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

TGR Fingal/ KCS&Riv Merge/ Flaam

Good morning all, oops, It's early evening here, my day went by quickly, it's 104 degrees, yesterday was 109, and we caught fire in California, unfortunately lost several homes up north of me........very sad weekend for those families...Caught a little rain in local mountains, need a ton more, we and other neighboring states are bone drry as noted by some Dam areas being the lowest level in decades, due to Colorado River low on Water. And too much population needs..........

Over here at TGR Fingal Route, they are getting a good soaking and needed shower for the Crops, but this is Tropical part of Equator, so that's all good, and the Cars get some Dirt and Dust washed off for free as we haul heavy Freight to other Towns here. This a really cool Route to play with, plenty of Industry, long runs on the mainline, something for everyone here on the Route......Very nicely built by the Author........

Over at KCS Hilliam Sub and Riverside Railroad merge operation by your's truly merger maniac, we are running some consist out of the yard today, checking the final installation of Signals with complex Track Puzzles in several places, actually there is another Yard around the corner to the right that serves large parts of the city, a much older area too, with old unused Trackage, nice feature to mess around with, good eye appeal.........

Got me a nice KCS SDM60 I believe here, with really nice Cab,, pulling a heavy string of newly filled oil Tankers out the Oil Yard.....

Here is the trans load Oil Pier, remote out of the way on this Route, it has an Oil Well in the water that makes plenty of oil for Shipping BArges, these are 2 of them here taking load of Oil for Export or Shipping to other US Ports out of Louisianan area Etc.

I'm not quite finished with this port yet, I need to add some more Storage Tanks somewhere to push more oil out........We need more cpapcity here, so I might extend this pier around the corner for more Oil Tanks to be built, will see.?

Very nice looking Cab here, Colors are great......Enjoy driving this Big Boy, and he is very smooth on takeoff.....Not jerky like older locomotives can be,,,,,Lots of electronics on this model for Fuel savings and sound control, it runs very quit too. Were talking to dispatch tower ahead of us in front window view, getting out orders and routing confirmed with them, they'll stack our Signals ahead so we can make good time on the turnaround, we take the full ones here and bring back empties late tonight, or another Crew will if we go out of our running time of 12 hours on the clock, they can work us 16hrs, but that is a dumb move, then Sleep deprivation can cause some bad things too happen to a crew.......We need our rest period just like any other worker......

Take care of your workers, and they'll take care of you, the ones that don't well, they don't last too long around here.....It's a family affair, one for all, all for one.......Work like a team together........No slouches in the work force......And mgt knows they can't work without us, so it works up/down, and across strategically........Does it work this way in a perfect world, well it might, but we don't have that, but when you do have the workforce and mgt on the same page, well its awesome what they can do......I know, I have done and lived it...........Nothing comes easy......Pride is a job well done, respect earned, not given is the proper result.......

All right, sorry, I didn't mean to Rant so much, sometimes when I tell a story, I remember some things in the past when I worked, and what needed to be done, and what we did to accomplish what seemed impossible at times.

So we got our track orders comfirmed, signals are set, got HOT Joe full thermos in the cab, and some treats for later, me the brake man, and Engineer are all set for our ride, AIR check and brakes applied as should be, got Saddle fuel tanks filled, this Philly is ready to run the Track.....Let power up......Here we go!!!!!

Thing we have about 35 Tankers give or take and some other loads too. Check out my Caboose here, like this one a lot, and it has signs for Safety on it.......

Double green ahead here, super good.........

We probably have a switch ahead that needs to be set for us, but dispatch is already checking that, hopefully we don't need to stop,, will cruise at 20 MPH until we here an update from the tower.......Soon I hope.

We slip over to a Flaam map here, the Lakes below is where I am working, creating a refinery and Gas operation to the left of the lower large lake,,,,

Got a ton of pictures on the Flaam, showing what I did, and how I improvised in a mountainous area to get what I wanted for heavy refinery and gas well operation.

That'll do for today,,,,,please say prayer for those young kids trapped in Tunnels, across the Pond from us, one Navy Seal Diver has already given his life in this rescue operation to bring these kids out safely, a heavy rain storm is approaching the area again, as they frantically try and pump the excess water out of the undersea tunnels these young kids got trapped in!!!!


