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

[hiawathamr]

Could be, don't know for sure.
I just like to have different powers basically roam Canada since I think it happens in real life as well - who knows .

Thank you Blue for the kind words! I'm slowly getting close to the diamond where 2 mainlines crosses each other - pretty busy spot with lots of action. Going to try to add a railroad park there


And yes - pumpkin pie is always welcomed, can't get enough of the pie since its just soo good..


Hope your Thanksgiving goes well, maybe I'll try to make a Thanksgiving themed screenshot - who knows lol
As for the Christmas things... yeah... personally a bit too early for Christmas things, especially when they where setting that up before Halloween even happened

Cheers

[blueodessey]

Happy Thanksgiving to all,

This is a special day and I hope all our well during this difficult time of horrible Pandemic.

So whats happening at the Blue's House, well, I had another Pipe Test today to find out 2 of my underground Pipes are fine, however the 3rd one, the longest run in the Bunch, has a second leak, and now need to break up another 5 feet of Cement, to unearch the leak, and then do another, Pressure Test after I cut off the bad part of the Copper pipe. So slowly but surely, hopefully will find a good end game out of this.....This is what happens when you have things older than 50 yrs, and they start to fail.

I also found out my Skimmer is not Unibody back in the 70.s and it could be the Plastic is deterioating in the bottom, allowing for pin hole leaks.......The newer Skimmers are Unibody and don't have this problem anymore, which usually if there is a leak, it is sustained the incoming piping, not plastic Cage of the Skimmer......

Friday I plan on doing some shopping at Trainz Store to pick up some items I have waited for.

Lets hop over to YouTube: Blues picks of the week for your viewing pleasure.

DURANGO First Cascade

https://youtu.be/-LFtqA7GzB8

Since May the Durango & Silverton NG RR was forced to run Cascade Canyon trains from Rockwood due to COVID 19. Today they were able to run to Cascade from Durango. Was great hearing the whistle in the valley.

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

"A Slow Roll, NYS&W Utica NY"

https://youtu.be/4aQacrtDDmQ

We catch a New York, Susquehanna & Western freight southbound on Utica NY's Schuyler Street a little before 10 AM on November 24, 2020.

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

Kansas City Southern: Climbing Rich Mountain!

https://youtu.be/ywxEI9jqZoQ

Sit back and enjoy a video production of KCS freights battling the tough grades of the Ouachita Mountain Valley! We'll follow the KCS Shreveport Sub from Heavener, Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas with everything in between. Thanks for watching!

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

Classic GP7 Working at the Port of Shreveport!

https://youtu.be/lmdmZnHRY0s

Very overdue on posting this operation! Thanks for watching!

Those 2 switchers are still active, one of the companies at the port, and occasionally GW would use them to deliver rail cars if the yellow GP7 was down....

================================================== ==================================
American Freight Trains in Memphis, Tennessee

https://youtu.be/29vrw7j_4pM

Spend some time on CN, BNSF, and NS in the great city of Memphis, Tennessee.

================================================== ===================================
I took a little time to go over some my older saved Routes, one of them being Jango's Winter Donnor Pass. When I opened up my saved file from a year ago, I found lots of missing items, and other problems with Bridge placings. It could be this file was from my TANE Days, I don't know, so I downloaded the latest version, 1.2. This version looks OK and Bridges, other items look right. So I deleted all my old Donner Pass Routes.

With that said, tonight here is some Pictures with UP Gas Turbine Passenger Train making an initial Run from Reno Nev to California.

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



This is a large, very large Route.......140 Miles long.........And this Route will just work on my ASUS ROG Laptop....Any larger, and I couldn't run it.......




We start our 140 Mile Trip coming out of a Turnaround Trip today.......





Map of overhead Turnaround Track.




Headed in Southern Direction, we head into a Valley area.....





This is one powerful Locomotive, 8500 Horsepower if I recall correctly.....But it had problems as does any prototype.

https://www.standard.net/news/local/...60c6c891d.html

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



UP Train is on the Move headed from Norther Nevada to Central Ca.....We come thru the Valley here in the high mmountains.

