty then, thanks for coming by.......Enjpy.........

Good Morning all,

Hope you had a great weekend, catch up for me to get things in order here after being on the Road. The excitement this week was my first Grand Child starting College and getting them all setup, seeing the emotions of their parents, as they realize one of the kids is out of the Nest now and on their way to higher education.

Yesterday while on the road locally, I saw UP power with Canadian and NS leased pool engines from who knows where, probably the Midwest, sorry I couldn't get a photo, but I was driving on the Freeway, and had to keep it to safe driving.......

Been busy with Maria's Pass, I in the lower Southern portion on a Branch line, changing some of the Large Yard Track alignment, and moving some buildings and other details.
On another Note, I took all the crossovers on the mainlines, and extended there length by 40%, one of the reasons, is when I run Passenger Trains, the long cars look funny on with severe overhang on the Crossover. Now the when they cross the mains, you don't see the severe break at Coupler points.......

Over her at Aussie Merge in the Wishram District, Chemical Branch, this view is small cross connector to Ethanol and Cement side from the rear of the Branch. It took a while to get the curve in clearance and right angle so the Cars didn't come into too sharp a curve.

Back in the woods and lake area, these lines were completely relayed out for the function I wanted. That being having main line trains pass by on with not affecting the main yards too much. And enough spur tracks to allow for long consists coming out of the yards.

If I recall this is UP9000 Steam Engine, I was checking clearances and way point obstructions, so far, the curves work......

Helium and other special deliveries to the businesses here. This is truly the Chemical Town of the Loops and Snow River parts of the Railroad.

Here is the front side of the Curve Connector, and Power move is coming thru after dropping off a large Rake of Tankers for the Ethanol Plant.

A view of the pass thru and Brick Building factory from older times, I really don't know what they manufacture in it.....

Now this is one great overview here of the Chemical Branch, showing how all the lines and different Companies we serve.

Norfolk and Western units do some shunting moves in the back area, for Oil and Coal loads/empties etc.

Easing around the curve headed back to the yards for more loads today, over on the right is our local Switch Crew with Leather and Coal mine operations.

This is quite a complex industrial area here, large Lumber Yards on the back 40, Trans loading in the middle, Industrial Gases and Oil on the right with lengthy branch line that handles lots of Car Storage for us, so we don't clog our transfer and spur lines in the Gas and Oil loads, Scrap metal yards........I must have ripped this area up 1/2 dozen times till I got the Rails and the buildings to match up, and proper curves for longer cars. Then of course I did the signalling and ran into some more issues, which required tearing out and modifying some more Tracks.....Now it works and it works great.

I probably missed some things here, but a picture is worth lots of words. So will leave at this scene........

That'll do for now.........Thanks for dropping by.........

Wishram Chemical Branch on the Aussie Mega Merge Route

Good Afternoon all,

Working hard on the Marias Pass Rte......Been changing Bridges around, elevating them higher for more Train clearance. A ton of elevation changes, and some local houses had to be bought out and relocated....we gave those homeowners, above market value by 15%......They were happy to move out of their older homes into some brand new models......Good for all concerned ( This is a fictional Story of course)

Finished with redoing Shelby Yard from 11 Tracks to 8 tracks, with a different curve structure.

Installed a new Crossover 2 Lane Bridge and ripped out the Road, there is just too much Yard Traffic for that Highway, so now Traffic goes overhead, and R.R can layout it's long or multiple consists for Sorting and Shunting with no regard for highway traffic......Better idea? You bet it is......

We had to goto City Council for the last year and do environmental and every other red tape BS to get this Bridge approved, and we are putting up 70% of the construction costs for Shelby yard.......

But now things will run smoother than ever. Citizens are happy, and the RR Crews are happy.

Plus there is new signalling on whole Route, and it works to the point, that we can run lots more trains efficiently.

OK....So lets go to Wishram/Chemical Branch and see what's going on today.......

