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

Playing on the UMR 2018 Route

Good Wednesday Day all, it's the middle of the week,

I'm having a good time on KCS Hillian Sub fixing a Brake Retarder issue, and it's not the Asset at Fault, it's that trouble child T:ANE didn't let it operate correctly.. So you know, I had to do that find a newer asset, any asset that would stop the Rolling Stock in my hump yard. And I did, it was a Pink Arrow, and it works great.

While we are on the Asset's item, please check your, only if you use ASSET-X, and see if you have the latest version, your version should be 3.3 if not you'll need to download the update here.

http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tutorials/index.php/home/utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools/assetx

Download the file, double click, and make sure your Asset X is closed, and it might take all of 30 Seconds.

So lets swing over to UMR 2018 Route for bit.

Author's Notes describe one really nice Route, with Industries nicely spaced out, lots of mainline running, and good amount of Shunting for you switching fans.
====================================================================================
Fifty one new miles of mainline/branch line track added to the West and North, with 5 new towns and 5 new commodities: General Auto parts, Corn Oil, Corn Sweetener, Propane, and 5/16' Copper Rod.

All assets are on the DLS, with the exception of the free weathered container pack and the TOFC pack from JointedRail.com.
Special thanks to all who created content - and especially to George Fisher, James Flanders, and Andrew Cochrane, who gave their permission for the mergers to take place.

In picture below, we have a broken coupler, no the engineer wasn't at fault, it was a fatigue and fracture that finally caused it to break, fortunately we weren't headed up a hill and end up with runaway rear end of our train. Takes about 15 mins to fix, walk the Coupler from the Engine, 10 mins, knock out the hinge pin, and drop new coupler in, and then re pin, 5 mins, back up and make a joint, air pressure and brake test...Then will be on our way.

Our Grade Crossing Safety CSX consists here are getting ready to move to another enforcement operation, every time we do one, the message gets out there and hopefully passes on. Don't play with a heavy weight, you can stop, Trains can't (they can stop, but 1/4 to 2 miles later) after they hit your car, or person! For more information Google Operation Lifesaver for your area, and or world wide.

On the other side here, we have a power plant which takes lots of Coal to fire, good business for the Railroad, and it is a clean burning plant too.

I decided to put a Fred EOT on the end of this passenger consists, as there are no apparent clearance lights on this one, don't need a rear end collision if another Engineer isn't paying attention, and believe me, it has happened too many times.

You got the figure the long hours these crews work, a minimum of 12 hrs, and it can go to 16 under unusual circumstances, but then a like Airlines, Boats, Trucking to name a few, the serious thing called FATIGUE FACTOR comes into to play where your body starts to shut down, unless your taking some stimulants that you shouldn't be, and that's another discussion we won't go into here! The safe to say, you take care of your employees the same as a family member..........It's teamwork that counts in all Jobs and at home too......

Very colorful and nice looking Dock Cranes here.......

Just across the valley, here is our Dock with large ship in Dock unloading here. Great business for the Railroad.

And we have Coal loading facility here as well. Lots of import/export going on. And it is pouring rain, but the Dock work will continue.......


And some special FEMA cars for the Government. Which while I'm thinking about it, we move a special items of unusual size or dimension, that would be more difficult and costly if not impossible, such as Missiles and Specialize construction equipment. The Railroad when given a chance can do a lot of things you might not expect when called on for special duty. We even move Military Troops and first responders into inaccessible areas if our Rail is good....Just something to think about.

Check out this article and how the Railroad trains them too.....

https://www.google.com/search?q=Fir...y+Trains&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1


A couple of C&O GP9 with dynamic brake Blue one's in picture. I really like these C&O Road engines, they work great. In the next picture below, I posted who made them and where they are available.......

Author's Notes: Chesapeake purchased 363 GP9s between 1954 and 1957. They were numbered 5901-6263, following the GP7s numbered 5800-5900. The first
148 GP9s were delivered in the classic blue with yellow lettering and
stripes paint scheme. In June 1956, the stripes were omitted and the
entire side sill and pilot was painted yellow with units 6048-6208.
In 1957, the Railroad Roman lettering gave way to Futura Demibold.
In 1964, the 'Doughnut' scheme was used, and this lasted until 'Chessie System' paint was unveiled in 1973.
EMD GP9
HP: 1750
Engine: 16 cyl 567C Made by cincysouthernrwy on DSL.....Kuid 45588:6047:1


Overview of rest of dock yards, and water here appears very black looking, I think because of altitude, I might change the color a little bit and lighten it a bit....?

As you can see do to the size of this route, the Author kept the Tile width very narrow, and to run on my Laptop, I might have to keep it the same, will see, but in some spots I might add a Tile or 2 where the cutoff edges are bit too close. But that's me being picky, this is another outstanding Route to play with.....52 Miles.....really good size with lots of Variety.....Check it out.....UMR 2018.........

