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

A heavy WIP route...
BWJK608.jpg
 
Have a safe and fun camping trip Blue!! :D

With my new backup method, I'm using an SVN program that saves different versions when that file has been changed. This way if something where to happen, all I have to do is update to an earlier revision and I'll have my content back to its working state. They're actually a life saver, as if you don't like the file you modified, just delete it and run an update and boom, you have the version before you commit :D

I know this is a lot of computer talk, but its worth sharing:D

Cheers
Evening Sir,

:wave: Just got home slightly after dark today,

:D Had a wonderful time up in the western Sierra's......What a difference a year can make with lots of Rain,,it was so beautiful and Green up there, it was amazing, they still have some dead trees from the 7 years of Drought, to cut down, but they are working hard to get those Dead Trees cut down......Only downside, lots of Mosquitoes with the Rain.....But too be expected.......:hehe:

I'm quite tired after the long drive, I write more tomorrow. I have just a few questions about your SVN ? Program you mentioned.

And I like the Cartoonish Billboard.........Awesome art work.....

Catch up with you a bit later........
 
Sierra Nevada Trip/ BNSF Central Valley early morning run.

Good Monday all,

Another warm day in So Calif with some local Fires going on here and there. I drove thru the Highway 99 Yesterday and temps were up to 105 Degrees, the only good thing, my Air Conditioning was working good, as we need it going thru the Arid region. Now at home in the Los Angeles inlnad Valley area will hit North of 103 or so today. As our days get shorter hopefully in a month or too, the temps will moderate down a bit too.

We camp in the beautiful Sierra Nevada's for a week with friends and family enjoying tall tales of how life was this last year over nice Camp Fires and the great outdoor cooking. Unfortunately one of our friends fell tripping over some rocks, while out with the days Dog walks, ending up dislocating 2 fingers, Fortunately he was near a lake where EMT's were near. So treatment came, but he still had to go down in the Fresno Valley area to get his fingers reset by ER folks.......

And ironically that night, we had mother Bear and Cubs come visit us at 1:00 Am in the morning looking for Tasty Food Treats, lucky for us and other Campers, we had our food stored. So we banged our Metal Pans along with other campers in the area, yelling "BEAR", BEAR,in the area, finally Mother and Cub got the noisy encourage message to move on. But not before standing up and letting us know who was really in charge here, she stood up at what we thing was 7-8 eight feet tall. And then lumbered off into the Forest.......

We had been told not leave any food out when not in the campground or when sleeping, using safe practices. And ironically this was our last night in the Campground, so we were surprised to see the Bear, but glad we had done our safe Food storage practices that had been practiced for the 40 years we have been camping........

Below is a link to the mountain range we visit each year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(U.S.)

The Sierra Nevada (/siˌɛrə nɪˈvædə, -ˈvɑːdə/, Spanish: [ˈsjera neˈβaða], snowy range[6]) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of such ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica.

The Sierra runs 400 miles (640 km) north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles (110 km) across east-to-west. Notable Sierra features include Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft (4,421 m),[1] the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley, sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils Postpile National Monument.

The character of the range is shaped by its geology and ecology. More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift four million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra.

The Sierra Nevada has a significant history. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912.[7]:81

Here is a link to see what you might see in some areas of the Sierra's

https://www.joshuacripps.com/sierra-nevada-photos/

And finally this is Nasa's Snowfall pictures of the first good winter in quit some time for the Sierra's after 7 some years of California, I should say all the Pacific Coast area Drought we've had for last 7 years....

https://www.10news.com/news/nasa-releases-incredible-satellite-look-at-sierra-nevada-snowpack

And of course a link for the Railroads past and present in the Mountains of this area too.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...hUKEwi7itbjgOzjAhUolFQKHcDRBJwQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

https://www.sierranevadageotourism....owsheds-of-donner-summit/sied35c8025fc46f75cb

This is some very rugged areas in the Sierra Nevada, upwards to over 14000 Feet or more tall, so extremes of weather exist and you need to know what your doing if you decide to venture, hike or camp in the higher elevations......

Alright so will venture over to Florida East Coast, specifically to the BNSF Central Valley RR merge part, for an early morning run we had the other day, ironically I drove down through this Corridor yesterday on our way home. Saw a few locals working the area. But could stop for pictures on the Freeway.

These are the Bridge areas I worked on installing some new bridges and abutments to go with them, realigning some of the tracks.



Early morning run of our first day break train coming from Florida Site headed East on Central Ca side.



Pretty rugged in the Desert area for now, I need to plant some Shrubs and Trees appropriate for the area.


Our first view of the outskirts here we see the local prison lights coming up.


A view from the Cab as we head south.....


Nothing like the Lake area early in the morning, water is tranquil for now, no wind.


We edge ever closer to the lake now. Water is warm from the Summer Heat and there should be some fish in here too.


This is what I wanted to see as we past through the Desert at 5:00AM in the morning, 1st rays of light have hit the Rocky Mountain area, showing an Old Volcano from long ago.


Last part of the Lake area now as we head into somewhere City of So California, Central Valley area on wonderful trip down thru the San Joaquin

Time to get some things done now, before it gets hot today.....Hope you enjoyed my monologue.....Have a great day all.......And see the links below for additional info on some other Railroad items......


http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/187/225/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Joaquin_Valley_Railroad
 
Evening Sir,

:wave: Just got home slightly after dark today,

:D Had a wonderful time up in the western Sierra's......What a difference a year can make with lots of Rain,,it was so beautiful and Green up there, it was amazing, they still have some dead trees from the 7 years of Drought, to cut down, but they are working hard to get those Dead Trees cut down......Only downside, lots of Mosquitoes with the Rain.....But too be expected.......:hehe:
Glad you have fun, and also enjoyed yourself! Hmm, 7 years and there are still dead trees up and about, that's quiet a long time ;)


I'm quite tired after the long drive, I write more tomorrow. I have just a few questions about your SVN ? Program you mentioned.
I don't blame you - driving + night time + other things is enough to make anyone tired.
As for the SVN, it is a software versioning and revision control system. The 'boss' or 'main controller' will be on a server and the access SVN clients will be on the client's computers and can update and download either latest updates, or update to a different revision. You don't need an actual server to use the features, but for my use I use my own. So lets say Trainz corrupts your route and you don't have any backups. As long as you committed after using Trainz regularly, all you would have to do is update back a working one and you'll be able to back up, update again, and install the backup. Its really handy :D


And I like the Cartoonish Billboard.........Awesome art work.....
Thank you. That was taken from my favourite kid show back when I was a kid. I have 5 of them on the DLS under my username - along with a bunch of Trainz billboards lol. If you want some Trainz billboards, take a look at them under my username. I also have a few made just for simple easter eggs :hehe:


Cheers
 
CSX Junk Train on The-Wilsons-Mills &-Mount-Olive Route

Tonight's pictures will be found here,

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...Mills-amp-Mount-Olive-official-support-thread

I'm playing with one MSGSappers Routes made for TANE(he is currently renovating this Route for TRS19 use).....Great little Route, so please go see my pics there.

Version I am using is 4.2 TANE only..........