Load of empties comes thrue here daily for the Coal Mining operation around the back, about 2 miles away from here.


Here are my little Smokies working hard each day, coming around to shunt the Paper Chip Wood Loads from the mill on the left for market. Along with Mineral Loads in Gondolas next to them. Got us some fine looking new Cement Mixers for Batch Plant on the other side here.....Drivers are very proud of their trucks and wash them regularly so they look nice.....

Other power is operating thru with Cement Loads.......Took me while to get the interchange tracks laid right for crossover Shunting and other Road Operations....Now it works smooth as silk, as long as the Dispatchers don't throw any wrenches into the mix. All the industries are fit in snug, but not so tight we impair the Train movement......It like a well geared system, but it also relies on the Crews being properly trained, not just thrown into situations and expected to figure it out, We don't roll that way in my Railroad Company, if there is a Problem, we meet and figure out the solution! I have to run a good, safe, respectful company..........And I will not put up with Micro managing, everyone is expected to pull their weight......Or they are out of a Job, no slackers allowed........

Look here, we have our own, I think Dave Snow"s Taco Bell, and everyone loves them, because we can call in our orders, and have them ready for the Conductor to pickup his crews lunch and head out with minimal delay to train movement..........Happy Crews, happy life for management.

Looking out to the left, you see our Propane and other exotic Gas Tankers waiting for pickup. Dave Snows.....And they look terrific too!

Another Switcher is picking up and dropping off Junk Loads for local industries here....Remember, I can have as many 5-6 Crews working the Chemical Branch at one time, it is one of our most profitable Branch lines, with Heavy Industrial and RR working side by side......We meet with all the Owners of these companies, once a Quarter to see how we are doing and if we can do it better.......IT is very important we each have a huge stake at the Table........They need us, we need them for Cash Flow, for that nasty little word called Scheduled Maintenance........Defer Maintenance and everything spirals down, it can killl a Railroad if Maintenance gets out of hand....Ask anyone........It can close you down or start the fatal chain of Accidents etc.......

We are doing a runaround to pick up these empties on the Spur here..........

Came back later to drag in 2 rakes of Coal Cars ready for our Power Plant several Counties away........100Miles from here.......

Pulling them out to the main........Will use some SD40's or heaver, as we got mountain Grades between here and Power Plant.

The last part, is 2 long spurs where we store Ethanol Tankers for the plant, they drag them in 10-15 at a time to offload the fuel from the Tanks you see here........

Works well have these hidden spur tracks here.....Keeps our Branch Line clear for other local jobs working the Factories Etc.....

That'll go for now....Enjoy your evening see you soon........

T:ANE Quakes and other stuff

Good Day to all,

Every so often in the forums, one of you will ask, can I merge Layouts together, can I merge more than One?

Simple answer yes, but you better be ready for what Windows, Ram, and T:ANE can and will do on any given day!

Below is what I affectionately call a T:ANE Quake from merging, this is most likely caused by Math not computing correctly in drawing the connection points on X/Y axis. And what Trainz thinks it should be, and how it comes out, in this case, 100-200 feet divide almost a board in length..........That means for you, to re elevate the depression, reset all the Trackage and Road Splines........

Does this happen all the time, well for me, about 40% and it has also happened on saving files, not merges too, I would base this on possibly, I don't know for sure, that I didn't have all my programs closed, and Ram actions caused confusion.

So if you like to merge like I do for many different reasons, like increasing the size or diversity of the operating experience.

Here is another view of the Route Earthquake Damage here.........

And another view when it goes skyward.

Little Smokers at work here here on the Ethanol.

Roads torn up here in need of repair......

This is problem for me with the Color of the Water when I changed from TS-12 to TANE version, I corrected this later when I understood how to change the Fog, and Water and other important Environment.

Triple headed NS power, stops here at local Chemical Branch operations center for Paperwork orders, yes we don't run IPAD's for train orders, it still goes on paper with the Conductor.

