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

Good Tuesday,

Well out weather is not to hot now, and then next few days, we might see some morning clouds to keep us cooler for a few days, I'll take it. In case I don't post on the Holiday "Independance Day" please enjoy our special day, and remember our troops who not home here and our fighting for our Freedoms we so enjoy here.

So I am hitting Florida East Route hard and heavy with some changes, you'll get to see the pictures in about a week, but lets just say we have a nice new Oil Refinary next to the airport runway. And things are going to work out real nice with our new Addition. I have several Oil Rigs to plant down next to the new main Spur line that serves our Refinary. I wanted to bring the service lead Tracks in from the small intermodal yard? And then we have the Classic "Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

Problem was to much work and moving the buildings again (NOT!!) and besides that I must have changed the tank locations and Cracking Plant apparatus several times till I got what I think looks right. So we had to find another path miles away from the Tank Farm, and so we did, we looked areas beyond the end of the Main line, because this end will now be making a connection to the BNSF, with that in mind, we could easily afford a new Switch and a lengthy Spur line connected in from the backside of the route, and it will work perfectly.

And of course will let our Audience look it over to see what thoughts they have too. My options are open.....

The other thing I did, was add a row of base Tiles to give me some additional room on that end of the Route, allowing me to reset the Background pictures, CityScape Style, so the downtown area buildings with the Cityscape Backgrounds came together perfectly.

And I made the connection from Northern end of the Florida East Route, for the moment it is base plain tiles with some gentle Curves leading up and around U shaped into the BNSF Central Valley Route. So now we have Mainline connection with basic #5 Signals, I could have used #4's (Searchlights?) but then, since this is basic quick and dirty setup to get trains over to BNSF side, I would waste the effort to do anything more.

Why u ask? Well, I want to make some hills, and or Mountains between the 2 Routes to give some change as we travel between the Routes. Make it more interesting etc.....What I have to figure out is the maximum height in Grade not allowing higher than 3.5% going up into the hill area returning back to zero height once we enter BNSF Central Valley area.

So now for the current pictures we are taking a speed check etc with Single Engine for most of the Route, making sure Signals and Speed are in proper setup.

We hooked up to some loads and cruise thru Long Key Island area, I constructed a simple Freight Stop with unloading Ramps and single spure to allow small Freight Loads for Island Folk.

Light Engine comes thru the Station here as we continue our speed and aspect light test. Passengers looked at the Light Engine move, Customers were notified their regularly Scheduled Train is right behind us in about 10 mins.....

We got thru the Passenger Station without hitting, so far, so good.

Next we head thru Geared span lift bridge which has just closed the Water way, so we can continue the trip.

We continue our trip across the Ocean inlet here,, as we continue across the waterway Rail Bridge span. Speed is limited to 40Mph becuase in this spot, we dont want to end up in the drink, the water is Salty, very bad for Metal and Electronics.

We come into another Island area, nice isthmus area, with tranquil waters, really like this way this Island is constructed. Light of course is one my favorite items to have on the Railroad.....

Across the Ocean inlet, and back on solid land, where we can notch backup to 60 MPH and blow out those Turbos on our Prime mover....It's good to blow out Turbos often, keeps your engine Carbon clear, well at least to a point? Then 90 day mileage Maintenance takes over.

And as we head North, this is a view of the last Connection bridge we pass, to main island, and we only pass it if no major Hurricanes are approaching.This photo the next time around will look quite bit different as there is Oil Refinary installed on right side of of the Airport landing strip shown here just beyond the trees.

Over here is the new Old Freight Station with short Spure Track, allows for local small delivers to this small island here in the Florida keys.

Oh and before I forget I think, but I have to check first, the next utility, a Water Treatment Plant for Sewage affluent.... I plan on putting in, don't know where yet, TBD ....But we should have on the Route....And it can be put in anywhere..........

And as they say in the show business, that's a rap in parlance....Thanks for dropping in and will have more pics to drop in on the next round.

Mm, Florida, a place where I want to be during winter:hehe:
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Finally got started with my first session, and a few screenies here to show a few train movements





Cheers

Florida East Coast Rte/ Freight moves Etc. + Plus 6.6 Earthquake just occurred.

Good Thursday and happy 4th of July to all,

JUST HAD A PRETTY GOOD EARTHQUAKE NOW, as I finish writing this post. We were rocking and rolling for about 2 mins, they say it was 6.6 @ epicenter, 112 miles away in the high desert....The house was moving around, but looks like we are OK here......How ironic it comes in on a Holiday. who would have thought......
http://scedc.caltech.edu/recent/Maps/118-36.html

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...36.6-1......0......gws-wiz.....10.H-ZhRF0EhdE
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck Kern County and was widely felt around Southern California on Thursday morning.
The temblor, which was downgraded to 6.4, was centered about 11 miles east northeast of Ridgecrest, about 109 miles north of San Bernardino and 121 miles northeast of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled post.........
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Thank you for nice pictures, looking really nice,

I understand about being busy with other things had a lot of small trips lined up this and last month. I too, along with all the Honey Do Lists am playing catch-up as well, so much I want to do, so little time it seems. I started riding my Bicycle after looking at the Weight Scale and all this good food I have been eating on the trips...LOL. I need to shed some pounds and the Bicycling will take it off, if I remain consistent with early morning rides before the sun has a chance to heat things up, today was overcast for the morning, by afternoon it will be full sun, but somewhat cooler, I like it a lot......

"My personal site: https://hiawathamr.weebly.com/​
Mm, Florida, a place where I want to be during winter....
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Finally got started with my first session, and a few screenies here to show a few train movements"

It's been a great week, other than getting bit by some kind of spider while I slept, but I am on the mend now....Little sucker bit my 5 times in a Circle. Good thing I don't have Black Widows or Brown Recluses else I probably wouldn't be here typing now.....And that is no joke either, I have had friends bit by by both, trust in me, u do not want to get bit by either of that variety.

