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

Memory Lane with Coal Country RTe

Good Saturday Afternoon,

Was busy watching some good movies last night and working like Crazy with Port area do over I working on, straightening out Roads, and Buildings, redoing over half the trackage, you know the usual stuff.

So late last night, was going thru my Route Pictures, and came into Coal Country, thought it was time to peek in and show some more of my shots of this fantastic Route.........I highly recommend it if like the Country Scene and Running Coal, Lumber whatever pleases you. This route is so cool, not to big and so well done, absolutely a 10 on my scale of Routes just to sit back and relax in the Country with some terrific scenery.

Route Description as follows!

"Explore 8 twisting miles of a fictional route based around the coal-rich states of WV, KY etc. Created by R.Ness (Scratchy). Thankyou to all the content creators who make this route and Trainz what it is!

Created in T:ANE SP1, with the support of JointedRail.com, we hope you enjoy!"

It's early morning here, and we are getting ready to board old reliable here and get some much needed loads out and shunted to where they need be. The boys are ready to put in some hard work today, as in any day.

She's all fueled and Sanded, ready to move down and pick up our loads. Dispatcher has given us the Work Orders for today.

Passing part of Weed Abatement Train, we stopped here to spot some loads etc.

Just look how great the Texture and Foliage look here........Not to much, just what you'd expect to see here, and it works great in T:ANE...

If I recall correctly we have a long Country Spur to back into and drop off some of our Loads. Small loading Coal Stipple over here on the Right. And this power we are using, Weathering is top notch..........The only bath they ever get is when it Rains, and does rain a lot in this part of the Country. LOL

Pulling out some empty Gons for Metal or other Commodities load. Oops, correction, Dispatcher just told us we need to Grab some Coal Loads and get it divered to one of our Customers. Timing is all.

I have never seen a sign like this, but sure good to know it's here when your shunting in Tall weeds. Animation works great when you load the Gons..........

Back up slow and take it easy, have my Brakeman watching out for me as we load it up.

Never seen a sign like this before, but good to know.......

Our local Passenger Trains passes thru as we hold on the siding till it clears.......


That'll do for today, and a shout out for Texas, I hope the Storm does not Stall, they're getting enough Rain as it is with this huge Hurricane.

Take care all, see you in a few days.
 
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Good Tuesday all,

WOW 100 + degrees. forest fires in California, over in Texas, they got too much rain, like 800yr rain, our prayers go out to them for sure, a fair amount have lost everything, I can't even imagine!

Ok, so we slip back in Time here a bit to FLAAM Route, and it's a beautiful route, when I downloaded it, it had some spots where the Author was intending to add more Main Line at the top of these magnificent ALPS. So I will continue the build, and I definitely plan on double tracking too. We have been climbing the Canyons, and now the sun has set beyond the Rim here as things get very dark, and very Quick. Is there any YETI's up here, legend says yes, but they have not been seen in a long time. For me, I'll pass, I don't want to run into a 8-9 foot white furry beast.

Back over to Coal Country, our local Passenger Train zips thru the country side heading into a smoky tunnel! Making plenty of Steam too.

Better hope you don't get lost in these Hills, can't see much thru all these trees.

Coming round the bend at full speed, Dispatcher has given her Greens all the way, we have our Local Freight Shunting on the side to not impede her progress. Beautiful day in the country, but lots of Humidity in this part of the country side with all the fresh spring growth.

Boy if our Constable on the Train stood any straighter he'd look like a statue instead of real passenger.........LOL......What I think he is really doing is watching out for Bandit's on Horses who try to still rob Trains.

We've dropped off our loads and picked up the empty's, our hotshot Passenger Train has flown by and so now we are getting a quick Runaround so we can get down the track to our next stops, then haul everything to the main Sort Yards for outbound Trains and deliverys in other parts of the Country.

Got to love these RPPX Units, nice colors and well weathered, looks like they have been worked to the bone, but our mechanics keep them whistling like new, they always start up, and hardly ever break down on us.....That's reliability and consistent Maintenance, take care of them, and they'll take care of us..........That means washing your windows so you can see clearly and keep the public safe too!

Ok, finished our run around, now we are hooked up, Brake Check is good, Conductor wants to know why we are still sitting, I told him, I'm talking to dispatch and got us a Green to go ahead, he fired back, well get to son, I got a game to catch tonight, don't want to get stuck in a siding!.......Yes Sir, I'm on it.......He gets cranky some days.....It's OK, I like woeking for him, he keeps me on my toes and alive......

Glad these old bridges aren't any lower or my CAB and me would get a quick haircut......OUCH

Shout out to "SCRATCHY" you done well sir, this Route is so cool, and I haven't even explored all the corners of it yet.

Time to run, got lots to do this week, will be visiting the Grand Kids tomorrow, and for the rest of the week. can't believe one of them is headed to College in another year, seems like yesterday they were just born.

Thank you for coming by...........Take care and keep cool......Also swing over to Railhead001 one, He's fooling around with the new NEEDLES SUB by APPROACH MEDIUM...........

Here is the link for additional info...

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ub-released-on-JointedRail-by-Approach-Medium
 
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Riding thru the Canyons and Bridges

Evening/Morning all,

Out with the Grand Kids for back to school day, lots of fun.....So since it is going to be busy tomorrow, I thought I would push these pictures out while it's quite.

So most of the broken Tracks and improper Snow Shed Heights have been repaired now, we are running some consists to see if we have proper Signal Coverage and our Rails and Switches don't have any defects. Just takes time from the several merges I made, It broke a lot of things.

I had to do a lot of realigning the Bridge abutments and changing some out as well. So far so good........

Another view of this area, as we come into a high speed Y,,,,,There is a lot of Curves on this route. And very easy to take the wrong turn on the way to some destinations!

These Green Foliage Scrubs along the edge of the water way will be completely removed and planted with something else that I think will look better. The other reason, I found numerous smaller Plants hidden within these, which serves no purpose that I can see......

Full speed ahead men, looks like we have good stretch of level and straight mainline ahead of us.

This area was completely redone to give some better curve radius here.........Some tracks removed due to bottlenecks, now it free flow.

As you can see, I still didn't get all the tracks fixed, we have some airborne ones to pull back to the Grand. Crazy huh.


I redid the Dam here,, it took a little earth moving and deepening the water Channel, You'll notice I'm in Grid Mode as that works the best so you can see what your lining up underground.

I widened the waterway here for more flow. Still working on the earth dredging to get the effect I want.

Now see what it looks like when I turn off Grid View, completely different. I use Grid View a lot to get things aligned and remove any items that got pushed underground. Trim off excess water Panels as well.

An overhead view of what it looks like as I progress.