Layout based on over 40 miles of real world prototypical rail route running east from Wilson's Mills to the outskirts of Goldsboro and then south to Mount Olive, which is home to the Mount Olive Pickle Plant, all located in the inner coast plains of North Carolina. The rich, sandy soil found in this region is some of the state's best farmland. This route is used by CSX, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak. A wide variety of industries can be found on this route. Terrain for the route has been generated by TransDEM. An image of the route map can be found in the CDP. Thanks to all the content developers who make routes such as this one possible. A special thanks to Ben Dorsey, Vulcan, Dave Snow and Euphod for their custom content! Lots of scenery and attention to detail so this layout will require a computer with good graphics handling capability. Setting is 1980s. Uses procedural track with animated junctions. This is a multi-seasonal layout. Only the fruit trees are SpeedTrees. Minimum requirements are TANE with all hot fixes applied. To provide comments and feedback on the layout, visit the Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive official support thread on the Auran Forums at httpforums.auran.comtrainzshowthread.php104959-The-Wilsons-Mills-amp-Mount-Olive-official-support-thread.

Another great Route Builder Folks...........

See you all later.......Stay cool.......
 
Old Silos that stil produce, upgraded Scrapyards, Auto Loaders added.

Good evening all,

I have one of those nice appointments with Dentist tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd get this posted now, before Nova-cane not after....:LOL

So I have been thinking about some more industries in middle of Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive Route. I had been adding a few tracks here and there. When I got up into the Salvage Yard area, I saw a narrow band of Trees leading to Farmers field in the back of the Layout. And then I had an ephenony, as I grabbed an old Flour Mill and put it in the field.......So I did that, then I had another thought, what if this old Farmer and his family raised some really good Grain and needed it to be transported to Market, but wait, there is more, our Railroad has Spurs going into Scrap Grain Yard. Why not add a switch and track to the Silo, too see how many shipments the old Farmer needs. And give him a good deal on Car Delivery too.....Well it just so happens, the Farmer has a large Customer Base for this special Grain, and they are all nearby our Railroad Industries further up the line. So there you have it.....But there is more. Just so happens are Farmer and other Merchants have a Auto Transfer lot next door, that needs Cars brought in from the Docks elsewhere, and they would like the Railroad to bring in small groups of Auto loader Cars, and some heavy Center Depressed Flatcars for other specialized loads. And there is another Scrapyard starting up with international Trade of Scrap Metal, they need a single lead for heavy Rail Gons.....Oh my word, I think I opened up a Pandora's box, the Railroad will handle more local Traffic in this small area than ever.....Me thinks this is a real good idea, because I only need to hire 1-2 Crews for loading and shunting these Rail Cars. When you look at the map, you'll soon see why.....

So I Built the area up, but it is well hidden, and doesn't affect impact the main line negatively. It brings lots more car loading into the system. And we can take some of our older Locomotive switchers and have them work out the rest of their useful lives doing 3 new Customer Stops within a Mile Radius....

Here is the overhead view of the area I changed. And it is basically an enhanced Branch Line to the mainline coming North and South of it.


Right or East side of the Branch Line where I added Scrap, Flour Silo and Auto loader operations (Circled in Red Ink)


Now you can see the Tree Shrouded area where all this new activity is going to take place. The Scrapyard bottom right was already here. So now there is 2 Scrap yards. In the upper left side, is the new Flour and Grain Silos adapted for Rail Service. What's that saying OLD but not Broken, and don't laugh it is paid for, and finally, if it Broken don't fix it.........So this is a win win for Customers and the Railroad. A great Barter has been made.....


Picture od the old Flour Mill, with new Rail Service, as this Farmer has lots of Grain headed for Market, and we can deliver it.


Picture of second Scrapyard adapted for Rail Service. I have to find more junk to put in it......


Left side or West part of the Branch line is this section, a major Warehouse and Silo Center and Trucking operation. Changed the tracks just a wee bit. I have yet to run trains in either part of the Branch Line, as I have been doing some remodeling in few areas.


Over here, I found out I couldn't do a drop off here without tying up a major intersection. So I decided to move this Spur Siding, down about 500 feet to crew the Crossings. Will see how it works out.


We pass by Station Stop for Amtrak Passengers, and they wave to us. I have to setup some Amtrak Trains to run on the line.


Picture of the other Scrapyard I changed over for Rail Service I raised the Ground and added Scrapyard Texture Forms.. Using 4-5 different textures together. I think it will look and work OK....If you look to the back and middle of the picture you'll see the Auto loader Loader yard in the back....It handles 3 spurs and about 12-14 Auto loaders and special Depressed Flats.....Just the right size for this area's population. And of course Customer and Railroad make some Green without impact of Passenger service.


OK...I think this will do it for tonight.........All have a good weekend.....
 
A good Sunday to all,

Well I finished my day with the Dentist, things ended OK, but it has been a painful 2 days after the Dental work. So my best moment while in Pain, goto Trainz does some work and post some pictures.......

So today, will see a small Route, Fairmount and Kelly Shortline MP Route CMTMS3. (There are several Versions of it on the DLS).

Small Shortline Route designed for 2-5 people. Yard Jobs include Fairmont, Urbana, and Kelly. 2 Road Trains make trips back and forth between Fairmont and Kelly, picking up and dropping off cars in Urbana and Clewiston. Clewiston is only accessible Westbound, and there is no passing siding. Think about how moves will be made, in order to expedite all movements. Remember, there are several ways to occomplish a task. Think ahead so you don't waste moves. Edited for compatibility with CMTM System 4MP. ***Work In Progress*** Expect updates regularly if there is an interest. For suggestions or comments, email me at (See this hi

Merged with MSGSapper's Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive Route this week on short Stub area that I wanted to enlarge a bit. Now it looks a little Strange here on the Map overlook, but it works perfectly and will take a Stubbed out Mainline with good shunting Branch Line that extends about 20 Tiles out to the Eastern Edge of MSGSappers Route .

I also did some treatments on the North and South end Stub Outs of Wilson Mills Route. (Tabled for another discussion and will cover some potential Route Orientation & misalignment issues I have noticed coming up in the Forum every so often.) That will be for New Folks coming into Trainz. I think this one of those very frustrating issues when you run into it. I did, long time ago, and I still remember the bad feelings on Route Merging I had do to not totally understanding True North Directions with respect to Tile Direction.

Now enough of my theatrics here, let see how these Pictures Talk?

Here is the map of Fairmount and Kelly Shortline MP Route CMTMS3....About 15 Tiles long, no texture, just Shunting areas ready for your Train Crews to figure out how their going to move the Carloads with the least moves into the correct spots. And this small Shortline could be added as a perfect merge insert. Elevation is Zero, so no problem there. Personally for me, I love little Routes like this one, it gives great ideas how to setup an interesting Industrial Track arrangement for Rail car service.


Now with that in mind check out this track Diagram? Way cool and interesting as you switch Carloads in both East and West directions. And looking up in the Middle, you have Y Track to get proper Orientation of your Switcher, as well push and pull the Empties and Carloads in too. Well done Track Scheme here.


Here you have a large Factory combo with some type of Propane Facility off to the side.


Bulk loading and heavy manufacturing facilities here, with lots of switching and nice size Rail Car Sort yard to handle carloads for 3 heavy Industrial process Customers.


A small Passenger Station Stop, and further down, Frozen Food Factory, or something similar.


Looking further down the track and to the left in the back we have a Lumber Yard Customer to service.


Now take a look at the novel engineering here. This is set in a below level Ground area to contain any spill from the large Tank. The whole property has been leveled several feet to handle a major spill of Chemicals here and or Fire. Well Done Author.

This is the end of the Line here, Service Yard for Pallet type products and Manufacture Plant.


So neat little Route to play on, add too, learn from good Switching Techniques, Texture and add more things to it. I like it. If your new to Trainz please download this little Route and have fun playing with it, I think you get a lot of good ideas as how best to put it to work for you?