Alright, so have been working really hard on the Florida link part to BNSF Central Valley connection, which I think is about a 12-13 mile distance between the North End Points of each Route section.

Recall in my previous message, I alluded to the fact, when I merge, or change existing Routes, I not sure exactly how my idea will turn out, I just throw my self into it, by laying a bunch of Tiles of where I think I want the Routes to connect, sometimes depending on Elevation issues, I can litterly match one to the other end or side edge, 90 Degree offsets and it works for me?

Now in this case, I wanted to have longer running space for mainline running, plus a little variety of some hill or mountainous areas. But do to the short distance, that was constrained to minimal height constraints and that is OK, because when I show those pictures later, you be surprised at how it worked out for me....

Yesterday was getting the Mainline in approximate positions and with maximum elevation where possible. And then laying out the texture that I thought would work, as the two routes of unique Textures as far as Color, and other subtle differences due the Versions of Trainz they were made in.

We look at the Southern Part of Florida Route where I did some track changes and other mods, to suite what I am interested in doing.

Headed south will a load of empty Hoppers and Flatcars, some of which will be dropped off as head south along Long Key island here.....Out daily Freight comes in quick, makes the shunting drops where needed, will come back tomorrow for pickups etc.

In this shot we pull some empty Flats and Hopper Cars around the Florida Keys loop, at this point we we pass new single spur I added with small Freight Facilities for Commodities and Supplies this island would be using. Running #5 lights for now, due to it single mainline running, I might sprinkle some #4's inbetween the #5's once I see how my signals work with opposing Traffic. There is a dedicated Passenger Train, well there has to be, since on this small Islands, its either Train, or Ferry Boat, and Cruise line Ships etc to get here. So I would think one Morning and a late afternoon trip would be the minimum for now, depending on Freight line constraints. Since we the Southern Portion is partially single mainline Keys area.

Over here we just dropped Flats in specific Freight stops in the Pier area I changed the Rail Switches there to bifurcate the Freight away from Passenger Traffic so our Passenger Trains can come in and get out of the stations in relatively short time for passenger needs and convenience. I lime the little light house, always have, and in Real life actually thought about how cool it would be, too be a Light House Watch person, with such a commanding view of the Ocean......That Freighter in the back is headed up our Coast and due to land later today, in our main Enter modal yard to the North of the Keys.

As you can see, that was not the direction my life took, but I have no regrets, since I do visit light houses when I get a chance, we have a nice one in San Pedro California and it is kept up nicely.

Coming around the relaid Loop Track here, we say so long to our beloved Light house till tomorrow, when we return with more loads for this area, make one trip daily minimum for Commodities and other items. That could change too, based on customer needs and Passenger Service of course...Out tourism is very important here. Cruise ships come in, dropping/picking up Tourists who ride our Passenger Trains into larger towns for play and fun in the Sun...All good for Railroad.....

Over here we have modest port facilities, and ships will come in Daily, later on we might expand a bit, but we do not want to over commercialize it, with small town area kept as primary mode for this area....Smaller is better here...

Hotels are adequate for Cruize Ships that come in for Sun Birds visiting our pristine Beach and other facilities. One of the things I must do, is learn more about this Route, and what it serves and the capacity etc. WIP for sure....LOL

I just put this Freight together, and realized that Hopper Cars for the minute really don't belong done here at this end of the Route, could it be there is no Raw Materials loading facilities, yup, that could be...Dummy me.....Good thing, they are all empties,LOL..Will get this straightened out, you could say, I am the new kid on the block here.......Hope the bosses aren't watching things to close....EEK....

In retrospect, I can add small spur anywhere in this reverse loop with small portable off load Conveyor for Hopper Trans-loads to Trucks etc.....So will keep it the to do box list.....!

Anyway, I did some flat car drop-offs to check clearances and ease of operation with the new Track arrangements...I think it'll work just fine......

Looks like I need to replant a Palm tree here before Plant fight breaks out....Actually, we need better Clearance for the Train Equipment.....We have to break open the Floor Tiles and reset them after this Palm is relocated.

We have signal clearance now, but before we leave, will top off our Locomotive tanks with Diesel from Fuel Depot here, just around the corner from our Freight and Passenger Station stops. A thought just occurred to me here, we need have small spur for few Tanker Cars here for Drop-off to keep this Fuel tank full, for all train Traffic that come thru here?

We leave the keys, and head back north with our empties across one of the lengthy Bridges just a few feet above the Rolling Ocean.......as we head across about 60 MPH.....A respectable speed I would say.

What a great view here for the engineer, clear blue waters and a few high clouds for now.

A view from front, as our Freight approaches the next island here.

Finally have our last shot here, a new Refinery shows in the background, we have to get our Engineers trained up with new Spurs and Team Tracks, built the plant.I like how my the Skyline buildings came out, I make some adjustments to them and removed a couple here and there, I think it works.....I had just enough room here after adding one more row of Templates to the rear, so I could set part of the Buildings back a little bit. And I cleared out 1/2 the forest in the rear so Mainline and last part of Refinery would fit in OK....

I think this will do for today......Have a great holiday and please remember our Troops in the service they perform for Freedoms we have.

Thank you for the kind words Blue
Yep, busy times aren't always fun, especially when you have other things you want to get done lol. Anyway, I hope your plan will be a success

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Hope you are alright. I heard that CA had an earthquake (like you said in your post). Hopefully damage is only minor.
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Also, love the pictures and the story of the trains

Cheers

Dear Blue,

I'm glad you're well after the earthquake. As I said in another post with an experience I had was more than enough, 40 or 50 seconds but it was enough. First the roar of the earth as if an enormous train were coming from the depths, the tremors and shakes growing, the doors opening and the glass wall of the room oscillating without breaking as if it were paper. We were lucky since the building had anti-earthquake foundations with a lateral displacement of several meters around. I had previously felt tremors of the earth before but nothing like it.


Speaking of the route, I like what you're doing, the part of the sea and those little islands or "cayos" I love.
I will follow the progress closely.