This inside of our Safety Train, the head end power is Diesel..........Very nicely done...If I remember correctly these are SDM70 AC's from VIA Canadian Power on lease with us.

I think that'll do for today.....You all take care.........

Watseeka Kankakee Excursion/Flaam Rte gets new Freight Service in town!

Good Saturday Day all,

Working between " Watseka & Kankakee R.R. & Flaam Routes. Lets see what's going on today.

Our Excursion special on the W & K is heading up thru Farm fields today, still en route to Snowy Mountain areas. We continue to explore our Rails, here as I learn this Route.

We see some busy Farmers roto disking their fields today. Farming starts early and ends late. A lot work to needed in Bread Basket areas of the USA.

We are going to turn the ground here. Crops are picked and it's time to fold the Green back into the soil......

Brand new Three-phase Locomotive 185.2 from Bombardier, ICJI 119 010-6(a-train) by "cj187", and will be bringing some Diesel Freight Engines from the same Author here to handle the Dock Projects!

Shout out to "cj187" great models you make, and they run perfect, and better yet, no errors in T:ANE, that's a Bonus in itself for me........

Over at Flaam, remember I mentioned I wanted to Double Track, and put in some limited Freight Operations, to help moving raw materials and some Silo for Grains etc, on a small scale.

Well the work has started, took a while to figure out where and how I could put in the new Mainlines for Dock Ship trans load operations.

It going to help our neighbors in the higher altitudes where only Rail Service can reach the Towns.

In the pictures below, I noted the changes you see taking place.

We added 2 new Freight Lines bifurcated against both sets of Mountain Ranges in the Valley floor area of Flaam Route.

Those spots do not have enough room, and it's a safety consideration with Power lines close to the Water so I am not electrifying the Dock area Tracks........Diesel will be perfect for the job......

This necessitated extending a longer River channel on one side of the Valley. Notice I'm using Dark Coal Rail Tracks to form my Channels. Makes it easy to see the Rail Track as a marker for the changes when I do overhead views. And I hit the level tool to bring the Ground up to the Rail height......That gives me a starting height form, as I raise the rest of the Grid lines later for the new Rail Yard area..........

I learned this from another Route Builder who used this technique for building Mountains Etc.....It works fantastic.

Here we making a man made Island area for new Freight Tracks, and relocation of Passenger Station, and a host of other things that needed changing around.....

There was a change I made a few days after this photo was taken. The 2 Step see wall was changed to a single lower wall after I leveled the area out. For whatever reason it slows my Graphics down with too many See Walls in an area........So removing one of them reduced my Frame stutter.....The game of Graphics........Grrrrrrrr......

This area is going to have huge changes here, this is just the beginning, and it takes several revisions to get it the way I want it to look. Especially when it comes to new Tracks going into the Docks below. As we drop about 10-15 feet, to the Level the water is at.

The red arrow here is where I am putting up new land fill and changing the River Channel, extending a long ways out where it meets the Lake......The yellow line is a new Dock Mainline.

This scooped out areas will be filled in some too.....We have daily 3x Ferry Transports for Buses and Cars etc coming into the city from other cities across the bay.

This is part of the Land Ocean bridge between Sea Ports lots of Ferry Boat service. And some day, we might even have a dedicated Train Car Transport too. that's way off in the future.......

It might be a little hard to follow what I'm doing here, but I need to get the new river channel put in the way I want it. Then Landfill pushed out to the left of the walls. The next set of pictures will make more sense once all the digging and land filling is accomplished.

I know, it's a mess here, sorry for Construction mess, but wanted you too see how I make the changes, it might give you some ideas on how things could be changed up a bit.......Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

Thank's for dropping in, will see you back on Monday with more new Pics as WIP continues..........

Revisit the Aussie Merge Route.....Driving the deep river gorges.......Etc.

Good morning all, Monday the beginning of a new week,

Lets see what kind of Tom Foolery we can into with T:ANE this week.......LOL!!!!

I have been busy on the Flaam Route for the last week revamping Rails, Texture, River Channels, and now involved with Catenary restringing the new Tracks where needed for Electrification needs according to the changes I made in the Harbor and Wharf areas.

Part of the reason is due to the fact, will have duel mode, Electrical and Diesel service in the Harbor area. Harbor is 100% Diesel, with Passenger service being Electrical only for now.

Putting in Catenary is new to me, I have very limited experience, but they say practice helps you learn. It takes time for me, since I have go back and check to see the Wires are centered on the Rails correctly.....I really need to go and read up on Catenary system so I understand it better........

Will visit the new changes on the Flaam, later on, lets go over to one of my Favorite merged routes, The Aussie Merge, which has several routes in it.