In Trainz, there is always something to learn and do....My hope is with this little Gem, it will add to your Delight with the Trainz Sim World

As always, thank you for coming by........
 
Last edited:
Good Wednesday all,

I have a fun time on Wilson Mills Route, with the merge addition of Kelly Shortline now and I acquired the 106 Weathered Hopper Cars that came out this week from: Trainman10

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?136401-NARM-Freeware-Releases

and some Boxcars too. Thank you Trainman10 for some great looking weathered assets.
=======================================================================================================

Now on to my main subject for dissertation to the new folks in Trainz.

I'll pose a question here........Do you know what direction is True North on your Route?

Next ques, how do find it?

And final Ques, have you ever tried to merge a Route with another, and find out the Route does not fit as expected direction wise.

All these items come under one thing, you need to know what is True North on your Route. If you do not, you will experience one or all of these issues.

The solution is easy, Open up any route in Surveyor Mode, preferably one with more than one Tile on it......Now use Ctrl-M keystroke, or if you r Drive Mode, then just use "M" only with no Ctrl key!

Now take a look at the map, it will always be at True North with North direction at the top.......Now look at your Route......you can see which way is North.....If you have mouse pointer in 3d Mode, look your Pointer, and you'll see all for N/S/W/E directions.

What makes understanding the proper directions on your Route, is what'll help you if and when you want to merge Routes together and the way you want them to Merge. A couple of weeks ago, a member tried to merge a Route, and couldn't understand why one Route face up, while the other faced 90 degrees off angle. What he found out was one of the Routes was turned off it's North Axis. So he ended up trying reorient all all the tiles on one of the Routes to make it work....Whether they accomplished the turn of Route to fix alignment issue. I do not know. But what I do know I have had this happen to me many times, you see, when you save your work in whatever Route your in, it probably is not set to True North, and that is why, when you build a Route, at the beginning, you want to check your Map View to see what direction the longest part of your Route faces......For instance, the Florida East Coast Route is a North to South facing Route....

Every Route you see can be in any direction, depending on what Map or Topo Map and/or Trans Dem mapping utility used......

Here is an example Route I just opened, I didn't make it, so it is perfect for illustration purposes....Now look at the Route and tell me which way is North........?


Now I think it is like this, but I could be wrong?


Well what do you know, I was wrong, look at the Route the way I have it in Suveyor, now look at the Map Window, notice the route is facing North and South, I had it wrong. This is the correct position so this particular Route is actually a North South Facing Route. And you now can see if you merge with another Route that this is the position it will face to whatever Route you merge with it.....


One last thing, when your in Map View, tap onto your Route, use Shift Key and directional buttons Arrow Buttons and rotate your Route around, see it move a bit, now keep an eye on the Map Windows, notice there is no Rotation at all, your Route still stays in the same direction, see what I am describing here........

I figured this out some time ago when I was merging Routes, because I couldn't understand why when I merged them, I couldn't rotates only move left to Right, up or down, but nothing else., it has to do with how Map Cooridinates our read into Trainz memory for program operations.

I hope this explanation will help the new folks coming to Trainz sim......

Now lets go over to Wilson Mills/Fairmount and Kelly Shortline Merge.....We have a CN Junk Train headed to the new Fairmount Route. Will take the center track here so as not to oppose any Amtrak movements.


We just took the switch into the center Mainline line bypass here.


We have come out of the Center Mainline lead, and onto the South East line. I really like the night lit outdoor Boards here. Really cool assets.


Took the next Switch we are on the Wilson to Fairmount East Lead here.taking it slow at 16 MPH for now, don't want any derailments, and we are checking Signal Aspects for Correctness too. Will increase our speed as we see how things go.


We have come off Wilson Mills mainline, and head East onto Fairmount and Kelly Route from here.


We are now headed into the Dark Forest here, as we head into new Territory. I was busy texturing and smoothing and all those things you do. One of things I ran into, was 60 foot drop into the new Route merge points, and ended up adding three expansion tiles to handle the elevation changes. I thought the elevation was about the same between the 2 Routes and should have checked it, because when I merged the first time the other night, it was going to work well, and be a smooth trainsition between the Routes. Knowing from previous experiences where I have had to make up miles of Elevation difference, the only thing here, was to throw out the Merge, add several blank tiles and see how many I needed?

Result, I added 4 Tiles but only needed three, and re did the space between Routes including the 3 new tiles, and we had it working fine. Ending up using a 1.5% downgrade between the connection points.

Lost about 30 mins due to my incorrect assumptions on Elevation similarities( I was lazy here). But much better now than further into the route trying to JURY RIG the differences. And it looks good......

Something too be said, never accept less than your best efforts, even if you end up starting over. You can fool all the people with mistakes, you can't fool yourself, that's because you'll always know the truth, and it might bug you to the point where, one day, you say, I need to make this right. So why not at this point in time. Granted there are situations, where a margin of Error is within your tolerance limits, you have to be the judge of that....And sometimes you need to discuss your dilemma with peers in your group to get the best understanding on how to reproceed forward with the problem facing you.

In this forum, the worst question is the one that is not asked, then it becomes later on, I shoulda, coulda situation. Ask the great creators here? Have not they faced their dilemma's like this........Resulting in having to start over.....Just a natural process of learning isn't, and not accepting nothing but your personal best.

Remember too, I am just showing you my point of view, doesn't mean it is fool proof, just means, for me, my needs, it works, till I find a better way of doing it? Old Dogs like me can still learn some new tricks too. LOL........


Now we are out in No man's land here, totally Grid lines, nothing done, but if you look at the Elevation, we are headed down into 1.50% downgrade. Smooth as silk......


Next message will continue our night Run here into the new Fairmount Merge.

That'll due for now......See you all in few days with the next leg of our Journey.
 
Fairview - E-W <kuid:57210:102022 BY daham06 (great liittle Rail Yard Add on)

Good Saturday all,

I have been up to merging another small strip to Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive Rte, on one of the short Branch Line extensions. Added about 3 tiles for the 55feet Elevation differential. Allowing for a 1.5% Grade down into Fairview E-W strip route. And it works perfect, granted I had some large curves in the Rail leading into the Route, but that make it more interesting, than just a straight line down between the 2 Merge sections.

And I filled in with some low lying hills all around, so it looks really nice.....It's getting easier for me to make hills and mountains now......I have mastered more of smoothing methods......Now If I can just do better on Rock Faces and Texture merging of colors........

At the end of this Merge, I plan on Dropping in Sir Dave Snow's Potash Plant, and past that point, I plan on making a Circular Turnabout with the Rail Tracks, so what happens here, is Train goes out on Mainline #1 and comes back after a while onto Train Mainline #2 similar to a Portal Operation, but without the Portal. I build some more small hills and trees, maybe a Mine back there in them lost hills, LOL......

My biggest nemesis now is getting my Faulty Assets caught up again with TRS19 errors etc....Never finish on that one, there is always more cropping up when I download Routes, I know, I'll stop downloading Routes...LOL, nope, not a chance...I like to explore....I need to do some inventory on all the Routes I have and delete some......Spring, or is it Fall Cleanup this time of year...LOL

Below is the Route Name and Authors Notes:

Fairview - E-W <kuid:57210:102022 BY daham06

Fairview could be anywhere. I've put together a yard with some sidings on this 30 board starter.

Some of the town has been laid out. Add more business or track side industries and your own scenery will make it unique.

Enjoy - daham06

=========================================================================================================

Route looks like it is 1.4MB in size, 30 Tiles in area, so not too large, should run on any computer with no issues, and Texturing is minimal, he left it up to you to finish off as you want, using it as template to merge wherever you like, or just take it and build on from the initial 30 Tiles into whatever you like.