Cheers
Javier

Here are more screenshots again. These where taken from my 2nd session I made:



Can't forget the train chase








That's all
Cheers

Another Stronger Earth Quake hits So California area 7.1 in scale...!! 8:19PM

@ https://hiawathamr.weebly.com/​ Like the new session pictures you post Sir.....

And Javier, we had another worse Quake tonight, Tomorrow I will post info and links about the latest 7.1 Earthquake tonight 2000hrs (8PM)

Here is one I found real quick that you can follow....

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=california+earthquake

All I am going to say, it was a whopper of a quake, and we ain't done yet.

The next week or even 2-3 days will tell us more of what we can expect in Earth Quake arena......

Thank you.
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Wow!
One of my friends message me last night telling me that they had another earthquake at the San Andreas fault with a rating of 7.1 - wow.

Hopefully you won't be having anymore happening for a while...

Stay safe

Earth Quakes again / Florida East Coast Signal issuses with Merge & other miscellany

Good Saturday to all,

We say prayers for those folks affected at Ridgecrest, Ca & small remote City of Trona too, as there Cities took the brunt of this Quake occurring a couple of days ago. Amazingly, no deaths or injuries as of yet?

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow...ear-ridgecrest-calif-dpgw-20190705-story.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/powerful-...ia-massive-earthquake-panic/story?id=64147691

If I heard correctly, and it was notated correct by the news, this is the strongest Quake felt by Californians in 20 yrs.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/us/california-earthquake-friday/index.html

One of concerns is the San Andreas Fault which has tightened up and needs to release the pent up energy it has stored in over 130 yrs..

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...when-san-andreas-unleashes-big-one-180955432/

This Fault line (San Andreas Fault)is huge and goes thru California at an off angle, Los Angeles would probably take the largest hit do to Skyscrapers etc. Time will tell, and our Geologist watch this area carefully for noted changes and pressure buildup on Fault line, which is the meeting of 2 tetonic plates coming together and pushing against one another, how they push and what pressure is released and/or gained will affect the next Quake from this area.....The more negative note, we are overdue for a good Quake off this one, and that subtle fact keeps a lot of us concerned to the outcome! I leave you with that thought.

Another small City you here little about is Trona, who was hard hit and cut off by Rock Slides and little Water, no Electricity from first earth quake on July 4th, 2019

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow...ers-rockslides-ridgecrest-20190705-story.html

And for RR buffs here, read about their Shortline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trona_Railway
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Update:2018hrs Friday night.....We just had a major Earthquake tonight, 7.1 yesterdays was 6.4 originally thought it was 6.6. But now with the stronger surface rip tonight, only half mile deep, bad news, and more damage to surrounding areas.....City of Trona power is knocked out. RidgeCrest I don't know.....Crazy earthquakes!!

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=californina+earthquake
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Now over to Trainz and Florida Route summation,

Phase one: Look over Route, learn its characteristics

Phase two: Scan Signals and Tracks for changes, test Train movements, identify bottlenecks, formulate solutions for enlargement of Route driving distances.

Phase three: Decide if this Route would be good candidate for Merge(s) with other similar or like Routes

Phase four: Make merge(s) as appropriate to my needs.

Phase five: Make connections and determining Terrain and Elevation Characteristics, implement connecting mainlines to into Merge Points.

Phase six: Review Point? All plan checks have been successful to this point.

Only minor issue, I have to make some passing sidings between the two Routes, or possibly double dedicated mainlines between BNSF Central Valley and North Section of Florida East Coast Route.The reason for this, in a test of Opposing Train movement from Florida line to BNSF, I found having two trains on single mainline gave red indication on one side several blocks long.

This was expected and is proper Aspect control using Searchlight Signals #5 and #4's.

What does mean for me?

Well if one passing siding is not installed, then one train from BNSF East Bound, will have clearance to Florida Route, and the West Bound Train would have to wait till other Train passed us, effectively tying up 4 signal blocks minimum, but on the Safety side, no cornfield meets either. So what we need is at least one Passing Siding with the potential need of two Passing sidings for more flexibility.

So will experiment with one Passing setup, to see if Signals allow flexible enough movement between the 2 Routes. I figure on doing 10000 Foot sidings to handle the largest Trains I might run. Later on, I might just go with double mainline in the end result. But for now, I prefer just using passing sidings to see how it would work......This is the fun part of Trainz, to make changes, run simulations in the WHAT If THEN realm of things.

Tonight I show some more pictures of how the Changes I made look......

Here is the current Map showing connection Tiles and new Mainlines, Red is Mainline, but actual Main is inside of the Tiles in Blue, hard to see.

Green Circles are Control Points #4 or #5 Signals used...

Short Yellow will be first Passing Siding installed and checked with Signal aspects.

The plane dark green tiles, are the ones added between the Routes for connection points, looking from small Green Circles Top to bottom slightly right of the Corner Tiles.

This is the beginning of the BNSF side of the Route, part of this area was unfinished with some other areas unfinished as well, which works for me, I have some ideas of what I want do for Industries etc.


A little further view away here, you can see the beginning of Central Valley Route here.

Lots of this area will be Farmland and other things, key words Potash? A Huh, you heard it correctly, now I will see how it fits in here, I should have plenty of room for it the plant. But since I haven't set one up, an the pictures on the Forum say this plant is huge. Like maybe a tile wide? Will see how it comes out. A little exaggeration on my part, but the Plant is pretty good size....LOL

Picture here is one of the Mountains I created, about 250 feet tall, I suppose you'd say it is a tall hill. When viewed from other distances they look really nice, and give some more character from otherwise flat land look, similar to Kansas etc.

Headed around the Mountain in previous picture here we circle around the Mountain on 1.5% Grade I think, max 2% at the most, because the distance didn't allow me to go higher than that, I had come back down to Zero elevation on on BNSF side....Mountain height varies from 75 Feet up to 250 Feet. Looking out here, you can see all the hills/mountains in the foreground. I think it will really nice once it is textured and I do some more trial runs on the new mainline connection between the 2 Routes.