Below is the Snow Valley and I think Loops area, we come out of the tunnel here into large River Canyon with steep walls, stunning views and wonderful to run your consists on.

Here we go thru beautiful canyon areas, the Author did a stunning job here as we head towards the harbor area.

Look below at the deep gorge and rapidly moving swift river below. We move along about 30-40MPH

A shot taken from across the Canyon here......This is an immense Canyon area........We are using Milwaukee Power here to pull a heavy consists to the Harbor for Transloading.

It is a very mountainous area here as you can see in the foreground and background areas as the winding river cuts thru a gorge.

We slowly wind thru the curves as we descend down a 3.5-4.0% downgrade.

Here you can see we have a good string of Cars to control, speed, breaking, dynamics are key to maintaining control of your momentum and physics. If not, you'll stand a good chance of runaway Train, loss of Brakes, derailment, and well you know the rest here. I have seen many a runaway incident and horrible aftermath. Especially if your train is under weighed, and under powered units, in weight per axle. Yes it has happened.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Run...lifornia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

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

For me in Trainz, I run extra Locomotives when pulling long consists, and I run distributed power in the rear, and when I have a really heavy Train, I have 2 units in the middle of the consist.......Like a Steel or Tanker type Train........It really depends on the Grades your up against.

Looking up from the River below, as continue our descent. You can see we our down to 8MPH here as we are at 4% downgrade with maximum Dynamics and 10-15lbs of Brake Pressure.

Front end view here, Engineer is watching all the dials carefully to make sure he is using the right amount of Horsepower and Dynamics. Looks like we are in 2% Grade here.. .It changes a lot in this Canyon area. Engineers need lots of experience before they handle a Train thru this Canyon.........

We cross above here and will end up coming round out below next to the river.......Really well done Tracks and elevation changes by the Author here. And just about right on Tree Density for me to run....Just a little bit of Frame Stutter.

That'll due for today.......Enjoy your week ahead.....Thanks for dropping buy......


free photo hosting

Aussie Trip II and Flaam update ETC.

Good Weds all,

Our weather here has been nice and Cool, and I am really enjoying it.......However over in Hawaii, that Volcano is just not stopping for now prayers are sent that those folks stay are safe thru this difficult time.........I can't imagine having a Volcano going off in a Tropical Paradise......We have dormant Volcanoes in California......So far they have not erupted yet.

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

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/us/hawaii-kilauea-volcano/index.html

I just read some folks are in the Hospital from Lava Burns........This sucker is really causing some trouble over on the Island...........

Below is more of our trip to the Harbor area in great looking Canayon, at this point our Grade is even but not for long. as we go across a Spanned Concrete Bridge here over a Deep and fast moving River below.

And here we are, you can see signs of the Harbor and Valley floor coming up below us.......That river with all it's huge boulders from previous Rain storms is a reminder of what Mother Nature can do.........

A good luck of the Harbor Rail Yard layout can be seen from here.

Now we hit a Loop DE Loop transition below.....Works great for drooping us several feet lower.

Our train rear can be seen, but due to our shorter length, will not cross over our own train..........Good vantage point of other parts of the River are shown here too.....Water goes everywhere. Trees and Forest are plentiful too........I forgot to mention we have about 3-4 Logging areas in the Mountains too.

Under we go from the tracks above.....Line ahead is clear for us.....Dispatchers have our Signals stacked.

Looks like our Bridge is a bit Rusty here, need to get the Paint crews out and get some of this rust knocked down, hmmmmm!!!!! Only take time and some, well , I should say, lots of time and Elbow Grease to get this heavy coat of Rust removed........Bridge is very strong so it is mostly cosmetic for now.

A view up from the River Rapids below.

High view here, and again you can see why Train handling of Brakes and Speed is so important with any train going down thru and around the high Canyon Walls. I can assure you we make sure the Maintenance is top notch up here too, those ties get replaced on schedule, no deferred maintenance work here.....Not on my watch.....!

Alas, we are at the bottom, and that Water is mighty fast, and very Cold as it continues down to the City where they use this pristine water for their needs.......

Got a meeting to goto today, so I probably add some more comments later on the Flaam Freight Project.....Got to run now folks....

Update: Re Flaam route freight upgrades...

Added new harbor facilities

Oil Trans load

Storage Yard for Freight Cars.

Diesel Fueling

Communication Antennas and Mountain Top Repeaters.

New vehicle Trans load on remote Dock across lake from our rail yard. It's a small Operation due to the type of area we serve.

I plan on adding small logging, propane plant, creamery (Dave Snows model) and some small farm silo operations etc.

And depending how things go, I have seen some possibilities of extending the Rail from tops of the mountain into areas where I found a large lake in a valley area between large mountain passes.

