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

Watseeka and Kankakee Route (Hump Yard Day

A Blessed Friday to all,

Especially the reemergence of our good Friend and Great Asset Creator, over 7000 items, Ben Dorsey who was taken from us by Cancer, He will always be remembered as one of the greater ones, who is now in a better place. Thank you Ben for your help with my Asset issues over the year.

Here is a Link for those who have left their condolences to Ben.

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ey-on-Saturday-24-March-2018&highlight=Dorsey
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This week I downloaded the Cajon Pass (roymac version) and Cajon Subdivision - 1990 Part1: The Pass (wridenour version) to play with.....As to be expected one is missing tracks, and the other is missing small number of Assets......So I have to contact the Author's to see if I can get some more information, especially the one with missing tracks.......Hard to run Trains with no Tracks present........All in a day's work they say....

I use the Cajon Pass in my State Travels, and it's cool to see the Trains at work, laboring up the heavy Grades as your driving, one eye one the Road, and the the other on the Train Shots....Like a Chameleon? Oh do I wish my Eyes could do that, well maybe not, I'd probably get dizzy as a bat.

And I downloaded a Polish Route,,,,,,Polskie Koleje Piaskowe and other is Waskotorowe, below is the Polish Website for it.........I have to see if I can Translate the Website so I can read about this RR.

"https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koleje_w%C4%85skotorowe_w_Polsce"

I suppose these are name of Townships? I have to check them out further......Not sure on the Gauge, I think it is Standard........

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Watseeka and Kankakee Route (where do they get these names? Tongue twister for sure.)

Author'a Notes:The Watseka & Kankakee Railroad is a fictional Granger division road of a Class I railroad set in America's prairie heartland with 20 miles of East-West single track and 43 miles of North-South double track and a fully functional classification hump yard based on the UP's Livonia yard at the junction. AMTRAK also uses this route and runs passenger trains on it twice daily. Contains 274 baseboards and uses the LARS BI2 industry track system. Among the various industries are an open pit coal mine, auto assembly plant, several grain storage facilities, a small refinery, and a power plant just to name a few. This layout is a greatly updated and enhanced version of the original December 2004 layout of the same name by George Fisher (AKA gfisher) and with his permission. My thanks to the original author for allowing me to do this! Lots of scenery and attention to detail so this layout will require a computer with very good graphics handling capability. Thank you to the many third party creators who make routes like this one possible. Setting is 1980s or later. This is a multi-seasonal layout. Uses procedural track with animated junctions. There are no SpeedTrees. Minimum requirements are T:ANE with all hot fixes applied. To provide comments and feedback on the layout, visit the Watseka & Kankakee Railroad official support thread on the Auran Forums at: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...amp-Kankakee-Railroad-official-support-thread


Alright so off to the Hump Yard here, with Sir Dave Snow's fantastic Boxcars he made, all 57 of them. UP Power has just pulled this long string in from the North,, and will sort them out for distribution to our customers.
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?144991-The-passing-of-Ben-Dorsey-on-Saturday-24-March-2018&highlight=Dorsey
We have pulled them in off Main#2 and take a Light to the Hump Yard area behind the Highway overpass.

And Voila, we are at the Hump Hill Grade, here moving about 2-3MPH slow, so no mistakes or derailments. Safety First folks, all else follows in place. Our Yard Tower has given us the all clear for reverse move into the Hump Yard Chute.

As we crest up you can see the yard ladder Tracks ahead.....Disclaimer here, I had to take out the Right side of the yards, because my Weak GPU can't draw all the Tracks and Scenery when I operated, painful you bet it is.......But when I get my next Laptop, it will be a full scale warrior with NVidia Muscle to the max!!!!!! Then I can play with the big boys.

First cut of cars is headed to the yard. We have Brake retarders and they work great with any length of cars we send down.

And down in the Yard they have stopped perfectly.

Another view of how it looks as we Hump this Consist into the Sort function.

View from side so you can see the elevation of this Hump Yard facility,,,,,,,it is done perfectly........

We are breaking a set out, as it rolls down, we have already cut the Couplers and Gravity and motion do the rest at 2MPH. Nice

We are end the end of the consist, and will pull clear and go to the Engine Yard.

OOP's I made an error here, just about the 2nd Car in the last cut for Hump, there is a Switch Point ahead, and track lead there, taking us to the Round House, Care Service are, and Fueling Stops as it cuts off to the Right.......My apologies.......I play with too many Routes sometimes and forget the small details........

Thanks for coming by for visit......Wishing you all a Blessed weekend........

Good Morning and Happy Blessed Easter Sunday to all,

Today I needed some Bridges for some of the Routes I'm modifying and who else to check for Bridges, than our ole Friend Ben Dorsey the "Trestle Man", his spirit lives on thru the masterful Assets he made for us, a reamrkable 7000+.......!

And the most amazing think happened, I found so many other bridges that Ben had made, well you know, I had too download them too.

While looking at the many other type Bridges, I found Buildings, specialized machinery like Clam Shell Buckets for Coaling operations, and many, many interesting pieces of Rolling Stock and then?

Well you see the point of this drawn out discussion, he truly was an amazing artist of the highest quality, in fact, out of 702 Assets I downloaded from the DSL today, only 1!!!!! Yes count that ONE, had a "FAULTY" error in T:ANE with a multiple mesh issue.

That just speaks in Spades to Ben Dorsey's dedication to detail, in the work practiced in Asset Creation! I would say that is remarkable. Please check out Ben's Assets on the DSL, I think you, as I have, will find quite a cache of Assets for many of your needs.

So let's kick over to Routes:I downloaded the following Routes for various reasons this weekend.

Tidewater Point Rail (remake c)

Author's Notes:

Tidewater Railroad is a shortline running from a crude oil terminal by the river to the South to an intermodal terminal in the North. Extra CSX and Norfolk Southern traffic also use the 9 mile sprint to the looping yard at Tidewater station.

Blue's Notes:Reason for downloading this particular one, was that they had remade it, and I wanted to see what the difference was over the "MAPLE CREEK BRANCH (Tidewater) version

TrainzProRoutes present the Tidewater Point Railroad, an industrial shortline running alongside the picturesque Maple Creek and serving a multitude of lineside industries along the way. It's early Autumn and the hills are ablaze with a riot of colour.

Cajon Pass:

Author "roymac's" Notes

The MC&S Railroad has merged with the Cajon Pass Authority to create the NSCR (North South Corridor Railroad). From the Forested country sides of the North, the NSCR runs into the desert plains of the Southern United States. A fictional route with a moderate industry base of lumber, cattle, goods and passengers.It is a mix of double and single tracks.
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Now over to Cajon Pass versions (3 separate Routes)

Cajon Pass Xtreme

This is the modern (as seen today) BNSF/UP segment of track leading through the Cajon Pass and into the Mojave desert from San Bernardino, CA to Barstow, CA. The route is famous for its high volume of rail traffic, steep grades (3% max-BNSF; 2.2% max-UP) and breathtaking scenery. Apart from the usual freight trains, Amtrak's Southwest Chief passenger service regularly employs the pass. The route in 88 miles in length. Many thanks to Paul Haglund (fishlipsatwork) for the excellent DEM terrain.