Night all, enjoy your weekend.......Best
 
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Gone Camping in the Wild

Hello Folks,,,,

Just in for quick second here, Ill be away for while camping...........No wifi of course so i can't post anything........Just me and the wild animals.........

Take care
 
Vissitng the Aussie Merge Route

Good Afternoon all,

Back from a quick week of camping, lots of fun and we even got some rain showers the trees up our mountains need all the rain we can get.

Below is the latest over view of our Harbor area, since I made some changes. The way the tracks in this area run are square of sort rectangle design, allowing 2 ways to enter the Harbor Rail Sorting yards on the right. the other parts, connect to regional Airport, and other large machinery, pipe plants and small cargo wholesale house for shipping needs on import export.

Overview of Housing and Golf and Park area for residents.

A line of SD40's bring out a string of empty Box cars for delivery back to manufactures up in the mountain communities.

A trio of heavy SW1500's bring in some Boxcars for shipping port. Downtown Skyscrapers loom in the view as we turn in towards the east entrance area of Port Operations.

This is a Canyon area with a heavy River Current coming in from melting snow.Fortunately for us, our Grade sets up high enough we don't get any flooding from Torrent River below.....But it sure has moved some very heavy Boulders during heavy down poors.

I forgot to mention, our way down from the mountain Route, we experienced a broken knuckler from fatigue.

Picking up a clear as we approach the main harbor yards ahead........

Car handling shops on the Left side here for maintenance needs.

At this point we have dual main lines, and it works out perfectly for us, with no bottlenecks in 2 way traffic coming from the port areas.

This what the mountain area looks like as we head toward the port area.....Really very nicely done by the original author.....

That'll due for now.

Enjoy your week ahead.......
 
Good Tuesday to all,

It's been a very Hot July, with some Forest Fires in Yosemite and other areas........Hoping we get a rain storm here or there, can't believe how low some of our lakes our in areas.

OK......Lets go to to the fun Stuff........Been working like crazy on Flaam Route, I have an Oil Refinery Center above the triple Dam and Lake center, and just put in a huge Power Plant in the highest part of the mountains on the Route, at 1000 Feet, I know, it doesn't sound very high, but in Trainz I think it is.........

So below are some different pictures of things I did with Flaam.........

Got some older Santa Fe units I think I found on DSL......They don't belong on this Route, but I did a quick and dirty test for a minute too see how they worked, I really like the Smoke on these Locos............

You can especially see it here,,,,,,I hope to copy the effects to other Loco's in my Roster if I can...

I was flying by at Warp 20 MPH here thru the Canyons......These are definitely the Locos that can, I used to see these go by in the Victorville to LA Route on Santa Fe.......

Coming across a dark Canyon area after a Sunny Day, and I think this is where now sets a Huge Power Plant.........I just put in later on the Pictures you'll see what I have been up too.

Looking over the upper Lake area, on the Right side is where an Oil and Gas Field operating Plant will go in ..........

This is the extreme northern end of the Route, where I had to add some more end Tiles to make my Mountain back drops...........We are at 900-1000 Feet here in some places.....I didn't want a falling off effect on the Route here, I had to run the tracks thru here to gain some altitude and still keep it at 2.5% to 3.25 % for long heavy Trains........

This area is all messed up, pardon our construction please......The Dam is just sitting here, because I had to move it out of the lake, while I re dredged the Bottom and changed Height and Wall dimensions of the area to confirm to the new Rail Mainline I put in Etc. So you see some houses hanging in the Air too......Big Mess now, but later I think you'll appreciate my efforts, once I Show how it comes out to look......All the Texturing of course is out of Whack too, as I changed huge areas to level and/or lower the areas too suit my needs.....

Taking some cars and locos up here to see how the % grade works. it took me a long time to get my Grades Right within the 3.25% or less limit............I've really learned how hard it is to work with Mountainous areas and smoothing out the Grades to make it work for the trains I want to run etc...Curves are easy for me now, it's the Grades that take a lot of time to get just right, and when you do, you'll really see how well and natural it works with the extra effort put in.......