Keep Cool and hydrated, looks like our ole friend the High Pressure Dome is locked in over UTAH and the 4 Corners here for another few days, why Texas and Louisiana get drenched to the gills with a 500yr Rain Storm.........I'll be happy if we can get thru this nasty hot weather without a bad Forrest fire..........Take care all.......
 
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Good ?Thursday all,

Going to be 105-112 today, can fry those eggs on a sidewalk.......Mercy, 2 more days of heat, a shout out to Louisiana and Texas, hope it gets better for you, and we hold you in our prayers.

I caught up with the picture I wanted to show you, the Author of this route, scrunched the Tracks together to make it work with triple and Quadruple Xing setups, when they should have used 2 singles and double setup, maybe they didn't know they could do that, so I ripped all the track and crossings out, and changed the connections.

This a top view of the City before I change some things too, for me, too many streets for such a small area...........And of course it has bnsf50 iinvisible road strewn thru every corner, which takes up too many resources on my Laptop, so I am cutting it out as well, that's the Lavender lines you see next to hills on Dirt Road.

Coming from another way, we pass thru a small refinery in the back which will be relocated to another area, and Sewage Treatment plant with small industrial plant for Water Company Parts Fabrication will be dropped in. It just wouldn't work with the angle of the Spur going into the Refinery, so it needed to be put in a double size larger area.

Coming across the River lickety split...

Crossing the river Falls, and there is a lot of them on this route, really amazing how that Steam & Waterfall imitation Assets works to make it look llike this

Getting good Signal Aspects showing here. As we make our self up into the Canyons.

This whole area, which is from the first overhead picture today, is redone now, and we have nice sweeping curves coming into Passenger Platform.

Silver Meteor coming down the grade from mountains above,and running much better after I threw in an extra B Unit for more horsepower for heavy mountain grades.

Coming thru on time with some heavily built passenger cars.

Up the gorge and some great looking waterfalls as are path narrows and heads upward. Lunch is being served with some nice Drinks from a full bar on board...... A good day so far as I continue on with the repairs and such.......Running some heavy freights out of the Port Yards to our local Rail Yards.........

Thanks for dropping in.........
 
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Good Saturday all,

Well after a week or more of this intense late Summer Heat, which we continue to get, I'm hoping for a few degrees cooler today, it was only 98 degrees yesterday after hitting highs of 107 or more.

So I wanted to share some information about some cars I ordered from these fine Dutch Folks.

They are Reefer's and I have been testing them out, they are made for T:ANE, and since I got them, they're were a couple of updates due to the way T:ANE treats LOD.

I like them and they work great, so below are different pictures of them be shunted around in my new Port Area and other spots on the Route.

Below is the link to there site, just click on English Tab and your good to go, these particular ones are PAYWARE, they also have some FREEWARE. As you can see below, they have some time in business, they are fellow Trainzers CIRCA 2004, that is 13yrs ago.........Very commendable.........

http://www.railwayworker.de/

We, that is Teddyberlin and Alcaron occupy us for quite some time (several years) with Trainz.
We started with the Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 (TRS04).
In the first time, much was still new and unfamiliar in the program,
but gradually it came well into the matter.
Alcaron then also started after some time to build its own object for Trainz.
In the beginning the objects were small and awkward.
But in the meantime, after much practice and test, the objects have become much better.
Sure, not everything is perfect yet... but practice makes, you know, the master. Together, we have formed the "Devil Industrial Corporation"
in order to joint publish projects or objects under this name.

So these come in 2 payware packs, I ordered and received these with PAYPAL, no issues and very straight forward process. Thank "Alcaron" for a great porduct and ease of buying process!

This is there picture showing one of the Versions I bought last week.

And here they are being shunted around in my newly configured Port SNOW Creek area, notice they have Red Warning Light on them "FRED" device, I didn't put that on, they will configure that way automatically when another car is not attached behind........They run great and no Defects or Errors in my T:ANE SP-2 version.

Here they are being pushed back into Fruit Shipping Business on our Docks, a ship has come in and dropped off loads of International Fruits and Veggies for Commerce.

I have a long line of Freight cars on the left fully loaded with different Commodities headed out to the Mountains for English Highlands tonight, about 20 mile Trip and lots of heavy Grades with SP UC33, 6 Axle Power pulling them up grades as steep as 2.7%, about 1300Tons or more. The little switcher on Right with new Reefers has a head end Light Issue, it only has one working light, so I need to try and fix it if I can figure out how to do, probably missing an attachment point or something, light in Long Nose section works perfectly.......Other than that this little Switcher works fantastic.

Shoving back our new Reefers into processing Plant for new loads that arrived today.

This is an earlier shot we had to pull up and switch tracks at the top of the Yard to get this into the correct Team Tracks for Load and Unload at Transfer facility. Notice my Medium Clear Signal aspects.

I forget because it has been so long since I used the DRIVE Command, I have been working on this route for 6 months or more redoing it, but I used it last night to check several of my My Merged Routes, I wanted to see how a loaded heavy consist with 1300Tons would do if I just sent it off and let it figure it's way thru blocking opposing Trains on the way, well, to my surprise it made it 17 Miles all the way to last yard in Snow Creek, and where it chocked was on a Enter locker 3 Head 08 Safetran Signal beginning into small Coal loading yard that had several pass thru tracks. That was amazing after making tons of stops and throwing switches on 17 miles of treacherous areas with broken or Cornfield Meets from other Consists I had left after testing a seconds of repaired or replaced tracks........It gave me a good review of what how I want to set default paths thru Yards etc......It was amazing to see this Drive Command in action, before I set up Pierre's Enhanced Path Controllers and Mission Commands, that's for another day.

Ok we have cleared the Port and our taking these empites over for some Maintenance scheduled work in our Car shops. located in Port Community area downtown. you haven't seen this part of the route since I had it all torn up......we come into a enter locker signal because this one approach track leads into a split dual main, and 6 ladder yard tracks for Car Maintenance Shops.......We show a Diverge Route situation........

And after we round the corner, we split the cars into the assigned Shop Bays for 90 Day Service checkup procedure as requested by Shop Car inventory and Service Records system, today is not a busy day, but it will be soon as this shop was newly built so we don't have to haul our cars 15 miles away for normal service issues, saves time, Crew Overtime and of course Fuel......All good stuff for the Profit line and our investors......

Some of the cars have finished required R&R work, we take them to Wash Facility, engines included, before we pull them back for Duty. Beautifull Green Grass here in this Middle and upper income neighborhood.

And out she comes all fixed up and ready to run with new loads.........

It's been a great day on the Railroad...........see you around...........Till we meet again......By now!
 
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Going to be holiday weekend, so I decided to drop in some more shots.