Lots of shunting going on here with Coal, Steel, Aluminum, Compressed Tanker Gases Etc. Btw the way, here is more Merge Damage on the Right here, with Grid outlines showing.

Way in the back here we are moving Concrete Cement Powder or Lime loads in the Red and White specially designed Tankers........

Looking down here, I getting ready to bring my Roads out of the sky from T:ANE Quake Damage......Takes A while where you have lots of things affected, patience and calm is a good thing here.

That'll do for today........Enjoy your weekend, Questions? Please ask me, I am more than happy to help and answer.......

Reading T1 Northern, C&O J3a Greenbrier, CP T1a Non-Streamlined Selkirk

Good Day all, just jumped in here for quick moment!

Paid K&L Trainz, Website AKA Steve Lerro and the folks a visit last night, and purchased these Beauties! They installed great, look awesome as you see NW #1206 with extra Tender running strong here, man can this baby pull some weight behind her......Love the smoke trail, and that Headlight too..........No errors of any kind in T:ANE SP-3...........Price was right, saved 20%...........

Reading T1 Northern, C&O J3a Greenbrier, CP T1a Non-Streamlined Selkirk

Let her loose on Marias Pass here............Can't wait to get some freight runs in with her........Thank you Steve Lerro, really nice work as always........


Look at these Engineers, they are on it, working hard to make sure this Pony Runs, and Runs Right.......Not overspreading either, but I'm sure this little Pony could do a 100 MPH with no problem.........But I'll behave and keep here on designated Speed Limits.....But it's tempting, I have to tell you!

Cab Shot here, look at how nice everything looks.....Well done K&L artists!

Dispatch has our signals stacked for her first run, no traffic ahead for now.........

Nice looking Cars, and I did put a Fred on the back for safety purposes......

Streaking thru the country side here, look at that smoke trail, I'm digging it, I hope you are too!

First water Crossing coming up here......

Over the Bridge of Glass Smooth water and away we go at 39MPH in a 40.....Might increase the speed limit about 5-10 thru here? Will see how it looks and runs later on.

Little side shot, to show you the Auxillary Tender attached.....Don't want her running close on Water, she does get Thirsty....

Bridge coming up, I think I might raise this one about 5 feet higher for better looking clearance with these type Steam engines, been adjusting all the Bridges from 5-15 feet higher on Maria's Pass Route......

OK next stop for me is https://www.reggiestrainz.com I need to purchase some SP, UP, and Coal Country Loco's.........

Alright Folks, get in and don't miss these Sales, well worth it in my opinion......

Have a great weekend..........I'm off shopping.........

Good evening all,

Been real busy at Blues house, took on more Faulty Assets to fix, trying now to do a few each day, rather than 100 a day..........Little at a time works......

Was going to re mention , when you add a good number of new assets from Downloads etc........It really helps both you and T:ANE etc to rebuild the Database before you open the program, you'll find that your assets column's come up quicker rather than re indexing while your working or running your Trains.......At least it works well for me, as I tripped over by mistake one day after adding assets, I decided to rebuild the database.

So over to Flaam Route, lets visit and see what's going on here.

I had the upper Dam area being rebuilt, and nearby was a small area I wanted to develop this area to handle several small utilities and Silo's.


Over here, I put in Purina and other small companies......

Put in some small buildings here.

Added a small Engine and Car Storage facility........Small Dispatch Tower too, since these areas are small and Remote Mountain areas, and there will be a lot of mainline Traffic in the years to come, I want to maintain fluidity with respect to single mainline movement.

One of the issues I had here was the crossover Track connections in the back, and I ended up changing the track connections several times till I could get Shunting movement the way I wanted it to work path wise.

My little friends smoking it up and getting there paper work for today's job.

Nice old Silo here, and works very well. We have a fair amount of Farms in the area, so this Silo works well for us.