"Cajon Subdivision - 1990 Part 1: The Pass"

Author "wridenour's" Notes:

Take a step back in time to California in the early 1990s. This accurate-as-reasonably-possible representation of the rail route through the Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino, CA will give you a taste of classic Socal railroading during the twilight years of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads. The pass is famous for its steep gradients (3% max) and high valume of rail traffic. This route is part of a project that bagan back in the Trainz 2006 days, and countless hours have been poured into researching and crafting it to ensure its detail and authenticity. Once completed, the rest of the full 88-mile Cajon Subdivision, stretching from Barstow to San Bernardino, will be released, in addition to a refreshed edition of the route showcasing it as it appears today under BNSF and Union Pacific ownership. Many thanks to Paul Haglund (fishlipsatwork) for the excellent DEM terrain.

All dependencies should be either built-in to T:ANE or be available on the Download Station, except for these:

<kuid:106916:10483> AASHTO 32FT Double Solid Line
(Available from USLW.net)
<kuid:9000:37012> and <kuid:9000:37020>
(Curveable Bridges from Trainz Pro Routes)

Both awesome track packs from SoCalTrains.

Also download from Jointedrail:
- Dragging Defects Detector
- JR Roads Pack
- JR H Style Searchlight Signal Pack #1
- JR Safetran Crossing Pack

If you do not have the Deluxe version of T:ANE, you might see a few dependencies missing that are not from the sources mentioned. This is fine, and the route should run fine without them.
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Blue's Notes:

"Cajon Subdivision - 1990 Part 1: The Pass" my interest is the subtle difference if there is between these different Cajon Versions, to see which one I like the best, then I will dismiss the the other two.

Unfortunately for one of the Cajon's, it has all it's track missing, and about 4-5 other dependencies, so I need to try and figure out what they might be and replace as appropriate.

How do they say it? Never a dull here,,,,,,LOL.......All good, There is and are many fantastic Routes out there made for us.

Like an artist's easel, some of these Routes are just amazing in design and function, both Fictional and Replica's Route Modeling.

Below are the pictures of each Route in discussion.


Tidewater Point Rail (remake c)

Cajon Pass

Cajon Subdivision - 1990 Part 1: The Pass


We are off to Church and then see our growing Grand Kids.....

Have a wonderful Day all, don't eat too much sweets, but if you do enjoy that too........

See you next week then.

Russian Locos on German Niddertalbahn Route

Evening all,

Been quite busy with biz matters, I wanted to get this out this morning, but it was not in the Cards.

So as several of you know, there was a 2 day schedule of Sale for Easter, so I grabbed a FCT Card for a year, as mine will expire in a few months. And I bought a TC3 Russian Locomotive, not the one below, as that one is Russian too, but it came with one of my other Routes I believe.

This is the inside CAB of the picture above.

Here is the TC3#2068, and you manually start the 2 Diesel Engines. There are other controls inside the CAB for different items.

You see the first Smoke as the Engines Roar to life.

Found some old beat up cars to use as consist.

We are on the Niddertalbahn Route which is perfect for this equipment to test out. We have very powerful engines here, with 3 traction motors per bogey as you can see.

Only problem here is trying to get thru the double slip Switches some of PWare's path controllers would work great here.........But that is for another days work.....

Both Freights are moving along thru a these track puzzles, and where these tracks take me, I haven't a clue, as I have only looked this route over once before, when I downloaded it, oh and before I forget, you have to have this particular route to use this Payware TC3 Russian Locomotive on........Hmmmm!

Our Red Russian Consist is awaiting some lineup by dispatchers.

Ok, All Trains are on the move, now if the switches are set correctly........

I like my TC3 Engine, I just need to learn some more about it, NV3 had Videos on how to start the engine and get the Cab Controls working ok, Oh and it even has Signal Light indicators inside the Cab, pretty darn cool if you ask me.

I also busy working on the Cajon Pass Routes, too, one didn't make the cut, and was deleted yesterday, and one other has some issues, which will discuss later on.

That's it for today.......Hope you like the pictures today, and I glad I was able to purchase a few items on sale..........Night All........

Nice work on that Russian part of the world. Are you from there originally ? Just curious.
Cheers,
Rail4Pete

My New TC3 Russian Locomotive

Rail4Pete said:

Nice work on that Russian part of the world. Are you from there originally ? Just curious.
Cheers,
Rail4Pete

Click to expand...

:wave: Thank you my friend, and no I am not from Russia, but my roots do extend to other parts of Europe.

:udrool: I had my eyes on the TC3 for quite a while, and decided to take the Plunge and purchase this one if and when it ever went on Sale. Now that I see how it works, I will probably buy the Trio Group ( see last 3 Pictures i show below the Route Picture) and run with them on Niddertalbahn, and some other similar Routes, I really like the fact that they are Triple Traction Motors, as it would seem to me there is more pulling power in that configuration, of course I sure there are dual Traction Setup's that come close to this performance too?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Russian+TC3+Locomotive&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Link above has some additional info in different items on this particular Loco, and another Feature I like a lot, the Engines are shut off and you go thru a startup procedure which takes just a few minutes to get going.......Pretty Cool.

I only have maybe 5-6 Freight cars Russian, and some of their Blue Striped Passenger wagons...........Kinda of cool to have some items from different countries and see how they build and operate their Trains Etc.

The Route details which is Free:
An idyllic, single-track branch line in Wetterau- and Main-Kinzig-Kreis - and best of all it's free!
Die Niddertalbahn, eine idylische, eingleisige Nebenbahn im Wetterau- und Main-Kinzig-Kreis

The 30km track from Bad Vilbel to Stockheim was originally built by Pängel_Anton and was upgraded to current standards in track design.
Finally a new German community was created for Trainz-Multiplayer where you get all news and information. Make sure to visit us www.trainz-multiplayer.de




This is the one I buy today, since NNV3 extended their Easter Sale.......Be good discount for me over full normal price.

This bundle includes the TE7-083, TE3-1072 and the TE3-2068 Russian locos.
The legendary TE7 and TE3 locomotives are made in compliance with the highest standards for quality and precision. These are replicas of the locomotive TE7 and TE3 series.
Photo-realistic graphics / textures and geometry has been recreated as accurately as possible the characteristics and details of the locomotives.
The models are equipped with an original soundtrack and detail functionality.
Operating the Loco:
To use this locomotives once installed you can find the locomotive under the Trainz Tab when searching for "TE3".
These are Russian locomotives and have English and Russian translations.
For guidance when using these locomotives in Realistic mode we recommend you watch the creators video instructions here:
TE7-083


TE3-1072


TE3-2068


Thank's for coming by to Visit............

Watseeka and Kankakee Hump YArd and other moves

Well good morning all,

Up late doing some paperwork, and I thought, he it's Friday, lets come by and post up some new pics for your viewing pleasure.

So we are over at the Hump Yard site. Our power has taken the bypass switch over to the Loco service yard around the corner.

Looks like we have Hot Coal Run for the Light and Power Co, and Michigan power is running out some Trailers and Wood Supplies to local customers.

Way down the Tracks on the left, we have a load Boxcars coming for distribution via Hump Yard shunting.

Our consist on the left is headed in for more Train Orders and some Fuel. As soon as he clears the back Switch, hotshot BNSF Coal Drag will head out to the Power Plant Southbound.

A long view here shows the end of our Log Train with Caboose hanging just in the Switch.

We got our clearance so will move down the line close to the Mainline Switch prepared to stop if the Switch hasn't cleared, and our local Dispatcher are right there to control the switch from that Green Tower ahead.

Ok, we are good to go........

Don't ever get in this spot between opposing trains, as it messes with your Horizon View and you could get disoriented and fall right into either train, no Bull it's true.

Nice shiny Tracks here.....We are powered up, at 10Mph as we head to Car Shops and Fuel Depot, we just got notified were going to pick up some repaired cars for another Yard down the line.