I worked on my Wishram Yard putting in new Lumber and Ethanol Industry's Etc, ended up having to rip a 1/3 of it out because as dumb as it sounds, I couldn't get a good enough Curve approach angle on a Wood loading Spur where we use 73 foot I Beam Cars., and the other existing tracks just did not look right, so I cleared the area and restarted, it also necessitated moving the lumber Company and other ancillary components to make everything fit together in a more cohesive fashion. You'll see the pictures later next week after I finish some more details on it.

Below is Silver Meteor running thru the canyons and there are waterfalls everywhere. We eventually will end up on the higher bridge above the falls.

Coming into merge of mainlines, we see a restricted signal, probably traffic ahead of us.

Looks like we might have a Red ahead, and another Train must have just passed, so we need 7 mins for the switch to clear and lineup for us, hopefully! We are checking with Dispatch now.

We got our clearance from the tracks below, headed on the higher ones now as we climb elevation.

Above now on top of the mesa formations, there is lots of terrain changes here. And you have a pretty good view of the Volcanic Mountains in the Far Distance.

We come into another area now, this is the extreme East end of the Route, in the way distance view over the blue area is English Highlands Route. There is lots of work to do on that line, since that area, I lost 6 months of work in and forgot to backup my Routes properly, so I have to go back and redo lots of Terrain, Track work I changed, good thing I remember what I did over there, just take me a week or too to get it changed over. There is some light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, I cut off some tiles on the Highlands Route this time for Merge purposes so it used up some of the spots I had changed on the previous versions.

This where the other day I used my Drive Command and we came with a long heavy Freight from the Port on West side of Route 17.5 Miles away, and ended up getting caught here in the Interlock section first and second Safetran 08 series Signal, so I have to trouble shoot and see why AI couldn't select a clear Main on the right side of this Track, with no trains blocking it.Might need to add some Track Direction Points to help AI out......I'll figure it out. But all things considered we made 17.5 miles thru some complicated yards and merge points, so I'm very happy with the way my Signals went overall.

We are going thru on the right, that is our main line yard bypass.....But I'll need to manually set the signals for clearance,, so we don't get caught on Coal Loading Team Track directly in front of us. This yard specifically handles Coal Traffic and makes loads, but we can load a Steam Engine off Chutes located on left side of the Mine Loader. I might add a Second Main Line in here for less bottle necking of thru Trains. Since we have a connection to English Highlands on the left side at the other end of this yard.

Switches are set, and we are on our way around the Coal Yard. Can't believe it but there is permanent Snow on that Mountain Top, although we are several thousand feet up here from when we left the Port earlier, so that makes sense I guess, LOL

To the far left is our connection point to English Highlands, you can see a small Dwarf light on ground to left of us. But our direction of Travel is opposing, I might make a WYE here for 2 way access, I don't know yet? Future project.

That's it for now, have a nice holiday and we send out well wishes for Texas and Louisiana areas, I also hear the East Coast might be in danger of a nasty Hurricane forming out in the Islands, they don't know if it will be direct hit on Florida on up or yank a right turn into cooler waters? It's a week out from last nights reports.......Bad Hurricane season for sure.
 
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Good Tues Evening all,

So been busy Snow Creek (Red) and now starting in English Highlands (Yellow). Like others have said your work is never done, and I have had to learn how to deal with T:ANE procedural Track. It definitively requires accuracy at JCT points and especially Curve sections. So once I finished the Wishram Yards, I found out that I had moved some Junction heights, and created a few 4% & 6% Gradient anomaly's, which required me to go from one end of the yard to other end and re align it to .3 thru 2.5%, most below 2%, the only reason I found out, I was checking my Chemical lead Tracks with 21000 Gal Tankers, and my Geep was having to run in Run 4 to get up a team track, also my Lumber Leads with 20 empty Spline Cars, I had to heavy of Grade. Took me a couple of hours to go thru and level out the high spots.

I know what caused, I had moved a lot of Industrial Buildings and adding other Junk items around, must moved track elevation while I was working.

Precisely why as I work in a area, I have to do multiple Consist runs to see how my idea is performing, and if I have any hidden track breaks etc, and I have had a lot, because they don't always show.

Ok the Green area is where I started almost a year ago.

I still have Portals to install, and lots of finish Texturing to do. Lots of buildings to add and some major highways in the Alps section (Right leg of Green area.)

The White Loops area is Snow Creek, and is a very complex route with Scenic Canyon Walls, lots of Waterfalls, and many small Rail Yards. Lots of twists and turns...

This area outlined in RED is Snow Creek Port and Golf Course area, with Cruise Ship and Oil and Cargo Ships etc.

This is our Port Rail Tracks that I did some work on, minor changes. In the Center is lots of Sky Scrapers and a County Fair facility. I put in small Roundhouse and other Diesel handling facilities.

This area is Housing Community Home Depot and the top right side is a new Car Handling, and Car Wash facility for our Port Consists. Will use it a lot for 90 Day turnaround maintenance, and if it comes to an Loco End Rebuild, then it goes out to another area. We also use our Aerostar small Passenger Train, which has small passenger cars for the round about loop here, and inside the Port area, the inner perimeter Tracks run passenger service to feed the Skyscraper and rest of city and County Fair area, which generates good Passenger Traffic.

In the larger picture, the route here and Route in Port area actually form a Rudimentary figure 8 pattern so Trains start in Port area will run the circle then connect across to Housing area here and Vice Versa, that way folks that commute to work in the City from here have train to take rather than Car or Bus commute. And I have good Signalling installed to handle both Port and Passenger Traffic.

Bottom left corner is entry exit from Port connections, the big circle around gives big elevation change from Sea Level to Mountain high. Elevation Grade is 2.50% or greater in some spots, so our long freights need 4locos on point with 2 pushers or more in the back for heavy loads going uphill so Nose Bleed Altitudes.

This is the new Wishram Yard facility, we have Ethanol Plant, Propane, and Lumber Company,,, 2 Scrap Yards, light engine repair and daily maintenance needs. It's a small area and very compact, but serves lots of Chemical Co's too.

Here is heavy freight 5 UC33's pulling load of Boxcars and other pipe casings going north for Water Dept projects.

And we are on our way up a heavy grade with a 5000 Ton Train. Weather is a little iffy, but no Snow is predicted, too early in the season.

We've cleared the heavy grades and are moving nicely here, less than 1% grade as we get close to our destination to drop off 55 Boxcars in Snow Creek Riverside area.

Our next area of interest will be English Highlands Route, where there is lots of Track work, water renovation projects Etc. That route is more Rural and hilly area rather than mountainous like Snow Creek. Connection points on South End of Route towards Waldadavalle (sorry about the spelling) Australian Beach Route. Will talk about this route more as I get into it.

I think that will do it for today.

Thanks for visiting.

