Progress on the Uintah RW

hello dan
the problem of local vegetation is a problem that I also found in my routes, especially those in the USA.

Unfortunately we have to adapt with similar trees, even if the pinyon pine species has different forms during its life.
The only one who could do anything is JVC, if you have time.

In any case, I really like your route.
 
Hello Dan,

;) Whenever I come buy to see your project, I immerse myself with the new pics and your excellent documentary of the challenges facing your journey as u wind up the never ending canyons. It is a marvelous story to soak in as we gather a huge sense of what it took to make this Rugged, God forsaken Route in Desert with little or no moisture at times.......

"I'm losing track of them ! now up to around 700 textures and splines"

And for heavens sakes don't get lost in those 700 some Cliff Spline/texture Creations, I don't want to have to show up with Dynamite to dig you out of there....:hehe:

Take care of your health there young man, and just keep parsing it out......:wave:
 
Thanks Jango and Blue your kind words help to keep me going on this project, so here's what I've done so far with the section I've been creating that had dodgy topography. not complete but a lot has been done .
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starting at the first new bridge.
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this still needs shrubbery, will have to consult the Knights of Ni :)
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approaching the new bridges. the vegetation is thicker here where shielded from the wind , it gets drier further up the canyon to the right as we near white river.

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looking down the canyon at the four new bridges , which are largely vegetated.
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overview of the existing bridges which still need more sage , the other side of the canyon hasn't really been changed apart from installing the 10 creeks.
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a little bit further on, i've begun to tackle this section as we near one of the steel bridges.
 
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bridge 64

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overview of the bridge 64 area.
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approaches to bridge 64
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I've worked on the opposite bank a little here.
 
I get bored when working on one section so i switched to another part of the canyon and did this section near bridge 64a.
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... and i love this beautypic from you in another thread ... should be the cover of my calendar 2020 ... most respect for your work and sights ...
grtz
daveric

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well been working on the Canyon between Watson and White river , the set of bridges modeled on the Georgetown bridge and made by the late Ben Dorsey, there's a LOT of vegetation here and very wide long vistas. So heres a mixed freight on the way to Bonanza last train of the day as the sun sets in the background.....
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The route enters a cutting and emerges onto a plateau approaching the second bridge.
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crossing the second bridge
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after crossing the bridge.
 
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The long and panoramic scenes are amazing. The wild cloud cover and dramatic sun effects are quite spectacular and greatly compliment the scenery. These are excellent screen shots!

Heinrich505
 
Thanks for the positive comments , i decided to go and revisit the far end of the Bonanza extension , the last mine i added towards the end of the Eureka vein
This is some of whats been done this week.
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there are four gilsonite mines served by rail on this trench, I've added bracing to the sides of the trenches and also steam shovels to dig the initial cuts ( found an image showing they did this )
none are interactive although it might be possible to stick an interactive track under the ground at each site, will have to ask those who are good at this sort of thing if this is can be done.
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after weeks spent applying all this vegetation its fun to be able to play with buildings and vehicles for a change.
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3 to 4% grades leaving Eureka
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off to cowboy west junction .
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where there's a short stretch of 6% grade and then slackening to 4% or so. Cowboy West hoist visible in the distance.
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and here we are at Cowboy Summit. Unfinished Bonanza mountains can be seen on the right.
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off through the scrub to Bonanza. This section is now about 90% completed. i still have to vegetate a few sections here , then I need to complete the bonanza hills and environs, the river area near White river, fix the last bits of evacuation creek canyon and sort out the Rainbow gilsonite mines. I think in about 3 months people could be driving this 18 mile section.
 
Hello Dan,

Was thinking about you this week, what part of the Desert is he lost in now.....? :hehe:

Do we have to call out the Sheriff's search and Rescue to make sure your OK....Well I guess not now....LOL

:p As always everything looks so inviting, and Lord bless you with all the Tree and Bush planting, I know you are very specific, if not Anal about how and where you place your plants, you have the patience of Joab that is for sure......

Take care ole friend, Route just keeps looking better.......I don't want to hold up progress, so I'll take my Horse and giddy up to the next forum spot of interest.

Really enjoyed the slide show tonight, Thank you sir......:wave:
 
Hello Dan,

Was thinking about you this week, what part of the Desert is he lost in now.....? :hehe:

Do we have to call out the Sheriff's search and Rescue to make sure your OK....Well I guess not now....LOL

:p As always everything looks so inviting, and Lord bless you with all the Tree and Bush planting, I know you are very specific, if not Anal about how and where you place your plants, you have the patience of Joab that is for sure......

Take care ole friend, Route just keeps looking better.......I don't want to hold up progress, so I'll take my Horse and giddy up to the next forum spot of interest.

