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

Lovette Canyon Improvements.....Future Plans Etc

:DGood Day all, Here is where I'm at now,

This is top view of Lovette Mtn Resort, Freight and Mining areas as they look now, lower left is new area of Lovette Canyon where Passenger service was brought in.

:)Tracks and Signals are in, need a passing siding in the canyon, in case the Passenger Train has equipment failure and or we have more Passenger trains coming in, also we will have some Freight occasionally for Country Store and other construction projects.

For instance, we have several D9 Cats and Diggers still working in the Canyons as we clear areas for expansion, this equipment as expected gets brought in on Flatcars. Rail has a large presence in this area due to the ruggedness of Terrain. Water wise we only have small lakes etc. Plus the Railroad can handle very nicely.

:eek: I need to refine my Textures better, my Colors are not quite there, but this is my weakness, it takes me time to get them to flow right.

:(The outcroppings in the Lake are too big, I need to reduce size, and possibly position them in a different spot in the lake. It will work, I just need to scale them better.


Shows the Canyon, new Lake area and some Rock Outcroppings, with a couple of small Ships in there. Nothing commercial, as this Lake gets its water for Snow melt and Rain flow from nearby mountains. Maybe some day we cut a channel to the Ocean, who knows, but that is huge cost to consider. ROI is questionable, besides we already have large presence in several Shipping Docs with hour or so of this Resort.


This area added a Passenger Station, I think the size is appropriate for the area? Comments welcome as always.

Added store, Small Bank, Church, Grave Yard, and Hotel. I don't won't to crowd area up to much until I get a feel for the lay of the land.

On left side you can see I made sure have enough Drainage for Snow Melt etc, there is water in there now, and I think enough capacity, if not, will address with more excavation of ground and Piping if needed.

Because the Tunnel is on Grade, we have put a heavy layer of pipes and Crushed base for Drainage, which will flow out both entrances and drain naturally. Since the Tunnel is new, don't have historical information on this yet, We do know we get a lot of Snow in the Resort and surrounding areas, but we also have small Lakes and good drainage.

Time will tell.


New Hotel built at back of Tracks here where Passengers will come out, should work nicely.

At moment, just foot paths and small trails, maybe a small road in some spots, I don't want to Urbanize it too much, I like the natural settings.


This a good view of the Passenger Station, and we have a nice Curve going out to the Tunnels. I was thinking and I have the room to due it, I need to add some passing sidings maybe some Power StorageStubs too, I don't want to cram stuff in and make it look junky. Some more Trees and Shrubs will come in too.


The Building in Green Metal is a general store, I liked the colors and Size I think it compliments the other Lodges n stuff in the back.
 
Last edited:
Trees, Rocks and things?

Got my Honey Dues almost finished, then came time to make changes, add more Texture, Trees, Rocks, Shrubs, change the size of my Rock Outcroppings, and level some other Outcrops that didn't work as intended.

Pic below has a lot of Snow Trees added in, now, I need to add small touches of Shrubbery here and there.


Nice view across the Lake, and you can see part of one of the outcroppings which I added a lot of trees, and different Color variations......I think it will work nicely in this setting. Need to add some more sale boats. Added trees sparingly in the Canyon passes.


Better view of the outcroppings, putting trees on Rock definitely helps the look. I didn't to heavy in the mountains with trees, as my Video Card is integrated in Laptop, and it has hard enough time keeping up as it is!!!I got the water color about where I think it should be for now..Always room for improvement of course. Time will tell.


Different view of Lake and Rocks, and I have figure out how I want to extend Lake as a canal going thru a small canyon, have to see if it's plausable???? or something going towards the Ocean, but seeing is believing, I'm not in a rush...I was just thinking while typing here, I can take some nice Granite Rocks and place them in some spots too.

I want to start running trains now to see how all the new signal Systems work, and any kinks in the Track scheme.


High view from the mountains looking out over the canyons and Lake Etc. Unfortunately my Video Card left out some land in the very far corner, and a wall board is hanging in the air, Sorry about that.....


Opposing View from other side. You'll see sparse trees in the mountains, I might add a little more, but only after running Trains, which will give me different perspective.

That's it for tonight,,,,,,TGIF........Night all.
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Canal Building

I wasn't going to start the Canal to Ocean Construction Project, but that little nagging itching feeling, what if I could, I still working on some things nearby why not!!!!You heard this song and dance before.

So that's it, it's decided, where going for the high grand here, no pun intended!