Pray for Florida, Killer Hurricane "Irma" is on her way with 180-220 mph winds......Does not bode well for the East Coast.
 
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It has been far too long since I have turned up here to admire your work Blue, I hope you have been well?

You have been putting up some excellent shots here lately, great work sir! Looks like the mega merge is coming along quite well. :)
 
It has been far too long since I have turned up here to admire your work Blue, I hope you have been well?

You have been putting up some excellent shots here lately, great work sir! Looks like the mega merge is coming along quite well. :)


:wave:Good Morning Southern1581, thanks and as always great to see you as well. And speaking of excellent work, looks to me like you should get a reward for the

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?138612-WIP-Carrabassett-Valley-Railroad

for those awesome Graphics and weathering on the Carrabassett Valley Loco's you did........Can't believe how good the colors came out.........Those are keepers for sure.......

As for me, doing OK after a nasty weeks stint of Pinched nerve in the lower Hip and Back, had to take some strong meds for 3 days to get some relief, it had been probably 6-8 months since the last time, don't know if I slept wrong or whatever, but it put me on Bed Rest for 8 days, and couple of Visits to ole Chiropractor, second visit finally gave me some relief, which is normal when the Muscles and Spasms get going, don't wish this on anyone.

I usually bicycle every other day and sometimes a couple of days in a ROW, but this time, I had to hang the Bicycle up for a bit, going today or tomorrow to work out... It really helps me to stay fit........Some sinus issues with this Heat and Such, probably the Forrest Fires we have going out here too in Sunland and Tujunga didn't help either.....

Hot Temps finally abated out here for now, and we actually got some much needed Rain that washed our Dirty Air from all the Smoke and Smog we've had accumulating.

Other than that I'm doing OK and having a ball with my MEGA MERGE, I have learned so much since I have been playing with it......And I need to learn a lot more, all in good time.

Trainz though it has it's moments and issues......LOL.......Is one of the best Simulators I have ever played and I have played Steam Train Simulators over the years, but this one has me hooked, because of all the things you can do........Customization is key to extra fun and interest in my books.

I'm thinking of downloading this item, looks interesting.........?


Try <kuid2:430835:100029:1> ExTrainz Manager v1 by ebertsch. Add it to the session rules. You may have to exit and restart the session edit to see it. Sometimes it will not show in driver unless you exit editor and start drive session. It was created for TS12 but works it Trainz. It is currently being updated to work better in Trainz.


Last edited by Lewiscc65; September 4th, 2017 at 05:31 AM.
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?140937-Schedule-amp-Consist-Documentation

Hope School is going OK for you, I just got to thinking, I started my Grand Kids back this week, and I suppose your back in School as well....Good luck with your Studies, and thanks for dropping by.........


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

[/QUOTE] TrainzPlayer14

Looks fantastic! [/QUOTE]

:D Thank you for the kind comments, and I really appreciate you coming to visit here.......If the work I do and the pictures I post,,can help folks out to have more fun then I have accomplished one of the objectives........

:wave: If you have any questions, just drop them in here, and I will be happy to answer for you.........

Take care.........
 
Good Friday all, and we bid a good prayer for the East Coast, the situation look very untenable at the moment with a Monster Storm by the name of Irma, and 2 other Hurricanes spawning as well. not a good sign at all. Now we wait and see how that Right Turn pans out.

So this is brand new area you ave not seen ever on my site, this is Snow Creek extension linking to English Highlands, not we see how it how goes. I'm using my heavy consist from the port to test gradients.

Wide open country here, and if I recall 1.5% to 2.00% downgrade into the highlands Mainline.

And here is the English Highlands Main below, actually there are 2 sets of Double Main Lines, the other one is 300 feet away running parallel.

Coming in hot here about 60 MPH, and the road bed is perfect. We have 55 Heavy Boxcars plus other heavy loads in tow, heavy tonnage Freight.

We come onto a English Main Line and everyone is good so far, except in about 5 miles I'll run out of Track, need to add a Portal connection for now. And put a Wye connect on the line we just came thru on from Snow Creek.

Back at Wishram Engine Service, we are trying the new C4400 H-3 freeware, with 3 different skins.......There getting some much needed Fuel and Sand Fill ups here.
 
Good Friday all, and we bid a good prayer for the East Coast, the situation look very untenable at the moment with a Monster Storm by the name of Irma, and 2 other Hurricanes spawning as well. not a good sign at all. Now we wait and see how that Right Turn pans out.

So this is brand new area you ave not seen ever on my site, this is Snow Creek extension linking to English Highlands, not we see how it how goes. I'm using my heavy consist from the port to test gradients.

Wide open country here, and if I recall 1.5% to 2.00% downgrade into the highlands Mainline.

And here is the English Highlands Main below, actually there are 2 sets of Double Main Lines, the other one is 300 feet away running parallel.

Coming in hot here about 60 MPH, and the road bed is perfect. We have 55 Heavy Boxcars plus other heavy loads in tow, heavy tonnage Freight.

We come onto a English Main Line and everyone is good so far, except in about 5 miles I'll run out of Track, need to add a Portal connection for now. And put a Wye connect on the line we just came thru on from Snow Creek.

Back at Wishram Engine Service, we are trying the new C4400 H-3 freeware, with 3 different skins.......There getting some much needed Fuel and Sand Fill ups here.

Over here in Wishram new Lumber Facility, we backing up I Beam Wood handler Cars into the new Spur lines, had to redo some of the signals, and put in some Invisible ones too. I also found somehow I cut my mainline tunnel off, and that's what was causing one of My Signals to clear from Red........ On the left is our Diesel and Sand Service yard here.

Here is an overshot, show the Lumber handling yard, as we move 20 empties into the new spur.

Long shot from the other end of the yard, Bar Metals Co and Scrap yard. We have Scrap yard also behind the Lumber Yard, and as well our Lumber Yard makes Sawdust for Hyde Pulp Co which is located downhill in another Freight yard 1/2 way to the Port facility.

Enter Locker Signal is working perfectly as we run the Empty Lumber Beam cars back into the loading spur tracks.

That's about it for now, I need to adjust some switches around the corner on Chem Spur Branch.........This so just tinkering with Crossover Connections being in the wrong spot on a Curve that won't clear up so I need to cut it out and relocate in better straight line along the Main to lay properly for Grade %.......

That'll do for now.....Night all.
 
Good Sunday all,


:wave: A prayer wish goes out the Florida and any of the other States that are in the Irma's path which looks like it could take days to finish out. Went to church at Day Break and are whole church is praying for Florida's safety as this unbelievable storm comes thru.

Well I have a lot of house repairs to do today, some water pipes are breaking from most likely my Tree Roots going to be doing lots of Digging to find the break, fortunately it is away from the house. And of course a minor roof leak. Your work is never down on Maintenance side of things. Thought we would get some rain in the valley, but it looks like it was only in our some of our Local Mountains.

