Progress on the Uintah RW

the descent to Ute siding.

luUy6MY.jpg


nCU6Jck.jpg


this section is now more or less complete.

UtujwAX.jpg

this stretch goes up and down a bit,but drivers only face relatively sedate grades of 3.5% max . most consists would be empty coming in this direction , apart from carrying water , oil rig parts for prospecting shale oil deposits ( all unsuccessful ) and assorted freight for gilsonite mining in Bonanza and general freight and mail for Vernal and beyond.
Lh8bzHk.jpg



8DwjNl6.jpg

we can see Ute siding in the distance, confusingly theres also another siding called ute,near Dragon probably have to rename them Ute north and Ute south.

DuaErr8.jpg
 
been working on completing the stretch from the Green River to Watson, have about a mile and a half to complete. Now apologies in advance to Mr Bentien ( who doesn't like me using any non Uintah engines) , but remember this is a FANTASY section but this engine is exclusively used between Wendella to Bonanza and was bought in the 1930s to cater for extra traffic.
at the end in 1939,the DRGW also considered taking over the Uintah, so its highly likely in this scenario that surplus DRGW engines could have been drafted in to work on this line ...
xn49dn1.jpg


This was the section that had to be rebuilt about a month ago as the dem wasn't showing the correct topography.
UForjps.jpg

eight bridges in this section alone.
bJ7zHay.jpg


YkO5eLg.jpg


ubnyV6y.jpg
 
Last edited:
I hope everything is going well, and that you are well and safe. I was recently reminded of this route, and can't believe it has been nearly 10 months since the last update.
 
I hope everything is going well, and that you are well and safe. I was recently reminded of this route, and can't believe it has been nearly 10 months since the last update.


I am going to start again now i have more or less completed the timber ridge, in away its a good thing I've had a break away from the route, as as its given me a breather and I've also uploaded many of the assets needed to run the line. I will be trying to avoid using any off DLS assets as much as possible and I discovered I have to change all the fill splines under the track as the ones I used cannot be uploaded to the DLS.
I have a few things to do that are not trainz related but will be hopefully be working on this route soon and rediscovering it once again. I will , once all assets are on DLS (groan , it will take weeks ) upload the whole thing, it will not be completed but it will be driveable . What I mainly have to do now is add the rock textures around the route and i think i have improved my techniques whilst working on timber ridge.
it is interesting how quickly we lose interest in projects and move on to others, it seems a lot more people are worked up about the egg liners than the fate of this route :)
 
it is interesting how quickly we lose interest in projects and move on to others, it seems a lot more people are worked up about the egg liners than the fate of this route :)

I believe I can say that there are a few of us “are worked up” about this route. Especially, compared to egg liners. For this period in time, I would say that it would rank up there with hand sanitizer.

No, really your Uintah Railway route is one of the best routes I’ve seen that show what can be done with Trainz. I’ve not been to the area you are modeling for a while, but from what I remember you have really captured the look and feel of the area (I live in the southwest, but further southeast of the Uintah). From your screenshots, I feel like I will need to have extra water available before I start it up. I’m looking forward to when you have the route completely available.
 
I am very impressed with the way you have captured the look of the desert, Dangavel. With the combination of the ground textures, the rocks and cliffs, and the plants it is looking very realistic!
 
I knew this route was going to be big because of the level of detail, and it would take time for you to put all the files up in the Download Station, but I didn’t realize just how big and how long it was going to take. I looked at the files you have downloaded and it appears to me that you started on February 4, 2020, and have gone just about every day since for a total of over 5580 files. What can I say, but this will give people an idea as to how much work you put into this. This is not just a route, but also a work of art.


I feel that some of your screenshots would make a great cover for the Narrow Gauge Gazette (myself, I like the ones with 51 in them).
 
I knew this route was going to be big because of the level of detail, and it would take time for you to put all the files up in the Download Station, but I didn’t realize just how big and how long it was going to take. I looked at the files you have downloaded and it appears to me that you started on February 4, 2020, and have gone just about every day since for a total of over 5580 files. What can I say, but this will give people an idea as to how much work you put into this. This is not just a route, but also a work of art.


I feel that some of your screenshots would make a great cover for the Narrow Gauge Gazette (myself, I like the ones with 51 in them).

Thanks, the upload count is a bit misleading as not all of these assets are contained within the Uintah, the cliff sets are generally composed of 8 items , but in many cases I've only used one or two of the collection. But it is a lot of items, and a lot of unique items. good news is I've nearly completed uploading, many of the items i will use are already there and have been used in the timber ridge revamp. .
 
