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

Congrats on finishing Finals and all the things you have accomplished, and just let me know if like Rogue One, I am hard core Sci-Fi Fan from Star Trek and all of Spielberg movies.........I probably won't get to seeing it till Jan.

Copy on the Reskins.......I having problems with Crossing next to Power Plant, for some reason it doesn't like to shut down after your clear of the Crossing, and I think the one on the other side of the Curve hangs, I don't know a thing about those units, but that is what I've noticed, I can take the train clear to the other side of plant and Gates are still done and active with no trains on any of the mains?

Enjoy and unwind, this layout and all the other things will keep till your ready.....I'm busy as heck with family, and the other day with the Rain I found a leak in the roof, oh fun after Xmas Season, I have to tear 10X10 section of roof and replace the Plywood that has bowed for some odd reason, fortunately the leak is minor at the moment, but not for too much longer!

Have a great weekend, with Family and Friends.
 
City of Leeds on the Que and Empty Gons shunting out with CAT Loads

Morning all,

Well we are having a Cookie Fest Bake Off here, the house smells so good....

Now for Train stuff, City of Leeds Passenger Train is on the Que to leave the Freight Yard as soon as NS Consists with empty Gons clear the Mains.

#46252 Passenger getting ready to move up. we also have Planet Blue Auron special to go out tomorrow probably.

Now you can see a the Cars for City of Leeds Consist.

CSX Unit #2518 is shunting out the Cat Loads.

NS Units here are working the Loads and Empty's, lots of action going on.

Just a quick note for any newby's, "Find Object" is a terrific utility for locating Scenery, Track side items, .all your Locos and Cars,Etc (located in upper left side of your menu screen).. I find it invaluable, because the Railroad does lose Cars and Engines, and you can bet a dime we do too!

Well the Girls just told me they ran out of few things, so I'm off to get supplies for the bakers, see you all later, and have a blessed day.

Thanks for visiting here and If you have any questions or comments feel free.........
 
Frieght and Steam Jockeyin for position, Rain shows up.

Evening Folks,

Well today's cookie fest went well, and I might have turned into a Cookie Monster, :hehe: have to wait and see when I get up tomorrow.....:sleep:

So weather has changed light cold, and Foggy conditions here, 40 Degrees, will see if we get a Slusher out the Storm....Work goes on as we see D11R Cat loaded on the way out via CSX #2518 Yard Power hauling it out for NS consist. If you look down the Track City of Leeds has pulled up and is waiting for us to clear for him.

Loads and Empty Coal Gons are ready, NS #3380 is headed out of the puzzle switches with Approach Yellow. It's quite foggy today with the light Rain, so we need to watch our speed and be ready to stop in 1/2 the distance when needed, that's where the experience truly pays in spades with our Crews most have way over 20yrs on the Job, and don't want to have an incident anymore than Mgt does, so we work hand in hand with our crews, watching for fatigue factors, correct rest periods, 12 on 12 off. It has to be a good working relationship, not adversarial , no one wins in that situation, and your just setting yourself up for serious trouble or consequences on both sides of the fence, I say that with lot of I told you so......

OK, off my soap box, we are going to clear these Crossovers, and hold at a upcoming Red Signal..

Dispatch has decided to have City of Leeds pass around us instead of waiting for us to make it to Crowhart and clear there, this is a speedier option for both Trains, as it will allow us the time to drop off our empties at the Mine and no Traffic behind us to worry about then will head to the Newcastle City Yard with our Cat Loads.

Looking at the Signals below, Dispatch already has them Stacked (Queued correctly for the Right Train to pass another without a lengthy delay) another point here, don't mess with the Dispatcher, they generally know what they are doing, if we have a perceived issue, we take it up the Chain of Command, not cause a fight over the radio........

Our consist is pulling just short of the Red Light as we wait for the Passenger Train to pass around our back side, and then cross back over in Front of our Power as he heads to the City.

Ok we are in position at Coldwater Control Point.......

Meanwhile back at the Yard, Local Power CSX #2518 is pulling back into the Hamilton Cat Facility Spur and will park there for now and secure the Power down for the Day..........

City of Leeds is headed our way and should pass us in the next few minutes.

Will continue that story tomorrow to see how it works out.

Thanks for dropping by and I bid you all a good Monday.
 
City Of Leeds Steam on the move.