Noiw this looks weird I know, this is why I use Wire Mode, some of these items are 800 feet below the Grid, some don't belong here, and some do, But in order to raise or delete them, you have too make some small Punch circles of sort, to get the mouse to grab or attach to the Asset, you can't always just try and tick with your mouse to grab the asset, especially Water Tiles, they simply wont erase........So this is how i do it. I pull all the items out little at a time, then re level the area..........I use the Wire Mode to make sure nothing is left down here....It can be more items than you realize and for different reasons.....In my case it was raising this area up, and the Assets didn't come with it, because they are set at a certain elevation when they were first placed........I have found large sections of Forest and buildings and other other things left on other folks Routes, that they probably didn't know where left there from Route Building, it easy to do when your changing things around with elevation changes....Etc.

It takes a few minutes to get the Hole dug so to speak, so you can grab these lost items below the Grid, if you never have Wire Mode on, you'll probably not see these things, unless there are some like Tracks with the Yellow Marker on the Grid Line........

That'll do for today.........See you in couple of days with more Pics......

Thank's for dropping in , and stay hydrated in this hot weather...........Cheers
 
Good evening all,

Looks like I have a busy month ahead, with business and other trips scheduled, so what I thought since, I might be in areas where I can't post to the thread here as I normally do.

So I plan on posting more frequent here and there, till my schedule comes around more normal.........

One of the reasons for doing this, This particular route FLAAM is one of more intensive and interesting projects that i have worked on, and intriguing to me in the fact, that it is amazing when you work in theater area with large Mountains, in this case almost 1600 feet tall, and the challenges it presented to me, in making proper Gradients I felt were reasonable to the Rail operation I invented. I spent many days, just making a mess on the Route, from one end to another, and lots of failures till I could get a vision of how this Route could be changed to the vision I thought could work for me.

In doing all the changes, I took a lot of different angled photos, that I would like you all to see, how I did what I did, like they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words at glance, with some explanation.

This is the end of the 3 lakes area, where dams hold and control the melting snow from above. This is where I decided to put a Trestle bridge, as this area could become an over flow if the Lake capacity is exceeded with heavier than usual drainage from the mountains. I probably will, later on, construct a spillway here of some sort.......Another project for another day....LOL......

Our first train is heading over the new Trestle and Grade is spot on, curves perfect so far. What I like here even though the Texture and smoothing is incomplete, you get a view of the immensity of the canyons looking out across the Vista View. Look at how small the trains look from my highest vantage point here.........

Now closer than ever, we see these powerful locos, pulling a good string of Freight across one very high, if not almost the highest ridge in the canyon.......Now one to consider, this was all electric on the other parts of the railroad.....And I will electrify some parts of the Flaam, which may include this section, but that remains to be seen, and it is mostly for passenger service.

Here is the other side of the trestle view as are first train crosses.

As we cross the end here, there is Tunnel laying on the side, awaiting to be positioned in another part of the mountain.

In this view, you see the end of the route curve here, straight ahead, I need to build and blend a canyon to the right and back 2 corners here.......You'll see the process in later pictures, and I might use some wall scenary backdrops in key spots if they look blended well enough to look right with the mountain terrain.......There are many options available to use. kind of like a crossword puzzle, you need to find the right word to fit, and when you do, voila, it works........Your eyes will never let you down, you always know when something works.

I really like the smoke trail these units put out, I have several loco types at work here.

A front view of the of the trestle here, and I plan to add some trees and scrubs later on.....

This is the curve will take into the next higher vista of our mountain route. I takes quite a while to get the mainline leveled the way I want here, and then build the mountains up in a way that shows the area of immense proportions.

It's getting late and time to retire, lots more pics coming your way.........night now.......

Oh, one thing, I need to make these pictures larger, by making a change in my image handler.......as I learn how to work with it for Photo hosting, bear with me please, thanks.
 
Good Thurs all,

Wow has this week gone fast, busy, busy lots of things to see and do, lots to accomplish......

So last night I was working on Flaam route, and got my new power plant completed and installed, and some various other a sundry items to go with it.....I won't go into more detail here, because, when I post the pictures, you really see how you KIT BASH things together, and make them look better than when you started with a single asset.

Like many other members have said, you can spend a whole day, week, whatever decorating and changing a spot on your Route, and then look back, saying, what? This is all I did in such a small area. That's what I did too last night, until 1:00AM in the morning, but what I didn't say, was this was revision #7, becuase as I made my changes, added more shunting tracks and needed additional support facilities, like Crew Quarters, Oil Supply tanks for the Electrical Plant, Signals, complicated Track Puzzles for special tight turns, and access Tracks for Team Operations, re leveling the ground, change the texture.....Etc,Etc, you get the idea, the hours just passed by.