That'll do for today.......Peace

[blueodessey]

Blue went shopping today,

I got a lot of things, I have been waiting to buy for since last year. And I had about 1000 Trainz Points from earlier small purchases, American Mountain an so other Routes this year. Make sure you use your Trainz Points, they are only valid for so long, I lost a few hundred earlier this year, because I had not visited my account.......Every point helps when your purchasing things.....So use them up......

https://store.trainzportal.com/

Below are the items I purchased with some great savings today........!!!!

I have some NS Locos, but these particular ones I hadn't purchased yet........Got some older BN and UP, PRR stuff as well.....

All good for Blue....Now I need to go thru my dated Inventory and junk out, retire older not as well done graphically Assets.

<kuid2:45324:100274:1> BNSF Dash 9-44CW h3
<kuid:506034:604034> BN SD7 low hood
<kuid2:385819:160002:11> GP38-2_ATSF HP TANE
<kuid2:68787:115180:4> GP38-2_ATSF_worn_HP_TANE
<kuid2:45324:100183:1> BNSF SD70MAC (BN exec patch w/swoosh)
<kuid2:45324:100271:1> SP Dash 9-44CW
<kuid2:45324:100015:2> BNSF Dash 9-44CW h2
<kuid2:45324:100193:1> CSX SD80MAC YN3
<kuid2:45324:100006:1> SP SD40R
<kuid:506034:245589> BN GP5 low hood
<kuid:506034:604080> BN SD7 high hood
<kuid:506034:575338> UP GP9 late (weathered)
<kuid:506034:452770> PRR GP9 early
<kuid:506034:452689> PRR GP9 late
<kuid2:45324:100314:1> NS SD60E GoRail
<kuid2:45324:100312:1> NS SD60E
<kuid2:45324:100313:1> NS SD60E Veterans
<kuid2:453099:100502:51> C&O 2-6-6-6 H8 (Early)
<kuid2:453099:100924:51> C&O 2-6-6-6 H8 (Late)
<kuid2:45324:100157:1> NS C40-8
<kuid:506034:501501> PNWR SD7 #1501
<kuid2:45324:100160:1> UP C40-8
<kuid2:45324:100036:2> CSX SD60

<kuid2:506034:100013:2> Legacy of the Burlington Northern v2

Updated 1400Hrs PST added the last items of interest:

Union Pacific Heritage Pack BNSF GP38-2 Pumpkins (2 Pack) CP SD40-2 #5865-5879 Modern Block Letters CP SD40-2 #5865-5879 Multimark Utah Belt AC4400CW 4400-4450 NS SD80MAC Southern Pacific - EMD SD50 Black Widow

Enjoy your day, and I hope you find some niece items at Trainz

[blueodessey]

Evening all,

Here are some quick Photos of Locomotives I added to my Inventory today. SP, UP, ATSF, NS, PRR, CN and other Older ones......In my previous Message, I have all the Loco Names and Types shown here...<kuid:455032:107472> NORTH AMERICAN GRAIN SHORTLINE-2013 Route.....

And I can assure all of you, none of these is headed to the Scraper either , I'll make sure there all properly cared for, dispute some them who have unkempt appearances....AKA severally weathered condition! You know I loving it.....











EMD 50 SPBW (Black Widow) one of my Favorites.......


This is old guy us headed to one of my Coal Country or Similiar, , maybe Hinton Route........This little 3Axle can pull its weight and then some.....Don't laugh, this old Geezer is paid for....And Runs like a Champ......




Because of the variety that I purchased today, they will work wonderfully on a great many Routes, and one of the Routes I purchased today? Legacy of the BN II will have several of the different BN Locomotives I didn't have....They'll be pressed into service this week on that Route which is beautifully done.........

Tomorrow is busy day for me, busting out some more Concrete Decking to fix this one last Copper Pipe with tiny hole in it somewhere, that I have to find.....

Take care all, be well, and thank you for dropping by......

[hiawathamr]

That's a nice collection Blue.
I also went shopping as the sale was good for me. Bought basically all of the JR engines for $1.50, and then with the points, helped to make the cost a grand deal that was part to pass

I also went to the hobby shop and myself a N scale Metra set for $200, not a bad deal considering other places would want close to $400 if not more for the x3 Metra cars and $200 for the DCC engine..