Afternoon Southern 1581 and thanks for the kind words.

So Dispatcher lined us and I didn't get these pictures in.......Last night.....Sorry

This Signal is an Enter Locker, and it works perfect, not issues at all.....I have a bunch of Switch Legs here so it does exactly what I need it to.

Passing Caterpillar Plant......

This is a tree Shot thru the Power Plant /Curve.

And the bend that goes into the Downtown area. Rolling about 15MPH on tight curve but it works.

We are hitting the double X Crossovers to go around NS Coal and Cat Loads.

Coming up on the other side of this consists now.....We have a Green signal ahead.......

Crossing is working as expected.

Cut back into Main #1

Passing Coldwater Junction Control Point. Sure is Foggy and Drizzly out here in the Forest area but at least the Air is nice and clean.

Thats all for now, will pick it back up later tonight Folks, I was out Xmas shopping all morning with Mr's Blue, and we got some good deals and nice things for some close friends........

Thanks for dropping by, please be safe in your travels today.
 
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Duchess "City of Leeds" on the move thru heavy Fog!

Evening all,

We are deep in the Forest here, early evening, and into the Fog, our lights only see so far out, making lots of Steam as we pull our heavy but very comfortable cars north to Town, will be coming into Kelly Yard soon.

Taking a peek inside our Duchess, this is the Controls these Talented Engineers operate, and I will tell you all, one thing, if they didn't watch the Gauges and adjust things, pressures etc, this Locomotive could blow up hurting the Crew or even Fatal injuries, and probably some passengers to, with a severe derailment, these employees are well trusted.

Ever heard of a Steam Boiler overheating and exploding, it was more common than we probably realize back in these times. With that said, this is one amazing out of many Steam Locomotives and it operates perfectly!

Like anything else it requires good maintenance, and we make sure we do it without hesitation.

Coming up to the Bridge, so far so good. And one word about Bridges, they just like the locomotive have to be maintained and inspected annually without fail, otherwise tragic, if not fatal consequences will follow at inappropriate time not of your choosing.

Generally if everything is good, a Boat hasn't run into the Bridge and shifted it, or if Earthquakes haven't caused an alignment issue, Track Maintenance and Metallurgy Tests done with MOW specialized Cars, using Sonic or Xray type testing, then all should be good other than Rust or Rot issues which would be detected by any number of ways.

This is all part of running a proper operation, not just making money for the investors, I say this because People's lives are entrusted to Railroad be it passengers or employees it doesn't matter, all dependent on things properly maintained and operated in good working order.

Everything appears OK as we get ready to cross the Bridge here over the Water.

Water is calm in the river and we move on here.

That's all for now, will pick it up in the morning......

Appreciate the many of you that come to visit, and I hope the Visitors will consider trying out one of the versions of Trainz, it really is an amazing program, you learn as much or as little as you feel comfortable with?

You can do so much it with this program......

My zeal for Trainz has been since I was 3-4 yrs old and got my first wooden Train Set.......

Railroading is an adventure in and of itself, and we have a tremendous Trainz Community here with outstanding abilities, way above where I am.....I still have much to learn and challenge me.

Night All....:wave:
 
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Duchess seen thru the Fog

Good Day all,

The Duchess is still winding her way up the Wintry Foggy Bayeux towards Kelly Yard Facility. So far everything is on schedule, no runs, no errors, and no misses.........;)

What a beautiful evening on the Rail.

Coming round the bend.

Coming up to Crownhart Mining Co, and we have approach.

Everyone is asleep for now, Workers on Xmas hiatus for just a few days and then back at it, as we have a good supply of Coal for everyone.

Our NS power is set and ready when more empty Gons come in for filling.

That's all for now, Me and Mr's Blue are out do the last couple of Days shopping for those hard to find gifts, you know how it is...

Take care everyone, and please be courteous out there, Please May I and Thank You with a smile goes a long ways.

:wave: Cheers to those across the pond.
 
Duchess "City of Leeds" coming into town soon!

Evening all,

Everything is quite at the Mine as we pass thru late evening now. Fog is little bit better here.

Slowing down just a bit as we head into a tight curve in the forest, our Engineers are handling their Charge as expected.