In another area at the upper end of rail terminus, I have a Rail cutback leading to an unfinished tunnel on I think is the North West side of the Route. I'll try and get a map together for the changes I have in mind.

This will be done over time, as I see how adding and changing assets affects the frame performance. There could be adverse effects at some point where I need to curtail the quantity in relationship to amount of Rolling Stock involved...... It is all a recipe of near equal amounts.

Upgraded Signal types using Search light �� dual and single aspects for now.

In regards to frame stutter, I think the really high mountain build have quite an affect on the video card, but this is the proper way this route must be, so in lue of that, I removed some fencing, telephone poles, dirt roads, and other items in the very high areas where no rail exists and you really can't see them from the rail lines..... This helped my frame stutter about 40-60% improvement over all.

Redid some mountain washes, just minor ground level changes and texture changes.

I finally got the hang of doing the Electrification Cabling and metal framing poles on Row. I did have to go back several times. Curves to center point the wires over the rails. It takes a while to get the best center or off center point. It's tricky, at least for me as I gain more experience.

Have a great day.....And thanks for dropping in ............Bye now.


uploading images

Few Nightshots from UMR 2018 Route/ WIP conitnues on Flaam, /Grade % repostion Etc.

Good Friday Morning all,

Well, this was a fast week.......So we stroll over the UMR for some night shots, we have Operation Lifesavor Safety specials firing up. Not much light out here in the fields tonight as mother Nature is coming by to drop us some light rain showers.. Glad for the heaters in the Locomotives and Bright Train light.

Speaking of bright lights, that Dim Light Rule is working great for me, especially in the Tunnels, I need the lower setting, as it doesn't reflect back into our eyes in some of the Tunnels.
Works great according to how your Asset was built......

Were heading out shortly here to get ahead of the morning Freight Traffic, same as your Local Freeways, we get lots of Traffic behind and in front of us.......

Here we go, Dispatcher's have given us clearance, and the Rain has cleared for now, actually can see some Stars out.......Beautiful......!

Got to love our Hooded Signals, no problem seeing the aspects here off angle......Great Signals to use.

Attached EOT "FRED" device shows up nice and bright, don't need a rear end collision, if another train doesn't see us from behind.....Has it happened, oh yeah it has with deadly results, just ask any Locomotive Engineer that's been around 20-30 years, they know.!!! Proper and Correct equipment lighting is a must, but remember this, sometimes you just can't fix STUPID!!!!

These Rail link will pilot us over some really heavy Mountain Passes ahead,,,,These Babies are large and in charge with Good Horsepower to Axle ratio, and great Traction Characteristics.........

A local Freight in the siding awaiting for our Clearance, some they can move on in the night.

Guess the Crew comes in a bit later for this Freight, it's just a Junk Train with medium priority here.

Hmmm. .....Looks like a switch ahead is not thrown just yet, there is a built in 7 minute delay after the other Train has passed the Control Points, to make sure the switch isn't thrown before the Train has cleared the Switch Point.......Just little Rules and Regs built into the infrastructure to keep the Trains on the Tracks and keep the employees out of the deadly Fray as much as possible.

Looks like we made it thru our Mountain Passes and we have cut off our Pilot Helpers from Montana Rail Link.....Thanks guys for job well done....

Storm is moving off to the East now, as we head Westerly enjoying the view.....The Farm fields are a Green and so are our the Signals ahead for us. Everything is in balance for the moment.

Another Local has passed us, he'll be dropping off some of this for Industrial Customers down the way behind us........He has several Jobs to do today, that's OK, he has a 10 hour window to play in, and 2 hours to return back to the Yard. We gave him a Roll By Safety check, all his hoses and Axles looking good, nothing overheated that we could see. Here on the Railroad, we are a family, we want to get back home each night,, so we tend to look out for each other, we know what happens when you don't see trouble soon enough.......

Over on the Flaam Route, I encountered some really heavy Grades in the Mountains, so I am re aligning the heights of the Rail, and in some cases rerouting the Rail for better Grade %..........Having some fun making more change. It's taking some time to adjust, do a Quick Drive, or the Wash, Rinse and repeat again Mode till I get the % where I need them to be......

I also found out one of the Reasons for more Frame Stutter on this particular Route is the height of the Mountains, it is hard for the GPU to keep up with the distance rendering of the the Very high Altitude of this area......And that's OK, part of playing the different Geological Style of each Route. I noticed a few time some of the top parts of the really high Mountians, almost didn't render out at Distance views would try to fill ahead as you traveled forward with your consist.

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend, and remember our War Hero's who made it possible for us to be here......

Thank you for dropping by..........

Check out the Shedmaster Site ?