Every Yard should have one of these Mobile Car Movers to shunt Traffic when Loco's aren't available.........Quick and easy, and they are very reliable equipment too.

Yes our Hump Yard handles empty Tank Cars too, no issues with the Chemicals.....As the Brake Retarders work perfectly with them too........Empties only of course.

And that'll do it for now........Have a great day all......

UMR2018 Route

A blessed Sunday all,

Been busy buying some European Trainz Cars via the Easter Sale, so I got Niddertalbahn Shmns Coil Transporter Cars, and some more Italian and Russian Locomotive power too. And I downloaded a Geo therm Route, My curiosity has the best of me here, but I thinking it is a Geothermal Design for industry? Well will soon find out.

On another Note, please visit Ben Dorsey's Thread, to see more of the accomplishments this Prince of a Man accomplished.......I have to say Regal in every way. We will miss this Giant of man, for he surely accomplished great Strides thru the love and devotion of his Heart and dedicated Skills up to the end of his mortal life here with us.

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...-2018-(Bridges-and-Trestles)&highlight=Dorsey

So below we have UMER2018 Route here, as we continue our first run shunting and testing signal operations.

We come pass a nice looking Oil Refinery as we pass buy, no tankers today.

Long View of our Refinery.

We have a Clear Signal as we gain speed here.

I particularly like the lights in this hooded Signals too.

We stopped here to drop off some Farm Equipment at the local Feed Supply Store.

We sure can see what color the lights are from side view.

A straight on view of lights tells us, for sure, they are easy on the eyes, meaning the Engineer will see it easily at some distance. Important, heck ya, imagine if we have rain or snow mixed as we driving..........I think so, it works.

Really like the articulated double sided junction here.........And another think, no sharp moves, gentle to the left or right curves,,,,,at speed too!

Good Looking Bridge with warning buoys in place and divert-or Pylons so the boats pass thru the safest and deepest part of the waterway.

Another great looking Route with things situated perfectly, and room to add more at your whim......

Enjoy your day and the week ahead.

As always, thanks for coming by,, and I'll post the pictures of my new Locos and Cars when they come up in the Que.......

Haunted Caboose

http://www.journalofthebizarre.com/2018/03/haunted-cabooses.html

<a href='https://postimages.org/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s31.postimg.org/n5v81bxpn/cab8.jpg' border='0' alt='cab8'/>

"Did you ever notice that you really don't see too many cabooses anymore?" a friend said to me a few years ago. Truthfully, it was something I had never noticed, at least not until my recent move to a railroad town, where I can sit on my deck and watch freight trains roll by at all hours of the morning, afternoon and evening. And after watching countless trains I concluded that my friend was right-- you really don't see too many cabooses these days.

There's a certain sadness about this, I guess, because the caboose holds a special place in many of our hearts. With its cupola, toolshed shape and tiny back porch, it is undeniably the most charming of all railcars (which probably explains why so many old cabooses have been reborn as gift shops, motel rooms and vacation cottages). Even the name is charming, though it is derived from the Low German word "kabhuse", referring to a wooden cabin on a ship's deck.

The decline of the caboose began in the 1980s when new technologies, such as electronic EOT (end-of-train) devices, rendered cabooses obsolete. Today, CSX is the only major railroad that still uses cabooses on a regular basis.

However, since the caboose played an important role in railroading history for more than a century, it is no surprise that there are so many interesting stories that have been written about them, and some of these stories are downright spooky. Here are some fascinating "haunted caboose" stories I've been able to uncover.



The Caboose That Ran Away

In 1898 the Topeka State Journal reported that "1908", the number of a caboose owned by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, rolled uphill, went over an embankment and into a field... all by itself... even though the brakes had been set!



But the story of "Old 1908" doesn't stop there; its mysterious antics continued for well over a decade. According to L&N employees, the caboose had once been in a wreck. Although no one suffered any injuries, "1908" was badly damaged. After being repaired it was put back into service, and that's when it began to do strange things. One report from Kentucky in March of 1910 describes this bizarre incident near Lexington:




Spooked by Phantom Rappings

In 1903, conductor Frank Correl and brakeman Tome Rowe of the Santa Fe Railroad heard someone rapping on the outside of the caboose as their train passed through Garnett, Kansas... right at the spot on the tracks where a fellow railroader had recently been killed.




Caboose Haunted by Ghost of Woman

In 1888, conductor J.H. Riley of the O.C. & S.W. Railroad of Kentucky claimed that his train's caboose was haunted frequently by the apparition of a young, slender woman in a broad-brimmed hat. The ghost, which would remain visible for hours until someone made an attempt to approach it, was reportedly seen by every railroad employee and several residents of Rockford.




Dead Brakeman on Top of Caboose

On August 12, 1888, H. Gilmore was conductor of the No. 2 train of the Sonoma Railroad in Mexico when a sudden jolt near Imuris caused brakeman Frank Urquidez to fall between the cars. He was cut to pieces. After gathering up what was left of his remains and turning them over to Mexican authorities, the train proceeded to Santa Ana. And that's when things really began to get weird.




Labels

ghost stories ghost trains

Labels: ghost stories ghost trains

Watseka & Kankakee RR Shunting Etc.

Good Morning all,

Been busy adjusting some items on the UMR2018 Route, I had one really messed up signal that I found out was not quite correct for the other Signals it was trying to work with. And one of the main Gantry's needed replacement from a 2 track to 3 track, now the Signal aspects are acting properly. Dropped in a double track bridge for River Gorge, it was a serious bottleneck for 2 and 3 Track Mains. Traffic will be much more fluid now.

I also need to drop in some new Tiles on some spots that were cutoff to close when driving by. However, after rethinking that option, I might exercise another with a Back Drop instead, if I can find one close to the Country Texture in use? Will see which option works the best here.

Alright back to our Hump Yard operations, on Watseka & Kankakee Railroad. Here is a picture of humped 4 Tanker Strings, empty of course, well practically empty, up to 500 Gals of residual chemical can be left after pumping out by customer. So they stopped perfectly here, no derailments.

In broadview, you can see how most of cars kicked loose on the Hump Yard Hill stopped relatively in the same distance with Retarder Brake action.

Over on nearby tracks, our Milwaukee power is doing some power swapping here. I have lengthened the X crossovers to accommodate larger Loco's and look better when they Cross the Mains. Signal aspects are spot on.......

Looking out from the Cab we are backing up to pick our next load of Empties for Hump Sorting.

Hooked up and we are ready to go, I really like this older Pig Trailer on the flatcar.

Our hotshot Coal Run is on the way out as we pass the end of the incoming Freight......

Run 3 coming up as we clear the corner, want to try and make to Power Plant before dark if we can.

An\d we are gone into the Sunset, dispatch has all our lights Stacked for clear.......

Signaling in this line with Crossovers strategically placed for maximum Traffic Flow......Any way to run a railroad, you bet it is, with Safety as priority one, everything else falls right in place.

50 MPH and we cross smoothly.

That's about it for today folks..........

Thanks for dropping in, and I hope you enjoyed the Creepy Caboose Stories I posted earlier.......
v

UMR2018 and my Trip to Europe Etc

Good Saturday all,

It was one windy week around here, I think a few folks lost their umbrellas too!

OK, so I need to tell you all, I'm going on a family trip to Europe Monday and I won't be back for a few weeks, now the caveat is I be on a Ship a good amount of time, so I don't think I'll be able to post pictures here, with the Bandwidth they offer, but will see.

So if you don't hear from me, rest a sure, I'm lost in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere headed across the Pond. This is one of those items in my bucket list, I've waited a very long time to do.......