:D And here is the beginning of Town looks like our favorite Cafe is busy feeding the masses tonight. We see Restricted approach here...So will start slowing to 10 MPH as we are coming into the bottom of Kelly Yard, and switches are thrown, once passing into switch will wind down to 5 MPH in case we have any workers out in the Yard. We need to be able to stop our consist quickly for safety purposes. The Dispatcher knows we are here, as we talked to him just before we took that last curve back there.

Looks like we are coming into another Fog Bank here so we are extremely vigilant to watch no for Trespassers on the Tracks or ROW, and believe me Drunks as well.

:( Sometimes you do hit one and it is something you'll never forget....One of the hardest parts of the Railroad is the emotional back lash an engineer feels, maybe for the rest of their lives is too at all costs try to avoid hitting someone......Sometimes you can't predict what folks are going to do , or those that think there smarter and faster, so they choose to not wait for a train or take a short cut across private property.........

:)b Coming across and boy does the food smell good from Dave's Cafe,,,,,once we get into the yard and tie up our consist, will log off duty, and head for some much needed Chow at one of our favorite Diners, and they always treat the Railroad Employees great........They know how hard and demanding our jobs can be,,,,,Got great Coffee and Hot Chocolate too.......We brought our personal thermos and will be filling them too.

Yard is clear as we edge into it at 5 MPH so far, so good.

That's it for tonight, I bid you all a wonderful Wednesday.

Night now.
 
Duchess is tying up in the Yard tonight.

Good Weds Day to you all,

Just want to say I've been posting pretty much twice a day now for a while, I'm going to cut back to once a day, as I need to get back my Snow Valley Route soon and pick up where I left off and lots of R&R awaits me on that route.

And I have other things I need to attend too like Tax Season coming up........Yuk....I hate Tax Time!

Your comments are always welcome here.

So now that we have that out of the way, We have our Duchess pulling up on one of the Yard Tracks to Tie up for the night. What a beautiful Train she is. I need to go to her point of origination and take a ride, the cars look quite comfortable and I'm a nostalgic person at heart, I've only seen a few Steam engines in life and they where nothing short of amazing to see, here, and watch as they blew their horns (unique sound) Pleasing to the ears, made some steam.........And some day if I'm so lucky, would like to take a Bullet Train somewhere, and also some of Swiss Trains high up in the mountains. Yes one can dream and then see what comes into fruition, or I can watch it on YouTube at quite a savings, but it is not the same!

Our engineers are watching and looking where to stop at the top of the Ladder in Kelly Yard facility. They are hungry and ready to eat just as soon as all is good order here with the Duchess. I just notice this one says, City of Carisle, Hmm? Something changed here,,,,,,suspicious at the least, I had City of Leeds before? Need to investigate this caper!

Look over yonder and you can see the city lights glowing in the cold of night.

Quite a stretch of Passenger cars here that's for sure. But the Duchess pulls them with not a hitch nor a complaint. What an elegant lady she is!

Now that Duchess is squared away in Kelly yard, NS #3380 is on the way to the mine with Empty's and Load of Cat Dozers, and Farm Tractors in tow. Dispatcher gave us the all clear now, so will fire it up and get our hips a moving.

Lights are on, checking the Bridge, all looks OK,,,,,,and Fog has lifted for now, wait 5 mins and that'll change in this Forrest.

That's all for now, Mr's Blue is calling me to get my hips a moving for final Xmas Shopping.....:hehe: Me thinks I better sign-off and get going too.......

:wave: Thanks for dropping in folks, will see you tomorrow morning then,, have a great day!
 
NS #3380 is on the move to Crownhart Mine

Good Morning all,

Well it's wet rainy day, and we are more than happy to get it...Everything looked good for once, nice and green Grass on once barren hills here, and the Trees, well they are perking up too!

NS #3380 is on the move to Crownhart Mine, now that Duchess is cleared up and tied up in Kelly Yard. Weather is good for now....but we don't need to dabble either as I hear MOW has some big equipment coming onto our road to test and clean our Ballast, tracks etc......You never finish maintenance as I found out this week, I have Plywood that separated on my Roof springing a roof leak, so I have to repair it,,, which is going to be time and money. Luckily it isn't too bad, but getting to it, is another separate issue.

If you look across our make believe valley, you can see the Grainery, Vegetation Train and our other Sort Yard in the back.

Passing by Coldwater Control Point, speaking of which?