This is an open area leading to BNSF Central Valley Route. Mainline and Ballast dropped in, all leveled out with small areas of elevated ground areas. There are small Hills in the background here.

A more distant few of the area, with larger hills in the background. And there will be a surprise I think when you see what I did with this area.

OMG we have a Prison here, Central Valley Route!!!!

I think this Prison is going to be pushed further away from the main highway. In fact this whole area is going to adjusted since the over half of the back tile is unused here, with the Background plants need push back too as well......Lots of fun stuff for me to do here. Think I will have a Field day here....LOL's

Another view of the Prison and the Tree hedge which in my view is way to close to the Prison area, if inmates jump the fence, they can hide in the tree hedge making it more difficult for them to be caught, as well, they are located close to Main housing Track in the Valley, so we are definitely going to relocate this Prison Facility into a more rugged area for Security purposes.

Final long view of the new area I added between the Routes, it looks pretty large so my illusion of a vast area is working well, when it is only 13 miles long....Looks like a lot of Texturing ahead for me....

They say more aftershocks ahead for us,11% chance in the next week/ definately other after shocks for years to come.....

I hear on the news in the last 24hrs, 1400 Shocks so far I can't count that high in that short amount of time!

We don't call Los Angeles Shaky Town for nothing.......

For those intent moving to California, remember, we have the worst traffic in the nation, Great Weather if you like Heat and huge Forest Fires, and the final thing as noted our last 2 days, we have that thing called Earth Quakes, if you can get thru all this, then come over to California, land of Sunshine.

Everyone else deals with Hurricanes, Flooding, Soft Ball type Storms, and pretty Bad Winters. For now, I'll take the Earth Quakes over Hurricanes which I would never want to live in the areas that have taken huge damage and tolls to live etc.. Just something to think about. Thanks for coming by today......

Earth Quakes continue here, much larger, and much stronger!

hiawathamr said:

Thank you.
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Wow!
One of my friends message me last night telling me that they had another earthquake at the San Andreas fault with a rating of 7.1 - wow.

Hopefully you won't be having anymore happening for a while...

Stay safe

Click to expand...

Thank you hiawathamr for kind thoughts,

I remember pretty much all the earth quakes I and family have lived thru over many decades, they are scary, especially the ones that are bidirectional where you are shaking in one direction, then that changes 90 degrees and your thinking what the heck is going on.....I have seen Bricks flying out of Buildings and rolling Asphalt etc, with Telephone Poles being whipped about by some unseen force......So there is that!

Me and the Mr's were out shopping, in between Stores, stopped at Signal Light for cross traffic to pass, and all of sudden, our vehicle started to sway, as it got worse, I looked over at the wife and said, here comes another one, and it is much, much stronger, than yesterdays quake......We just sat and watched as everything was swaying back and forth with seemed like almost a min.....

We tuned to Radio Station KFI640 largest one in Los Angeles area, and began listening to hear how others in remote cities of Trona and RidgeCrest were doing, it didn't sound great, but no deaths or injuries so far...But heck of lot of Property and Road Damage in some areas........Later on when we got home from shopping, we turned on TV and looking at the new more damaging effects of the tonight's quake you could see the second Quake left a lot more damage to the Roads, especially Highway #178.....

I think the folks in small City of Trona which is at an end area for Road connections Etc, are heavily impacted, it will take more to get to them versus Ridgecrest which is also Remote, but I think has better, or more Access Roads.........Not a good holiday for those poor folks, will definitely be praying in Church this weekend for recovery efforts to help them get thru this.

Those area is already under disaster area designation for Federal assistance now........No question about it, going to take some work to bring things back in good repair, and Trona has a big Rock Slide and other damage, Electricity is out again? Not sure on that......

Ironically some Fire Trucks and others were returning to their respective Cities to return home, but with this new and Stronger Quake, they quickly turned back towards the two Cities I mentioned to help.......

We didn't have any damage here so far,

but I can tell you what really surprises me, is the area this last Quake was felt, almost to Sacramento on North part of State, and was felt really strong in Las Vegas, Nevada, which speaks loudly the effects of shallow 1/2 mile deep quake we just had...VS the one day before that was 4.7 miles deeper, and not as rough like this surface one was.......

We live 25 miles East of Los Angeles area, which is closer to where the Earth Quakes where, so we feel them stronger.........

https://ktla.com/2019/07/05/magnitude-5-0-earthquake-rattles-socal/

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/even-stronger-earthquake-strikes-ridgecrest-shakes-san-diego

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/ea...cle_4403da94-9e83-11e9-9047-5fce64fd3425.html

https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/l...lifornia-including-ventura-county/1650549001/

blueodessey and hiawathamr:

Hope you are doing okay with all the earthquakes!

I know this is a bit off-topic for the thread but I'm wondering what signal gantries you use. I saw some nice ones in your screenshots. (I am having trouble finding prototypical North American ones.)

blueodessey said:

Thank you hiawathamr for kind thoughts,

I remember pretty much all the earth quakes I and family have lived thru over many decades, they are scary, especially the ones that are bidirectional where you are shaking in one direction, then that changes 90 degrees and your thinking what the heck is going on.....I have seen Bricks flying out of Buildings and rolling Asphalt etc, with Telephone Poles being whipped about by some unseen force......So there is that!

Me and the Mr's were out shopping, in between Stores, stopped at Signal Light for cross traffic to pass, and all of sudden, our vehicle started to sway, as it got worse, I looked over at the wife and said, here comes another one, and it is much, much stronger, than yesterdays quake......We just sat and watched as everything was swaying back and forth with seemed like almost a min.....

We tuned to Radio Station KFI640 largest one in Los Angeles area, and began listening to hear how others in remote cities of Trona and RidgeCrest were doing, it didn't sound great, but no deaths or injuries so far...But heck of lot of Property and Road Damage in some areas........Later on when we got home from shopping, we turned on TV and looking at the new more damaging effects of the tonight's quake you could see the second Quake left a lot more damage to the Roads, especially Highway #178.....