And if I am able to post from Ship I will......with some Train Photos too, on land of course.

Now that we have that covered, below, we are on UMR2018, crossing thru a wide river bridge here, with Buoy markers for depth, and Pylon markers for safe boat paths under our bridge. Really nice bridgework here, it works as directed by the Author.

The line bifurcates here for different Industry leads as we head East. Tracks are well laid out with gentle curves allowing for better speed as we travel thru.

Industries on this line are well spaced out, just like in real live.........Lots of open land here, and if one wants to add more to some areas, you can due that too. There is one spot here over to to upper middle left, that I need to add a blank tile to fill in the drop off look from this height, but will see if that is needed, because when we operate at train level, it may not be apparent horizon wise.

What's also nice here, we have great looking Farmland, and I think I might add a few more trees, not to much just a little.

At the end of one the Routes he made a loop return with Industry, I believe this is a small Coal Operation. I'm working on so many Routes right now, and buying some items from NV3, I couldn't pass up their several day sale, and it worked out for me......I even got Scratchy's Decapod and new Steam Session for Coal Country too........Love the Steam Engine, especially that unique sounding Whistle......So cool.....

We had another consist here with lots more cars for our Customers, so I added another Loco to pull the weight. Great looking Scenery here, and the author did fantastic work with the Water effects.

Checking out our consists for minute before we move up to the Feed Center.

The rail to the right goes to the Harbor Division, which I haven't made it yet.

The railroad carries everything including portable Housing models.

Getting up a head smoke here as prepare for more Car Shunting.

We shunted our cars at the Feed and Seed Company and we are crossing another great looking Bridge here, the only thing, unless something is wrong, this lift Bridge is Static and does not move up. Look here how nice the waterways are here........I really like this type of Scenery, along with small hills. Everthing is well thought out, as I alluded too, before, please check out this Route and what your thoughts are if you agree.

Lots of Double mainlines, Industries are spaces out very well, and not clumped, lots of open country to run, if you like driving some distance........

I think that'll do for today.

Enjoy your week ahead and I'll report back if I can from the Ship, I was thinking I might just do Text and few pictures rather than the 10 I normally do, have to see how their Web works.......That's in between some good cocktails of course.......

UMR 2018, Coal Country & other Misc. Routes

A blessed Sunday to all,

Dropping in for a minute, just a few hours before we head off to the UK, it will be an exciting trip across the pond.....Hopefully not a stormy one.

Below we are UMR 2018 with lots of Farm Equipt here Grain and other assorted loads. As I work in the signalling issues a couple of miles down track from here.

Dropping some loads off for the farmers here.

I believe this is the updated Tidewater Route here,

Remember quite a while back on earlier version of my Tidewater and Portland Terminal Merge Photo's, I mentioned you should always do a wire view on your routes to see what's buried below, that you don't suspect would be here?

Well in doing Wire View, I found batches of large trees like this one below some places next or under the tracks,........Sorry, I didn't find any buried Gold or Silver, so some of these I found, I just raised up and readjusted positions, or deleted depending here.....Who knew, I sure didn't.....Surprises abound.

I don't recall which Route this one is, but I raised some of low Hills in the back and made them into mountains, which I thought was a better backdrop for the Rail Lines going thru Tunnels their......And It looks OK from here....The red Track in the air, is for Helicopter or Plane ride over your route, by Author, pretty cool to do.

Here is another view from the side here, as this route is about 2-3 Tiles wide, the trick her is to have the edges raised, or Tree'd or have some kind of Back Drop panels so you don't see the edges of your route as your driving your train, and it only needs be maybe 25-50 feet depending.........Not a lot will do the trick especially if your counting Tiles, and want a lot of Driving Mileage with your Routes. Lookk at how nice the water is here too, this gives lots of depth perception to your Route. Remember the water doesn't have to be very deep, except in some spots close to shoreline, you might want to dip several feet lower, adding some nice Boulders underwater for effect, I do see some folks forget to Texture the water, so try and remember to do texturing at least close to the shoreline, say 50 feet out from your Rail lines, otherwise you'll see those unsightly Grid lines under water......

And here is the latest TC3 & TC7 Russian Loco's I got on NV3 Sales this last week..........Some other European Livery. The TC models are shut off by design, and you flips some switches in cab or on Properties to fire these baby's up......They work great, and a welcome addition on my UK and Polish Routes etc.

Over to Coal Country I got the new Decapod here,,,,,,,Really cool Steam Locomotive, and we almost had a collision with Semi Driver as we doing a reverse move and had to stop for him.

Barely clear by 3 feet here, just too darn close.

This is the new Steam Session from Scratchy here, with Coal Loads. We just got our crews onboard and "Y'ing" our power here.

Here comes a thru Freight now with full head of steam..

And he is gone within about 1.5 mins with needed freight to the next town..........Very Cool Route to play on.....Well Done Scratchy!!!!!

Well got to finish packing now.......See you all soon, and I'll post if I can from my destination points.........Be a new experience for me.......

Thanks everyone for coming by to visit.

Good Morning, and hope all of you are doing OK.

Just got back from the UK Trip and Cruise and it's one AM here, my body still thinks I'm in London, looks like this is a works in progress for now, went to sleep at 5PM after a full day of activities and awaking 4AM in the the morning......Oh boy is my Circadian sleep cycle messed up, and as would be expected after 16 days of 9 count them, Time changes thru the different continents...

We went with some Family members too Spain, Portugal, Azores, Bermuda (I really didn't know this Island was in this area, always thought it was South of Cuba) dah!!! I need to go back to school soon......

Went on to see Southhampton and London areas of UK,

Traffic, well as they say, in a New York Minute see how far you get in a Car. Or better yet, try that Public Transportation, guess which we selected?

Public trans by the TUBE (subways) and Buses, plenty of Cabs too, in fact I saw some really nice looking shiny CABS in the City, but costs would be just too prohibitive for our needs. There was just too much to see and do in 2 days we had left of our City Tour plans.

Our Boat Captain kept us safe, but we did have a couple of rough nights on the Atlantic Ocean between Azores and Spain areas.

We quite well expected the Atlantic to be rougher than Pacific Ocean which is where our West Coast is situated for California Coastline. We do however get bad erosion areas from big storms like everyone else with Pier Damage etc, as one would expect. That's just Mother Nature in action and we have to respect her, as she can tear you a new one when you don't, error to thinking like a Human.

Here are some links and interesting information with better Pics than I could take off my Room on the Ship.

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

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

One of the places we got to see was Buckingham Palace, and the Guards, very impressive as well as beautiful surrounding Gardens and Parks.

Got to see some of the English Trains from our boat, I'm posting the Photos, I don't know what these Locos are, you'll of course recognize them easily I'm sure. Very powerful and quite.

I was surprised as they were running late at night shuttling new cars to the Docks for export. Our ship had arrived from bad weather a day ahead, in France, which we could not stop due to excessive rough seas from heavy wind conditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Southampton (This is where the our Cruise Ship landed us)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Port of Southampton
Southampton Docks - geograph.org.uk - 1721650.jpg
Location
Country United Kingdom
Location Southampton, Hampshire, England
Coordinates 50.8965°N 1.3968°WCoordinates: 50.8965°N 1.3968°W
Details
Operated by Associated British Ports (ABP)
Available berths 45 (20–49, 101—110, 200—207)
Website
Port of Southampton

The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. The port has been owned and operated by Associated British Ports since 1982, and is the busiest cruise terminal and second largest container port in the UK.