OK lets take a peek at this Route Template, first here is the overhead Map, 30 Tiles total....Has large Rail Sorting Yard down the middle of the Route with Passenger Station service etc.


Overhead of the Route here, you can see lots of crisscross tracks too, this Route may have been part of a much larger Route, just speculation here.


Here is picture of Passenger Service Facilities there are too many tracks here for my function on the sub, so I will remove every other one.........Along with some Cross Over Switch connects too.....


A lone UP Operation Lifesaver Unit sits waiting in an empty Rail yard here...Dispatcher is scheduling Freights to come in here and drop off loads, as you can see, this whole area is ruff, minimal Texture is applied, the rest is for integration into one of your Routes and you colorize to taste. I redid the Bridge here after removing excess Storage Tracks where the Pylon support was sitting.


Major parking lot areas for Passenger and downtown building areas. The Red Roof building doesn't look like it should be here with ERA wise, so I will probably remove it. Acutally I found a perfect spot in a forested section of this Route. I sits somewhere near the pond area of the next picture.


Nicely made Pond areas with Trees ready to go, you only need to Texture this like the rest of the Route. And you could use just a few Colors to have it ready, then go back and do some detail Texture applications.


Larger overview of pond and some commercial area buildings.


And here is a longer view of the Route there is a lot here for the user too manipulate around as needed.


I like these House areas and will do some Copy and Paste to some other areas in my other Routes I am merging and changing. Somewhere in the Back right here, I will setup POTASH Plant from Sir Dave Snow's Assets, it is fairly large, takes about a whole Tile Square once the Tracks and Buildings are setup.....So I need to add maybe another 3 tiles in L-Shaped configuration and some more tiles in the back to make a sort of Round a Bout circle for return end of Branch line Stub operation.......


Bottom of the Route looking West, as this is an West/East Route, this shows some hillish areas he with double main tracks, leading into the large Rail Car Yard. for me and my needs, I will take out every other Track in Rail Yard, it is far more capacity than I need or will use. But the design concept is very nice, and works well for my Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive merge project.

These cross Rail Bridges will be removed here as they are not used in my scheme.

As you can see, you could modify this route "Fairview - E-W <kuid:57210:102022 BY daham06" too your taste, and it is a great small concept, 30 tiles add on for Yard Operations etc on end, in the middle, wherever you desire it to fit?

Thank you to Author daham06 for this great little Gem, that I could modify for my particular needs.

That's it for today.... and enjoy your weekend.
 
Good Tuesday to all,

The weekend was quick for me, as we spend time with Close friend who lost their Husband to Prostrate Cancer last year, and they are still quite devastated from the loss. One thing I would add, their spouse had started with Cancer, then it went into remission for 2 plus years, then came back with a vengeance. metastasized to his Liver. And from there in 6 months he succumbed to both liver and prostrate Cancer, so when you are older and ever get Prostrate Cancer, don't let the Doctor tell you, the Cancer will out live you, meaning you'll pass before it can be a problem.

That is not always true.....At least in his case and others I am aware of.....Just some food for thought.

I continue work on the Wilson & Mount Olive Branch lines. With the addition of Fairview E/W I have another Rail Car Sorting Yard to use, as well several industries, plus a New Potash Plant, once I figure how it is to be properly setup, If I recall correctly, Normhart has several great lookng Photos of the Plant and Tracks in action, I have to figure out the angle of Orientation in respect to my new West/East Alignment Stub that is put in place now. I might make this Plant facing off angle at North to South configuration. So will see? It can be set up however, but I like to get it setup as it should look if I can pull it off. It is truly another of Sir Dave Snow's top level creations. I am honored to be able to use it on some of my Routes.
I found a good Map of real one, now I know what I need to due to recreate one........
https://www.dometechnology.com/projects/intrepid-potash-plant-fertilizer-bulk-storage-united-states/

For those of you who might have some interest in this type of Operation, I thought this knowledge would be good to Post for content.

New Mexico Potash Mines map

https://www.google.com/search?q=new...QIHeYlAOoQuIIBegQIARAs&biw=1919&bih=956&dpr=1

Intrepid Potash Plant – Fertilizer Bulk Storage – United States

Potash Storage

Scope of Work
Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA
Series of domes makes it easier for Intrepid Potash to separate product

After a micro-burst damaged Intrepid Potash’s facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico, company executives needed a storage solution that could sustain weather-related events and other accidents. Their research led them to choose not one dome but a series of domes for Carlsbad, domes that are still going strong after nearly a decade of operation.

Intrepid Potash stores two different product lines—sylvite/potash and langbeinite—in three different associated sizes each, so keeping product separate was key. While making the change in storage facility, the company opted not for one dome but for six, an improvement over the previous model where one very large warehouse had divisions inside. By building multiple domes, product could be kept separate and distinct.

To make the project work, dome placement was key, and “the big thing was to fit the current application. The domes had to overlay in one set of previous tunnel networks—that was a key requirement,” said Robert Baldridge, Intrepid Potash general manager for New Mexico operations. Careful design made that request possible and productive.

Quality control was a major consideration and one that stood out to Baldridge. For instance, rather than bringing in concrete material by truck, Dome Technology set up a batch plant onsite, saving the customer money from ordering from the only batch plant within driving distance. Opting to make its own concrete was better “from a convenience standpoint and a cost standpoint,” said Dome Technology vice president of construction Bryan Butikofer. “When you batch your own concrete, you’re guaranteed to get fresh concrete at any time you need it.”

And I like technology, it is fascinating to me. Check out this link and Photos of some interesting Potash Mining Equipment used to harvest Potash from deep earth projects.

Google "Woodsmith Mine"

or here is a link...

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=cus&q=Woodsmith+Mine

OK....So why am I so excited about a Potash Operation, well, for couple of reasons, the 1st, I have never seen one in Real life, and I have never had one to put on any of my Routes, so when Sir Dave Snow told us he was going to make one? I was ecstatic with excitement. It seems to me, it very unique, somewhat like the fantastic Ethanol Plant Sir Dave made for us. I has a lot of different Modules that make it work.

In tonight's pictures I have selected for your viewing pleasure, I show how I set my up with some addition things I made. I hope this will give you some ideas on how you might do yours, as well Normhart has shown how his Potash mine is setup, and it looks really good.....

Will start out with a map of the current additions I have made off Branch lines, it is pretty easy to see the additions here 2/3's of the way up off the Wilson Mills & Olive Branch Route. You can see the left side is much wider, as I had some areas where I needed to widen to accommodate the Industries and City Scapes I plan to make.

A closer view of the areas, I am working in. The Potash Mine project will be in the upper left corner of that Crossbow like area, where there is an area of 4x5 Tiles in width and height to allow for the longer area I need plus a End loop to loop return Track for the mainline to have trains turn around from West direction to Eastern into the Wilson and Olive Route that shows at 45degree angle here.

Over on Fairview, we take a Canadian Pacific Rail Power on test run to see how our signal aspects are working here. As you can see, we have lots of intersecting trackage to thread through here. We caught a Red Signal, and we're waiting for local Dispatch to give us clearance to continue on in the early morning hours, I think we are yielding to Amtrak local a few miles out from us.

We got clear of the Amtrak Local, and all is well, as we head out into new parts here, for now it is just Gridlines, but I wan't to make sure my Grade% drop is on par with what I think I had made, which is just over 1% downgrade here. Since will have plenty of Heavy Haul Freights between the Wilson Mills and Olive Rt, Fairview and Fairmount and Kelly Shortline MP Route interchanges.