Well looks like we have a Water Driller here for one of the Farms, they need a new well for additional Crop Irrigation needs.

Pulling a string of Tankers here for local shops.

Been super busy with Maria's Pass, but probably in the next month or two I head back to Flaam land to continue the re build project.

Thanks for coming by............Night now........

Good evening all,

Showing more of the WIP on Flaam, in this picture and up on the Hill, I made Tactical Fire Dispatch Center.

Hauling some Silo and Chemical loads here.........

Over view Silo and Grain Food Plants over here.

This track plan did not work well for me, so I had to relay them later.......

I believe this is the way Track puzzle works better with this setup........

One of things I like about this Silo it has night lights an it works very well.

Coming round the bend, checking Curve and elevation.

Overhead view of my setup. Decided I will run just a few Industries here for now......

Really high up view here , the large Grey area will be Power and Oil Refinery's Etc.

That'll be it for today........

Good evening all,

Here over at the Flaam, we are doing some Passenger maintenance work here, shoving the cars into the service bays here.

Grain Silo is loading up a Rake of Cars here for market and the Ports down in the Valley.

Empty gons going in, Lights Flashing and here we go, this is a Dutch made Asset, I believe and it works very well.

Switch is set here as we line up for the Silo.......

Shown here we are getting the Passenger Cars into the Maintenance Bay........


Gons are full here, and we head out to the Main Line for Transfer to the Ports and other Markets.......Just as a side note, the topography here is far from finished........Trees, Bushes, and other sundry items need to be put in.......Junk, Trash, etc People Figures............But we're get here.......

We see our Local Switcher here doing a run around to get to the front and push the Cars into the Car Bays for Maintenance work.....

Pulling in Tankers for other delivery Stops. We have 2 scheduled Work Crews today for Shunting needs.

A view from the side of the hill as we look down on a busy little Yard and small businesses to handle.

Just wanted to show the Wheel Chalks I got to add some interest in the dead end of the Spur, If I recall, they come in 2-3 Colors here.

I think this will do for today.....Thanks for visiting Folks.........

CN7700's working on Montana Rail Link today......

Good Day all,

Now wht have I been up too, well, for starters, I tooled around the DSL, and found some more derelict Assets, and some different Rolling Stock items, some older era Buildings, little of this and little of that........My Goal, which is slated for another day, start weeding out Old and not so good looking Assets from Pre TS-12 Trainz.

Then over to Maria's Pass, remove most of the Trees, and I plan to plant a thinner different type variety.

And I had to remove part of an Wye setup in one large factory area, one happened? I had to cut out one the Wye parts and leave another Rail Feed Spur as a parallel lead for the left side of Wye, this cleared up a signal issue I had with 2 approach #5 Safetrans, that would not clear from Red aspect...

Enough about Maria's Pass, lets flip over to Montana Rail Link below, running with a great pair of CN7700 Diesel Power....

We are climbing up 1.5% - 2.00% Grade here as we transport some Rail Crane.

Looks like we have a frozen River here, actually the Color is off, and I needed to change it to nice shade of Blue and Green's

Running thru West Glacier section of the Route, we get a restricted Signal, indicating some Trains ahead.

Got some full Gondola loads below in a rather deep Canyon......

Nice looking heavy weight Rail Crane here.......We have some maintenance work on some of our Bridges in the area.....

I think this is a load of Reused Bricks or some other type of commodities.....

Looking inside of our CN 7700 Diesels.......I really like these little guys,,,,,,,Quite Strong and do well.

Coming thru Glacier Canyon here.

Pulling up thru a 2.5% Grade here, no problem for these CN 7700's they have the Power.

View our deep Canyon access here.......

You see I just have a low of amount of Trees here for Frame improvement.....

And I'll drop in some more Trees and Scrubs later on........

That's it for today.....Thanks for visiting me......

Montana Rail Link CN7700

Good evening all,

We are going to see some more Montana Rail Link in night setting......