By the end of the night, I looked over my accomplishments, and was happy for how it all turned out, starting from clearing a simple large area for Power Plant needed for heavy industrial area, high in the back part of the Mountains...........

I downloaded another German Route last night too.

"The Niedergrundbahn is a typical modern branch line, which merges (after a distance of about 12 kilometers) in a electrified main line.
The setting is a modern (fictional) German route in winter."

I highly recommend this Route to play on, there are several versions to choose from........

Now lets go over to today's pictures, for recap........

This is the 3 Lake Dam Control area, and our mainline Circles the on both sides of the lake, here we are checking Height of Grade, Curves etc, with some new downloaded equipment.

I like the different Rolling Stock here, some is from NV3 winter sale.

The texture and Plants are no way finished here, that's another day's project.

View from the mountain here, this is the Bridge I decided to drop in. This area is trickle to heavy downpour of Snow and Rain easement during Storms.

This Bridge is very strong with extra heavy under concrete under pinning for support. Unless the whole mountain slides, which with this Geology of heavy Granite and other solid Rock, just isn't going to happen, except, and I say except, Volcano, or Earthquake action, and when that happens, all bets are off for sure, we have much larger issues to compete against.......They call it survival mode.....Been there and done that with Quaky Shaky Los Angeles California Earth Quakes, better than a Hurricane or Tornado any day, in my books!!!

I should say, one of the Reasons this Texture looks so miss mash, is these were high mountains, 500-700 feet higher with Snow Runoff points, before I dropped them down for better Frame Rates in this area, well actually, I should be directly honest, the whole Route needed mountain top height adjustment, and I hated to do it, but had no choice, it had to be done for this Laptop.......

Can't wait for my new ROG (republic of gamer's) brand Laptop, which take TANE and give it a run for it's memory...........And if it doesn't it will be returned to Costco....!!!!!


So all this looks funny now with the new height changes, 800-900 feet here and yes it made a mess, but I will correct all of this.........(Please excuse our mess during construction here.......)

Curves and Grades are perfect, I had no problems pulling this consists up the hill here, exactly what I wanted to happen.

Got my clearances established too.........Which while I'm thinking about it, I will have some Short sidings in specific spots on the heavy Grades, added with Helper Power for rear push and extra Braking and Dynamic power for my really heavy Consists, and there will be plenty with Coal/Steel/Cement/Ore and other Commodities going up and down the heavier 3.5% Grades I have......All good stuff, I don't want any Run Away's up here, it could be disastrous both environmentally and other wise, protect my Crews, don't cheat on Safety.......

I do remain respectful of the Land up, here, that's why will have electrification in some area's but not all.......

Here is one of the upper Dam control Points to handle the overflow of each River, all 3 Rivers are stair step and set above one another to make us Electrical Power as the Snow and Rain ebbs and flows down the Steep Mountain sides into the natural River section in this vary large Canyon area.......I have more Piping and Water Runoff to come and add to existing Dam areas, and wait till you see the pictures of how I made these Gushing Waterways..........Kudos to the Authors of this and other Routes that gave me wonderful examples of how to make these Waterfall Visions with the Various Steam, Rapid Assets they provided,,,,,,it's amazing what you can do with these assets, and I need to go over to my Aussie Merge and find the huge boulder Rocks in the Canyon River Channel that connects to my Pier area.....I need some of those huge Boulders to put in various spots here. They would, pardon the pun, make a Great Splash in River Rapids areas. It looks so cool..........

We came thru the new Bridge on the other side, now we head up and around the Lake perimeters..........And guess what, I haven't even put any Sail Boats in the Lake yet, I know, shame on me, some picnic Tables, Trailers for Camping, Cuk People,I like her assets a lot, she makes a lot of them too, so donate to her if you like them, it helps defray the labor and other expenses to make these cool assets for us.....,

Lots to due..........LOL........I'll get there, trust in me..........

The nice thing about these Curves, I can take them 40-65 miles per hour......Of Course there are some spots, where I need to put in speed restrictions......

We are running about 2.00% to 3.3% grade here or less..........