Really nice looking sky at 5:00AM in the morning, sun will be up soon here! We coud do 50ish here, but I have changed a lot of the Track layout, so I want to proceed slow till we see how are new Switches and Curves work out here.

This section devoid of Texture, about 1/2 or more of this Route is, and that is fine by me, I can put in the Texture colors I want, but this is Author showing how different items such as this Pond or Lagoon area can be made easily with some trees, too provide more interest to your Train layout. He did a really nice job here and has done a lot of areas along this route with housing, heavy industry and City Scape, as well, he has left a lot of open areas for the user to decorate as you please...This Route is good switching template to add to you Routes. You can see the good size Grain Silo in the back there, with about 6-8 team tracks to handle all the Grain cars going out of this area.

A longer view here, and you can see some single commercial properties he dropped in, and then you put whatever else you want into the Green colored lot areas. Take a look at how diverse his use of Tree Spacing is done, looks really random to the eye...I approve.....Well done. Random look is not always easy to get.

This was the longest view I could get here, he had a bunch of Tall buildings thrown in a couple of spots, I think he was in the middle of an idea and just didn't get back to finish placing the high rise buildings and other types of City Scape.....No big deal here.

I really like the housing section here, and I'll do a copy and paste of sections to build other housing areas in the Route where I need some fill ins for open areas of the Route......All streets and houses are nicely squared to the grid lines, of course it doesn't have to be, they can have areas that are curved too.

On the far right side is for more Sky Scrapers and Heavy Industrial open areas for me to fill in.

This is the end of the line here, But I will build this area out for the large Potash Mining facility. He did a nice job of low sloping hillish areas.

That will do it for today, will see more of the areas I textured and built on in a few days.....I did some large areas late tonight, and they came out pretty will.

See you soon with more pictures. Thanks for dropping by.....
 
Good morning Blue, my friend, you're still in the front line ..........:hehe:


Your comments as always, very interesting.


About potash, I do not know the modes of operation in America but I will tell you how it was done in Spain in case it serves you.

The potash was transported in pure trains of that product and they were also "shuttle" trains, loaded to the destination and returned empty.
The wagons that were used until the 80's were open and covered with tarps (the potash cannot be wetted); I don't know if they used gondolas in addition to covered hoppers in the US.
The destiny of this product was the factories of fertilizers and also of explosives.


I send you a big greeting Blue. :D
 
Lovely screenshots and descriptions as alwasy Blue:)

This was taken over a year now (or probably two years now), I just like this picture of the sunset
GVm3YRv.jpg


Have a safe weekend,
Cheers
 
Hello my friends., https://forums.auran.com/trainz/member.php?575579-hiawathamr & https://forums.auran.com/trainz/member.php?1046944-fant_autentico (a welcome Hug to you too my friend, and hope your Health is OK, I threw out my Back this last week, but it is better now, some painful days, just getting older, and week end Warrior stuff....LOL)

Thank you for the kind words and Potash information, love the Sunset Picture, that is so cool and natural looking. Timing is all they say...

OK, so this week, we have been working feverishly in the Flower Garden, weeding, replacing old plants, and conditioning this terrible Adobe Soil I have, it kills more plants because of Drainage issues......And we are headed off tomorrow for a week of Camping with friends......It is 92 degrees right now, only bad thing, it never got below 69 degrees last night, that is way to warm for my comfort.....Anyway, Mr's Blue has had me on the Honey Due List in preparation of our trip, not counting Blues Honey Do list too...LOL......SO have been really busy, and not much here.....

Have come to the conclusion with the way our Rains and Droughts last, I need to plant some better drought tolerant Trees and plants for this new era.....Because I lost two fruit trees to Wood Beetles and Termites, one works the top of the tree, the other one comes up from the Soil, talk about a double whammy assault. I am very sad, as we loved the fruit Satsuma Plumes they provided for some 20 + years.......But now our area is not good for them....So will make a change to something stronger........RIP our Trees.....I also have to be honest with you all here, my area is considered Semi Arid and in some places high desert too........You would know it by looking at all the trees that folks have planted. And Grapes orchards etc. But it takes a lot of water to sustain them too......

We leave for San Louis Obispo and surrounding areas to Camp out for a week......Looking very much forward to some good ole fashion BBQ and fine spirits too., and hopefully some nice sunsets too......I might be able to post once twice, from the area depending on time and WiFi. If not, then not till till next weekend.........

I going to grab some Potash pictures and add them onto this MSG header here in few minutes........

Now I have the most current pictures of my Potash Plant I'm making, attempting to make, will see how it comes out.

This map of the area used, about 5x5 Tiles setup here for enough area to give good rail service and Drainage Ponds for what is needed to do Potash operations. Originally it was 4x4 area, but proved to be too small for Plant operations, so I added another row of Tiles, 5 each way, and that did it.......This is uncharted waters so to speak, never know where it will end up......


Overhead view of runaround Tracks installed for Product queuing to Covered Hoppers, and boy are going to be using a lot of them too.....This Plant Rocks with Potash service. There is the first Drainage Pond I made for the plant. And you can see my Ruler Marks, I laid out as guide of sort to make my Water areas similiar in Size and length etc. Don't be afraid to use the Ruler, it helps in many different ways, and really helps in consistancy and straightening or curving of Mainline Tracks and Buildings you name it......


This is a rough view of how it starts, out by determining how much area for the water, then how much area is needed for the Runaround Tracks to supply the Ore Factory in the White Buildings across from here, all thw ground is level for the moment, but all will change later I get things size up. Water is about 3-5 feet deep for now. But there will be 5-10 foot dirt dike built later on, all the way around the water for safety and containment purposes too.


Now all the ponds are made, and lots of the Potash Plant is set in place, with some tracks here. I work in Wire Grid view most of the time, to make sure my Buildings are straight inline......Used Asphalt Grey for the ground area around the plant.


Closer over view, and more items added, as I tool around with this, trying to make it look reasonably as a Potash Operation....LOL I need to read more how a real Potash plant operates to get a whiff of what I need to add or change here. Other set of Tracks below, belong to large Grain Operation.......See additional notes below in next msg.


Next door to the Potash plant is a Co Op Farm Grain Silo seen on the lower left here, he too, has lots of Team and staging tracks, and will use Covered Hoppers as well., there will be 2 dedicated or more Switchers servicing these distinct and opposing Commodity product producers here. As well I have all tracks well signaled for smooth train movement, in/out and around the plants operation area of interest and concern. Also need to install more double Crossover Tracks in key places for Car Movement inter changeability !


Further away shot of the area, with Texture colors I added....I must have changed these colors and trees a 1/2 dozen times to try to see what would look the best optimally......I'll probably try to do some more Rock and Cliff detail, if I can make it look OK......Sir Dan Gavel is my hero on this and plant placements, he is true whiz at this stuff, such a talented Artist....


An earlier picture here of basic Texture just thrown on to cover the Grid lines, and we worked so long on this, our light ran out, so we got a Sunset shot here. Hope you like the subtle reflections across the Pond waters here.

Notice now I have carefully built up the ground level above the ponds in successive layering attempt.....I think this is how I wanted it too look, we still need dirt roads, lots of dump trucks and Trailer Semi's etc, Cranes Buildozers Water Tankers, you name, there is much more to add here....Keep me busy for quit some time, I am sure....LOL


An the next day I opened to the Route to find out, one of the color Textures was not liked by TRS19, or something I did wrong, who knows, I was bummed, had to go around and wipe out all these back looking Color Swatches showing up in Tile Format.......GRRRRRR!!!!