The port is ten miles (16 km) inland, between the confluence of the rivers Test and Itchen and the head of the mile-wide drowned valley known as Southampton Water. The mouth of the inlet is protected from the effects of foul weather by the mass of the Isle of Wight, which gives the port a sheltered location. Additional advantages include a densely populated hinterland and close proximity to London, and excellent rail and road links to the rest of Britain which bypass the congestion of London.

The average tidal range is approximately 5 feet (1.5 metres), with 17 hours per day of rising water thanks to the port's "double tides". These allow the largest container and cruise ships access to the port for up to 80 per cent of the time, according to the container terminal operator DP World Southampton. The effect is a result of tidal flow through the English Channel: high tide at one end of the Channel (Dover) occurs at the same time as low tide at the other end (Land's End). Points near the center have one high water as the tidal swell goes from left to right, another as it then goes from right to left. Neither is as high as the one at each end.[1]

The principal berths are divided into three areas, The Old Dock at the junction of the Rivers Test and Itchen consisting of berths 20–49; The New Dock, known as the Western Dock, built by the Southern Railway consisting of Berths 101–110; and the Container Terminal consisting of berths 200–207. The last two are constructed on reclaimed land.


Tried to get a few pictures here to show,

This is our ship, one of the largest I have ever been on.........Wasn't expected, because we usually travel on much smaller ships. Definitely made 14 days in the Atlantic well worth it.....

This is South Hampton, England, Auto and Cruise Ship Docking area, the ship you see here is taking on Export Auto's from UK area. It left later at night to points unknown.

If you look here, you'll see a UK Loco with single step Cars, Auto Loaders coming to the dock for Export, Sorry I coundn't take a better picture this day.

Better picture of Auto Loader cars, and look at the stack of Vehicles headed and staged for other ports on the continent.

One of the many, many remarkable British Buildings we got to see in UK.........We tried to find Big Ben, but it looks he is under construction for remodel or something?

Azores Island, absolutely stunning Beauty here,, everywhere on the Island.

This is part of the Volcanic Cone we traveled inside of and this is looking out from the Rim of the Road, several small Lakes, this being one of them.
The link below is gives a good description of what the Islands are like..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azores

Coming into one of our ports early in the morning, we passed by this little gem in the middle of now where, have no idea what it is or it's purpose.......

A lone Freighter we pass on the way to England, in fact on our way to the UK, we saw more Freighters, Auto Shipping Boats etc. in the last day, than all the other days of our Cruise.

Night lights of Spain area, as we leave for England.

I apologize I couldn't get good enough Internet connection reliable to post here.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, and as always, comments are welcome.

Locomotive from Southhampton Rail, England, UK (need some help on IDing the Loco?)

Good Saturday all,

My body is slowly readjusting to new Sleep hours from England, I was able to sleep until 4AM, LOL, day by day, inch by inch.........

So I wanted to find some better pictures of the locomotives I saw in Southhampton, England, UK area off the boat......If I didn't have a Cold that day, I would have gone down off ship and talked to the Crews for minute, as they were idling nearby with Car Unloading to the Outgoing Auto Export Ship that night, locate next to our Ship. I found these on the Web today, and they look about right with Colors and type of Locomotives I saw operating this week.

I know from looking at the length and size these Locomotives are, they should be about 4000 Horsepower or more. Looks like they have 2-3Axle Traction Motors. I just don't know what Model and specifics they are.........Maybe if one you knows what these big fellas are, you could post me a name so I could read up and find something in Trainz to try out?

I would be grateful, and Payware is OK too...........Thanks

What occurs that I can surmise, they bring in a long string of single level Auto Loaders, I believe single level, because of Tunnel or Bridge height restrictions, here in the States we do 2-3 level Auto loaders cars. So with that said, they break there consist into 3 groups, do a runaround, and shunt them into the awaiting single team tracks, where drivers start up cars, and drive them off the Auto Loader and onto the awaiting huge Auto Loader Ship at dock. And they are fast too, they don't waste any time.

In fact there looks like 4-5 parking structures with additional vehicles awaiting transfer to Auto loader Ships in Southhampton Terminal Docks'

Here is a link to some other Terminal Pictures, older of course of what I think is the same area, or nearby where I was in the past?

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/southampton-railway?sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=southampton%20railway

Picture below is the best one shows where we docked and the Rail Freight to Boat operations.

[url]https://www.google.com/search?q=Southampton+England+docks+map&client=firefox-b-1-ab&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=m9N31XvgEOOGBM%253A%252Cco6JzKjVs9vhTM%252C_&usg=__hXNjxEb8I2hDHUeqBznxhHThE9o%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5ouC40-7aAhUNyGMKHZszCawQ9QEIRTAG#imgrc=m9N31XvgEOOGBM:
[/URL]
And these blue cranes unload Intermodal Containers and huge metal Plates off Ships.......I watched one unloaded on the other side of our ship. This is ranked as number 2 busiest Port Terminal and there was 24 hour operations from the short period of time I spent here. 1.5 days.

Terminal load on the way to Ports?

This ship is similiar to the ones I saw at the Southhampton Port operations. And you can see what appears as a similar Docked Cruise ship we were on too.

This looks like it is nearby.....But I didn't see this part of the Docks, as we took a local bus into town.........

Thanks folks for coming by......to see me........

I'll share some other projects I was working on while on the Cruise, lost in the Atlantic Ocean.......It was a fun trip, and I would love to do something similar in the Future......For me and the family, it always interesting to see what kind of Food and Customs other folks have around the World.

Enjoy your week end.

EWS 60065 is a BR Class 60 more info about the real thing at http://www.railuk.info/diesel/getloco.php?item= 60065
There are 27 listed of Class 60's on the DLS from 2004 upwards

whitburncolliery said:

EWS 60065 is a BR Class 60 more info about the real thing at http://www.railuk.info/diesel/getloco.php?item= 60065
There are 27 listed of Class 60's on the DLS from 2004 upwards

Click to expand...

Thanks for the excellent info, now my Quest to see what this and the other model's are all about.

A Blessed Sunday Morning,

So we discussed where I have been for the last 16 days lost in the Atlantic, and jumping between 6 different Country's, it was lots of fun, now it's time to get back into Routine.......It'll be a trip we'll always remember and fun with Family we don't see too often.

O f course while we had what you call Sea Days, in between our Port of Call Stops when we weren't eating or dancing etc, well you know, I just had to play with my Trainz a bit here and there!

I worked on several things, one being faulty assets, remember I had at least 1500 when I changed to SP-2 update,, with some diligent work I have improved that number to 240.

Found were lots of incompatible Asset's, too old, mesh issues that I could not fix, because I don't understand that part of the asset.

I'm not a Asset Builder, and probably will never be one either. That's better for others that have that type of talent. I also had major issues with several of Mcguirel's Tree's and I love her tree's but T:ANE surely does not! So it is what it is, I think I got rid of 30-50 of the Trees that I couldn't fix.

Lots of these Faulty Assets had the uniform color and Texture.txt missing or file compatibility issue, which ASSET X took good care of.

I need to learn more about ASSET X and I also need to update some of it's files, I don't think I have quite the latest ones. Am working with 3.0 or slightly higher Vers.

Since I was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for a bit of time I took some time and read the Help File which is 124 pages of well written information and how too examples. "Asset X" is terrific program to help with T:ANE and other versions that need corrective measures for Asset integrity/compatibility issues and so much more I haven't mentioned. Andi (Asset X's creator) was a true visionary, we lost a lot when the Lord took him, but those who are working with the Program now, are really helping out to keep his creation ongoing.

Also took some time to go thru my Route List Inventory and weed out some of my Excess or no longer needed Routes.