I'm going to show how I do it, why I do it the way I do......Everyone has there method of Route building, there is no right or wrong way, it's what works in the way it'll turn out best for you.

Picture below shows the Lake with Rock Out cropping and my beloved Light House, which now comes into direct play with my expansion plans, will work our way across to the end of this particular baseboard and hold? Why?

Well because we might have to tack on 3-4 more baseboards for a larger expansion to the larger Ocean areas, far away!!!

Will it work?

Don't know, lets take it in baby steps for now.


Area here has been changed slightly along the shore lines and if you look at the top right corner, you'll see I have taken the land and sunk it to almost the water line of the lake area.


Ok, now for me, this is key: I literately took the tool Full circle Topology tool with height set from 0 to -10 feet or more down and pushed it all the way to the end of the baseboard!! Notice I didn't fool with Texture, or the Rail Tracks, crossing the area! Times 2 mainlines. It took about 5 min or less to do this, simple.

Ok here you really see the depression made for Water Way.

I don't touch plants color, or Rails for now. We are going to leave that all as it was, if this Water Project doesn't work, all I need to due, is raise the ground backup, better yet, I saved the original File intact, I will delete this file, everything goes back to what it was, no harm, no fowl!!

Now we are at the end of Baseboard on this side, and you see Scenery Board across the water here, which I didn't finish raising the ground to match in more natural, because I knew ahead of time I would probably be adjusting the the area, and if I add baseboards to continue the canal on over to Ocean area no problems.

In addition, we need to raise the Rails X2 and put in a Spanning Bridge to allow Cruise Ships and some commercial traffic too. Clearance is key, however, we won't have huge Freighters either, so I need to be able have a workable Grade before and after the span Bridge on both main lines.


You can see the cut off of the other Baseboard so if nothing else, I need to add 1 Baseboard.

Tonight, I adjust the shore lines along the newly cut water way

Next water will be Dropped in for effect, if all looked good, I'll move all the Trees elsewhere, or delete as necessary.

Finally once I'm satisfied, I re colorize the River bottom, and the shorelines, I might put in some sandy areas for swimming holes?

Working in the Water is easy, just a matter of lowering the Water below the land, do my work, go back and raise when I'm done with Texture colors, Etc. One key is, write down the original Water Height when you start?

That's it for now.......Good Friday all.
 
Last edited:
This is an overview map, on right bottom corner, is new waterway , directly across is the Bay on lower left side of
map is large Ocean and pier facilities Lovette Dock, connection will be added by using 2 more base boards in middle opening at bottom. I don't want to use three if I don't need to because my Laptop is only so powerful for this Route.


Larger Map shows the more of my merged layout.


Below is newest extension of waterway, and I saved it to a new file in case it doesn't work out, and I have to scrap my Waterway project. Steady as she goes helmsman.


View from Rocky outcrops showing the new Water inlet connected to the Lake, I have a fare amount of cosmetics to do, but that's not an issue. Deepen water way, remove trees out of the water, repaint the bottom?


Further out to edge of this baseboard.


Bridge building using Spanned Bridges most likely for good water clearance of Vessel Traffic coming in and out of the lake area, Cruise Ships etc. The Main Lines will need to be elevated, I don't know how much till I see how much length of Main Line extends from each shoreline. That will determine the size of ships that can come thru the inlet.

That's it for now, have a blessed Friday.
 
Last edited:
Austin Cable Arch Bridges installed over new Waterway Canal

Well last night was a marathon of Bridges and Track Matrix rebuild. Spent the night working on this little Construction Project. Lots of things come into play here:

2 Highways had to be lifted higher for Track realignment.

Main Lines were Raised 10-20 Feet for Shipping Clearance.

Switches were torn out, Curves renegotiated to accept the new Bridges.

Main lines were integrated from Single to Dual Lines for each bridge, originally I planned on just single line bridging, but I really liked the look of these bridges, in the end, with all the single tracks in the area, this actually modernized the flow of Rail, and it will work much better than the original track scheme.

Rail bed extended all the way back to Valley Main Yard, that alignment was 1-3.5 feet in the Throat opening only so it was minimal disruption for the Yard Master.

I put in a Gantry Signal and several Dual Light Signals, not all the Signals are in, and non of the new affected Main Lines and new Bridges have been test with Trains yet.

Not a problem!!!

We have several bypass tracks to get around until I can get the new construction Signed off Defect Free.

Finally in Picture below, I had to tie in a bunch of single tracks into Dual Mode Bridge Track, one of the things I did was make a double throat main conversion that has a main to main xover, with USA Signal 1, (3 lamp) it isn't an enter-locker that I know of.