Also look at the ground lines around the Tracks, I have to smooth out these ripple effects from leveling the Tracks to where I want them on Grade %, Trainz is real good at make these Ripples, which I think look awful, so I have to go with smoothing Terrain Tool, and level stuff out, it takes a while, and I have to look at it from several directions, it is akin to hanging Drywall, or Wall paper, if you don't watch closely, it is easy to get that Ripple effect, and it ruins the view for me.......As well, getting those Seams to match up, will drive one crazy too......LOL


Now this is what the looked like originally, when I painted them across in small areas to give some more contrast to the High Desert area.....

Alright then, time to get packing for our Camping trip, start driving early tomorrow morning, its hump day........Lots of distance and setup.....Take care all, have a blessed Sunday, and see you soon.....

Night all.......Best
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the kind words and Potash information, love the Sunset Picture, that is so cool and natural looking. Timing is all they say...
Thank you Blue!:)
I was just playing with the sunset settings and though it looks like a good picture for a possible screenshot showcase sometime ;)

I see you added another Trainz project to your list :p:hehe:

Decided to share some of my screenies of another side project I made ...
8uHVTRH.jpg

q0QjT4A.jpg

wAYn5Bh.jpg

1ZvfV7g.jpg


Cheers
 
Camping in Morro Bay Ca and other miscellany items of interest.

Good evening all,

just returned from Morro Bay California, a beautiful small Coastal Town, in upper Central California Valley area, with a rich Volcanic History. We enjoyed our Camping this week, and walks along the Ocean, mixed with Bicycling and other ventures. The birds and Mammals are pretty cool to see as well, some folks saw some Whales passing thru the area, we didn't.

And I think this is an interesting Story for the area nearby....

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/...gs/photos-from-the-vault/article39457125.html

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1108754

And for you NG folks, this was an interesting find of what went on in the area.....

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

And now a small Mining Train Route for causeway project.....
http://www.oldmorrobay.com/causeway.html

More interesting info for Old Timers......
http://www.oldmorrobay.com/home.html#section2
========================================================================================================

And to my friend "hiawathamr"

Quotes "I was just playing with the sunset settings and though it looks like a good picture for a possible screenshot showcase sometime

I see you added another Trainz project to your list

Decided to share some of my screenies of another side project I made ..."Quotes

Thanks for dropping by with the Pictures, they look really good.....Sunsets....How can you beat that....Yes on another Project, I can't help myself, I am always tripping over something that comes to mind, I have I think about 4 little Merges going on with this Wilson Mills Route, and so when I look around after making a test run through the area, I see things I want to change or add, and Potash has been on my mind for quite some time, I just never had a spot to add it, so I thought, why not on one of the merges I did, put it at the end, add a bunch of Tiles, and throw it together in the way I see it, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't but I'll give it a whirl and see.....Now after visiting Morro Bay and seeing the Rock, I have an idea about doing something on one of my Lake scenes, with a small Mining operation, with Jetty of sorts that takes you from the Coast out across the Bay to a large Rock Outcropping, just an idea, and it might not look or work right, but will see. I have to finish with Potash, and this Passenger Station I changed up for now, but this is in my bucket List for later......IF I don't forget it and get caught up with something else, I feel like the mad scientist, too many things come to mind and I forget where I am....LOL. or is it OCD.....But Trainz is lots of fun and homeopathic for me, when my Arthritis acts up......

===========================================================================================================
Now it's time to get back to my Route changes I am working on, tonight will see some pictures of this Route

"Fairmount and Kelly Shortline MP Route CMTMS3" which is small switching route I merged in with "Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive" Base Route.

Notes by the Author: Small Shortline Route designed for 2-5 people. Yard Jobs include Fairmont, Urbana, and Kelly. 2 Road Trains make trips back and forth between Fairmont and Kelly, picking up and dropping off cars in Urbana and Clewiston. Clewiston is only accessible Westbound, and there is no passing siding. Think about how moves will be made, in order to expedite all movements. Remember, there are several ways to accomplish a task. Think ahead so you don't waste moves. Edited for compatibility with CMTM System 4MP. ***Work In Progress*** Expect updates regularly if there is an interest. For suggestions or comments, email me at coptrn@gmail.com

I made some small changes to the tracks, and did some Texturing as the Author did minimal work, so the user could finish it out to their taste.

Needed to add some more tiles for minor elevation changes. Here is the stub and where I inserted it to Wilson Mills & Mount Olive Rte. It works out really nice, and I added a small lake area for the transition where the Route Merge points meet.


Picture of the Lake as we go around a mountain here. One of the items that Water affords you, if you decide you want to change, add, whatever, the Water is super easy to remove, level the land in minutes and make your changes, unlike Mountains, Cities, industrial areas that would take more work and effort to change, Water in this Program is very easy to add, and I think like a large mirror on a wall in small area etc, it changes the whole look of the area, easy to put in......


The other part of the Lake where it meets the Forest area of Wilson Mills area. You can see the mountain in the back of our previous picture too.


Basically I just used a few Textures for now, since I am not sure how I'll finish this Route area. I might do it in Sage Brush for more Desert type of look......


This area, I added some more Oil Storage Tanks, and some more interactive Oil Field Operations for Rail Car Traffic. Should work out nicely.....And I brought in specialized Pressure Tankers for Propane and other products made at this plant yard....I kept it small, it doesn't use up a lot of space but affords interest for Shunting etc.


Here is another picture showing how it looks from this side of the View Point. You can see the many other varied specialty Tanks for other Chemicals and Oil products produced here.


Small switching Rail Yard and Industrial Factory here to serve. I think this is Lumber operation on the Right, so I need to add a lot of wood Products and other Ancillary items here, so it is very rough stages. You can also see this Route is Single Tiles most of the way, so I raised the edges on both sides to simulate small Rolling Sand hills, etc. so there isn't a sudden dropoff to be seen.

Small wye for turning cars and Loco's around when needed too.


This is the end of the Route here, and we have Canning and paper Factory if I recall correctly. With a small Wye to turn your Train around. This area is single mainline bottleneck intended by the Author, but you have an Ample Rail Sorting Yard to work with too, so it'll make for interesting Shunting and Position the cars for 4-5 different Customers around here, and then the Car Traffic can also be switched out to Wilson Mills and Olive Branch for other Deliveries, so there is lots to do here, when you think of the possibilities. Besides that, we have our new Potash Plant, which is not quite finished up either.....I have been busy, redoing a Passenger Station on one of the other Other Routes Fairview E/W line....had to realign some tracks and Industrial Leads I made for old Plant Operations on the other side of the City Scape.....


Another small switching area with couple of Plants to service.


I added a small spur in here for Specialty Oil Products Plant and I think this will do for tonight.

Thank you for dropping by, and enjpy your Labor Day Weekend.
 
Last edited:
Fairview - E-W merge work in progress

Happy Labor day to all,

Wow was that a fast weekend for us, been running around doing the honey do's and other Fix it jobs, now it's time to play with some Trainz. Because it is to hot outside to work....Besides it is a holiday.

Been busy late at night working on Fairview E/W Route section merged to Wilson's Mills & Mount Olive main Route.

I got the Passenger Station where I want it now, needed lots of line adjustments and approach to Station changes with Tracks etc. Part of the issues stemmed from how I had changed some tracks in the Main Rail Yard and other parts were due to a Track I had put into an old Industrial Center, which upset the approach clearance for Passenger Trains in/out of the Station.