I think the folks in small City of Trona which is at an end area for Road connections Etc, are heavily impacted, it will take more to get to them versus Ridgecrest which is also Remote, but I think has better, or more Access Roads.........Not a good holiday for those poor folks, will definitely be praying in Church this weekend for recovery efforts to help them get thru this.

Those area is already under disaster area designation for Federal assistance now........No question about it, going to take some work to bring things back in good repair, and Trona has a big Rock Slide and other damage, Electricity is out again? Not sure on that......

Ironically some Fire Trucks and others were returning to their respective Cities to return home, but with this new and Stronger Quake, they quickly turned back towards the two Cities I mentioned to help.......

We didn't have any damage here so far,

but I can tell you what really surprises me, is the area this last Quake was felt, almost to Sacramento on North part of State, and was felt really strong in Las Vegas, Nevada, which speaks loudly the effects of shallow 1/2 mile deep quake we just had...VS the one day before that was 4.7 miles deeper, and not as rough like this surface one was.......

We live 25 miles East of Los Angeles area, which is closer to where the Earth Quakes where, so we feel them stronger.........

https://ktla.com/2019/07/05/magnitude-5-0-earthquake-rattles-socal/

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/even-stronger-earthquake-strikes-ridgecrest-shakes-san-diego

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/ea...cle_4403da94-9e83-11e9-9047-5fce64fd3425.html

https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/l...lifornia-including-ventura-county/1650549001/

Click to expand...

Yikes!
The poor people didn't really have a good 4th of July - not like some of us in the middle and east side of the country,,,

I know it was a short post , but thank you for the additonal info from the links you provided. Going to do some reading about the quakes and find out more info about them.

Stay safe, and have a nice Sunday

Cheers

Problem with test trains passing Red Signals on Siding to Mainline area....Help!!

Thank you hiawathamr,

Well so far over there in Ridgecrest and Trona, I think something like 3000 aftershocks from this recent Quakes......Below is the latest information for those areas 4 hours old time wise'

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/07/us/california-earthquakes-sunday/index.html

Check out this picture here, I think it really shows what happened in the desert, this means the ground was in violent movement when last Quake hit......Lord knows how deep this may go down, and this guy is really taking a chance here looking in on the edge, with no safety rope attached it the ground he is standing on, gives way......?



The good thing is, Emergency services worked out excellent, and these folks, although it might take a little time, have help abounding from many good folks, first responders etc....

I would think a great many of us our praying for those folks for better days ahead........Imagine if this occurred in Los Angeles or any other large Metropolitan City, it would be horrific for the a large area.!!

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Well now on to Trainz, I have a problem with Spad (Passing Signal at Danger) with my new siding I installed yesterday...

Here are the pictures showing locations of trains, and what happened.

Using Search Light Signals, #4 & #5 on sidings with #6's for Switches opposing........

So I placed an engine for testing, with Navigate to, or Drive Commands from menu....This Engine drove thru Red Signal in back about 100 Feet, and almost through the switch before it stopped with an on coming Passenger Train from the other direction.....It doesn't make sense to me, All Signal Aspects were dead on, no problem there.

Now one thing is, I have no track marks out here, is that an issue for Train movement with Drive or Navigate to commands.....I did see some "NO PATH FOUND" errors on message, and driver of this train said he was stuck, awaiting new orders from me?

Can you tell me what I am missing here......???



Another test failure here too....

I put one engine behind the Signal Bridge to the left, it has Red Light as the little switcher on Right here, was placed on purpose to see what the FEC larger engine would do when I told it to Drive and or then changed to Navigate too some where on Florida Route......

Either way, it blew through the Red Aspect Gantry Signal behind it like it wasn't there, same thing as the first picture I showed you.? Funny thing was, it stopped where you see it now, just 50feet away from little switcher, which is nice, but it is not supposed to blow Red Signal SPAD issue......?



In this picture I have a FEC Passenger Train 2 miles away coming to this spot on Single main line, in opposition to this guy. He was behind Red Light on Siding, I gave him DRIVE command, no destination, he starts from 100' away from Red never slows down, and goes thru Red @ 40MPH then slows down just before Switch where you see him now, and stops, says he is Stuck.....

Meanwhile Passenger Train has come up to last signal around the mountain ahead and has stopped for Red Indication, and waiting for Clear, ( that's what should have happened over here with single switcher that passed the Red at SPAD) which he will never get since this guy in Picture is all the way a few feet from main switch here.....thus partially fowling the switch and both trains would derail on Sideswipe.......



So that is what is happening.

Hope you give me some pointers here, this is where I am weak on Knowledge, all Signal Aspects are dead on.....I get Green, Yellow Flash next, hard Yellow, then Red signal either at Junction, or 2 Signals away ......So they are reading Train Traffic correctly as far as spacing opposing train movements from each other........

Any help would be great.....What I want to do, is run some random trains from one end of the Routes to other spots, to show some normal train Traffic....Using AI moves....While I run some manual operations with Trains for Shunting moves all up and down the line.. Etc.....


Update:1624Hrs PSTHello again hiawathamr, I have been busy thinking about options for this SPAD issue, then I remembered

pguy
Trainz scripter and his Enhanced Interlocking Tower Controllers and that is the way I probably have to go, to fix this problem........Self inflicted of course.......LOL

I'm going to grab the components and see if I can rig something up ???

Of course if there is more than way to fix this, I am open to suggestions too.......I kinda of understand the EIT units, but have never worked with them.....

I'm glad you're fine after so much trembling, my friend.
About the signs, I'm sorry I can not help you.


greetings

Things are calmoing down in my area, but Aftershocks continue Ridgecrest/Trona areas.

fant_autentico said:

I'm glad you're fine after so much trembling, my friend.
About the signs, I'm sorry I can not help you.


greetings

Click to expand...

Good Day Javier,

Thanks, and no problem, I need to learn Enhanced Interlocking Tower Controllers from Pguy,,,,he makes some amazing stuff for us, I have found my old Notes, and the associated Threads, and I downloaded what I think are the correct versions of the all things , Modules that control your options........