OK, now to Wishram Yard, so I have been fiddling around with this yard for about 3 weeks now if not a month, one of the reasons it took a while was 70% of the items in here had to moved out, because there are merge points on some ends of it. And there where a lot of Curves in this section the way it was originally drawn out by the Author. Then I came in and made lots of elevation changes with the Snow Creek Connections from higher and lower elevation points. So you end with a mulligan Stew here of sorts.

Solution was to clear most of the items, relevel the whole area, but not at the same time make it all flat area, I needed to preserve the hilly areas which give it character and the Lake and River Water areas as well. If you look at the right side here, I made a small Pond area near the Lumber yard on the Right so it gives it and added interest point when you drive your Trains thru Shunting etc.

In the back side, we have Concrete CO, Liberty Propane, and various Chemical companies all thru the area, some one of the names at least for now will call the Branch line (Chemical Branch) which I also made a return loop on, and way in the back, not seen here, I have an Old Coal Facility. I might add a Mining Camp & Company to it, but not sure for now. I need to see how my area performs with moving all the various Industries I have incorporated, I forgot, I also have Sir Dave Snows Ethanol Plant to, it's really a nice Asset he made, just like all his marvelous work he does.

Looking at my Track work, because the Curves cause some close clearances, I had to use Tape Measures in some spots to get the tracks spaced out accordingly otherwise things don't line up correctly, if the Tracks are off everything else gets out of whack too, and you drive yourself crazy trying to get things correct. Also procedural Track will not like crossover switches in Curves if it is to tight, with that said, I had issues with the Red Spline Points not correcting out no matter which way I moved the tracks. Kind off like getting Wallpaper to hang and line up correctly!

So in 2 spots I ended up have to rip out the Crossovers a second time and re-positioning them in more straight section of the Main Lines, then everything else worked out finally. And of course I have a lot of Switch Puzzles in the area with Freight, Passenger, and Chemical Branch Leads going on. Just takes time and patience, and looking at all the different angles when you do your Shunting. Plus I have to learn the Tracks as I shunt to see what makes logical sense when moving my deliveries n empty pickups vs mainline Freights passing thru here going to the Port or English Highland Connections. I'm never bored, but in that light, it keeps it interesting as I play on my Route.

Here is the latest map area of Wishram.......if you look in the middle here, you'll see what look's like a backward P, that is the return route on the E Chemical Branch, clear over to the left extreme, thos Tracks over there are actually a small Narrow Gauge Route I dropped in and someday might setup a dual gauge connection to this route, I don't know, and I might not run any Narrow Gauge, hard to say at the moment, as I have 2 other small Narrow Gauge Routes positioned in here in this Mega Route Mix......

Over to the right third of this picture is Lumber Camp with small Pulp producer for Scrap lumber, Engine Maintenance yard and Small Scrap Metal Co.

We have both propane and Diesel Companies service for the small City here and Export Traffic. Here you see some Loads getting sorted for local deliveries. Across the field is Steel and Scrap Yard Co. And I also put in some new Microwave Radio Towers for this yard, which they need in this hilly area and deep Valleys.

This is Chemical Branch East here, we make lot of Chemical Products along with some Oil Wells nearby to produce Oil for transport on the Rail. This building on the Right is heavy Pipe producer as well. We are bringing in Empties to load and some Compressed fuel cars as well. It took me little time to get the curves right for Locomotive clearance. This lead goes a long ways back around the end of this long building, so we have enough Track when we bring on our Cars to move the loads around efficiently. We can bring in a good string of cars and get the job done. All these pipes will be lifted into the Cars and then will come back and grab them up tomorrow. We have a lady engineer working the Shunt today, and she has lots of experience.

Better view of the all the Freight and Chemical Leads here. I testing out the this right side of picture, as I extended the Lead in the back of this long narrow Pipe and Chemical Producers. I want to see if the way I configured the switches and extra Stub Tracks work out with bringing long strings of mixed loads in. I'm using a UC33 Loco to move the items, but I probably use some SW1200, or 1500 Switchers or possibly Old reliable AlCO Switchers, not sure, I just need to play around with that item to I find what I'm comfortable with and how well they pull these Loads around in tight spots.

These freight yard Stubs will be quit busy as we serve several different industries in a very compact area. The Silver Tank Cars hold special gases for the Pipe Manufacturer on the Right, Big Black Tankers are both Propane and Oil for Chem East Branch behind us. In speaking about Switch puzzles I had to use some invisible Signals in some spots to get my Signals to show the aspect I wanted on some Stub locations, looks like I have it about right for now, Rail Traffic going thru here can't exceed 45 miles, but I'm thinking of reducing it by 10 MPH to 35, because of the numerous curves and cross traffic between Branches, I don't want any cornfield meets here..A derailment in this area could be deadly not only to the Rail Workers but the Public as well if we punctured one of these large tanks and had an hazmat spill.

Edit: I was re reading and thought I should add this to the mix.

In relation to mainline speeds thru this area, and the small Passenger Station around the Curve, in all the yard leads and Stubs, I do have speed cut back to 5MPH on stub ends, and 10MPH on yard leads so we do have trains not moving stuff around too quickly in those areas.....And I might have to even slow some small sections of the Mainline down to 20-25 in congested areas, but the Signals I put in have natural reducing Aspects selected, so there will be lots of Yellows and Reds depending on Local Freights in this area, as well not all Mainline Traffic comes thru this area, as it is diverted off in the Mountain areas to less congested route, this area is more of end of the line setup if you will, with one Main Line coming through from the Alps or Port as needed to get our loads in for Customers. So it doesn't affect the greater part of our main line operations where Dwell Time is very important on Rail Revenues
.

We also have Local Dispatch for our Chem and Coal Lead movement........He works with Valley Dispatch closely so we don't get into a bottleneck, however if we get a major derailment in Valley or somewhere else, we can have the capability to move large Trains thru this area as a temporary relief point if needed, but that would slow down our deliveries to customers here. And it has happened in the past when we had Snow Avalanches or natural disasters as does any railroad. We do the best we can with what we have, and Customers on this Railroad are King, without them, we have no Railroad!

Our little red Caboose is working too, he goes on all the local jobs, when we back up the Conductor is our eyes from the caboose end, keeps us safe, since we have numerous blind curves that we can't see. We use a 3 Man crew, Engineer, Brakeman and Conductor, and if it's a really big job, will add another Brakeman too. Not too often though, 3 workers is a good mix, they are all past 2o and in some cases 30 yr's seasoned Rail Veterans.

I think this will do it for now.

Enjoy your day, and thanks for dropping by.
 