:wave: Good evening all,

Was reading in the Forum and came across Shedmaster Thread:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?145711-Shedmaster-web-site-now-open

If you have ever wanted to make some changes in reference how Industry Management works in Trainz, and you wondered why does this happen like this, or why can't I get this Industry to do it the way I want automatically, or kind of know what's going on a little better as to Commodity Flows from point to point Etc. Then go check out this Program, please read msg #! -16, and by all means go check it out...

From what I have gleaned over the years, this is quite a program.....Now I am not going to hide the fact, there is a learning curve.

Like it anything else, worth the effort, you get out what put in here.........

The program is updated to work with T:ANE..........



On another note, I tend to noticed how many folks look at our Screenshot Thread, anywhere from 80 on up to 200 or more. But today, I noticed there where 450 folks looking into our Screenshot Thread today, I don't ever remember that high of number, I think it quite remarkable...

And tonight, we have 100 members, and 927 Visitors onboard our forums, looks to me like lots of folks are coming by our Threads to see what's going on in the World of Trainz........!!!!!!

For our visitors, maybe think about purchasing one of the Trains operating systems so you could become a member...........It's always nice to hear from New Folks visiting in the forum.......The more new folks that join our forum, more ideas and help are expressed.


Thanks for dropping by, and my hope is you some of you will find SHEDMASTER helpful with your Industry Operations and Management system......And if you do find SHEDMASTER helpful, be sure to post a thank you to their Thread in support.

Watseeka & Kankakee Country Run continues...

Good afternoon and a blessed Sunday, and Memorial day,

Remember those that served, as well the ones who gave there life for our freedoms.......

And a Shout out to the East Coast, looks like a whopper is headed your way, stay safe over there........Bad timing on Mother Natures part for a holiday weekend!!!
[h=1]Subtropical Storm Alberto Threatens Gulf Coast from Alabama to Florida With Flooding, Storm Surge, Winds; Warnings Issued[/h]https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2018-05-27-subtropical-tropical-storm-alberto-forecast-gulf-coast-florida

OK on to more fun things to see and watch......

Our Watseka and Kankakee Route, we have Steam and older Passenger Cars running thru the Farm Yards today, but I hear our weather is in for some changes too!

We have a long ways to travel today, with clear signals getting us about. Customers are having Lunch with Ice Tea or Sweet Lemonade and all is well.

We pass by a local Coal and Power Plant here, good customer for the Railroad. Coal Deliveries are at least once a week or more depending on Power Generation needs of the community. Farm fields have been Tilled and Planted with new crops here. Just need a little more Rain.

Farmer is out spraying his fields for Bug Control etc......Big Job and takes lots of time to do this routine. Our Train is coming thru on the Right.

I really like this Southern Pacific Loco, it runs Strong, never a problem if we keep enough fuel in her............Very reliable too, the crew enjoys running her thru her paces......

Well our Sunny partly cloudy day has changed, to Cold and windy, foggy....Not good, we here there is a strong Snow Storm moving in ahead of us......Get that Hot Chocolate or Toddy ready with Sweet Cinnamon Rolls or whatever trips you trigger......Just turn up the Car heaters a bit too keep our Guests comfortable with the changing Weather conditions. Some of Customers have never seen a Snow Storm, let alone be in a train going thru one,,,,,LOL

Oh wow!!!!!

Look at those large Snow Flakes billowing down from the Cold Clouds gathering over us today.

So far so good, and the Customers are ogling and awing at all the Snow Flakes whisking by their Window views as we head on at 65MPH.

Winter View as we lumber along on Wintry Day........

My oh my, we are coming out of the Storm here for a bit. but I'm sure there is more ahead for us.......And too are right is a Wood Products and Milling Co, off to the immediate left is freshly plowed Field, just planted too with new Crops.

I think this will do it for now....

The Flaam Route is slowly coming along, had to make some major changes with the existing Grades, and River Courses....Will need to dredge out a new River Channel due to a 40 lower Track bed in parts of the River Delta.........

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend........And thank you for coming by here.


image post

Nice shots and story you give out sir.

Just wanted to share this in case you have an interest, but if you want, why not check out some of the routes I have on the DLS. They might come in handy with some of your other shots as well. Just sharing that

Have a awesome Memorial weekend!

Cheers,
Hiawathamr

The BNSF Line Complete Route

hiawathamr said:

Nice shots and story you give out sir.

Just wanted to share this in case you have an interest, but if you want, why not check out some of the routes I have on the DLS. They might come in handy with some of your other shots as well. Just sharing that

Have a awesome Memorial weekend!

Cheers,
Hiawathamr

Click to expand...

============================================================================
Thank you for the kind words, and I did download the "The BNSF Line Complete Route" by you, and I took a few minutes to look your Route over, it is compact, very well done. I do have 1-2 questions about a couple of things i saw on your Route that I not familiar with......