Some pics of the set






Have fun with your new collection

Cheers

[Forester1]

Hi Blue! Great to see you are keeping up your inventory! I went for the routes I had not picked up before, so I got the updated S&C, Chiyoda Branch Line, BalezinoMosti, Coal Country, Short Line, and Midwestern Branch. When I went to download, the Midwestern Branch was already installed, so It may be my second time... . The six routes were in the neighborhood of $30, and I got $10 off with rewards points, so six for $20! What a bargain! I am wishing I had thrown Tidewater in there as well, but the Christmas sale is coming I an sure! Enjoy the holiday season with your new toys!

[blueodessey]

Evening Hiawathamr and Forester1,,

Way cool on the Route and Hobby Store Items.....

This evening I found one more place to go shopping for a couple of items.

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...-Reggiestrainz

<kuid:844571:105727> MILW SD40-2 197
<kuid:839374:2111> UP GP60 Ph2a
<kuid2:839374:2031:1> SSW GP60 Ph2b
<kuid:839374:2105> SP GP60 Ph2a
<kuid2:839374:2025:1> DRGW GP60 Ph2b
<kuid2:839374:2022:1> UP GP60 Ph2B
<kuid:839374:2101> EMDX GP60 Demo
<kuid2:839374:2013:1> SP GP60 Ph2b
<kuid:839374:2108> SSW GP60 Ph2a
<kuid:839374:2010> ERSX GP60
<kuid:839374:2093> CSX GP60 6899
<kuid:839374:2092> CSX GP60 6898
<kuid:844571:105771> SD45 Milw Road 6
<kuid:839374:2091> CSX GP60 6897
<kuid:839374:2117> ATSF GP60M (MAERSK)
<kuid:839374:2120> ATSF GP60M
<kuid:839374:2135> ATSF GP60B
<kuid:844571:105762> MP15DC CNW 1307
<kuid:844571:105767> MP15DC CNW 1308
<kuid:844571:105744> MILW SD40-2 AN
<kuid:844571:105774> SD45 Milw Road 10
<kuid:844571:105745> CSX ES44AH Law Enforcement

Glad to see folks out purchasing some items, at some really great Savings............

[blueodessey]

Blue was up to no good again, and found some more Deals.

Here are the latest new Arrivals to my Inventory.

I needed more MILW units especially Cabooses.....This is one I didn't have......


Between Maersk and ATSF B-Unit one track behind, check out the <kuid:844571:105745> CSX ES44AH Law Enforcement I think is pretty cool for Rail Safety operations.........


One of the things I am fond of are Slaves and Slug units, every so often you'll see them in Consists, other times you might not notice at times when Freights are flying by on Mainlines.

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

https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/C...sel_Locomotive

<kuid:839374:2135> ATSF GP60B

A slug is a vehicle used for moving trains, having traction motors and added weight (or "ballast") but no prime mover or generator. The electric current for its motors is provided by a "mother" unit, a standard locomotive fitted with cable connections to feed current to the slug.

Very happy with Well Weathered SP and Rio Grande Units too.......


A few of these Locomotives have Changeable Skins......I think 2-3 of them.....That is way cool for Blue, and he approves it!!!


In the Far Right corner here are these Chicago North Western, they came with some of the others in a Pack.........All in All, I like what I found......This will be my Xmas Gift to myself.......Prices were really good, and I appreciate......Thank you to all the Asset Builder out there making this a great Xmas Present for Blue.......
<kuid:844571:105762> MP15DC CNW 1307
<kuid:844571:105767> MP15DC CNW 1308

Enjoy your weekend ahead, stay healthy and stay safe too......Peace to the World..

[blueodessey]

Ck out this Link Today from JCitron, amazing NG operation.....!


https://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...ony-March-2018

Thanks John for cool Video..........

[fant_autentico]

You seem happy with all those purchases these days, I'm glad.

You always tell us what the weather is going to do in your area and I remembered why a wave of polar cold enters Spain on Thursday.
This made me regret that you may not know why it is less cold in some parts of Europe than in the US.
Blame it on the "Siberian anticyclone"; Siberia has a permanent anticyclone on top that blocks the Arctic winds and when it weakens or moves a little those winds sweep the European continent.
In the 1960s, the Soviet Union had a project to irrigate part of Siberia by drying up a huge lake and apparently that would modify the anticyclone, for which they suffered pressure from Western Europe and NATO; be that or another reason, the fact is that they did not carry out the project.