As you know, I have been playing with KCS Hilliam Sub by Applegathc, I great Yard Module that is perfect to add or build onto one of your Routes. I decided after making some alterations to Signals and track arrangements etc, I needed another Route to merge with the KCS Hilliam Sub, after carefully checking my inventory? I found a perfect Route by our master Route Builder, Phil Skene, "RIVERSIDE RAILROAD CO" size was perfect, only problem with my hair brained idea, I needed to slip the "KCS Hilliam Sub" into the middle of Phil's Route, so this would take some cutting, slicing some Route Tiles. And of course we had separate Layers in Phil's Route which had to be worked into the Merge........

First course of Action, and really easy one, I take the 2 Routes start a merge to see how things line up, and exactly where the KCS Sub center piece will fit into the Merge.

I go into the Surveyor Mode and make backup copies of both Routes in case something goes wrong......Backup, Backup, Backup if not, you trust Windows and T:TANE to do things correctly, not in my Camp folks, I trust the Creator. but I never trust machine or software, been there, done that, and lost some things at great price as have you.

With backup copies of the Routes, I jimmy the 2 Routes together and see what my best options are, like a good Carpenter, measure twice and cut one for proper fit.

Now we see what tiles need to be cut out, and we also see that the Phil's Route will be cut just of Center into 2 Routes.

Cut is completed, after two separate passes to end up with right and left sections of the Route. We now have "A" and "B" parts, drop in KCS into one of them, save the merge.

Merge the 3 Route Layer's into One Layer for now, open the Center and "A" part Route, check it over, everything good, except we had some of nefarious T:ANE Texture Quakes where it had merge point melding issues. This is normal.

Now we do the final merge of other half of Phil's Layout and the merge works.

The only thing I had an issue with, for some reason, I lost all the Switch Arms in the Route Merge, I think I forgot a Sub Layer merge which had the Switches in it. So I went around and redid all the missing Switch Stands, cost of doing Merge business. I can live with that!

Another thing,

Now the Route has some extended areas, where KCS goes well beyond the Riverside Railroads Tile Board width, so will need to add several blank Boards to match out our land area connection spots, to make sure we don't have a too small area with quick drop-off look.

And we also need to do the following in order to make this Route look and operate in unison?

Extend and connect, Trackage, River, Streets between the points of connection where the Routes Marry up.

This will take some time and imagination. I use Black Ballasted Rail Track as an outline to see how the River needs to look between the Merge Parts.

I'll need some River Rail Bridge crossovers and do some Mountain Building in the new Water Way areas I created between the Routes.

This is part of the KCS Hilliam Yard we are doing switching moves to get the Signal Aspects working the way I want them too.

Out here on an old Branch line, were testing some switching links. Etc.

This is a very old Paper Mill here that we still service, if it gets any older the place will collapse, very good aging work here by Applegathc.......

View of huge anf I mean huge Locomotive Roundhouse.

Below you see a lot of plain tiles, I have artifacts of Signal Lights left over from Merge Cuts, and the only way to get rid of all these Phantom Signals was to slip in Tiles under the Phantom Signal Lights, and then delete the Tiles and save the file. That does the trick.

Black Ring area is K?CS Hilliam Sub, on each side is the cut in 1/2 Riverside Rail R.R. from Phil Skene, in the red square outline areas. Yellow outline is the bridging Tiles to make all 3 Merge Points come together.

KCS Hilliam Sub with several artifacts I had to slide more new Tiles to rid the area of Phantom Assets left over from the Tile Cuts where Black arrows are leading.

Here is an excellent picture of my Phantoms.....What a pain, I don't know why T:ANE does, but it does, and this is me, putting out new Tiles now to rid the Phantoms. You can also see pieces of Blue which are old Tracks that didn't delete when I cut Tiles. Just to clarify, there where no Train Consists on any of these Routes either, I clear all Trains off all the Routes before I merge them.

This part of the new Merge Map with lots of new Tiles.......Lot of Texturing, Mountain and River Building will be needed. Plus Track connection points, with Tunnels and River Bridges Etc.

Look carefully on bottom section of new Tiles, and you'll see my Elevation cuts for the waterways where I dropped the elevation by -20 feet for the River paths between the new cut areas.

Here I am playing with the 2 merge pieces to see the best way to fit them together for the Track Connections, it usually takes 2-6 tries to get it the way it will fit so it looks OK.
I think this will do for today......Thanks for coming to visit............

Little of this and a little of that for my Friends

Good Wednesday all,

Week is going by soon, and then there is Mother's day on the horizon, don't forget those Post Cards folks, get some before they are all picked over. It well be especially sad for one of our friends as there's is battling cancer, and was given there last rights over this last weekend. So we pray for her comfort,,as the mother has been thru 5 surgeries to try and save her, but Alas, they can do more........

So I have been busy with the KCS Hilliam to Riverside merge, it is coming along well if I can remember not to save my work to older version files......Lost about 2 hours work the day before, could have been worse I suppose, I had done some River edge and Mountain work in a section, when I opened the Route it had reverted back like I hadn't made changes, I was hitting my head on the wall trying to figure what was up, then realized what I had done. Too sleepy late at night and not realizing.......All I could do was laugh and redo the changes I had not saved.........

So I went thru some of my picture examples, and came up with these Photos for today.

As you know I am am a Caboose type guy, I love Caboose's and I still think, and they can slap me silly, I know, but every train should have one. I never will get over the fact a EOT device, (End of Train air pressure checker) took out my beloved Caboose!!! Yup, EOT will tell you when your Air changes or stops working, but that is about it, it doesn't have those eyes telling you have a Hot Journal box, slipped load, or anything else going on at back of your Train......Call me sentimental, that's fine, but I won't except Trains without a Caboose on my Road........

Anyway, I saw this Southern X255 and snatched it up........


Made by Shebastan7, Kuid:442211:100497and here is his Notes:

A reskin of PWeiser's excellent NH NE-5 Caboose intended to represent a typical Southern Railway center-cupola caboose from the steam era.
Model is courtesy of PWeiser. Credit to Pete Willard of Rail Sim Stuff for the Southern Railway Freight font used in the creation of this skin.
ORIGINAL DESC - All-welded steel caboose class NE-5, 125 similar in service with the New Haven from the mid-1940s, road numbers 510-635. Some passed to successor and other roads.

This model is undecorated, road numbers and markings removed and rainbow-colored railings and window frames for ease in re skinning. Mapping improved to allow lettering on cupola.

Look at those cool running lights in the rear.........Sign me up for a Virtual drive, and make sure there's a working Pot Belly and Rest Bed in to, with some Hot Joe to keep me warm on a Cold Snowy Night.........

Over here at Scratchy's house, Coal Country is a beaut of a Decapod, and this little guy runs like a Tennessee Stepping Horse, whistle and Bell is stunning to see and hear. She's ready to prance around and move those heavy Coal Cars.

For the newer Trainzer's that might not be familiar with this Gem of a Route, here is the Thread to Scratchy's Route, he does some awesome work.......Keep in mind this is Payware, and in my humble estimation, worth every Penny of it when you look the extremely realistic Route and Rolling Stock that runs on it. Decapod is from K&L Trains, payware too, again, very well worth it, as Steve Lerro does a bang up job creating his Master Craftsmen Locomotives.............

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...you-to-Scratchy-Coal-Country-route-is-awesome!

And we are make our turn on the Wye to get our empties filled for the Railroad's Coal Session.....Thank's Scratchy for all you hard work.........