I plan on taking pictures too share here for folks that may not be aware of your Route Building Talents in concert with Sessions to accompany the Route.......That's a bonus in my book, as it really helps someone not familiar with the new Route to see and feel why a particular Route was built, and how it was intended to be used as envisioned by the Author.

Here are the Notes revealing what your Route includes:

Somewhere in the USA a BNSF main line runs through the countryside with Metra heading to Chicago. This route includes
-An exchange yard for the branch line
-A Metra yard for its trains
-Includes 1 city, 1 town, and 1 village
-Includes 12 downloadable sessions plus 4 base sessions for your own creations
Enjoy.

NOTE: A First Class Ticket is highly recommend to download the route/session(s).

Try to search for these sessions:
Autumn- Grains Pickup
Autumn- Metra Halloween Train
Autumn- The Special Train
Base Session Autumn
Base Session Spring
Base Session Summer
Base Session Winter
Spring- Containers For Chicago
Spring- New Metra Cars Run
Spring- Work In Wood Land
Summer- A Stormy Metra Work Day
Summer- Coal For Power, Empties For Chicago
Summer- Military train
Winter- BNSF Freight Train In Snow Storm
Winter- Christmas Train
Winter- Metra Christmas Passenger Service
=================================
It's late here now, past my bedtime now, so tomorrow I plan on downloading the Sessions too go with this Route.......

Your welcome
The route and its sessions were the first ones to be uploaded to the DLS, all my other items in the previous years were just kept to myself, especially the sessions I made for the Razorback Classic. When the next Trainz game comes out, or when TANE SP3 comes out, I was planning on redoing the details on the route since I found much better items now than before when the route was being made.

As for the questions, I don't see any in your post, but I'm going to guess they'll be in the next reply


Cheers,
Hiawathamr

Evening hiawathamr,

Been busy with the Grand Kids this holiday, sorry about the delay.....

I haven't run Trains yet, just doing a cursory in Surveyor mode for now, my normal MO, when I get a new Route is too study all the pieces to see how everything fits and reacts, first before I play on it.

OK...Question #1 in this picture, you'll see yellow Lines all over the Route? They are called invisible Road no traffic? I don't understand the purpose of these yellow lines, except maybe you were using them as position point ? Could you explain there purpose.....If it is a proprietary thing I do understand and will respect that.

In the next two pictures there are 2 BNSF50 purple lines going underneath the Fwy Bridge overpass, they don't connect to anything? I removed the Fwy Bridge for Clarity here, it's not missing.......


Was this Route part of much larger Route at one time, just curious?

Everything in your Route is laid out so well, very impressive and nice balance of all areas........One thing I really like is your Trees are modest in density, so it will work well with my weak GPU......

Didn't get a chance yet to download the Sessions for this Route, maybe tomorrow.............

Thank you for your help with this......

Hello,

blueodessey said:

OK...Question #1 in this picture, you'll see yellow Lines all over the Route? They are called invisible Road no traffic? I don't understand the purpose of these yellow lines, except maybe you were using them as position point ? Could you explain there purpose.....If it is a proprietary thing I do understand and will respect that.

Click to expand...

Those yellow lines were place holders for the grass splines, but since the grass weren't seasonal and I placed them all under one layer, I didn't want to go back and change every single thing to the grass layer, so for now I had just replaced them with a place holder. Good news they're invisible on driver mode and not surveyor

blueodessey said:

In the next two pictures there are 2 BNSF50 purple lines going underneath the Fwy Bridge overpass, they don't connect to anything? I removed the Fwy Bridge for Clarity here, it's not missing.......
Was this Route part of much larger Route at one time, just curious?

Click to expand...

That was for the street lamps as they were trackside and not an actual scenery item. It was an interesting setup actually.

blueodessey said:

Everything in your Route is laid out so well, very impressive and nice balance of all areas........One thing I really like is your Trees are modest in density, so it will work well with my weak GPU......
Didn't get a chance yet to download the Sessions for this Route, maybe tomorrow.............
Thank you for your help with this......

Click to expand...

Glad you are liking what you are seeing on the route. Whenever the next update of TANE comes out, I'm going to replace the trees with seasonal billboard trees as the ones I'm currently using aren't bad looking and are still good if not perfect on performance



Cheers.
Hiawathamr

:wave: Fascinating and appreciate you sharing that with me..

Now it all makes perfect sense to me, and I wouldn't want to go back and remove all them either after creating such and intricate Route.........

As for Billboard and Specifically all Trees in general, some of my largest problems is finding Trees that will give me realistic looks including esthetic properties too. The downside like anything else is the performance hit I take with weak GPU......