For all this is that, for example, being New York and Madrid at approximately the same latitude, in the former it is much colder in winter.

I hope I have not bored you with this "little battle" and I hope you are well at home, my friend.

Hugs, Javier

[blueodessey]

Hello my Friend,

I love weather and watching Cloud Formations, and I not at all bored with your Weather information....Weather is so fascinating, and I think, that not a lot of people understand Weather very much in the long scheme of things, only to the extent they cry when it Rains, get upset when it's to hot or Cold. But do not understand the factors that contribute what causes what.....

For the a good part of the West Coast, we have this terrible thing called High Pressure Dome, which is almost at times a semi permanent High Pressure Ridge that literary sits down on 4 Corner States, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, what happens then, our Winds can die down, with little or no Cooling from the Oceans, which is our normal Air Conditioner in the Summer Etc. And our Air becomes Stagnant and Smoggy, Dirty in every sense of the imagination....Very unhealthy, our Rain Fall is none, that is one of the Reasons we are in , and have been in, a very severe Drought for at least 5-7 years!!

As an example, we are in fall correct, we should be in the 55-70 degrees, more or less, but we still get spikes of 80-90 Degrees, which in mind, very, very bad, an with that said, we are still breaking out with Fires in extremely dry areas, dead Trees from Bark Beatles, because there is not enough rain.....

As well, our Forests are not being managed properly, with excess Growth culled out, so trees don't have to compete for Water. And then, Mother Nature steps in and does the Culling for us....Such as areas catching fire that have not burned in 50-60 Years. Which is ridiculous.

https://ucanr.edu/sites/forestry/California_forests/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridicu...esilient_Ridge


So other than one small Storm we month ago, our last Rains occurred April, maybe a little in May.....As I have alluded to others, that is very bad for California is coming to bite us bad with the worst year for Fire Storms......As well, it Washington, Oregon, Colorado and some other States had there worst acreage Fires in History......So will see how it works out....

Personally, in the last 5 yrs, I lost Plum Tree, European White Birch, and Fruitless Plum Tree to Bark Beetles and Termites.....Really sad when you have remove 3 of your beloved trees, to save others from Pests like these.......

Right now, no Rain for the foreseeable future, have to see what pans out, however in Midwest to East Coast, I think they had Record Hurricanes.......They ran out of names to call them........I tell my our Friends in those areas to please send us some rain.....We really need it......

https://www.google.com/search?client...ne+season+2020

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...l-its-aquifers

https://www.drought.gov/drought/states/california


And when I here someone complain about Rain in Summer time here, I tell them, would you prefer more Fires etc, or ? They will say, well no, who wants Fires, then I tell them, think about our Drought and how precious Water is, a little rain in the Summer would be a blessing.......

There you have it my Friend,,,,,,,A snippet of our Weather System........

[blueodessey]

Good evening all,

A prayer goes out to all of you, that Covid gets better, it really tough out there with increase of infection rates, and Deaths etc. I'm hoping we can get this horrid Virus turned around. Our ICU's in Hospital are down to 13% capacity California.

So I finally got my Pool Pipes repaired, I had to bust out some additional small section of Concrete to find a hole that was just about the size of Pencil Lead, could cause such a problem with Suction......Crazy......Now everything is in Good Order........Can't complain, the Pool is over 50 yrs old and.....The bad thing is, from the damage I see, it looks like some kind of Screw or metal piece got picked up in when it was vacuumed and acted like a cascading Drill Bit, chewing into the Copper lines in a 5 foot area as it tumbled threw under Suction......At least now, the lines are clear and there is no further detectable damage.....


================================================== ==========================
Blues You Tube Picks for the week:

CP Canadian 1970's

https://youtu.be/bYzAn_E0LPQ

Herewith is a sampler from his two trips on the Canadian in June and December 1970, with a few later shots of the Spiral Tunnels added. Merry Christmas!


Indiana Northeastern Railroad INER 1601 at Reading

https://youtu.be/RXKa1mKbn3E

Indiana Northeastern Railroad with IN 1601 in really fresh paint sits in Reading Michigan getting fueled on a hot June day. I followed the train to Hillsdale where the switched out most of the cars and 2 locomotives. I followed the short 2 car train west toward Coldwater.