Shaking has subsided in our area, but at the epicenter, they had aftershocks quite often overnight up to 3.5 on Richter Scale so that would indicate folks got awoken or felt the shaking if they lived in Ridgecrest or Trona Cities, they are very nervous and scared, and can we blame them for feeling that way, I would feel the same.

So we continue to pray for them, and the Earth will settle down some........A fair share of folks don't know or have never been told, that in California not including San Andreas fault line, we live over to large Tectonic Plates that constantly push against each other, and when one slips, or the cross faults connected to them move, we can get some pretty good quakes from the uplifting and heaving and shifting as compression.........There are other parts of the world where Tectonics act and meet in the same fashion......Not very comforting to know, just like living in Hurricane Alley in the Midwest etc.......Crazy weather, crazy Geology, opposing things but with violent outcomes at times.

I am posted another link here about whats going on in these cities.....

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=ridgecrest+ca

Take care..........And I will be posting some nice pictures of my latest ventures and changes on Florida East Coast to BNSF Central Valley area........

Hugs my friend and I bid you a good day ahead in this new week......:wave:

Is the SPAD an 05 or 04?

embeddedt said:

Is the SPAD an 05 or 04?

Click to expand...

Hi and yes, I just double checked because I have different signals around the route.


E/B 10k long siding -------------->#5
=======================================<#6 W/B to BNSF
E/B 10K long Siding ------------->#5



....Sorry, I don't know how to put this graphically better......

Two Fives parallel sidings come into junction with #6 facing W/B traffic........

When the locomotive comes to #5 no break in speed, it only slows down and stops in Throat of Switch, just in front of the #6 signal which is face for opposing traffic...Really weird....I used both Drive and Navigate too commands......

Also when other train reach #6 Red aspect first, headed W/B it stopped for the #6 like you would expect a short distance before the signal....There are not Track marks in this area yet, since I just built it......

Appreciate your help.......

Good Monday to all, on this cool and overcast day in Southern California.

So the earthquakes have slowed down, and the people of Trona and Ridgecrest are trying to get back to semblance of normality in life, pick up the pieces, put things together where possible, lament on losses of things that utterly can't be replaced.....We said a prayer for them and wish the best for days coming forward.

Now over to Florida East Coast, I had some fun last night, I took a FEC junk freight and made lots of dropoffs on my newly orchestrated return Loop, with couple of spurs and it worked perfect. I might need one more single crossover towards the end of the Loop. And possibly one more strategically placed Spur track for Freight....I have to think it over and decide where and how much of an extension...And that will be it. I also want to small portable trans-load roll around Conveyor for possibly a few Hoppers with Bulk Commodities?

My signals on the keys end worked perfectly so far.....Did some more texturing on the new Connection Route to BNSF side (Central Valley Division) and come to find out, I have some missing Train Bridges and quite bit of Rail realignment in some areas. Lot of other items here and there with Scenery adjustments etc....

Another interesting project for me to get into and use my mind for what if scenarios.

I also downloaded all of the Enhanced Interlocking Controllers and their associated sub files, going to take me awhile to learn how this Dog hunts in the game of Signal land....LOL

I do know, or have come to the realization, I have go around the whole Route and inventory all the Industries, and spurs, Passenger Stations etc, to see where I need to make specific Track Marks and Triggers etc for certain actions to follow.......I am weak in this part of Trains, I understand the process somewhat in logical progression, but setting it up and doing it is quite another thing. Experience here is lacking a lot, but I will get there tip toe at a time......

I got off the side of my thoughts on Shunting run in the keys, anyway, I got all the freight spotted and/or moved to where the customer requested them, then I headed up to the next Freight facility I created in the adjoining Island heading North, I think it is called "Long Keys" we shunted in some loads, and then we had to move back into that long Spur and hold till the South Bound Passenger passes us to Keys Island.

Moving on, will see some Night shots of out new refinary area, an overhead map, showing what that area looks like now with the changes and some other miscellany.

Here is overhead view of our refinary as it looks now, I might find some other special Cracking Equips to add, if it fits? At the bottom of the picture is Airport Landing zone where the refinery stops. Over to the right is Fiddle yards and way further over is the Docking area, which reoriented the Tracks and move the Dockyards further out into the Ocean, it was too close to our mainlines and the Track Curves were to sharp for longer Auto Cars.




Every so often, I hear, or rather, I read where someone will pose the ? how do I start to layout track, and elevate to see how it works, for me, I take blank tiles and add as many as I need, giving myself plenty of Real Estate to work with. Like this picture below, then the very next thing I do is layout out my mainline, exactly more or less, where I want it to be, and give it the curves I want. When you do this, and get the curves the way you think they should look. Then I find, I might need to add some additional tiles here and there, because the position, size of Curvature can things dramatically. And you'll find yourself running out to the edge of your real estate limits. Remember you can always cut tiles off before your build is finished, it might be hard or near impossible to expand and area you made too small when you started, trust me I have done it, and had to redo whole areas into larger ones, because I didn't start with a large enough area to start with.....

Consider this, you build a room in your existing room, and it looks roomy great, when empty, but you add Furniture and whatever else associated with that rooms purpose and when your done, well, you think to yourself, darn, if only I had made it a few feet wider, now you can't without tearing out a wall, and paying lots more money plus cost of Blueprints and new permit, that's if they approve the permit...LOL Or you sacrifice what you wanted and work with less than an ideal dream room.....Sour Grapes, yes I think so.

So in this picture below I have laid out the Track, got it where I want it, and I have elevated it about 2.5% or less in Grade....Important thing now, run some trains over it, place some signals on it, see if hits within the parameters of what you saw in your minds eye.......

Mind you we all do things differently in Planning and experimentation scenarios, you'll find the best way to handle these challenges over time as you gain more experience. Especially Building Mountains and Valleys, which makes the Challenge that much more interesting.