Needed to cut out some crossovers and due some redesigns for the Track Directions, too get it where Trains would flow into the station unimpeded by other Trains working the Crossover line into the old industrial area.....And I added an inside Stub track to have more shunting room to keep the consist clear of nearby Passenger Station Approaches. I sure this is very convoluted until I show the pictures later on and then it will make more sense.

Pretty much took the weekend to work it all out. And I needed to run a lot of Trains thru the yards and Industrial areas to see what was working and what didn't. It's one thing to look at Track Plans, it becomes totally another when you actually run the trains, then you see the bottle necks you've created.

Over in the Wilson Branch, we pass by another Chemical Train here on our way out to Fairview.


We are in the Industrial leads here, picking up the last of our Consist headed for Fairview Branch. We used a local Yard Switcher and Road Engine here for power, since we are taking just a few cars today. Later on, the Consists will be much more heavier and longer, since we have many industries to serve on the different branch lines.


Got our on Consist, loaded, Fueled, and ready to head down Wilson Mainline and make several crossovers to line us up with Fairview Branch, one of the reasons for all the switch, we junctions ahead, with Double main lines connecting Fairview, in the crossover area, lots of Passenger Trains come and go on both sides. So we have to thread the needle so to speak, not holding or delaying those Passenger Trains, else we pay a penalty fee to Amtrak. Plus the Ridership depends/wants on-time Scheduling to Work and Vacation connection points, where as us, a lowly Freight have what is called Dwell Time, and Priority Deliveries depending on what we are carrying, so this little Teeter Totter of Time Handling is delicate balance.

Both types of Trains are important to the Rail Road in terms of Money and Customer Care. IF you lose business, you lose Crews an you lose money allocated to MOW projects, a real killer when you think what could happen if MOW is deferred to long. All very important things to consider when running a Railroad.

Remember too, lots of Railroads went bankrupt over the centuries for one reason or another, but mismanagement was a big reason, economy another, greed another, you get the picture, so it is team work, not individualism that gets the job done. Of course I am broad stroking the causes here, it's complicated and many things can cause the Bankruptcy, but you get the picture I am painting.


We head out from the center of Wilson Branch Lines towards Fairview Branch, which also reminds me, I need to put signs for Branch Division Points so I know where I am. I have for Merges going on here. We need to get our Switches and Route directions setup by local dispatch, so we don't interfere with Passenger Trains who have priority over us.


So we start our test consist coming out of Wilson Mills & Mount Olive / Fairview E/W merge point. A lot of this area I did copy and paste of different types of trees. It went fast, the only mistake I made is having trees smack dab in the middle of the Tracks in some spots, LOL, so I need to go back and delete those guys or move them clear of the lines.....


As we continue in the Fairview City area, a distant shot here, you can see the Row of Sky Scrapers I added. You'll see them a lot better in other Shots, because our Tiles our not too wide, I just ran one row of Sky Scrapers and I think it works very well, not over dominating other items in the City Scape. As you can see, I have lots of Grass, and Shrub to get planted, but my main vision is to get the Tracks, Signals, and Buildings where I want them staged first. Then more details later.


We take our our last curve here as we get ready to drive into the City of Fairview.


Now we come into what I believe is the East end of Fairview City here, I have to learn, well, establish the proper Tracks to take, since I have changed a lot of things in this area. On the left, we have lots of Silos Co Ops to service.

I forgot to mention, one of the issues you face here is one of the Bridges used had Piers that got in the way several of Rail Yard Trackage, a real pain if you will. Problem is of course, I like the Bridge, so I had to work around with one of the Tracks, because the Piers are fixed to the Bridge, so when you stretch or put expansion Splines it just ends up crossing over other parts of the yard, so you end up with fixing one Track to go around the pier and leave the others well enough alone....Now the other Traffic Bridge is not problem....Another thing, I can use one of those long expansion bridges as this area is to small for them.....So we make do, and get it working.



As we enter the yard, there is a lone Amtrak Engine awaiting orders, which leads me to another thought, I need Engine Yard and/or Round House. So will need to scope out the area to see where a good fit will be?

I bid you all a great day/evening etc, see you in few days, to show more of the changes.

And thanks for dropping by. If there is a question, please, don't hesitate to ask.
 
Dorian Hurricane, Cal Boat Fire Disaster and problem with Branch Elevation issues Etc

Good Friday Morning on this hot and muggy So California day,

Some local power outages and a few Fires to fight, but I think we are doing OK for the moment.

Back on East Coast, very lucky with this last Hurricane Storm, all the way from Cat 5 to C 1

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Dorian&ia=news

https://www.times-news.com/news/a-w...cle_b7adaa12-6e99-5ec1-be21-c0b6bc358c53.html

Unfortunately the Bahama's are in terrible shape a prayer and hope for better days ahead.
=========================================================================================

On to Trainz, I have been working busily on the Fairview W/E extension, redoing several Tracks, changing switches out, lining up particular Signals, Searchlight etc do get what I want on Aspects Displays, I know there are several newer Sets of Lights with some realy good aspects, but for now, I plan on staying with the traditional ones, till I get to where on want on this multi Merge operation Etc.

Here is the latest map of the Fairview Merge. If you look on the lower right side, you see the settling Water Ponds where the new Potash Plant is added, and just below and to the left those Ponds, I added a commercial Natural Gas Plant with it's own Team Tracks off of the Potash main lead Tracks.

Also made a small branch line off the outskirts of Downtown, about a mile or so out, it serves 2 Farm Silos, Grainery Store and 2 Rustic Mining operations for now. With a nice small Lake as crossing entrance, you'll see better pictures of it later on, I think it finally came out really well, once I got the elevation problems solved, I had made a critical, unknown at the time, because it wasn't apparent to me? When I put in the Rail Bridge across the lake, access point, the Bridge underpinnings are old wood Trestle, which is the style I wanted for the farming area, so I changed the elevation several times, and got it wrong, throwing off all the upper trackage to mines with 2.70% Grades in some spots, what I found is my main approach track, needed to be set almost level with the mainline intersect.

Once I found that out, all the rest of Elevation calmed down to .50% into 1% max elevation at the mining end, as that is in the higher hill area at the edge of the Route.......Fortunately it took me 1/2 the time to correct from initial toying around with Track elevation, and now it works perfectly.


Now in this Map, Left Lime color:Small Mining and Farming Silo Etc Branch line
Deep small Yellow: is new 115 foot Roundhouse for all my Loco Power
Red Thin Line next to Yellow: Return Loop track coming from downtown City area.
Large light yellow: around 3 Water Settling Ponds is Potash Plant area.
Aqua Square Line: is main Rail Sort Yard, Passenger Station, Downtown area etc.



In this Map, a different view of Downtown Tracks and all the Spur connections.



Amtrak daily is headed for downtown Passenger Station here along outside edge of the main Yards. And you can see all my Skyscrapers I put in. I didn't put in a lot, because we are about 4-5 tiles wide in this area, I didn't want it to look too crowded here.

2 tracks on our left goto to huge Farm Silo Operation behind us.



As we approach our Station stop, we pass by numerous Flower and Vegetable Hot Houses, first I have seen this in use.......That bridge in the back was a real pain in trying to align my Tracks...I like the bridge but the set under pinning do not work will in this small area. But I was able to get the Tracks aligned with a couple of them bending around 2 of Underpin supports.




Ncie view here showing more of the City Scape Buildings etc. and you can see the area is not too wide, so I think my large Row of Scrapers works out ok.....