The "Modern" Gibsland Shuffle!

https://youtu.be/PQGvCJFeHIo

Ask any veteran rail buff from the region about Gibsland, and they will most likely tell you about the "Gibsland Shuffle". Nowadays, two of the three lines that served the area have been replaced, but that does not change the fact that Gibsland is still a busy railroad town. Thanks for watching!

Fast Trains Passing Middletown Train Station! Norfolk Southern Railroad ex Big Four Railroad Main

https://youtu.be/bnTLdgxUsCU

Old abandoned train station built in 1909 on Norfolk Southern main line between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio in Middletown, Ohio. SD40-2 local switcher locomotive going to the industrial spur is seen passing the station with a tank car. This track is ex Big Four Railroad: Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago and St Louis Railway. Passenger trains stopped using this station on April 30, 1971 and today it is a private business. I always wanted to film a train going by here so today I waited in the cold on a windy and sunny day. I also filmed another train just a few miles north of here on this line. It had problems with its third engine and stopped on the main for about half an hour. I filmed it passing right after they got the train moving again. There is also a Cohen Recycling plant in Middletown that has a couple very old locomotives that I want to film. Notice the General Electric center cab critter in the outro that they named "Smokey". That engine pulled a few company gondola cars out of the scrap yard and next to the NS mainline. Cohen doesn't have a direct connection to NS although their tracks are parallel to NS. Cohen has a connection a couple miles to the west to the CSX. I wanted to film the little GE but I couldn't find anywhere to park without having to walk a long distance. I'm going to return to film the Cohen locomotives

================================================== ===========================
Well lets see, what have I been up too this week, besides fixing broken pipes, putting up Xmas Decorations, and helping a family member with Knee Replacement Surgery. Their rehabilition is coming along, but since they are older now, mending will take quite a while. But it is better than having a Bone on Bone grind and pain situation.......

So with my spare time, I have had this idea about putting together, some Alaskan Routes Merge wise, not mine, but other members to see what I could do with it.......So tonight here is some Photos of a much WIP progress stitched together Route. This will take a long time to finish. I need to find out what Industries and other Items Alaska has. I know everything comes in by Ships and Air Freight.

The is the original Route,,,,,When I opened it up this Route, it took me to the medium size part of the Route. I had no idea it was in 3 pieces, what I think, but I don't know for sure. Was maybe the other pieces were other areas of Alaska, and person didn't finish whatever their final intentions were? Who knows. But I just chopped up Tiles. Saved to 3 different Routes then put them where I thought they would work out the Best...



This is what the Route looks like at the moment after 3 merge Operations. One Large long piece and two shorter end caps where all merged together here.....Part of this Route was made from a DEM map and it has beautiful Mountains.

This is Seward section of the Route, and just put in some Harbor areas with some Tracks for connections.

This is Ben Dorsey's Ore Bridge for unloading Coal to ships, my understanding, it is animated for unloading Coal Cars only........I doubled the water area here or maybe I tripled it. I think it will turn out OK.....

Across from Ben Dorsey Coal loader, is an Inter-modal setup here......Everything is real basic for now, till I see how it comes together......


I threw some Ships in here, looking across the hardscape, you can see the large Mountains that were Drawn in with the Dem Map......Going to take some time to Texture them Etc.......I added a little color on the top of this one to see how it looks.

This area is where merge points have come together, I know it looks Choppy and Cut up, but all this uneven Ground area will get a good massage to blend these areas together, it will look much different when I get changed up.....

Look carefully in the middle, follow the white Ballasted Track and you'll see it headed into the Mountain, from there it turns 90 degrees and comes into Seward area........


Remember the chopped picture above, I took that chopped mountain, and grew it out to the right......


I dropped in a rough main line here, to see how my Grade %'s work out,,,,,So for nothing over 3% most of it is 1.5% to 2.00%.....for terrain leveling the height differences, that is not primary here, I like to get my Rail Lines in first when there are 100's of Feet in drop. And I did make the Main Line work out, took a few more Curves in the Route to make up for 4% 10% Grade Spots. Now we are in good shape.....

On the left here, I doing Copy and paste large areas for Elevation leveling.....Works pretty good, of course I have bring the Scraper in and knock the high spots off into a Rolling hill terrain......

I show more pictures in a few days so you can see more of the area I have created.

And that's your wrap-up for today Monday.....