Regarding Flaam Route, I just found out, because I have never played on a Route with really high mountains, it really affects the rendering properties of the GPU in my laptop, there will be times when the top 3rd of the further Mountains are missing. As well as Tracks,

:'( On other Routes I can't have over 14 Tracks in parallel like large Rail Yards, since some do not show on the Screen. As you would imagine? The number of Rail Cars in a group too, affects performance,

:udrool: And the good news relative to your Route, it all balances out for me Performance wise, even in Surveyor Mode, which is quick tip off for performance characteristics, I know immediately if the Route is going to play well on my Laptop..........That's why I was ecstatic when I opened your Route and it was smooth as could be.......I do realise if put way too many Rollin Stock, I probably get some performance hit, but that's Ok..........I'm going to have fun.......

This week a I Found part of a list of what tree types work better for my situation, so I have the large job of going over my Routes and with Bulk Replacement Tool too change the slower performance trees out of the Routes.........And that is not a 100% solution, but anything helps when it comes to improving Graphical and Frame Performance issues.


Oh,,,,,? I do have one other Question to do with your Short Line Route, when I go on Download Station and try to download, it will not let me download, it says Payware not active? So I assume I need to own some payware to download, but what Payware, or is that on your website, which I haven't visited yet, can you advise, because I do like Short Line operations too.........

blueodessey said:

:wave: Fascinating and appreciate you sharing that with me..

Now it all makes perfect sense to me, and I wouldn't want to go back and remove all them either after creating such and intricate Route.........

As for Billboard and Specifically all Trees in general, some of my largest problems is finding Trees that will give me realistic looks including esthetic properties too. The downside like anything else is the performance hit I take with weak GPU......

Regarding Flaam Route, I just found out, because I have never played on a Route with really high mountains, it really affects the rendering properties of the GPU in my laptop, there will be times when the top 3rd of the further Mountains are missing. As well as Tracks,

Click to expand...

Yeah, this route and its sessions were built on a laptop, not a gaming on, just a typical everyday laptop so I as well wanted to keep it in the eye

blueodessey said:

:'( On other Routes I can't have over 14 Tracks in parallel like large Rail Yards, since some do not show on the Screen. As you would imagine? The number of Rail Cars in a group too, affects performance,

Click to expand...

I'm not a huge fan of large rail yards as that means lots of rolling stocks with different running numbers, which can be a pain when creating sessions. I can do 10 max, but no more as it starts to become one of those regretting moments:hehe:

blueodessey said:

:udrool: And the good news relative to your Route, it all balances out for me Performance wise, even in Surveyor Mode, which is quick tip off for performance characteristics, I know immediately if the Route is going to play well on my Laptop..........That's why I was ecstatic when I opened your Route and it was smooth as could be.......I do realise if put way too many Rollin Stock, I probably get some performance hit, but that's Ok..........I'm going to have fun.......

Click to expand...

Thank you. Like I said earlier, it was built on a everyday laptop, so performance was a requirement, especially when I wanted to make some movies on it

blueodessey said:

This week a I Found part of a list of what tree types work better for my situation, so I have the large job of going over my Routes and with Bulk Replacement Tool too change the slower performance trees out of the Routes.........And that is not a 100% solution, but anything helps when it comes to improving Graphical and Frame Performance issues.

Click to expand...

Agree on that. I'm not a fan of speed trees, but if they're realistic looking, I'll make it an exception to the rule

blueodessey said:

Oh,,,,,? I do have one other Question to do with your Short Line Route, when I go on Download Station and try to download, it will not let me download, it says Payware not active? So I assume I need to own some payware to download, but what Payware, or is that on your website, which I haven't visited yet, can you advise, because I do like Short Line operations too.........

Click to expand...

Yes, that's my first DLC that is payware and I have it on my website to link it to N3V or Steam versions. Midwestern Branch is also another shortline RR DLC set more in the midwest (name gives it away basically lol). You can view the results here or on my website, whichever you prefer.

Cheers,
Hiawathamr

Okay sounds great when I get a chance I'll head over to your website check it out and get a purchase going on one of them

Thanks for the good information.

Your welcome
If you do get yourself a copy, enjoy them!

Shortline and Midwestern Routes purchased today.

hiawathamr said:

Your welcome
If you do get yourself a copy, enjoy them!

Click to expand...

:wave: Evening Sir,

Been one busy day catching up after the Holiday, finally got a chance to go shopping for your Route(s) and I found Midwestern and Short Line, the price was quite nominal, so I bought them both.

Took a bit to get them downloaded, I think it was just network traffic.

Once I got them downloaded and installed, I did a Extensive Database Repair. Interesting thing, it took more than 30 Mins to run.....No runs no errors fortunately, I have a feeling there was some files that just where out of Wack for whatever reason.........I believe it happened due to the fact, I had some times with coming from Surveyor Mode to Quick Drive, and T:ANE got stuck, ending up with locked screen, so I had to do that terrible thing called Terminate Program....And I know T:ANE didn't like that at all..........