Train looks tiny compared to these Huge Mountains, when I add some Trees, it will really blossom out here......And actually, I will due minimal amount of Trees.......I due have some Tree Texture that looks great for higher spots in the mountain Range, it looks like Trees and blends in here really good. It is however a little darker than I like, and I will try a secondary Texture Color to lesson the darkening effect of it.

That's all for now........Thanks for Dropping by......Have a great day all........And Ish, you continue to improve sir, I pray for you everyday for good recovery sir.......
 
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Good Friday Day all,

The weekend is upon us now............

Flaam work continues on, today will digress over to ("KCS Riv RR Merge") and discuss a little more of what's been going on. But!!!! before we go there, Lets touch on some key things I have been mauling over with ......Especially the SP3 update!!!

Please make sure you make a backup of your whole T:ANE directory, Program and User Directory, they are not the same, and I think there are those of you that have confusion over that very important fact.

The thing to remember, "TNO" applies here, (trust no one) and that in this case specifically comes into play with software upgrades, changes, I don't care if it is a simple patch or a large Operating system?

Now why would I say that so blatantly?

Well it comes to Poker, Gambling of your hard work, assets, how much can you afford to lose, better yet, how much time and frustation can you afford to lose on runniung around in circles to find, or recreate lost assets, Routes Etc?

This is nothing against NV3, but just common knowledge how the best software can go awry in certain Hardware or Software configurations, ask any Windows or MAC user about software updates/upgrades? You get the painful answer......How can I state such things, I worked IT for 20 years professionally, and I can tell you i lost sleep at night when New Software, Hardware or system Upgrades came out, and what happens when they integrate with existing or legacy systems and software. In some cases, you could no longer use your legacy wiz bang simple software for one of many reasons:

1. No upgrade for it to work for the new software

2. Company is out of business long ago or bought out, they don't use that software?

3.It's a database program, from one of the major vendors, and you have to wait for an upgrade to come, when? LOL

4. Worse yet, you can't use that Database any longer, and guess what, your records might not be able to be imported into a new database program, it becomes manual entry.....( It happened to me, and cost me 2 months of work time to print out, and copy new records, manually enter them into a whole new database.......Now that is not true of all databases.......But in my case with YEAR 2000 issues, it surely was!!!!!

5. Think of Trainz and Content Manager, in its native form, it's huge relational database, with scripts and special hard coded items, and I think it works re-markedly well, for what it has to do....When you think of all the things it must Mathematically and Graphically recreate on the fly as we play, create and wonder about with our simple to absolutely complex Routes, Rules and Scripting and heaven knows what else..

So when it comes down to it, a good backup separate from your hard drive, can be a simple USB Drive, External Hard Drive, Cloud Backup, you need at least 2 out of three. And one for sure needs to be off site.

Get that back up first, then do your patches or Trainz Version changes....You'll thank yourself over and over again, if the chips end upside down for you an you have perform a restore function.......

Enough of lecture here on Patch upgrades, if nothing here stokes the fire, then by all means read the SP3 Threads to see how well, or how difficult the patch went for others, don't take my word, check out with you own eyes to see.......

Let's get on to the pictures, shall we,

This one, I took the river canal and widened it a bit, replaced some of the bridge supports with different type Pylons.

Here the river channel is new due to the recent merge of the route and we have lots of new bridges installed over the waterway to link in all the incoming and cross forming mainlines.

it's been a while since we saw this section, there was no Mountain on the left side, when I dropped this mainline in, now it has it, and I like it.....

We just picked up Oil Tanker string from the refinery headed for our Consumer points...



We pop out of the short tunnel we saw on the previous Pic......Curve is good, % grade is perfect, I thinking it's 1.2 to 1.5% max here......No problem for our SD60 power.

We stop here to pick up some new Route Orders and some refreshment before we move on, lots of lift bridges ahead of us, could be so boat crossing delays for us, but they marginal 10-15 min delays which is worked into our schedule.......

I like our old Caboose Office here, reminds me of my Days when I rode in the Caboose, and really found out how well my Engineer could handle the Train movement. Let me tell if he didn't I would surly let him know about it!