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Good Tuesday all,

Looks like things are a little better on the East Coast, our Prayers continue for better Days and Recovery ahead.

Well, I have been doing lots of little changes in Wishram Yards, in this area I had to reorient some of the trackage, now everything is working OK, I got the Signals fixed too by adding some invisible signals near the end of the Stub lines. Here you see my Switchers hard at work lining up Beam Cars for Lumber Loads.

Around the corner in this area, I've added Oil Jacks and Freight loading depot in the back ground.

Our new yard is in full swing with Propane and Special Compressed Gas Cars. I also added, not seen here, Alcohol Tanks and special Tank Cars to handle Alcohol liquid which is very Flammable.

Leased Canadian National Switchers are coming around the Main to pick up Scheduled Load deliveries for Chem Branch, both East and West divisions.

Enter Locker O8 type Safetran is all red as traffic is routed and dispatched in a very busy section of Puzzle.

Our first item is to retrieve a repaired car set out, the Bogey had was able to be changed on the spot for B/O Wheels off a consist. Fortunately we have enough Tracks it will allow traffic to flow around while repairs where made.

Our Silver Meteor with heavy, I believe Budd Cars are headed thru one of our Coal Plant Yards.

Passing thru our local Power Plant here, and I need to add a small service Spur for Industrial Generator for Equipment needs. Due to the remote location it is much better to have large and or heavy items delivered by Rail than by Truck especially with muddy or snowy Road Access to this plant.

Coming thru a dark tunnel as we cross high mountain Ranges.

Out the tunnel we head into River Gorge area, what a view of Rapids headed down the mountain. There are some very steep cliff edges all along this Rail Corridor, very scenic but can be treacherous due to Snow Ice and flash flood incidents.

That's about it for now, have a great day, and thanks for coming in.
 
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Good evening all,

Been a busy day fixing some broken Sprinklers and a few other things needing repair, one's work is never done.

Back at Bluff City were working on installing new Roundhouses and ones that work OK in Tane, and have the proper Height clearance for large locos like theses boys, for whatever reason some of the Tracks used in older Roundhouse have rendering issues with T:ANE. So I found this one to be OK on all counts.

What I also like is this Roundhouse has 3 different ways to drive into it, which works very well in the way my yard is built and allows a lot of flexibility here. Just remembered something else that came to mind with this particular roundhouse, because my Yard was only so large, I needed something that would fit into this corner and not take up to much room, but offer me good all around performance and options. This one fits the bill perfectly. And I only needed to move few Trees to get it to fit in the corner of this yard.......Hurray!
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Here is UP 9000 backing in for clearance check, and we have enough length on the turntable too.

Inside the Barn, we have plenty of breathing room here........

We are coming in from the North Track to see everything lines up OK.........

Another view across this vast interior of great Roundhouse.

And here's are test Loco pulling a heavy load to the next city down to Port for shipping process.

Another view of our new yard, all the tracks are not connected yet but our roundhouse works and the Loco's are happy to have a new home to hang their hat's on the cold nights coming up.

This picture of Bluff city yards shows the completed Track arrangement with the new Roundhouse. Everything works great and we not crowded and jammed up light it was before. I have a Wye on one side, and turn around Loop on the perimeter of the Yard, so there is not problem with egress ingress to working parts of the yard. Lots of Flexibility.

In this picture, I have added a special enclosed Locomotive shed that is quit different than any other model I have seen, it's a circle set in a Square Building.

Back in Wishram Yard, I have been busy getting all the different industry cars needed to handle our several industrial Customers.. So far, we have Ethanol, Cement, Scrap Metal, Metal Products Co, Chemical Fluids, Industrial Waste, Alcohol Fuels, Coal Plant, Textile Manufacture, Pulp and Lumber Products. Specialty Pipe Products, Oil Wells, Propane Co, Gas and Diesel Product Distributors.

Not to bad for a small yard. Now that I got the cars in place, I need to check out the Track and Switch arrangement to see if this works OK.

Our next stop? English highlands, I have a lot of Track work to do, return loops, and possibly adding some more Tiles for better access points at the end and beginning of the route.

That's about it for tonight, thanks for dropping in........
 
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Good Friday Evening folks,

Got lots more repairs to do with those doggone sprinklers and over zealous Tree that likes to grow, well it shades us well, so I really can't complain.

So back on the Railroad, been busy making more Crossover Connections where i need them. Change some more buildings around, Kit bash some others, just can't keep my hands off Wishram Yard and the Chemical Branch. Just wasn't quite right, so it was fiddle time, tonight I'll run some more Trains to see if the changes work out better in relation to flow control.

And the big thing I was able to do learn how to Create and edit Old and New PICK LISTS, in Content Manager, those lists are awesome tools as now, when I want to setup areas with several associated items, I have them all together easy to grab and paste.

For example, in my Cement Industry area, I needed a several items all Cement related, Hoppers, Cement Trucks, Cement accessories, and you know that all these items don't always have the word Cement in them, nor should they! or they have strange names given by the authors, that's just the real world.

So I made a new list called Cement Items, went grabbed all the Trucks, different Hoppers, Cement Textures, and anything else that would work with Cement Plants, or Aggregate Materials. Now I have most of what I need, and If I find some more or new things, I add it to the list, and it works great.

Now lets talk about the pictures below, This is Bluff City Yard, with new UP 9000's and some redone Cabooses that look fantastic, well I do, everyone has there favorites of course.

Milwaukee Consist just arrived with junk Train (mixed freight consist) don't know why they ever used that name for a consist, but it stuck for sure.

I cleared all this yard out of Buildings, Tracks, Bridges, excess Trees that I needed moved etc, and redid it all, that's why it looks too clean, when I get back here, I need to put some more trees, shrubs, and Track Weeds etc, and some more buildings. So this area is long term WIP for now.

Our 9000 is making it's way out of the yard fueled and watered to the hilt. As you can see there is lots of open space left, haven't got all the tracks in yet as of this picture.

This is the grand interior of the newly redone Cabooses......Really nice job by the author.

Dispatch has us lined up to grab our consist.

Guess the UP RR Police Caboose is coming along for the ride, I think we given them a ride to another yard where they'll ride as enforcement.

Looks like our Crossing protection is working perfectly for us...........However I have to tell you, we had some Drivers lose control of their cars and crash thru the gates into our Trains, and didn't end up well.

We cleared the point, now we are doing a reverse move back on water Main Route to grab our consist.

Looks like the crew brought our consist in for us on another lead so will grab it here.

Bet you haven't seen these type inter model Trailers in a long time........Actually this is from a small company that uses these trailers still, and they like our fast shipment times.

Moved all our cabooses over to wait track, we dragging back to our assigned consist, and these locomotives drive so smooth, I really like them. Powerful too.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'll see you on Sun or Mon.....Thank you for coming by........
 
