Making a route
- Thread starter dundun92
- Start date
cascaderailroad
New member
I lay track looking straight down from above, first ... I could give give you many pointers on laying gradients, measuring turnouts with the Trainz ruler, laying yard ladders, making perfect curves, and using the "Get Curve Radius", spline point height ... etc ...
Last edited:
As you found out, running N/S or E/W is easy with terrain. When you go diagonally, you run into problems with sharply angled "cuts" under the ties. If you are careful, you can sometimes raise/lower those corners halfway and come up with an embankment that looks so-so. What I recommend is to use an embankment spline to hide those jagged pieces.
Bill
Bill
Which button allows you to angle it diagonally?
Another thing you might want to consider giving a try is using the "plateau" feature. (Works best when you want it to have a rocky-ish yet somewhat smooth terrain coming from the tracks. You could achieve a similar result with using track and the "flatten terrain" tool. If this is still not what you mean perhaps you could post an image of what you are talking about.
You have to go to the Terrain flyout (top tab) and choose the top icon on the right. Then, adjust the size of the circle and the speed of movement dials until you have good control of the terrain lines. Put the mouse pointer at the junction of two yellow lines (not the black ones) and gently move the mouse up and back. The point of terrain will move up or down. Using this movement, you can "soften" the harsh, jagged terrain squares into something a little softer.
Bill
blueodessey
Well-known member
I am lost on a term you used,,,,,what is an embankment spline and where do you find said item?Thanks
The OP is a bit fuzzy as to what he's after, but you can lay splines at any angle between 0 and 360 degrees. Use the straighten tool so you can curve the next section of track off the first piece without it distorting. Frankly this is basic stuff, is there not some sort of manual/wiki/You Tube clip which demonstrates how to get started?
Just a thought, the OP isn't trying to use fixed track sections, is he?
Just a thought, the OP isn't trying to use fixed track sections, is he?
Thanks
On the Download Station (DLS). Look for "embankment". Please don't be insulted, but you seem to have 4 versions of Trainz and don't know what an embankment spline is? Do you just run trains and not build any routes?
@Vern: I don't know, Vern. I thought I did, but not sure now. There are loads of tutorials on this subject, but I don't hang around YouTube, so I can't help there.
Bill
blueodessey
Well-known member
Not a problem Bill, I know what splines are, but hadn't come across this particular named spline.... Thanks for the info, I'll head over to the DLS to locate it.
Ah, good. I use embankments in quite a few places. Most notable is where tracks diverge, but not at a very great angle. If you use a nearly vertical spline, you can begin with it near the ground and gradually raise the spline height as the diverging track rises. That way, you don't have to mess with the surrounding terrain until the divergent track is far enough away raise the terrain properly. There are times when you can even use a bridge spline. Bury most of it in the ground and raise it up slowly, following the track. Now that I think of it, either method would work for the OP, too.
The granularity of the terrain (5M or 10M) makes smooth rises almost impossible.
Bill
The granularity of the terrain (5M or 10M) makes smooth rises almost impossible.
Bill
True. They also act as good "filler trackbed" if the line is climbing up the side of a hill as the OP mentioned. As the track curves in and out of small ridges, the brick underlay shows through and supports the roadbed. Those will also hide the "jaggies" of terrain.
Bill
Bill
blueodessey
Well-known member
Thank you Bill, I Have come across exactly that Issue with 2 Parallel Tracks With diverging elevation, Trying To Get the ground level smoothed it drove me Bannanas. . . Really appreciate your expertise, Now I can go Back And correct several problem areas.
Happy to be of help. My first experience with this was running a main line through the top of a yard. I wanted the double-track to be a few feet higher than the yard. I ended up with two double-track bridges with just the railings and lighting showing. Looked pretty good.
Otherwise you buried one track while uncovering the other, or one track was floating.
Bill
Otherwise you buried one track while uncovering the other, or one track was floating.
Bill
I use the FMA embankments and retaining walls often. I even modified the grass texture some of these as well as other retaining walls to match various ballast textures, i.e. dark, light, etc., so when they are used under track, I don't have grass sticking out of the ground where I want ballast.
There are also some stone and concrete embankment splines with track. These have older track on them, however, that can be easily replaced. I took one of these and substituted my own track choices for the default track KUID.
The advantage of these is there is no need to adjust the track height and fiddle with the spline underneath.
Here's one of the original assets that I have used often.
<kuid:32105:29019> Embankment 2track.
I modified this one to suit with different versions with different JR track-types. Keep in mind that this is a type bridge according to Trainz and not track, which means junctions can't be formed on them, but they work well otherwise.
There are also some stone and concrete embankment splines with track. These have older track on them, however, that can be easily replaced. I took one of these and substituted my own track choices for the default track KUID.
The advantage of these is there is no need to adjust the track height and fiddle with the spline underneath.
Here's one of the original assets that I have used often.
<kuid:32105:29019> Embankment 2track.
I modified this one to suit with different versions with different JR track-types. Keep in mind that this is a type bridge according to Trainz and not track, which means junctions can't be formed on them, but they work well otherwise.
blueodessey
Well-known member
Thanks folks, definitely going use your suggestions and thanks for Kuids, I'll ck DLS an JR. 's site...
Got some more experimenting to do!
Again this proves my point about how valuable and how much talent is in this forum......
Got some more experimenting to do!
Again this proves my point about how valuable and how much talent is in this forum......