[blueodessey]

Good evening all,

Found out two of our inlaws, Adult and Teen came down with Covid this last week. So far it is not too bad, will see how it goes. They live in the East Coast. Other than that, we only go out as really needed during California Lock Down restrictions.....Hopefully by Xmas maybe things will improve some, no one really knows.

Unfortunately for us, our Numbers continue to drop.....
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/12/0...-state-update/

Blue and Mr's Blue are putting up Xmas lights and enjoying the Xmas Spirit......

================================================== ================================
Blue You Tube Picks for the week:

I Fell Asleep At The Railroad Tracks & This Happened! Ohio Short Line Railroads & Dreaming Of Trains

https://youtu.be/MIUpvnB2Mlw

I was at an awesome level railroad crossing in Sardinia, Ohio. A fast train with mixed freight cars went by and stopped at the Sardinia Holdout. I went ahead of the train and fell asleep while waiting for the train to pass again. Then the ex Erie Lackawanna and ex Montana Rail Link SD45-2 ( ex SDP45 ) #332 went by with a train at the same crossing. Cincinnati Eastern Railroad sent this locomotive out west recently so I was kind of surprised until I realized that I dreamed the whole thing. That would have been cool if the 3 clips in this video of #332 were real! The first shot of 332 is with it teamed up with a B36-7 pulling a train across Mathews Rd, Sardinia which is the same spot as the real train in this video at the beginning. The second shot shows it pulling a grain train with a B36-7 and an MP15DC going under Rt32 in Winchester, Ohio. Bonus shots show it at the Sardinia Holdout and crossing Bean Rd near Mount Orab, Ohio. This railroad is owned by Norfolk Southern and leased to CCET. I filmed this on December 9, 2020

W&LE 7011 bounces over the diamond at Upper Sandusky on the CF&E Railroad

https://youtu.be/Z-100qVS7DA

Here is the follow up to my last W&LE video, the crew has had their hotel rest and wyed the engines for their eastbound run. I caught up with them at Upper Sandusky where they cross the former C&O. I followed to Dunkirk and Bucyrus where they then creeped across the NS Sandusky District.

(Blue's remarks: no train should be bouncing over a Diamond, bad things, like more extreme wear on the points and maybe derailments.....Either Speed was excessive, or we have ground shift issues in play or both)

Lebanon Valley Jct in the Reading Years

https://youtu.be/wP_8SH5PjTE

Lebanon Valley Junction was located at the intersection of the Reading's Lebanon Valley Branch and the Reading Belt Line. A connection was built at the time of the Belt Line's construction from LV Jct. to Wyoming. This connection was not generally used by through trains until it was rebuilt in the mid-1950's with a reduced grade and power switches on the Wye tracks. There were also coaling facilities on the Belt Line, and water plugs on both levels. It was a favorite rail-fan spot in the steam era, as the Temple Hill helpers were usually attached to trains there, and the tower operators were known to be friendly. This video is a photo and film history covering the period from the mid 1930's until the Reading's inclusion in Conrail on April 1, 1976. It geographically covers the area within an average 1 mile radius from the tower including scenes on the Reading Belt, the "Connection" and the "High Line" Lebanon Valley Branch.

(Blue's remarks:I think you'll really enjoy this Video,,,,Old Times of yesteryear Vintage Rail Action)

Busy Day At Baldwin

https://youtu.be/VRTu62JgT5c

We railfan love to find hot spots. Places where you can see lots of trains without moving around much. Baldwin, Florida is such a place. I spent an 18 hour day including driving up there and back recently. I had a pretty good day.

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

Work on Alaska Route continues intermittently, been busy with Repairs on House, Pool, and Xmas now has the lead.......



These are the kind of Mountains that make my day....They are DEM, I just did a little smoothing here and there......A lone Alaska Manifest Train comes across the newly laid Rail Bed..

Looking from a far, here is another look of Giant Mountain Peak in the Fore Ground..........


Nothing wrong here, except this is a Major Merge Point, and need to cut and fill this massive Mountain.......


Part of this area is prepared now.......Lots more to do......


Looking to the Right of Mountain Peaks, see the cutoff one at the end....There are several areas like this, I have to change so look more natural.......


Blank Tiles are added to the Right of this Merge Cutoff, will raise the elevation to match and Smooth down to Valley Floor, takes quite a while.....