I downloaded PGuy's Enhanced IT controller (recommended reading and link below for it) and it's very well written on how to use the device he made.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?135655-Interlocking-Towers

Don't think I have all the supporting files yet, and it will be a while before I can test them out on my Route, Snow Valley as I'm still testing things on Newcastle Route.

In the deep dark of the night you can see a slight plume of fresh Diesel Smoke Trail here as we get an restricted approach signal for Crownhart Mining Plant.

We pulled up so yard power can pull off our String of empties for us. Actually will just have our Conductor go over to the unit and start it up. The other Engineer that works this is off duty at night, we aren't going to call him in for 5 mins of work, we have our brakeman with us for this run so it works out fine with 3 of us.

He's lit the area up and is positioning himself to grab our empties and then we'll be on our way before you know it. He just back them into the longer spur side of the plant, and the other Day Engineer will take it from there.

That's it for now folks, have a good day, Xmas is just around the corner,

So long and see you all tomorrow morning.:wave:
 
Learning where to stop the Train,,,,,,grrrr,,,,,LOL

Good day all,

:eek: I have been on the Lam here, running like crazy, last min gifts, and getting things ready, then yesterday my printer, or maybe more like my network decided it wanted some attention, how timely it is......

So today will see how it all goes, lots to do for sure, probably the same for you folks too?

I don't know if I'll get a chance to post in the next couple of days or not, because lots of family coming to visit..

So here we go our Mine power Loco is grabbing the empty's here, and I should have allowed more running space with the Cat Loads, as he will hook the Gons but need to push the Flat Cars back another 100' or so feet to clear the switch to shunt the Gons back into the mine Lead.....I'll learn or experience will do it for me....:'(

Well it worked out OK, and now we can hook up to our Cat Loads and get on the move.

All set here, just making a quick Brake application and air check.

And we are on the move now......

NS#3380 is looking very good this evening, or early morning would be more correct, lol it is way past midnight in the Country.

Slow around the curve at 15 MPH.

That's about it for now, wishing you all a great holiday with Family and Friends and thanks for coming to visit, I hope Santa brings you what your wishing for, whatever that might be.........Cheers
 
Duchess throws a Steam party in Kelly Yard today (*who knew?

So I'm busy worker and fixing electrical stuff around the house, and I come back to this Party going on in the Railroad, what a surprise?

Our Lady Duchess decided to call over the Southern Bells, their leader is 4501, and they Steamed it up, showing what they had.

And what they had was lots of Gala events with Holiday Travelers that wanted to see our little Railroad..What a nice Xmas week it has been for all so far.

And here comes the Duchess to join her merry guests.......They'll only be here a day then it's off and running to Colorado Rockies for them.

Wow what a site it is in our little Kelly Yard, usually we have this stocked with Freight and some Passenger consists. I think this was planned by someone much higher than the corridor MGR.....But everyone is mum about it, so my job is get them Fueled up and comfy for their next trip........

I must tell you the colors and workings, the Horn sound, well it is worth the hospitality for our route.

Streams of Steam as they rest for bit before their net jaunt.

Have a good nite all, it's raining cats n Dogs, and a little Snow, but we are truly blessed to get this much needed rain.

Night now.
 
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Welcome to Columbia & Cowlitz Valley V1.1 (downloaded yesterday) NARMA on site

Hello and happy Xmas Eve to you all,

OK. Quickly here, because I need to run,,,,,,,lots of family coming in a few hours,

So yesterday's pics, I got the 4501's from here @ 10$,, awesome price and content.

:udrool: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...nz-Southern-4501-Excursion-Pack-NOW-AVAILABLE!

Today's pics, I got this Columbia and Cowlitz Ver 1.1, now some of the Texture and Tracks, and other unknowns I need to find.......but the route is amazing, however I probably need to change Trees, I thing they are speed trees, because my Laptop as expected is dropping Frames on this one,,,,,It doesn't have that many tiles.

But it is a really nice route, so I'll play with it later when I have time, so many routes, so little time,,,,LOL :'(

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?135519-NARM-s-12-Days-of-Christmas-Release-Thread

Also a big thank you to Jointed Rail for their Freebees too

http://jointedrail.com/

scr_56a02afdbbf49.gif


And Zec Rails Xmas Train Pics..wow, way cool...........(he has too much time on his hands. :hehe:

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?40189-JointedRail-stuff-screenshots-renders

Here is an overhead shot below......

This is problem I'm having because my laptop is too week in GPU side of things,,,,,,have to see what I can modify on this one.........