These Bridges needed to be raised bit higher from what you see here. When you run trains under the Bridge it becomes more apparent how low this Bridge level is. Looking past the Bridge you can see the Double Track Station Stop with head end of Daily Local Amtrak. Speaking of which, I found out, I don't have a lot of Amtrak Trains made up, I and really don't know how much of what Version, like 1-5 I really have. So another thing in the bucket list is to make blank Tile with lots of long Tracks, and throw all my Amtrak stuff on it to sort it out and make some Trains up, else make a large Amtrak Rail Facility to have all the equipment in it? Hmm? will see......



Looking across the Rail Yard since I don't have any Freights barring the view here, there is good shot of our Train in my redesigned Passenger Station. It works quite well with double Tracks. On North end, the Tracks merge into single mainline. On the South, they don't merge at all,, they go and go into the loop Track Circle.



Now here is Passenger Station lot, I have put in more Lighting, it was there to start, but I had to rip it all out, because I didn't like the pre down Parking lot Asset, it wasn't made right, maybe someday, I will fool with it and try to fix it, the lines are all out of alignment....It looks really strange to me, so I don't know what happened, I should go check and see if there is newer version.?



Our Amtrak has the morning Customers now, and we are headed out to other areas with workers for Potash and Electrical Plant short Stops, I need some small simple Stations out in those areas too....I have to find the best place on the Loop to set them up.......It is a lovely morning out here now as the Sun is rising in the East.

Looks like this is it for today, have a lot more to share with all. Have a blessed day, and pray for those in the Storm Disaster areas. As well our local Boat Disaster, which is a heart wrenching thing......This investigation is probably going have some major changes on Boating Safety in many different aspects.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...nia-boat-fire-victims-crew-members-passengers



Have a good weekend and keep hydrated out there.
 
========================================================================================================

And to my friend "hiawathamr"

Quotes "I was just playing with the sunset settings and though it looks like a good picture for a possible screenshot showcase sometime

I see you added another Trainz project to your list

Decided to share some of my screenies of another side project I made ..."Quotes

Thanks for dropping by with the Pictures, they look really good.....Sunsets....How can you beat that....Yes on another Project, I can't help myself, I am always tripping over something that comes to mind, I have I think about 4 little Merges going on with this Wilson Mills Route, and so when I look around after making a test run through the area, I see things I want to change or add, and Potash has been on my mind for quite some time, I just never had a spot to add it, so I thought, why not on one of the merges I did, put it at the end, add a bunch of Tiles, and throw it together in the way I see it, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't but I'll give it a whirl and see.....Now after visiting Morro Bay and seeing the Rock, I have an idea about doing something on one of my Lake scenes, with a small Mining operation, with Jetty of sorts that takes you from the Coast out across the Bay to a large Rock Outcropping, just an idea, and it might not look or work right, but will see. I have to finish with Potash, and this Passenger Station I changed up for now, but this is in my bucket List for later......IF I don't forget it and get caught up with something else, I feel like the mad scientist, too many things come to mind and I forget where I am....LOL. or is it OCD.....But Trainz is lots of fun and homeopathic for me, when my Arthritis acts up......
Thank you for the kind words Blue:)
lol,I remember doing that when I was younger with UTC, TRS2006, and TS2010 with all of the mini projects, but mostly edit the heck out of the Razorback Classic route. TS2010 I been editing the heck out of the Regional Passenger Transit route. I mostly made it into a Christmas themed route since its a winter route, and of course, why not?:D
They're both awesome routes, and I highly recommend checking these two routes out, as they're great, even though they're from TRS2004/06 days.

As for the recent hurricane, I'm very glad the people out on the east got an easy storm this time. Went from Cat 5 down to Cat 1 - very lucky this time, and hopefully for the future. I wish I could say the same for the Bahama's, but sadly they got the worse part of the storm:(

Anyway, love your content as always, take care.

Cheers
 
Good Monday Morning all,

Well tenacity, headaches, deletions, and just plain hard work on the Fairview E/W WIP project is starting to pay off. I addded another Track on the Grainery Branch Line. Then I tried to put in some crossover connect points, the extra line did work, uh the crossover, well? Lets say it just didn't look right. So I made some precise x outs of the Tracks, and reformed them again, this time it flowed and after running some quick drives, it appears things will now work as I intedended them too.

When you make Routes, Branch lines whatever, and this is my opinion only, there needs to be a purpose, a working symetry, and it needs to flow, by that, sometimes it is too easy to over complicate things? The question then becomes why do I need to do all this switching etc to get to a particular place. Now there are times when it very cool to make something difficult and challenging to embrace and make you better at Shunting, running a Railroad, and add some mystery to the Route.

It really is a balance of ideas, and I'm sure after playing around with your Route, you end up going back, making large and small changes to the betterment of your operating experience. You have only to appreciate and view some of astouding Routes created by our Route Builders to help you out when you get in that creative mood!

We continue today with Fairview and our Passenger Station, which is still going with renovation, lighting etc. Our Amtrak is in the Station and picking up the morning commuters. It took me a while to realign overcovers (Sun Shields) for train width. Our train will head out shortly for the Country Loop line.


After we pickup our Passengers the others here await their Northtbound Train. One should be here in 15-20 mins as all Freights are parked on adjoining Tracks, local Shunting will start in 1/2 hour in the Old Industrial Section of Town.


And here is our North Bounder leaving the Station on the right is load of Grain cars headed to the Grainery Branch.


We head out into the morning light here, just ahead is our power Plant and Water Reclamation operation (aka Sewage Plant), one makes our city power, the other cleans our soiled water........Behind a nice high Brick Wall

Some nice trees to make it look less industrial will be added later on.


Out of the City now, this is an area I need to do some planting of Scrubs and trees I may have a few areas of Desert Theme, not sure, will see how that works out.

Another thought on multitude of Signals, once I am satisfied everything works, I plan on going to Approach Lit, reason, too much of Christmas Tree lighting here due to the multitude of tracks in small areas here and there. (update after I wrote this note last night, I went thru and did a lot of Tree and Schrub planting while adjusting Texture Colors with more Green in the area than Desert Colors. One problem I have is several of my trees are Translucent, see thru like, I need to see if it is fixable or I just plain need to replace them.


We have nice view of the Downtown area far, far away, as we roll into the morning Sun......This whole area will have sparse planting of Trees. Not to many, so I don't impede the Graphics card workload. I know when I put in a lot of Rail Cars for industries it will affect the Graphics card, it surely is a cat and mouse game for sure, LOL.


Now we are completely out of downtown, coming into rolling hills, where first Sun is creeping up. Lots of area to plant. (couple of days later I planted and changed some of Color Textures)


Passing near some hills as we head around to the left and behind them. We travel a single mainline on this Route for now, but soon, will come to some junction points. Travel time is good here, our Green lights are stacked 40MPH for now, but I hope to have a few higher speed areas......Will need a couple of Short stops out with small town Shelter Platform type stations. One is needed for the Potash Plant workers.


Out around the other side of the hills, we pass thru a small River area here...


This very early morning coming thru the very quite Downtown area, I like the night mode these buildings have.

That'll be good for today.......Please enjoy your week ahead..........
 
Hi Blue, old friend.
As always, I am happy to read you and learn from that capacity of yours with the routes.

I like autumn, its colors and that indefinite nostalgia; adequate time for the railroad.

It is autumn on the Blue Silver Route, tomorrow I explain a little what is done and what I thought about it.

Cheers

Javier


silver1.jpg



silver2.jpg




silver6.jpg



silver7.jpg
 
Back
Top