One side of this Floor is going to come up level with the Tracks, so the other side will be steep Cliffs..........


Tracks are where I need them here, and about 2.00% to 2.25% height max,,,Runs perfect for my Trains..........Some signals installed at 6 to 10 mile distances for now.....I still have numerous industrial leads to add later on.....


Here on left side of Tracks, you'll see a tremendous of Cut and Fill going on.....It takes me time, and I fiddle and Fiddle to try and get the look I want......Slow and steady with Patience is the key here, I use Copy and Paste a lot too.......Both for Texture and Objects, I have Assets laying all over the place, and other pieces of Routes added in hidden areas on this Route to I can fit them in.........


Lastly when I installed my first set of signals and ran a test train, I had several Red Signals all over the place.....What happened you ask....Well lets say I was throwing down Rail so fast from bottom to top of this 25 tile span, I forgot to make complete Rail connects, so essentially broken rail instead of continuous... Above is the example of working to fast....LOL......I went back over the Route with Camera and spotted it within 5 mins......

That'll do for tonight.....Mr's Blue is calling me....Got to run ......

[blueodessey]

Good Evening all,

Another exciting weekend, lost our power this Sunday for a few hours, and then our Cable Company, well several Cable Co's went down for couple of days........So that was fun, ever try to do work on Cell Phone, not easy for older eyes like mine......I'm one of those who needs my Screen Real Estate if you know what I mean......

Other than that, praying for news on Covid-19, and will leave it at that!

Yard work has stopped and Xmas Light Decorations have begun, and we got our Xmas Tree yesterday, lots of Folks buying Trees this year, I have a feeling the Lots might be sold out before Xmas Eve for those who like to buy there tree at the last moment, or an extra tree for the house, and there seems like a few who do......

Was watching a Xmas Movie with Mr's Blue tonight and saw, an old train in the Film from these folks.....Film was from 2019.....They didn't Show the Train approaching much just a few cars......And no Locomotive Shots, bah hum bug I say...How dare they.....

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

Should be one of these Locomotives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-8-0

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

Blue's You Tube Pics for the week........

Remote Control Train With Caboose Used For Railroad Switching, Steel Ties On New Railroad Siding

https://youtu.be/bGImce7KEow

CSX bay window caboose used for industrial railroad switching. The remote control train is used for switching customers on the west side of Cincinnati. A new siding was installed with steel railroad ties here on Central Railroad Of Indiana ( CIND ) next to the CSX main line. This is Cincinnati on the west side of the city with maps showing where I filmed this. We see the new siding first along with a map that shows the area before the siding was installed. Then we see the CSX train at the 4 track railroad crossing with the caboose on the rear. Next I show the CSX local switcher being operated with a remote control pack. You can see the operator with the belt pack while he backs the train across the road with the caboose on the rear. The maps show exactly where this was filmed. The first part of this video was filmed December 10, 2020 and the part filmed in the summer was filmed July 21, 2020

(Blues Notes,this is a One Min Video, so don't blink or you'll miss it...LOL)
Great EMD Lash-up on NCVA Freight Train 4K #shorts

https://youtu.be/tZnRE_nhPF4

Great lash-up on the North Carolina & Virginia Railroad Boykins to Ahoskie freight train. Preview of videos to come. Locomotives: NCVA 504(EMD GP38-2 Ex- FEC), NCVA 3837(EMD GP38-2 Ex- GATX, Ex- ARZC, EX B&O), NCVA 808(EMD yard slugging Ex- CORP, Ex-N&W), & NCVA 3808(EMD GP40 Ex-VSRR, Ex- LLPX, Ex- VTR, Ex- NS, Ex- SOU).
4K UHD.

UNAWAY TANK CAR!!! Real Runaway Train in Bethlehem, PA!

https://youtu.be/Qryq3nYa0o8

This is one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed, a runaway train! The tank car somehow got into the Reading line and kept rolling all the way through the Lehigh valley until it eventually came to a stop in Richards, about 15 miles east of where it started. The car was six to have reached speeds of up to 50MPH! It was loaded with Paraffin Wax, and luckily no one was hurt.