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Good Sunday to all,

My day was busy, still working on leaking water pipes, my little tree has grown so much I didn't realize how much the Roots have spread out in the yard, I suppose like they say Time does fly and we don't realize it until one day, something comes up and it comes back into focus.

So back to Wishram yard, these little Switchers and my spots of 2% grade on some of the tracks, add up to not enough weight or Traction to pull the long strings of Cars I need for my Industries. So I'm sending them back and bringing in some heavier units to give me the Muscle I need up here.

Here we pulling some heavy Grain and Cement cars out of the yard.

Will be staging them on one of Longer Storage Tracks on the Chemical Lead Branch and they'll go out with a whole bunch of other Steel and Pipe loads from the West Chemical Branch.

On the left in the yard are Propane and Heavy Tanker Oil cars brought into here for the City Reserve Tanks, which are low and need fresh Supplies.

We are testing this UP Hybrid Switcher with a Slug for extra Traction, if it works well, will go with 2 Hybrids or 3 to handle the shunting jobs, and will drop the Slug because some of the areas we serve, the Radius is to tight for the Trucks.

Decided I need to bring some of my ALCO Units from the other yards and try them out too.......

We are bringing in loads and empties for Ethanol on Right, Propane and Oil Co Storage behind us., Tracks are about right here. But I may have to make some more Storage Tracks for my loads, as it appears I might not have enough for the all industries I made!

Will see how it goes to determine how much and where I need them located?

And yup, my local goes with a caboose too, I'm old fashioned and loving it.

Well in a few minutes I will find out that I didn't have this track far enough away from this service Platform that drops down on top of the Tanker Roof for hatch access.



This is are turnaround Loop which we also use to serve the Ethanol Plant, due to the Tracks requiring some what of Scissor action to get the loads in. And it does work OK. This Plant got the location for good price, due to the fact on one side your buttoned up to the River, so there is not the space these plants would normally have like in other areas, but it will work the way I have the Tracks arranged. The area between the Row of Large Tanks can have a couple of Storage Tracks put in too, I just haven't decided if I need to or not, will have to see how many loads this plant generates in concerance with the Propane and Oil Co on the other side.

A little farther away you can see more of the industrial area.

In this side we are backing our Oil Loads for the Oil Company in the back. On the left is Grain Silo, Cement Co, Aggregate Factory, some Freight Ramps. Way in the back is our Textile Plant.

These back 2 cars are Alcohol and headed to the building on middle left, that tank on the Left holds all there Alcohol Reserves for the Alcohol Products they make. They also sell Alcohol as fuel for other things such as Camping supplies etc. Good to see our Signal is showing correctly for Diverging Route, I'm using Safetran Signals and they work very well for me once I have the parameters I need along the Line. I occasionally get a Blinking Red Signal on the bottom Lamp of 2 headed signal, also get blinking Yellow and Green aspects......Pretty Cool.

I extended a few of my Crossovers to allow better cut over connections on my Mains.

As soon as I get a few more things worked out here in Wishram, I'll move on to English Highlands.

Funny thing, I have been real busy with the Oil/Propane Tankers and Special Chemical Gas Cars, haven't even made it to the 2 Scrapyards yet to see how those track leads work out.

The Lumber and Pulp Mill are all set and working good in the back of this Yard.

So still a few things to conquer here on this end of the Route, but it is coming along OK. I of course am learning too as I make and or change these areas, each has it peculiar issues to deal with and learn to conquer, that's what makes doing this so interesting, challenging and sometimes a real pain in the neck! And that's OK. we would call it the Nature of the beast.

That's it for today, you all have a good week, and I wish the best for the Hurricane Survivors, a very tough Road ahead for them as Repair and Rebuild is going to take some time.

Night all.
 
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Greetings on Tuesday, the weather is cool, cloudy and we may see some much needed rain? Unfortunately there is another bad Hurricane running around in the Bahamas......

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-brush-by-new-england/?utm_term=.aa51888bc626

At one time I would have liked to live on one of these Islands, but after seeing what Hurricanes can do, well just a visit now. Our prayers go out for these folks, this is a Cat 5 Storm.

Back over on Chemical Branch North, we've added some new Lease Power, SP 660 Horsepower, and I think they are geared fairly low, which for here is perfect, the max speed is 5-10 MPH, and I might moderate it to 7MPH depending on Safety Concerns. There is a ton of Activity now that I have finished with all the Team, Spur and Stub tracks to service the industries.

Ever on Chemical West Branch, we have Pulp, Sulfur, and other Mineral Loads getting ready with some other Lease power "DVR" and he pulls real good too, but I may have to Double him up because these Mineral and Cement Loads can be quite heavy to move around. What I have found out on this branch, I need to add some more Invisible Signals, because I'm getting too many Red or Restricting Signal Aspects, as one Trainzser mentioned this week, it appears Trainz AI looks farther down the Tracks for Circuit occupation. The only other thing I might need to do, is cut out some of the signal, and run some of these areas Dark Unsignaled with the exception of the Escape and Turnaround Loop only? Have to play a little more with it so see which way is going to give me what I need too. Other than that, this Branch is working really good now since I extended some Stubs and made some more Cross Over Connections.

I think I might need to Tweak the Smoke Color on this one when I have nothing better to do, which is easy to do in the Config.txt This little guy runs great, I really like him, he is a keeper.

We have Consist coming in West Chemical Branch Lead, and we have to get these spotted behind us here, so on the Return loop, the other Loco will stop at the switch behind us here and grab these up to take them for there next destination. We get all different kinds of loads here, and we have a portable Trans-loader stashed to the side of these Silos, which works great for our customers. That gives them the flexibility of Loading onto or off Rail Cars, then we ship out/in as needed. The loads you see here are Pelleted Mineral Products going out to other Factories for use.

Loads are ready and the empty Gons are headed for one of our Scrapyards that have ready Scrap waiting to load nearby. I have to get some more Gons ordered up for the demand. Now that we got Industries set, and Track access is pretty much complete, we have to get the ball running with Rail Car availability.

Little better picture here, Shunting in action as we push the loads back to the Switch where they'll go out shortly.


This particular Crossover is where I need to see if a Invisible Signal will make a difference or not, I keep getting a Red, part of the reason, is I have a String of Empties sitting on the Main, but I should get a Yellow, due to have 2 Signals between me and the empties, but apparently it doesn't work that way, but I may have to shut off the Advance Approach Aspect sitting on some of these signals? And that's OK too.

Back over in Wishram East Yard, we have Lots of Loads to sort out and get them moved over the to Chemical Branch, I have probably 75-100 Cars to move today....Guess I better get to it, we currently are using 4 sets of Switchers to get it done......Good Business for the Railroad.