Dock and Car facility here.

Dropped a train in here along a busy road.

Really like those green lights on this Steam Loco.

This is a Lumber Co here in the background as you can see I'm missing some textures I don't know what? Maybe one of you knows what these are, as I'm completely new to this Route, never had it before.

Ok,,,,,Thanks for dropping in, hope Santa brings you your wish.....God Bless!
 
Morning all :wave:, just wanted to wish Merry Christmas 🎄and Happy new year🎉

And thanks for giving me a wonderful experience here in Trainz realm.
 
Hi Blue

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.

It's been a pleasure following your story.
Thank you Southern for a fun model RR.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well.

Bob
 
Lots of Trains on the move today......

Thanks you for the kind words sir,

Hope everyone had a nice Xmas Holiday, I know some of the weather was tough in the Midwest too!

So I added lots of signalling in the layout for now, and will see how it works out......So more Enter lockers in the yard Throats, because I forget to throw the right switches sometimes, and you know what can happen on that mishap.....You get put on the Dirt so to speak or worse.

Le Planete Bleue is on the roll for a stroll on the route.

Our trees our looking good from all the rain and Snow we had this week.....Snow melted now, as it warmed up a bit.

As we leave the Yard throat, we hit a restricting green, we know a NS Coal run is pulling into the Crownhart Mining complex and making some drops for them about 3 blocks ahead, so will get a clear as they move into the siding for us.

We pass one of our old friends NS # 3346 whose waiting patiently for us to clear the yards so he can get his shunting done today. He has more Catipillar and Chem loads to move around and make some consists up for outgoing loads later today.

Passing the Grainery Buildings.

Meanwhile CSX#2518 is dropping the last of the Coal Loads at Plant.

Unloader is working good as intended, and the Power Plant has a good inventory building up now for the winter.

These Tankers will be unloaded in the next day or two.

Ok......off with the family to meet some more friends...........Have a great week all.

And thanks for coming to visit.......Safe Travels too all..........
 
Steamfest at Heather Yard today....New additions added....

Good day All,

Been busy with some friends I haven't seen since retirement, had some good spirits, Beer and Steak today, I also bought some packs from K&L Trains, N&W, C&O, C&O+Q, and I imported into T:ANE now I like to show you some of what I purchased and it's all very nice Steam Engines and Passenger Cars.

All lit up and ready to roll out the yard as we clear the lines for them. Liking those Green marker lamps a lot too.

Chesapeake and Ohio unit with auxiliary tender for distance.

It's late afternoon and the night lights have come on now for Dusk,

Are ole friends CSX and Le Planete Blue tied up on other half of the main yard.

Yes they are lit up too,:'( they want in the action, but they'll be behind the Steam Passenger trains tonight. Well hey, it's not everyday these special trains are here to visit! So you Diesels Engines show some respect and quit whining like a bunch of spoiled school kids!:hehe:

Thanks for dropping in, and I'll have some more pictures of our new friends out in the morning post.

Meanwhile take a look at K&L Trains........Thanks Steve for the nice looking Steam and Passenger Cars, and I really like the Horns, boy do they sound nice and very realistic too. Prices are very fair too.:clap:

Night all.....
 
Glorious Steam Shots leaving Kelly Yard

Good Wednesday all,

Hope everyone is enjoying their vacation Etc.

Trains are lined up ready to go at the Yard Ladder.

#2760 looking great with her Green lights a shining in the evening, a true sight to behold.

Lights Green ahead for us, switches are lined up, and Dispatcher says we may have some restricted as we approach Crownhart Mine area, but that might clear up.

Now this is one nice looking as they fire up to pull out of the yard. Really like my New Locomotives from K&L trains, no issue, and no warnings or errors out of T:ANE, all good for me, as I have lots of inventory to fix or discard, depending on the severity of the errors etc. T:ANE really lets you know if your Poly counts are over the limit too. She is one tough task mistress that's for sure!

I added a bunch of NS Dwarfs in the yard as I forget sometimes what my switches are set too,, this made a big difference overall for me.

Approaching the last switches in the Ladder here, and then will be on the Main and pick up some more speed as we clear the Yard limits.

One more thing, my orders from K&l came with Passenger Cars so now I need to see what if any I can delete out inventory Version and looks wise.......

That's it for today, and thanks for coming by folks.
 
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