Back over on KCS Hilliam Sub, I had to adjust this Switch leg merging across into the local Yard, it had a bit of bind on the nearness of two switches, just needed a little repositioning, now we are running our power thru here to does some yard Shunting to check our clearance points out.....So far so good.

Checking Platform clearance here to make sure I didn't move these tracks out of alignment..........

And a picture from my Bermuda Stop on our cruise, this looks to be an Old Pirate or Fishing Ship, I don't know for sure, but thought it was pretty cool, they were working on it when we came thru.

This is a Map of Phil Skene's Riverside Railroad Map, before I cut the Route up for Merging, it is like all of Phil's Routes, complex and neatly designed with purpose and function.

Ok, this is the KCS Hilliam Sub merged into Phil's route. I added lots of tiles as you can see so I have room for cross connection mainlines for the pieces to work.

A in yellow is the new River I made to connect up with original River channels. B is the next part I am working on now, and have to widen the channel throat to make it look and work OK for my purposes.

C & D is final River connection and widening projects, with lots of Train Track relocation, River Bridge additions etc. Takes lots of time, the one thing in my favor, is Elevation between the layouts is a minimal 10-20 feet so no biggy.

Here is a Mock up of Paint textures on image map, as to how I think it will look, once changes our instituted into the Route module. You can see the Mainlines I have put next to the River's edge.....

Red Line arrows are where the new connection points of River come together on the center merge part of the Route.

Yellow is where I working on it today.

And that's it for now......All have a good day and I'll be back with more progress pictures of what I am changing here.

Good Thursday all,

The week has flown by for us, as we help our friend prepare for the passing of her mother with Stage 4 cancer of the colon, and for some reason her Mother has not passed, I can only think that she does not want to leave this Earth before mother's day and/or someone in the family has not made it to see and say so long to her. All we can do is pray for her comfort and support the family members thru this most difficult time.

So I thought I would post these picks before I we head up for our daily visit to the Hospice.

Have been working on my merge checking the rails, and guess what I found, there was a mainline signal that refused to go clear over and near some crossover tracks, double sets of them on 3 parallel main lines, so I knew something was wrong, as the signals down wind where green, but non of the approach ones nearby these junctions showed clear on this one or two main lines, after ripping out 2 sets of crossovers, tearing my hair out, and thinking some choice !@#$%^&*()_+ Words!!!!! Alas I figured out the problem.

I had corrupted section of mainline Track 1/4 mile long in 2 sections, now why would that be.??????

My only thought that comes to mind?

I had moved the track radius several times to adjust for the merge of center changes between KCS and Riverside Railroad Co Routes and somewhere along the line I guess I disturbed the integrity of that section of Rail Bed, and you could not see it nor detect any errors, but when I replace the sections of Rail, voila, the light cleared from Red to Green........So the Crossover's had nothing to do with the error, and were on both sides of the compromised Rail in question........Problem solved after 15 mins of heavy duty inspection.

I did have some comedy on the Merged route, I was in the process of coming to River Drop or Cantilever that raises on one side to clear boats, in this case it had lowered for our freight to cross, and I decided to snap a quick picture while the train was just starting to cross, the bridge didn't approve and started to rise up as we entered the passage, fortunately, it only rose about 5-10 feet up, and then lowered back down as our freight passed over it.........I sure the engineer had a pair of pants to get washed after this one......Stranger things that happens in TANE.....???????? Crazy huh....

So I won't be snapping any pictures again when we are on that bridge unless the Train is in Static position...........Don't need a Freight thrown into the cold river water!!!!!

Now over to Watseka & Kankakee Railroad for min here,

Our local Hump Rail Yard is adjusted the way I need, less tracks, since my Graphics card draw 14 some parallel tracks at once. Our UP manifest Train is pulling a string of Dave Snows new boxcars down to industries for drop off.

A distant shot of our train as it pulls out of Rail yard holding tracks on a beautiful clear day with wispy clouds passing by.

We pass a local Coal Drag headed north to a Power Company for supply needs.

We going to let the Coal Drag get ahead of us, as Power Company says there Coal supply is getting low, and they need this Train in today if possible.......Local Dispatch has stacked the signals, Code Speak for making sure signals are mostly Green with occasional Yellows if needed. But I don't think that'll be the case, we have double mains all the way thru, and lots of experienced Crews working.........

A huh, Milwaukee Special is coming thru as Junk Special, a little something for everyone.......

No delays for him either, he has lots of Customers to see and drop off the requested Rail Shipments. All in a days work her on the "Watseka & Kankakee Railroad"

Another Milwaukee Power has just finished his Hump Load distrobution about 40 some cars sorted out for future manifest Trains tomorrow will have this going on 24 a day....

Now we head over to Engine service and Oil, anything else he needs........Will have a look at his 90 Day service card too, make sure everything is square, maintenance is extremely important in our world, not keeping it up, can lead to deadly and costly results, especially derailments if it has to do with Traction motors or Braking issues.

Our little Yellow car mover comes in handy when we need some small Shunting moves in the Hump yard or Bad Order equipment moves.......Saves fuel too!!

Triple headed power is pulling thru the yard, they have a few cars that need cutout for the Car Shops repair.

We got our clearance and Signal from Yard Manager, good to go, as we power up here. we have about 30 car consist now, but that will cut to about 20 after we drop off the cars tagged for Car Shops maintenance and repairs. We heard some of couplers on them need upgrades.........

The day is slipping by as Dusk approaches now.

We need to cut our cars off here and push them into the Car Shop ahead.......We have runaround and Team Tracks to help us do it easily.

Afternoon Crews have gone home, and the night crew is in Briefing for what they need to work on for repairs, they already know we are here with more work for them.....That's a good thing, more work, keeps gainful employment for these specialized Crews...........

That's it for now,,,,enjoy your day and thanks for popping in........

Happy Mothers Day to the Ladies/Kudos to rcgx Assets/Aussie Merge review.

Good Saturday Morning to all,

First order of business here, A HAPPY MOTHERS DAY WEEKEND TO THE LADIES here in the forum, you deserve the best, it's been another quick year, so thank you for keep us Gents out of trouble, a mother's work is never truly complete..........I applaud you for the efforts. My mother is in heaven so will pray and say hello, I do miss her.

Alright, so a Shout out to "rgcx" for his tremendous effort with more Rolling Stock that has virtually no errors in T:ANE,

I downloaded a few thousand cars late last night, and out of all that, 2-3 had minor errors in T:ANE which I'll address or just delete them......He has a huge variety of Rolling Stock he has made for us. See Link below for his thread and additional instructions. And I downloaded all his Obsolete files to make sure everything is balanced out with latest updates, revisions etc. Took a few hours, but very well worth it and I am grateful for his Asset creations and re skins Etc.

Kudos to you rgcx ! Job well done!!!!!

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?119933-New-Freeware-for-Legacy-Users-from-rgcx

Ok now for our day's pictures below, This is mega merge I did probably 2 yrs ago, it consists of Aussie, Country, Snow Valley, English Highlands. Alps and other Route's I put together over time. I suppose you could say it is a very international route.....You go from the beach to the Out lands, thru Ground mountain valleys, Some desert type areas, and lagoon spots too.

Now I need to be honest, these are not my Routes, they made by other Authors downloaded from the DSL and just changed for my use only.......

And you should know by now, if you don't I love to merge Routes together, I get ideas and understanding from other Route Creators, which helps me to learn more about this Simulator they call T:ANE. You can never learn to much either, I have only scrated the surface here and I do by no means know it all.........There is always room to learn.......