Coming thru a interlock I used here, and it works perfectly with all traffic.. CN7700

Lots of dark Spaces in the Mountains at night, but are trusty Head light and this very strong well built unit never fails us.......I like these little guys, we call them our Old Reliable s....

Looks like a dark night ahead, we here a Rain Storm has come to the Canyons so will adjust our speed accordingly as come thru some really picturesque areas......

And here comes the Rain, now we cut our speed in 1/2 since we can't see as far ahead, have to watch for Flooding and Fallen Trees too, When these Storms come in, the Wind can go up to and over 100 Miles per hours, snapping some of the Trees like Tooth Picks........Counts for Telephone Poles.

We have some really heavy enter changes ahead, the mountain lines here are quite busy in this very important Northern Division.

Looks like everyone has gone to bed, as we cruise thru quite with our load. This yard is empty for now, due to some replacement of Ties and switch Wiring upgrades etc. Looks like we have Eastbound hot Passenger Train, stopping in the Station to pick up the Red Eye Passengers, about 1:00AM in the morning......Rain hasn't hit here yet, but we here it's not far out......In the Mountain Communities Etc, wait 5 mins and the Weather can change in the Snap of a finger.

Ah, we have daylight coming to the area.......Really nice Cold and Crisp morning........

Looks like I need to change out some see Thru Trees here......My work is never done thats, for sure.......

Wow paper thin Trees is the Optimum word here........Looks like Bulk replace will get a workout on this Route.

Water is starting to Ice over here, as it 10 degrees last night........

We our sitting up over 10000 Feet here is some of Natures most rugged area......It's all about not letting your Switches Freeze or other Metal changes with deep cold we experience up here. And there are areas of Snow, seen on the Mountains left side here, Shade, where it never completely melts........Small Glaciers in the deep gorges above us........

That'll due for now......Night all......

Flaam Mountains and

Good Day all, and a Grand day it is with some very much needed Rain across California, and hopefully more this month.....

And our Prayers go out to those in Florida and other areas with the Heavy Hurricane Cat 4 I believe.......

So below we our up high in the Lake and Dam area........Testing more of the Route with Loads of Grain from the Farmers.

Coming around the Lake........And all is well, Grades are good.........

Looks like the Grades and Bridges will pass inspection,,,,,Abit, though, I must get on to the Texture fixing, oh is that going to take some time, but I will get their.....

I am so happy with the shapes of the Mountain building I did,,,,,,,,I must have changed 50 times.......But now it flows.......Of course I have to fix some the creeks in the layering and smooth out some not so good ground areas......My fault of course, that's what happens when you move 100's of feet of existing elevation changes.........

Top view of our Train headed thru the upcoming Canyon areas of the Route and we have lots of that.......

Over here I need to change the way the Rocky Wall looks, I am not happy with it.

Didn't turn out the way I want it too look.

Small town here that I redid.......We need some more Trees here and Shrubs.............As well as some small highways too.

Now this is a part I really like, I was able to make this Waterfall, and it took a lot of time to get the Tile Grids going in a pattern that makes this water fall looking more Realistic.

If you look back in the far upper Right Corner you'll see my Fire and Police Command Center with all the Antennas to boot.

And over on the Left, it you see a multi Grassy area color, which I change from the darker, more Drab colors on this side next to the Waterfalls....

I want to mix in some more lighter colors so this isn't so much dark and Drab colors in these Mountain areas.

Another View of the Waterfalls and the Dam areas from this direction..........Lots to do yet, this Route is far from finished.,,,,,But unfortunately I am hooked on Maria's Pass for now......

Been really busy making a huge Branch Line in the Valley area. And it is really coming out swell,,,,,I promise you get to see some pictures soon..........And I'll also include the reasons for why and how this Branch line came up..........

Off to a Birthday Party today, so I will see you all in couple of days with some more Pics.

Thanks for coming by............