Forgot to say, I will literary hang my track in mid air quick and dirty setup to see if what I want works, then bring in the Tiles to height underneath,, weird, yes it is, from what I used to do, when making or changing Routes, but for me, it works so easy and it is fast....I run my trains in mid air, and the curves, straights whatever tells me if this thing is going to work as I see it in my minds eye....Then shaping and filling comes in easier, as I just hit the level to Track tool and snap the Tiles grid to my Tracks, then decide how the rest of the terrain will lay out, where it be mountainous or level Terrain, or deep chasm-ed valleys etc.....Bottom line, find out what works for you, don't be afraid to experiment in Trainz and run plenty of backup copies of your work, en case you find a big error, I had one the other night, lost 2 hours of work, why???Well the Route saved was corrupted, lost 95% of the Route, Win10 had some kind of hiccup,,,Who knows, I don't and I certified 100% Geek when it comes to computers.....

Late afternoon and I have New Equipment pressed to the back here, so I can Drag out step by Step to make fully function able Refinery. And it takes time to make it eye appealing....Clear space here in front is where I will assemble the modules. I know, I know what a mess I made...LOL, I promise it will look better.

Slightly different view of my Chaotic mess.....What a mess I got myself into......And we don't even have the lead tracks setup yet.

Over here is a view of I lost count of this multitude of Track Splines here and another place here on BNSF Central Valley Route, this is not something that should be done, waste of Resources and it will slow down your Route when you run through here, there was close 60 splines almost next to each other? So I cut it down to about 5 Splines only, and in 3 other sections of the route, I had to do too as well? I have seen this before, but I have yet to figure out why this would be done in this fashion.....

Downtown night view of Skyscrapers next to our new Refinery.......Works very well here. I need to put more night lighting in for sure......But not over do it since there is airport nearby and I don't want blind the Pilots night vision as they approach to land.

Looking across the airport runway at night here into the back of our Refinery, and to the lighted City Scape across here, pretty cool huh ?

One last view from a different perspective Showing a jet flight just landing at the Airport now. And that measuring tape glows in the dark, did you know it did that, I sure didn't.....Interesting things when your around here at night........

Map overhead of where we are looking now......We have quite an expanse of waterways here with the Ocean pushing inland, or is it the Rivers coming out emptying into the Ocean, I guess it would make sense it is that way......Anyway, it works out really nice I think......And I plan on adding more ships, Sailing ones if I can find them in my inventory.......If you look at the named objects below, you can see where the refinery is, and how long the spur line I needed to connect around the back of the city to reach it ok.........It will work out nicely plus we have a few smaller industries alongside the Spur route to the left of the Refinary.......Not able to see them, I have to make several Track Marks for Industry locations.........All in due time, I want to next get those tracks realigned on the BNSF side and move the Jail location to a much more secure spot....

Signal head gives a nice Diverting Route aspect here,, Dual Yellow with top one blinking to show us we are heading into upcoming large industrial Branch line ahead....And that'll do for today folks.......Take care.....

Good Weds, hump day of the week, and the Weather here is now turning hot, so I must get out early to do things in the Yard. Else it is too hot for me to work out there.......Gardening is always there, and when it gets hot, the weeds and other undesirables etc grow one heck of lot faster.

So been busy making some more little changes on Florida Route with Keys area, I will show pictures soon so you can see what I am referring too. I added some more small farm areas to the Keys.

Today will look at the Mountains on the North end of the Route I made, what I envision, height and other items of interest for you.

This map is the right corner of Northern Tip that is newly added, what I did here after laying in Mainline was elevate in some sections to 2.5% or less as it transverses to BNSF side connection. And I added the Ocean in here, since all of the Florida Route has Ocean Views, why not here too? It works perfectly, and of course, I can add some more Sailing or Cruise ships sparingly too.....

In this picture, the Red Arrows designate the connection of new Main Line between BNSF and Florida Ease Coast RR. If you look carefully on the bottom of the U Shaped Route, you'll be able to see the Mountains I put in, nearby at the Mainline. They don't cover the whole area of the tiles, but they add too and not take away from what I envisioned I wanted as the Trains cross a huge open area between the Routes. Kind of an arid area to speak with Sandy Rocky Beaches. I have too still plant Palms and the types of plants, scrub brush etc. That'll take some time to do.....

From here is beautiful plain view from Ocean side with Mountains added and the Train is crusing by here, the water makes it look so Tranquil. Nuts I have remember to move my pointer out of the way....LOL...Sorry about that!!! :[[[

This is the area before I added the Ocean, you can really see the difference with what one simple Element change that is easy to do, can make such a difference, now I have to be honest, what I didn't do here is Texture the Grids before I put on the water, I did it afterwards and it took me twice as long with the Water covering it....LOL, Dummy me for being in such a hurry to see the water effects first.....Texture then Water cover the area,,,,,LOL Save yourself time.....Another thing I try to do, is smooth out all the crackety areas when you first make your elevation changes, I prefer the smoother look when I can do it........Like rolling hills, but it takes lots of extra time to do......You get faster over time as you learn the specialized control of how to move your mouse and leaner sensitivity settings as well......Less is more on those sensitivity settings, especially on mountain building, you'll see the difference in smoothness of Ridges Etc.

Same area but a distance shot here to show you the expanse of the area, Which will looks really spacious and give you the thought of being out in the middle of nowhere with few Palms and Scrub Brush plants etc. Always give yourself more room now, in the beginning of your builds, you can quickly chop of excess areas later to reduce your Tile count if that becomes an issues for RAM needs.

A long view looking across here from Upper Corner to farthest Corner.......Now imagine this area with no water and no Mountains.......Dull for sure.....I want to goto to these mountains and check them out as curiosity......But only if I have a GPS and plenty of light and Water, be surprised how many folks get lost in mountains? You always notify 1-2 or 3 friends your are headed for walk in the mountains and the expected time you'll come back, for your safety......

Coming round the the Valley here, and the Route Grade and Signals are spot on......