This one of the 9000 UP Steamers if I recall correctly, I had redone lots of tracks in this spot, and was testing the larger rolling stock (locos) to see how my curves and Radii were doing. I also had replaced the Cantilever Bridge in the back with something different. I really like these colorful Trees instead of all drab Green or Brownish looking Trees and Shrub Etc.

Here is a pair of C&O switchers with nice bright looking caboose to follow, we do some Shunting for a new Chemicals and Water Plant around the corner, I had to lay the Tracks in several times to get the right curve in place for allocated space, next to River.

Replaced the Crossing Bucks with Automated lights, so were doing a test here, and appears OK! My Graphic card hurts on the draw distance here, but those mountains in the back really came out good when your on the other Track in the back country there. They almost rendered out with color, but that is where the limit line came in from this side.

New relaid Spur line into the City area, and then it hooks up with main lines in the Valley area to the Right, you can't quite see it thru my Trees and Foliage. On the left of us, there is SP Caboose sitting on Main #! as SD-40's roll up off the other spur to collect some Iron Ore from a Mining Plant........

Ah, here is my SD-40's to come and pickup a string of heavy ORE Cars.........Over to the Right in the back across from river is huge Truckiing outfit, we have 2 tracks going into that building for car to Truck transfer of commodities, I think about 50 Rail cars will fit on 2 tracks in the building, keeps the Railroad busy and the Trucking firm, you would say a good symbiotic relationship that makes both of us money.

Milwaukee power is heading to the Commodity Transfer center ahead I just spoke about.

This whole area got re signaled and some serious Track direction changes too, so far, so good. We have a good wood chip plant on the other side to keep us busy too. Particle board anyone?????

Wherever I can, use 3 Signal Inter-lockers for multi spur areas, and they work great for my traffic. Later on I will add PWares special junction controllers, just another thing in my bucket list to do.

Here is an over head view of the many shots I just showed you, with the large Commidity Building that has 2 team tracks for extra storage needs.

I thought Milwaukee Consists was headed there but Conductor told me they are instead headed out the Port area for Fruit and other things, this is a string of empties mostly, with some loads for the incoming ships.

We are headed into a Tunnel, then up in elevation to the Mountain Passes ahead, afterwards will decend down into our Ports of Call facility and pick up some loads for tomorrow's run.

Busy Railroad, you bet your booty it is......but actually this is a slower day, we have much more ships comming in later in the week, plus growing season is here, so lots of Fertilizer to move to the farmers and other folks......

Have a nice weekend all, thanks for coming to visit.

Don't forget to your Flowers and Card for Mom!!!

Good Monday all,

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day weekend.

Niddertalbahn, Canadian Atlantic Corridor, Flaam Route Pictures to share today, in the first set of you see the TC3 and 7 Series I got from NV3 recent sale. Added to my European Livery and run on the Niddertalbahn Route (German Route). I only have a bit of European livery presently and will need to gather more over time. My plans are to make just a few small changes to the Track alignment nothing major and I have to remove a few mass planting of Trees which causes some higher than wanted frame stutter. The Route is well made and very picturesque.
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Author's notes:This is the lat demo update before the full V1.0 remember V1.0 is under a new kuid. The CNR Halifax Sub is a real route with many other subs added that run or ones ran in Nova Scotia from 1800s up to the current day today. Most of the former railways have been removed and only 2 now renamed "Halifax Sub ( DAR )" & "Bedford Sub". This route gives you a look back at all former and present routes as if they still existed in a modern time era that mixed all together. The Map starts in the City of Halifax Nova Scotia the map includes Dartmouth Sub, Halifax South West, Bedford Sub, Truro Sub, Halifax Sub, Kentville Sub & former DAR lines. The route is over 200 miles long and is the only Nova Scotia Route in trainz with 75% of Nova Scotia Railway's in it that ran in this Eastern part of Canada.

Railroads used are CP, CN, VIA, WHRC, DAR, HSWRR. Today however, only VIA and CN still use the mail line which runs from Truro to Halifax and Dartmouth.

I have more pictures from the KCS/Riverside Route merge to show. Did lots of River Water reclamation and canal cutting to get all the River Flows brought together in unity after the three way merge process. And more item changes in respect to the KCS Hilliam Sub Rail Yard as well.

Came across a locked asset connection stub for the hub Yard, that even removing the Land Tile on the original Route, it would not I'D itself And it was locked in mid air, crazy thing So I kept a file copy of the Route before I made changes, which allowed me to go back and make some small changes. But I was able to reconnect the Tracks to it and it works for now, have no idea what it does, other than a small Stub connection. In totality of the Route it's small thing, so what I did because I had wanted to change the height, I just lower the Tracks going away, and that worked out for what I needed to happen as far as Hump % drop, and cars roll just right for me.

Niddertalbahn Route (German Route) shown here.......Wonderful to play on........Still learning the Route!!!

Got some nice old Locomotives here.

Very happy with my new Russian Locomotives here, and they have manual startup engines..........I need to learn their Loco Controls in the CAB as it is as one would expect a somewhat different layout. If you look at the Traction motors, these models have 3 pair per Axle, this little lady has the mojo to pull a good load in the hilly terrain.

A larger view here as we look out the Gorgeous Valley, kudos to the Route builder here, love this Route and lots of fun running it, if you don't have the Route, I would highly recommend it,. another one of the Great Routes if you like Country Themes with lots of Mainline running and plenty of Shunting opportunities all nicely woven together seamlessly. Now the only slight detractor, and this is not a dig, I had to thin out the Trees a little only to help my Graphics card improve the frame Stutter.....On more powerful computers, this Route should run with no issues at all.

Looking out over a mixed Rail yard and Station stop, we can do lots of Freight and passenger surface, there are excellent crossover tracks to due virtually whatever you want......Have Fun with fantastic Route..........

BNSF junk train from JR I believe......Nice looking consist shown here in "Canadian Atlantic Corridor" which is a huge representation of the real Canadian Route.

In fooling around with the Asset missing issues, I just ended up, deleting them, as I couldn't locate their origin, however it didn't hurt the route at all. I just need to add a few things here and there.

The author has done a masterful job with Foliage and Shrubbery. Stunning Route in the way he made it after the real life Roads...........This is very large Route so you'll need strong Computer to run.....I can barely run it on weak laptop, but what I did, was cut some of the Route off for now, and I might just make it half and half with a portal connection between the 2 half's but that is for later days.......I'm busy on the KCS Sub, UMR2018, and Niddertalbahn, Canadian Atlantic Corridor, Flaam Routes........Never a dull moment around here.

If there is one thing in Trainz, we have some terrific Route Builders, hands down, we are blessed beyond comparison to have these awesome Creators in our midst.

The forth car in the back carries an old car for Repairs or scrap heap, I'm not sure, but this is the only car of this type load I have in my inventory, pretty cool I think!

Longer view, we are just clearing the crossing headed onto the mainline, looks like we some traffic on the Road today.

In the Flaam Route this is the top of the Alps Mountains where the line ends here with the Portal connection, and allows you to return to the bottom valley floor.

I plan on double Tracking the Flaam Route, and extending this upper mountain top line, there is a switch back too which takes you to an unfinished Tunnel entrance, probably the Author had some more things he wanted to accomplish, and trust me, he did a lot of work on this Route with huge complex Mountain Gorges lots of crisscross Mainlines headed up the Alps. Amazing what he did on this Route with majestic Water Falls from high up, nice visual effects and I learned some more ways of Water fall effects.

Very nice appealing Route, even though the Route is set for Passenger Service now, I plan on bifurcating that over time to include Freight service up in the higher altitudes of the Route.


Thank you for visiting folks.