Pulling Specialty Compressed Gas cars here with Alcohol and Boxcar Loads for the Chemical North Branch, Track just to the Right of us here. Got several Pipe Loads ready and waiting, easy access, and we have those Dedicated SP 660 Switchers in the Back to shuffle our loads for us, so we don't make a lot of unnecessary Shunting moves, this is all done over local Dispatch, and we also have our Chemical Lead Locally dispatched too, and he can talk to Harbor District Dispatch and give us the heads up on Consists movement etc,,,,,makes for fluid situation, Plus our Weather here in Elevated mountains is not the same as Sea Level Harbor below, so keep in close contact with Harbor Master Rail Operations and let them know if we get Bad Snow Storms up here or serous Freeze situations affecting Rail and Switches.

Our Chemical North Branch Switchers have pushed out some Loaded Tankers for pickup......This works great for us, as he gets everything Sorted and Tagged for Consist movement. Our Yard local comes out and picks them up and moves them as needed.

My Aim is good customer service and lots of Flexibility on movement and changing needs, I already added 2 long Spurs for the Ethanol and Cement industries, so we drop empties or Loads in them and then the local DVR switcher show earlier will spot the loads as needed. So on whole Chemical Lead Branch (West, East, North) sections we have 2 dedicated switchers moving stuff around. And if it gets to busy, I have switcher from the Lumber Pulp Yard on the other side, that can take a quick Tie Track lead over to the Chemical Branch and help out on any day, as his work is just moving cars for Lumber Loads going out to the Port and several other areas of the Route... And that is all picked up by heavy Road Engines, SD 40 thru SD-90 depending on the areas they travel and associated Grades %.

That'll do it for today, I did a lot of playing on this route last night and things are shaping up quite well, just as noted, a few details I need to attend too. I'm hoping that by this weekend, I will finish for the Track part of this route and get over to the English Highlands connection to start work on Track access etc. Something I just remembered, I have some trees I need to adjust in here due to the additional Tracks I put in, there are some minor clearance issues for the Trains.........

Have a good day all and thank you for coming by.
 
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Good evening all,

Been a busy day on Railroad, we have all our consists together out of the East Wishram Yard, were backing into the Chemical Lead Branch getting ready to drop off Tankers, Coal Gons Etc.

We made it to diverging position, and will shunt back till we clear this point. Then head in.

This is our small Passenger Station we have some customers for Passenger, but in this area, it's largely a Freight Route operation here. For now Passenger service is just once a day. At least we do have a station here, some areas do not. When that's the case Folks have to drive further to ride our Passenger Service, or they don't ride at all, and use some other form of Transportation, it's my wish to change that on our Railroad and do when and where it's feasible and cost appropriate.

We got pushed back to Chemical Lead East and West Branch Line Lead. Lots of Freight Traffic is going to flow thru here, one thing I need to do is probably change the access entry if I figure out a better Track arrangement, but for now it's a bit of a see saw arrangement.

Will have to wait to see what the Future and some more intuitiveness deals me?

I forgot, we have a little Freight going in the Chemical Branch North Lead here, and we have lots of Tankers, Compressed Gas, Flatcars loaded with Pipes and other Cargo, all lined up on the Load Side, will push empties on the left leg here and our North Branch Dedicated Switcher will hand the finish spot shunting, all we have to do drop the empties and pick up the ready Staged loads here on the Right, goes fast and we are on our way to rest of the Chemical Branch Industrial leads.

Here we are at the top of the North Chemical Branch lead, our SP 660 Switchers are ready to swing into action for final Shunts.

Heavy loaded Tankers pulled in, now we just need to cut and drop, our local "DVR"switcher for this Side of the Chemical Lead will finish the rest.

Oh good night, what the heck is this going on, I wasn't told we were having ALCO convention in the North Forty Acres, and I sure wasn't told why we had our Track extended another Mile out to hold all these new (slightly used) models shipped out by our Director of Locomotives Road Super!

Well come to find out, these AlCO's have been reconditioned and our Directors want them tested to see how they'll fit in where in this altitude and Grade, Traction and all the horsepower mustered is key to get these loads moved timely and expeditiously.

Now the question is, can these Smokey Joes do the job, that no one else wants. Testing starts tomorrow.

We have so many, I can't even see the end of this long line of LOCOS!

The first one here, well I think he is a bit of an Ugly Duckling, however looks along don't do the job, will see if his Horsepower is up the Job I plan on giving the Crew and him tomorrow.

Beyond this, I got some invisible Signals placed and I think I have enough Storage tracks in place.

Been working Pick Lists like crazy from the Content Mgr and it really works out well for me........There is an immense power when you set these pick lists right helps me find the assets I need a whole lot easier and place them on the Route in 1/4 of the time. Sorry to say I was late to the Party for starting these Pick Lists, they are worth the effort.

Enjoy your Friday and I'll see you in a couple of days. Night all.
 
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Good Sunday Eve folks,

Had nice trip to Santa Barbara for 10K event for my Spouse and great for my bicycling for me, perfect weather..

So of course while there for a few days, I did some more work on my Route!

Below we have Oil Tankers brought in for Oil Company and Ethanol Plants. So we have 3 Switch Crews on duty for all the Shunting scheduled.

Our DVR Crew is pulling some full Pulpwood, and Sulphor Pellet loads.

We going to do a lot of in and out moves to get everything sorted out to the correct Industry..

This UP Switcher is headed back to grab some more loads.

Looks like we have some more Tank loads to spot to.

This is around the Corner Spur of East Chemical Branch in the Forest area, We have Coal Tipple and Goods Storage Building and at the end of the spur is Old Time Soap Factory, and everyone needs some soap to clean with.......

OK we are out on our Escape turnaround Loop on the back 100 Acres here, we have a load of Flatcars and Gons we need to Drag over to the Scrap and Metal yards.

We are coming around the outside Loop into inside the Ethanol and Cement Spurs. It's not shown here but I found out that with all the Tankers and other Junk Trains I run, I more room to get things shunted in a timely manner, so I had to double this Track here, a single is not enough capacity to handle the loads we are bringing in.

DVR Switcher is done for now, so he ties up next to the old Dispatcher Building.

Here is a broad view of East Chemical Branch, there's quite a bit packed in here, and neatly placed and all the tracks are connected. Unfortunately one of my Silos has to be removed due to it being to over crowded near the Ethanol Plant.

I re did some more signals on new double track Loop return line in the back. Now I just need to test to and see that my aspects and coverage is correct. I also need to extend my hill top on the west side of this yard, and re orient the River on the other side....What is that they say, Growing pains hurt sometimes......LOL.....

That's it for tonight. I bid you all good week ahead.
 
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