Don't like be thrown out of riding seat, or wearing my Drink on shirt, think it doesn't happen, oh yes it did and does from time to time....Is it always the engineers fault, nope, it sometimes is mechanical failure, dumb people that cross in front of the train, or Trucks stopped, trapped in crossing that they shouldn't be to start with. That's a different story......

Now this and the next picture is curiously interesting, that track above when we hit the next bridge, it goes on top the bridge, and our track is underneath.....Very interesting bridge........

Now look at the bridge, look up above you see the Ties and Rail of the opposing track overhead, strange to see a train above us going in the same or opposing direction overhead.

Signals are set on this side of Bridge before we enter the Tunnel, which is not too long.

And here we go, red light, Bridge is up position for boat traffic, as this is one busy river canal, lots of ships all the time crossing. We have a 5 min delay, the Bridge master sees us on his view screen and has given Radio Acknowledgement that he is restoring our Track connection across... Pretty cool huh...

Now we have passed over to the other side of the bridge and you look across the wide river, 2-3 miles away from us.......Nice Blue Waters tranquil for now, no Storms too whip them up.

So there you go, I really enjoy this Route, lots to see and due, thanks Phil Skene for terrific Route to merge with KCS Hillian Div, just right and not too large after the merge, very compact, but you can still get some nice runs on the mainlines.......
 
A blessed Sunday to all here,

This is my original Thread, and I did have problem with it due to Web Photo hosting sites, I see that a fare amount of you come here to read about my ventures, so I'm going to post a set of pictures here today, and see if it goes off without a hitch?

Please let me know if this works out OK........I was pretty miffed about having to start another Thread when this one acted up........Using Imgur for Photo Hosting, the way it is set up, I have to copy the pictures one at one these are hosted make 10 copies here......I batch load them on the Photo Host, but not copy back in the same way, unless I'm missing something on the way Imgur works, but the cool thing is, you can set Auto Croping, and that saves a bunch of time over the manual doing on my Computer with Paint or something else.

So over on Flaam Route, we are touring through the Mainline that runs along the River's edge, checking Grade, Signals and Track Curves, don't look at Texture or Trees here, that is all in construction mess, since I have lowered, cut, filled and done all kinds of stuff to this Route.........That's a mess right now, as I get my Grades the way I need them, and the Mountain heights where need to be....This is why some spots like the Brown dirt area below look so funny.....It'll all come together........

Over here we are coming into a small Town, and this is the first House and some trees as come around the curve at 2.5% downgrade from above this area.....used to be 5-6% Grade.......That was not going to work well......LOL

I've dropped some small Steel Trestle type bridges in here and there, where the Icy melting Snow flows are from tops of the Alps here.

Now the Rail is where I want it too be, these houses and the Dam Structure will be moved and placed where it needs to be...........

Snow Sheds had to pulled away from the mountain here because I changed the Elevation............In some places I won't need the Snow Sheds any longer, in other places I will need them do to cuts in the Cliff areas.........

Now if you follow our test train here, and you look out overhead, the mainline cuts thru the side of the large mountain to the left and continues upward at a max of 2.75% -3.6% percent in some spots, I try to maintain that grade closer to 3.00% wherever possible, but you have huge elevation up here, to 1100 Feet, and that's bit for me, when you start at Zero in the harbor area......

As you can see, I messed up on the track when I moved some terrain, upward and out, covered my Trackage.........Very easy to do when making large adjustments....So I constantly have to go back and check my Tracks, as it is easy to over correct with Mouse control as you hover the circle and hit unintended areas when your changing the terrain levels.

And too, I probably get impatient when I am doing large areas of change, trying too hurry up, "hast makes waste" as some of my mentors in life have told me. The fact couldn't couldn't be more evident or true......

There are lots of side roads and Wooden Bridges put in this path, so you have a way to get thru this very Rocky area between small Towns, which are far apart up in the higher Regions, this is no where near a densely populated area at all, it's Rugged Cold, and can be down right dangerous to live in some of these area, with Freezing Temps, you have too be a hardy, and smart person to survive the elements up here, or you'll surely die........Think Avalanches, Frostbite, Zero Visibility in Snow Storms or White out conditions.......

We come around here to the other side of the Lake now..........What a view


And here is a sneak peak of some French I think Trainz I just downloaded for a power move to the higher elevations, I really like these models.