These last few pictures will show the approximate height of my Mountains, remember the higher the mountains the more resources, GPU Ram it will take to show them in Trainz, so moderation in large Routes can be key factor, when add all the other assets in afterwards....73 feet on this one. 10-15 mins to draw out........Dont be afraid to draw mountains, it gets easier over time......

Check here in the Topography box it shows the height of this one 167 feet tall modest in trainz environment.

I think this is the highest one here 250 feet approx......Now mind you, it didn't take me more than probably 15 mins to make this mountain, it is the style in which you draw in succeeding brush strokes of your Mouse, it takes a lot of practice to get it here. And I am not the best in Mountain Drawing, several of you Mountain makers have a real flare for making very realistic looking ones, just look at the mountain seen in your opening Trains TRS19 how cool it looks with Passenger Train in front...Amazing view for sure...

Ok that'll do it for today, have Questions about what I am doing here, you are more than welcome to ask......Thanks for dropping and keep hydrated well now in the Summer......Take Care all.

Wishing a good Friday to all,

And I have been getting thru this weeks Summer Heat, the better thing, cool sea breezes in the evening have been coming in, and that really helps in our Hot Valleys, we have are normal High pressure dome setting over California, Utah,Nevada and Arizona, right in what we call the 4 corners where there States connect for a few miles, but 2 large Low Pressure Patterns are to the North of us buffering the High Pressure Dome, which gets us every year....If some of that Low Pressure would make it down here, we could get some badly needed Rain in the Summer, I know the beach goers hate Rain in the Summer, and it is a mixed blessing with the humidity it brings, but it would cut our Fire Threat down quite a bit....

So yesterday I did some cycling on my Bike early in the morning, today, I feel the work out in the legs, LOL all good, too keep my healthy in my late 60's. LOL.

In the evening I had a 2 mainlines headed to the Southwest on just about a ways from Florida Keys on the Penensula part of South Florida East Coast line, so I dropped in a ton of Tiles and made the new Mainline Connection to Southern part of BNSF central Valley Route, now I have both Southern and Northern connected to same on Florida East Coast, with one or two more mid connections in the middle parts too, maybe only one connection in the middles using the River Water paths, it will make more sense when you see my topographical maps of the areas. Pictures, especially maps make all the difference in my mind.......Over Text descriptions......

Also with the Mainline, I went thru Central Valley and rearranged a Ton of Signals using Searchlight and "C" Searchlight Module Signal types. And I think I have a small smattering of BNSF ones in their too.

As well the day before I played on MSGSappers Catturaugusc& Lake Erie Sessions he made, love that Route, it so cool....Amazing Route and Asset Builder MSGSapper is, and to have the new Pro-Track for TRS-19 it is one heck of difference too. It works and looks great in TRS-19, I know MSGSapper really did some hard work to make all the Variations of it for us to use....Thank you sir.....Job well done.......

Alright now, lets take a look at BNSF Central Valley Route and some other Misc Photos.

BNSF Route is huge Route made by this Author, and wasn't finished out, so there several areas to be completed on how I want to do them, I plan on looking in California Maps to see how some of the area looks to give me some ideas of what is missing......I have a lot Spur Switches installed by the Author in key positions along the main lines so have to see what I can do..Be interesting for sure, I know one thing I want to put in is a Water Treatment for Sewage concerns....For sure we need one, I haven't noticed one as of yet anywhere on the Route and that goes for Florida East Coast too......

Our first picture is some mountains somewhere in USA, Arizona and Colorado, I don't recall where I got this picture online, but I like the protrusions rising up from the Floor....They could be old Volcanoes? But I like them so much. And this is what I was after in Javier's Route I worked on....Didn't come out the same, so I need more practice.....

This is Florida Mid Coast and part of Oil Refinery area I built in the back end of the Route. Running a light engine here to test Track setup, Grade% and Signal protection Etc.

Florida Keys area during a normal Rain Storm as a Junk load of Freight awaits signal Clearance to enter the small Island.

Late in the afternoon, we have finished our Freight Shunting it's late in the day, as we head back to our home Rail Yards for tomorrow's work.....All has been successful today, our Customers have gone home to their families now, probably having dinner as we leave this most tranquial area with a great Sunset.

Now over to Central Valley area, here is an example of unfinished Spur setup fro Branchlines into the Businesses along the ROW. I am glad to have these prepositioned Spur Templates here, makes it easy to add the Track to wherever it going.....Some of the businesses are here, others are not, hense the reason I need to look in California side to see what is there now.?

Silos are here, and you can see the Track is way out of alignment, I guess track was quickly dropped in but just layed here, no big deal, I straighten all these things out, and some missing bridges over water Creeks too.

Here is one of the areas, I need to find a Bridge for the Creek overpass. Probably was a missing Asset?
I usually delete them all if I can't find them.

Another Lone light Rail Engine comes along the BNSF Central Valley, where there are miles of Track, and one heck of lot Fruit and Vegetable Farms etc.

Passing through small industrial yards and city areas in the Middle of Valley farm areas, there is lot of openess here. One thing though, I need to see how many Vegetable and Fruit Trees are planted because if there too many Vines with the current size of my Merges, it could pose a problem with the VRam etc strains on the system....It comes down to a balancing act of performance. I already shut off my Shadows for now, because I notice from time to time, I have Track that disappeares, which tells me, I might have too much Trackage in some areas...Will find out more as we go?

Our final picture here, we have sent our out a rescue locomotive to pick up a stranded BNSF Loco on the mainline here. Don't know what happened, but the poor Crew would like to get home sometime today before there 16 Hr Work limit comes up, and we have to send out a patch crew to stay with this Locomotive awaiting a Rescue Train....LOL's but it happens....They had another train take there empties adding to the consists so just this broken down unit remains from original consist.

These background Trees need to be moved too, they are not positioned where I need them to be......NO big deal, it comes down to taste.....

Lots to do today, so I got to get running.......

Thanks for dropping in Folks, and have a good weekend, remember to Hydrate too....Take care.