This is one of 2 Highways that were elevated for the mainline changes.


This is one of the areas that connects to the new Bridges. You can see lots of earth Berm on this line as I had to raise it 10-20 feet higher, Grades originally were .5 to 1.25% now in some areas the Grade has changed from 1.0 to 2.75% Grades, but I made sure the Climb is gradual, not up/down ?Grades you find in some Roads.

And that is really what took the time was recording all the Grades % changes and getting the lowest Grade I could, versus the highest Bridge Clearance for Shipping in the Canal.

When all is said and done, I did good and I think it will be good fluidity for Rail Traffic, just need a little more Power added for certain consists such as Coal and Logging Etc. We have enough Power already allocated for our Route changes.


Still lots of Texture correction and Ground smoothing from making the new Waterway. I like the look so far, and I think the changes will match nicely with Mountainous areas it transverses.
 
Last edited:
3 Tiles added to connect new Lovette Shipping Canal

A blessed Sunday to all:

Next session, in effort to connect the new canal to our main Shipping area "Aurora Port" I dropped in 2 Tiles, but I need a 3rd because of the angle of connection was to close the 2nd Tiles edge.

Looking below, you see the new Tiles and a faint outlink of the grid area excavated already for Texturing etc...I went -20 to -25 feet in the area. (I'll need to go back and do an uneven excavation thru out the whole canal to the lake, It should give a more natural look to the water reflection of the bottom when you look into it, also need to change some of the colors to, so Water is not all one color, just like the Oceans in real life, you have White, Blue and Green hues depending on the sub surface Mineral content, cleanliness of the water etc.


This Pic shows a more clear picture of the new area and how I have scooped it out for Water way extension.


Remember, I just slice right thru the mountains here, so this is an unfinished rough cut,, Edges need to be smoothed out and sloping from the chopped look you see here now, I also need to build a new Sandy Beach area as well, I wiped out have of it when I cut thru like this.

Notice I the bottom in here has small ridges above the bottom pan, it shouldn't be smooth, but irregular. If you downloaded routes from others you'll see how others do their Underwater Terraforming, some is absolutely amazing and colorful, it's all in what you your looking for, don't be afraid to EXPERIMENT with this to find out what you like for taste....That's how you'll learn.

Notice I only brought water out so far, as I'm still working in this area of detail.


Further into Aurora Bay area, you can see how I have done the couture, trying to make it irregular as possible for more EYE CANDY, some will make things very Square others will shape to make it look more natural. There is no right or wrong, it's purely personal taste.


As we come into the bay, I'll change the bottom colors from Green here to Blues and Blacks, remember, we have Fresh Water coming into a Saltwater area, where it drains and mixes, so we want the effect of different surface colors as it ebbs into the Bay from the Snow Capped Mountains.


We are looking from the River into Aurora Bay, our actual Pier is not the one you see across from here, it's further, just around the hill and Rocky protrusion (I need to change color of rock outcrop over there too) on upper left side of Picture below..

I have more pictures coming later today, Time for Church, have a great Day, and thanks for coming to visit here. I hope my Story's help you in whatever your trying to accomplish.
 
Last edited:
Rail Traffic on New Span Bridges, commentary on Extension Plans, Etc.


I meant to put this out earlier and missed,

Here is Picture showing new Rail Traffic on both Span Bridges,, and many Thanks to Dave Snow on his fantastic Rail Creations, these are the new Tankers he made, our Road has some much Variety with these new Tankers, and all the different Loads they can carry, it's the Cats meow.........Please support our Creators here, they do amazing work for us.


Ok, below you see the main line hanging in the Air, I need to put a new Bridge, It will be different type than the Spans I just put inland..... We need to elevate the tracks, 20-30 feet higher, but this will not be anything like inland 2 bridges I just finished, much simpler, no highways to contend with, and a single main line!!


Looking out to the new Span Bridges, we see some sail boats out on the calm waters having Fun......We r on Shark alert, since we opened to the Seaway, there are some reports of Sharks swimming into the inlet a bit...Local Residents are put on alert to be careful when boating till see how the new waterway works out. On right side where other Sail Boat is near land, I need to fix the color up some......Just cosmetic for now.


Extended View of new rail Traffic go over the Bridges, we set the speed limit restriction for 10 MP, till we make sure Tracks and Grade are within Specs, and we probably need more Tamping by MOW crews. We do have some ROW that need more grading and filling for potential Drainage issues being in a mountainous area there is chance for Flash Floods in many locations are tracks take, just the nature of the beast.