They are from Pappy's Trainz.....Here is the Link to his Site.......

https://enginsmoteurspapytrainz.jimdo.com/diesels-1/

Well it's time to head off for Church...........Hope this post on my old site works.......

Thank you all for coming and visiting............I'm off on a Road Trip with my Grand Kids early tomorrow.........Lots to do and see before the new School season starts for them.
 
A little of this a little of that/ Flaam/ Snowy Peak/Aussie mergge Night Shots

Good Day all, it's Wednesday,

And truly summer in the City for sure, over 100 last few days, 75-80 at night, that's not good for us, Fire in Yosemite Park and some surrounding areas of the State, and I wouldn't be surprised if more don't break from this high heat were having!!!!

Had a nice trip up the coast of Central California where it was much cooler for a while.......

(Have to run, forgot I had an appointment this morning, I finish this update later this afternoon, bear with me please, my apologies)

Update: Thank you for your patience, don't throw your back out when your traveling, it's a pain in the Neck.......LOL

Alright so recall a while back I said I needed to add Power Plants in several areas, so up at the top of the mountains, and nearby the lakes which allow some Hydro Power generation, I made this power generation area to coincide with the Hydro Power below, which is seasonal to some extent due to the Rain and Snow Fall in this high altitude.

Just a picture to give you a feel of what it looks like at a distance. These European Switchers are being tested for the curves and Shunting power for heavy Coal and other items for this plant, you'll see more pictures later. Nice to see I have a Lunar Green signal here on the Safetran 08 Interlock, working as designed for my 3 throat-ed entry into the Plant Team Tracks Etc.

You know how I like to make Mountain Scenes, well if I could make one to look like this, oh boy, oh boy, this would be the one, but as you probably can already see, I couldn't get this level of height in Trainz Route, let alone, run the thing, my GPU would pass out from exhaustion of trying to render this glorious Titan of a mountain.....But I can dream a little.

Imagine if we could position Clouds in the mid level of our Sky, see them here, they are just at the Snow Line.......Really cool picture I think.

Lets slide over to Midnight in Aussie land, very warm hot night, and the passenger cars are so hot, the brakes are smoking on these heavy Passenger Cars, see the Smoke coming up from the sides of the Cars as we slow down for a stop, special animation by the Author, way cool stuff.......

We are heading thru a small downtown, Station, Motel, and Bar area now............Customers are patiently waiting for us to arrive.

Were just outside of the town in above picture, slowly meandering our way thru town at 11:00 PM in the evening, trying not to wake up sleeping residents here.......The nice brite loco light shines the way ahead for us to see.....We try not to hit the Kangaroos, and most of the time they run away from the sound of Train.

We just finished a quick stop in the Yard to take some Food and Diesel Fuel, Water too, the workers here are quick to make our 20 Min stop mean the most for needed supplies Etc. I think I am using Silver Meteor Loco's here, they are one of my Favorites, run well, Quite and get the job done for me.......

We are headed out the Yard North connector here, which after a turn in the Tunnel ahead will line us up for the Station Stop you saw a few pictures up. Looks like we have a Red for a moment, need to check with local Dispatch to see what traffic is out there with us, probably Night Freight Local working the silos etc........We r doing 4 MPH as we near the Red for now........

Got our clearance for the signal, it was one of Local Jobs working in the area with some Freight Drops and other Shunting moves, but we have lots of Duel Track, so we just needed him to clear Main Track #2 for us........See the really blue River on the Right, it's running about medium height for now, but if we get heavy Rain, the River can rise quickly, however we enough capacity for now......

Coming on underpass line, which goes to Beach and Harbor areas of the other Route Merge........

Slowing Down for Curve, we hit Downtown quickly and make a stop for more passengers......And it looks like we are coming in HOT tonight, those brakes are smoking, we might need to do a test with Temp Stick that tells us how hot the Shoes are on our Disc's. If they are too hot, we might have to wait 15-30 mins to cool the brakes down, we don't need a fire, or loss of Braking power with these heavy bodied Passenger cars......

That'll do for now,, have a good evening all, and thank for Popping in.......Cheers
 
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A good Friday to all here, hope you are doing well, and wonderful weekend ahead.

For me, our family will head out one last time this year for some Camping in the High Sierra Mountains of Ca.......Hopefully the large Fire of Yosemite won't affect our air quality, but I never take anything, especially the Weather and Wind elements for granted.