(Blues Notes, he talks about the much longer trains now, over 2 Miles in length, out here So California, UP runs a lot of them, it seems to me, there are more at night than daytime....?)
2 Mile Long Train W/ Loram Maintenance Of Way Equipment, Independence Kentucky Trains, CSX Freight

https://youtu.be/9lfx0muBCY4

Loram ballast cleaner on CSX 2 mile long heavy freight train. This is the main line between Cincinnati and Louisville Kentucky. Also a 2 track flange greaser next to a tunnel. The tunnel and flange greaser are on this same line but to the north. I filmed the huge train near Independence, Kentucky on a very narrow one lane gravel road. I was going to film a train through the tunnel but none came while I was there. This CSX line operates on 161.370 and 161.310 and is an ex Louisville & Nashville Railway ( L&N ) line. This is the same line that goes through LaGrange, Ky. I filmed this on December 5, 2020.

Fast Trains Passing Middletown Train Station! Norfolk Southern Railroad ex Big Four Railroad Main

https://youtu.be/bnTLdgxUsCU

Old abandoned train station built in 1909 on Norfolk Southern main line between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio in Middletown, Ohio. SD40-2 local switcher locomotive going to the industrial spur is seen passing the station with a tank car. This track is ex Big Four Railroad: Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago and St Louis Railway. Passenger trains stopped using this station on April 30, 1971 and today it is a private business. I always wanted to film a train going by here so today I waited in the cold on a windy and sunny day. I also filmed another train just a few miles north of here on this line. It had problems with its third engine and stopped on the main for about half an hour. I filmed it passing right after they got the train moving again. There is also a Cohen Recycling plant in Middletown that has a couple very old locomotives that I want to film. Notice the General Electric center cab critter in the outro that they named "Smokey". That engine pulled a few company gondola cars out of the scrap yard and next to the NS mainline. Cohen doesn't have a direct connection to NS although their tracks are parallel to NS. Cohen has a connection a couple miles to the west to the CSX. I wanted to film the little GE but I couldn't find anywhere to park without having to walk a long distance. I'm going to return to film the Cohen locomotives. I filmed this on December 1, 2020.

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

Over to Alaska Merge Route, I now have merged about 6-7 pieces of large and small Dem and Non DEM Routes together.....Not all the tiles are connected, because I am working on the largest single part of the Route with High Mountains, that I am Sculpting out where they were cut off from original DEM by Author and some by me too during merge procedures....


This is how it looks now, still very rough as I add, delete tiles etc.....


Coming out of Tunnel through a medium size set of Mountains, Hills etc, this more for checking Tracks an Signal Aspects Etc.


We are out in the clear now, into a very large Valley area now......From afar you can see the Mountains I have been changing and smoothing here and there.

Part of this Map, or more, I don't know for sure is called

https://www.google.com/search?client...t+su+valley+ak

I need to read up on this area to see where the Railroad goes in relation to the name........



Getting ready to enter the Tunnel which connects to Seward City and Shipping area on other side of these Mountains. This Tunnel works OK on entrances, no need for Dig Hole help....Thank Goodness......




Engineer is getting a 30 day Suspension for blowing the Red Light.....Actually, I had Train in Drive Mode, for whatever reason it stops just after the Signal.....I have had this happen before......Grrr!! Would be interesting to see if the other Light Engine was moving thru switch, they would have swapped some Paint as or derail......Fortunately other Engine was stopped, well clear of the Switch......

Besides that, I like the view of the DEM Mountains ahead gigantic and coming to close just ahead of the Train......I put some Snow on one of them.......


I got these Mountains built up here they just need Texture, they were part of merge point,,,,So everything was uneven, no biggy, I knew what I wanted......Just takes time to get it there.....


Here is a picture of a Cutoff Mountain, its not to bad here, but when you drive past on the Tracks up close, it doesn't look good to me..........These are the ones I am adding 1-2 tiles and adjust the drop on Right or left side to look more natural......

OK.....That do for tonight,,,,Got lots of Xmas and Shopping to do for Gifts....We are doing more online Shopping this year than ever due to Covid issues, and it is working out nicely...Hats off to all the Delivery Drivers etc....They are doing a great job....

Night now,,,,Bless all of you.....Please try to stay safe out there......Peace my friends and thank you all for coming to visit.......

[fant_autentico]

Very instructive, as always my friend.
Beware of the virus.

Hugs, Javier