Wow, look at this, we have small Freighter coming in to drop supplies off to local Industry, we need to find a spot for better off loading, we are using temporary Floating Docks for now.


Another view of Waterway excavation. I intend to have some small Reefs in the Bay as marked by White Circle here, it will have some type of Plants and Shrubbery Etc.

One other item, if you look to left, you see the Baseboard end, drop off, hind-site is 20/20 they say, I will probably drop one more Tile on that edge to close in 3 corners, unless I can elevate the edges to hide the Drop off, but then the Clouds in the Sky cut off at all Baseboard edges, so I don't know, have to experiment here to see what can be done to be Tile (baseboard) thrifty?

Ok it's back to modeling....Thanks for your interest.
 
Last edited:
Lions Beach, Aurora Bridge installation over new Canal

Map below shows the new canal connection the Lions Beach now you can travel from lake to the Ocean, and the Scenory ain't half bad either, except I need to pluck out some more trees from the Seaside Hills now under water.


Here is the new Steel De Bridge, single Track, Euro Style. We brought an Oil Tanker in to check our Clearances, I like this Bridge because it has nice clearance and works perfect for the task at hand.

So here is how I did this portion, I took topography Tool and sit it to -25.00 Feet, full circle, went thru thru the mountain range, linking the canal to Ocean.

Once that was done I dropped the Bridge in place, oriented it so my curves would line up OK with the Main Line coming around the corner. Set the Bridge + 12.00 feet from ground level, gives usapproximate 37.00 Feet from River Bottom to Bridge Rails overhead, + or - a foot!


Double check clearance with Ships Pipe Stack, looks like we have maybe 5 feet of clearance. Acceptable because more ships will not be as big as this. Most of Traffic will be local Sailing Ships with Tourist and Cruise Ships.

And there will never be a need to bring anything larger, as that will go to our Ocean Port around the corner 3 miles away.


Left side of Bridge I've lifted the Track into the air, and hooked it to the new Bridge,, now I'll adjust for Grade of 3% or less going into Y around other side of this mountain. We just need to compensate for 13 feet, however part of Grade goes uphill a little, so all in all, it works to our Favor.


Other side is hooked into the Bridge but will encounter a couple Switches main splits for different inland cities off coast line. Will adjust as far as we need to go for proper Grade %,,,looks like we will maintain a 2.3% to 2.65% at the most Grade Rise, all with Tolerance for Freight Moves, I know some route have had 4% or more Grades, but it ain't happening on my Route, I can Operate those hi Grades, but your asking for problems, equipment and Brake Failures. Safety first above all on my Railroad, nuff said!



This is left side again up the main, you see beginning of Wye that goes into a Farming area with Grain Mills and small Freight Station, it's also our Passenger Route too.


Everything is coming into play as envisioned, just takes some planning and Electronic Elbow Grease, I have to say it is truly worth in the end, I'm never bored, and never finished, like one you mentioned Trainz is a great experience, 95% Route Building, 5% play time, that man is a Genius, spot on. Keeps this old brain fresh with new ideas.

Sunday night and it's about bed time. Have good week ahead folks.
 
Last edited:
Lions Beach, Aurora Bridge Track Elevation in Progress now.

Bridge is perfect where I placed and Height is not to obscure, what I did tonight is start raising mainlines on both sides of the bridge about an average of 2.5% down to .5% a mile away from the Bridge.

In these pictures you'll see the rails hanging in the air, I need to Train Test them now, that'll be Mondays work.

In this picture because there's a Xing for tracks, I have to raise the Dirt up with it, so it looks funny now, but all the Grade will be leveled up to the tracks once I make sure I don't have any issues.



This section has switch and several splines to work contend with, and when there real close, I'll set them about same height for ease, so Grade is 0% for say 50 feet, and then continues on downward.


Now you see the most extreme Grade rising as it comes into the Bridge elevation, the most it is 2.60% for very short distance.


Left side of Bridge Grade here, it dual Grade, comes down a little and then eases up 1% for the WYE enter change for more local Farming industry around cure of WYE. Works out nice, Grade is 1.5% change in 2 miles approx........


Going left to right, this is headed to Bridge now alongside of hills.


You see the Grade rising on right here as it enters the Bridge, I also left Boat here as Focal and reference point for height till I finish all the Grading..

Lots of Rail testing tomorrow and checking the Signals as well, nothing should change with them......

Tha'ts it for tonight.

Good night all.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top