After the DB repairs where effected, I loaded up T:ANE and opened the new Routes, and checked for Sessions on each, everything looks great, and no Route Errors at all.........

Like "The BNSF Line Complete" Route I was looking over, the new one's look really nice too, very compact as well.

I need to go back now, and get the rest of your Sessions for "The BNSF Line Complete Route" and we should be good to go.........

Update:Got all the sessions downloaded now........I am missing one single Asset, that is for "The BNSF Line Complete" Route, it named 25:905 Misc, I don't know what it is, but suspect it is a old Auran Asset? Can you suggest what I may do?

blueodessey said:

:wave: Evening Sir,

Been one busy day catching up after the Holiday, finally got a chance to go shopping for your Route(s) and I found Midwestern and Short Line, the price was quite nominal, so I bought them both.

Click to expand...

Nice!
Thank you sir for purchasing them, hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy building them

blueodessey said:

Once I got them downloaded and installed, I did a Extensive Database Repair. Interesting thing, it took more than 30 Mins to run.....No runs no errors fortunately, I have a feeling there was some files that just where out of Wack for whatever reason.........I believe it happened due to the fact, I had some times with coming from Surveyor Mode to Quick Drive, and T:ANE got stuck, ending up with locked screen, so I had to do that terrible thing called Terminate Program....And I know T:ANE didn't like that at all..........

Click to expand...

Ouch, not good when TANE just freezes up at the lock screen. I had that happen and had to terminate it, which resulted in a DB happening. TANE is a program that isn't like the other ones where its okay (unless you had a DB there, then better off getting some coffee, doing some chores, etc).

blueodessey said:

After the DB repairs where effected, I loaded up T:ANE and opened the new Routes, and checked for Sessions on each, everything looks great, and no Route Errors at all.........

Click to expand...

Great to hear!

blueodessey said:

Like "The BNSF Line Complete" Route I was looking over, the new one's look really nice too, very compact as well.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words
I like small routes that are compact. If you know how to make them right, you'll be able to squeeze in tons for a small space

blueodessey said:

I need to go back now, and get the rest of your Sessions for "The BNSF Line Complete Route" and we should be good to go.........

Click to expand...

Have a great night sleep, and hope you enjoy the newly bought DLCs

Midland Route Grain Session

Good morning all,

Playing with Midland Route here , below is the overhead view.

It's early day here as we pick up ex Milwaukee Power units to do 3 strings of Cover Hoppers...

Doing a runaround here and will grab our Hoppers on the right.

Taking the "Y" over to left and will push back into the mill.......

Nice Countryside here, really nice job of Tree diversity I think. You can barely see the mill on the Right side here as we get ready to shove back. Nice row of Farm vegetables planted to our left.

A fast hot intermodal passes us on the left as we cleared Main#1 to Main#2.......Lots of Traffic on this Country Route.

And here we are shunting thru and getting our heavy Flour Commodities into the Cars......Great Car and Industry Animation here.

Another view so you can see what's occurring here.

Pulling forward at 2-3 MPH as we load our 1st string of Hoppers up.

I like this Route already.......I'll post more as I run thru this session.

Midlands Branch Route by hiawathamr, ROUTE BUILDER and more..........

Snowy Day Watseka & Kankakee R.R

A Good day to all here,

I had a busy week, and it passed before I knew it.......And I have a Feeling that my Laptop Keyboard and Touchscreen is starting to fail.....Might have to get a new one, sooner than later! This one is over 4 yr's old, guess it is starting to feel it's age...........The good thing I have everything backed up...........

A quick shout out to Route Builder hiawathamr.......Route Builder and a lot more........Please check out his Routes, and specialized Sessions.

Thank you for help regarding Asset issues, they're fixed and all is well now.....Lets see what other Trouble I can get into with T:ANE.......LOL

Been busy changing some Grade % on Flaam and I am leaning how to work with a Route that has tall Mountains......Gives unique perspective on Towering Giants.

Below is Watseka and Kankakee Route, we have just come thru a pretty good Snow Storm here........Looks like we have some Sheep in the Farm to our right.

Pouring on the Steam on here as we head thru another dusting...

Heading back into more Snow here and looks like lots of Fog too.....Great Winter Day......

Shout out to Sir Dave Snow.........His newest creation a Derelict Mill,,,,,,,,Found good place on the Farm Route...........Thanks Dave, job well done as always....

Please buy Dave's Book, it helps keep the expenses down...........

Poor old mill only gets one car a day for now, but we here the Farmers are going to put in a different Crop this year, so we might see more Grain come out of this one...

Just dropped off a loaded Car with supplies for the mill......

Amtrak units are picking up Auto Racks for delivery to points West........

Sea of Red lights here, I think I will probably change the Switches machines over to low profile with no Lights on them since I have signals here......

That's about it for now....Thanks for Dropping by......