Last edited:
Returning to adding what seems like endless miles of sagebrush , creeks and cliffs. Evacuation creek runs alongside the track and the hills feed the creek with dry creeks every few hundred yards.
kO2vM0T.jpg

its not possible to just fill in a small area with sage, as it stretches for hundreds of meters on either side . lo-o-o-o-ng vistas.
SBJhRyq.jpg

I'm currently uploading lots of escarpment splines to provide quick coverage on the far side of the route. Unfortunately the DEM was from relatively low res maps and I often have to make the cliffs up to 10 metres higher . Fortunately . the other side of the canyon is much less challenging to model.
ZxaV0Rc.jpg


J2WhZR9.jpg

Typical stretch with creeks that need to be lined by shrubs. raqods that dip into the creek and are very uneven.
3NolSVJ.jpg
 
this is the sort of stuff I really enjoy doing as its challenging, not just grunt work . The escarpment splines by Frank Dean are great for doing this sort of cliff,this section only took about 30 minutes . Their sheer size allow quick cliff making and I'd like to thank Frank for allowing me to update and use them

HXrUmwn.jpg


50kP0Tv.jpg
 
Last edited:
Ive decided that in order to keep up my interest I'm going to leap around the route and do new things once i feel my enthusiasm lagging for one section. Its crazy, but i remember seeing Atchee and thinking," thats a pretty small town, i can knock this route out in six months " , and three years later ( admittedly 9 months given over to the Timber Ridge ) I still have an extremely large amount ot ground to cover. Its intimidating , so i figure the only way I can keep this up is to move around a lot.
So instead of trying to finish a whole section, I've jumped about 20 miles and shifted from near Dragon to mile post 17 , the site of the famous 'crows nest ' rock and the start of the Atchee canyon that runs about 10 miles in a fairly tight valley. Today I have done a bit of mountain decoration. This section is composed of 'bookcliff' sort of hills,at first and then it moves into sandstone, with pinyon and juniper forest on the tops of the hills.
OiZNIbJ.jpg


BCvbX1c.jpg

the other,undecorated side of the canyon
 
Last edited:
Been working along this canyon near Carbonera. its a BIG job. Even though its not heavily vegetated, it takes forever to cover the country with the necessary items. The mix of rock and trees is complex and the side canyons go back a long way and cannot be ignored. Also , this section has two very different types of rock,grey book cliff shales and then various types of sandstone , ive had to create a lot of new items to get thr right look. The number of fallen rocks on the bottom of the cliffs is enormous and the sparse vegetation on the top of the cliffs proves hard to get the correct look. There's still more to do here as it still doesn't look right.
bJTfuaD.jpg


R2LLc61.jpg


uyijr8A.jpg


J8Keefr.jpg


hRZxEkt.jpg


X10doWv.jpg
 
Dangavel,
As always, such wonderful shots. I'd say it looks "just right" to me. I think you've captured the terrain perfectly!

Heinrich505
 
It's looking very nice. Besides Google Earth, I'm assuming you are using Rodger Polley's books and DRGW.net's Ghosts of the Uintah Railway http://www.drgw.net/trips/report.php?fa=1&tr=UINT site to help with what the area looks like.

If you need help planting vegetation, just give a holler out.

Phil
Yeah, all those, plus benders book , Denver and Utah online digital libraries and scouring YouTubefor video of the area. ��.thanks for the offer of help,but I think it's something I have to do myself as I keep on changing textures as I go along and generating new escarpments to fit the terrain.
 
Carbonera. Milepost 20 .Been working on this for a few days, i had to put in a retaining wall last weekend and it completely stuffed up my neck and arms , its only today that i feel more normal. Old age is NOT fun.


Anyway, no electricity, no running water.Almost impassible roads , no local shops, hot in summer , freezing in winter, flash floods , rattlers and dust.... must have been a total drag living in this spot. However it is fun to model.....
nD0aoqt.jpg

Here we see the rather spiffing Mack railcar that Peter ( narrowguage) created for the route going for an early morning inspection of the route over Baxter pass.
Yf9uqp5.jpg

As you can see , theres a bit more work to do on the left hand side of the " town " and the opposite cliff out of shot needs the full treatment of pinyon juniper and rocks....
BoijMBY.jpg

the luxurious section house /depot in downtown Carbonera. Courtesy of the late Ben Dorsey.
kYz0ukY.jpg


no photos exist of the Carbonera garages, but i understand the miners built 6 in total.
BNWf7X6.jpg


No detailed images exist of the upper section of the mine, but this end is pretty accurate.
 
Last edited:
Just a quick update,we move back into new house in a few weeks and i wont be abel to do muhc then, so will add stuff until that takes place.
Further on up the canyon, mp25/26, nearing Atchee, the vegetation gets more abundant on the hills and thicker in the canyon. all WIP. Since it was a year ago that i worked on this had to spend a lot of time revamping things I wasn't pleased with , but its gradually coming into focus.
OhjVxuO.jpg

I actually found a few built in auran shrubs that look about halfway decent to fill in sections further away from the tracks and have modded a few jvc shrubs to look grey as a lot of the veg here is NOT bright green.
ssXPpyk.jpg

looking up the canyon to Atchee from MP 26, ,Atchee is situated around mp 28.
o6Hfqib.jpg

Since I took these screenshots, I've made a major change to the creek spline in the foreground, I've never been happy with them blending into the ground next to the spline , now I've found a mix that seems to work very well, but it does mean I have to retexture about 20 miles of ground next to the creeks. I think it does look MUCH better, and in a way, having a rest for 9 months has allowed me to develop more techniques and textures that look much more convincing.
zGujGGM.jpg


so much more vegetation to add !!!!, right hand became numb yesterday after about 3 hours applying pinyon junipers and shrubs.
vDDlG8s.jpg

looking down canyon to Carbonera , situated MP20 , gradually getting the hills covered, but its slow process. this is where painting on shrubs and grass would be nice, but the gpu hit would no doubt be humongous and it would be the wrong sort of vegetation anyway and I cant do it on a Mac anyway. . In this case, there can be no short cuts ......
 
Last edited:
Back
Top