Really enjoyed the slide show tonight, Thank you sir......:wave:
i must admit , if I'd have realised just how much work the vegetation actually is on this route, I would not have started it, or I'd have done just Baxter pass . It looks like there's not much there, but it's really hard to make it look authentic.its getting easier tho, although my rm doesn't think so :)
 
So Ive concentrated on developing the town , mines and depot facilities at Bonanza, which in my version of reality is the northern terminus of the Railroad, even though the train did not reach there , it was relatively flourishing in the late 30s to the 1960s . This is middle 1930s probably hoists of this size came later on, but I like their look and this reality is more prosperous than the real thing so the hoists would have been affordable.

overall view of the area , the road on the left goes to Ignatio and the white river crossing.
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closer to town there are two gilsonite trenches . Loaders will hopefully be working to load flatcars. On the right there's a company garage as there are outlying gilsonite mines that are not connected to the railroad and the trucks are to service these units.
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no 14 simmers as she waits to take a load of empty cars back to Mack.
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We have here a Mack delivering a load of dry goods form Vernal (33 miles to the north, ) to the general store.
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No 51 coals up at the tipple.
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another Mack at the garage .
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number 14 and number 30 wait to get their orders.
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The rest of the township.
 
The highly esteemed Paul Gorski has made some great new models.Overlooked by the headquarters of the American Asphalt Association on the hill. we see , in all it glory, the ramshackle , distinctly down market "Hotel " in Watson.
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tell you the truth , the further one got into the interior on the Uintah, the more the townships could be described as 'hick " , Watson was really down at heel, I need to make it look more of a dump, there were lots of awful looking tar paper shacks and tents .
Dragon was a tad more civilized , but not a lot ...
This is Finnicum's store ,the center of the town , and the only shop for miles.
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Highly indebted to both Paul and Ben, without them, this project would not be anywhere near as authentic , many hours have been spent researching each building , its really hard finding images of all sides of each item. The only rear view of the store was obscured by smoke, so some of this is guesswork.
 
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Some days, the sheer frigging scale of this project just makes me want to give up. Been working on this little section for a week and its still not anywhere completed. all these sage brushes need lowering to the ground at least 100 meters from the line itself....... :-(
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it is of course totally my own fault , i have made the choice to use mainly vegetation items instead of mainly textures and to make creeks that are composed of splines and now i'm paying the price.......
 
Been working on areas nearer White river which have very wide vistas, its taken about a week to do just this little stretch of about 1 mile.
here the route loops around itself and climbs up and then descends back down as the line approaches Bonanza , no choice but to vegetate all the surrounds .
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its dawn at Ute siding and this train of empties ( plus some full water cars and a combination car ) is about to tackle the 6% grade now its picked up helper no 5.
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we're climbing up to the summit behind those distant hills.
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close to the 6% stretch , its about 3.5 here
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The 6% grade is only a few hundred yards here . The uintah seemed to regard extreme grades as normal, as the climb to Ute from white river also has similar inclines.

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nearly at the summit and its getting a bit lighter.

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and down we go into Bonanza
 
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Good evening Sir Dan,

:p I see what looks like a Rembrandt taking place here, as you continue to mature the Route..........All I can say, it looks so darn real, it is astounding.....Slow but steady at the Wheel Capt Dan Gavel.......Your exploration, your results are well known by now.......

Have a great weekend, and know your efforts with this Grand Project are priceless...........I like what I see, and I like it a lot..........:cool:

Now get some rest ole Friend.........:wave:

Hi Dan,

Ben's Bridges look great on the Route..........Almost like they where built for it.........RIP Ben, we miss you.......
 
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I decided to have a drive from bridge 68 to Ute siding , about 5 miles to check for faults as i'm hoping to get this section out relatively soon . The section is now about 95% complete.
I went a bit mad with the screen shots, so I'll do the results in batches.
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There still a bit of work to do here , but i like the early morning light generated by TANE, as well as the deep shadows from the nearby hills. Love these spindly high bridges made by Ben Dorsey.

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we've passed the bridge ,moving into the last section of Evacuation wash.

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leaving Evacuation Wash and entering White river canyon....
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navigating the section which snakes along the cliffs to the river crossing , every train on the Uintah delivered water , as there was no supply in most of the settlements on the route due to excess alkalinity in the creeks and bores.
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69A was possibly Ben's last bridge , he completed it a few weeks before he fell ill........ it would have been the biggest on the route if it had been built as envisaged by the planners.
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I've included this shot so you can see what has to be done to complete this bit. The cliffs in the distance have yet to be vegetated and put into their final position and i have to do those in the far distance as they are visible from the white river siding and track that loops up the gradually sloping terrain.
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No stopping here at white river. Theres stretches of 6% grade ahead !
 
here we go on the climb to Ute Summit. If this section had ever been completed in real life, it could have rivaled the Cumbres and Toltec Tanglefoot curve as it curves in and around itself numerous times and has 8 bridges in 3 miles. !
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the summit . just realised how crappy the cliff on the left foreground looks, gotta hide some joins. Anyway, more to come past Ute as we go back downhill.
 
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