I was able to find RMM's latest Speed Trees for TANE, I think they are Version 6, and should work a lot better, and look much better than those Billboard Types.....My GPU needs all the help it can get.

A shout out to Sir Dave Snow for his latest Boxcars he made for us, and that larger than life Silo too, boy is that Silo big as in large Commercial type of Building. So Cool Sir Dave, you are the energizer bunny my ole Friend.

Went over to SRS and Grabbed 2 other SD60 Cyclops type Loco's in UP and BN Green and Org and Black, double Bonus on that one.

I'm thinking about taking a rest from the Flaam Route for a while and head over to one of my Favorites in NG, that's the Wild Bill ones, and I like TGR Fingal too, heck I like too many Routes, and then there is Phil Skene with his amazing condensed Routes he makes for us.........I better stop while I'm ahead or I'll overload my little Brain, ouch that might hurt.......All good........Trainz is the best to be in.........

OK, so will head into the Pier Large in Aussie Merge Land, and see some train action pulling a heavy load of Boxcars out of the port, well, we do have a few empties in the rear for some Customer returns, but the 3/4 or more of our train is loaded with items coming from the Port.

Soon will be heading up 2% or more grade into the windy and rapid River area.

Below we fresh SP Power 5 of them coming to get our loaded consist from the Docks.

We have to back down and pick up some more empties for our train.

And here we are backing into another part of the Port to pick up 30 cars more.

And here we go into the Canyon Full power ahead. 6 MPH for now as we gradually throttle up.

Looking out and across from our back end, you can see the Circus over there, everyone having a great time at the Carnival Grounds. Even Hot Air Balloon Rides too.

Got some Pacific Fruit Express and some Amtrak rapid Mail Cars headed to the Docks today. We have a side spur here, so Passenger Traffic isn't affected in the least by our presence as we pass quietly by the all the Passengers at the Station.

And here is where the Fruit Express goes, this little Company here does a booming Import/Export business with lots of customers across the Ocean.

Another view of the port here, while Fruit and Food await Ocean Transports.

And that Black and Red Triangle Tower to the Right is for major Radio Communications.

Looks like we have some traffic ahead of us in the Corridor........?

Look at those nice big Rocks in the Stream to are Left....

Think we have a nice looking City scape at Night......Purple and Orange Cloud Cover too.

That'll do for today,,If things work out, I'll post some more pics on Sunday before we leave for Camping. Thanks all for coming to visit.
 
A blessed day to all, and prayers for the folks in Yosemite Fire area, 80,000 Acres and 530 structures and homes are burned out as of yesterday, the Fireman are having a heck of time due to wind, heat and drought...Very challenging time up there for all concerned............

Today I our family heads out to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Camp, be gone about a week or so........So I wont be able to post beyond here, today most likely due to spotty or no Wifi conditions.


So I got some Narrow Boats for the Flaam, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat

Very interesting topic, and thanks to the Forum for helping me find out about and download them......Use Search on DLS for Narrow Boats, you'll find a small selection of very nice models.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Yosemite+fire&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

I'll have to finish the notes later, as I need to goto Church and get on the Road, it's a 7 hr drive today.......

Testing more new Rolling Stock here and other things.

We are on the other Canyon here 1000-1100Feet in elevation, as you can see lots of Texture and other things to accomplish,,Here we are testing Curves, Grades and Signal distance for now.

Headed up from the Harbor area, we pass a little village here. I have to learn the names of these areas........

Coming up thru the narrow canyon asses, we approach a small Rural Station for both Freight and Passenger Service......

I testing a new high speed train here, and it handles the curves and elevation perfectly, lots more work to accomplish here, boy when I move things around I really make a mess sometimes......Like a kid making Mud Pie.....

Coming thru at probably 75 MPH,,,,,speaking of which, I'll need to kick up my 40MPH in several areas, and reduce in some other areas where downgrades etc, have radically changed......

This is the lake area in the upper 3 lake Dam area.......I have moved the houses around and made this look more natural, this whole area was torn for Elevation and Track changes........The poor residents here had to be paid temporary Housing while our major construction was in progress, but in being honest with them, looking forward, this will be a nice Tourism Spot, not over done, or over built either, I want the tranquil feel to remain here as we make changes to the local economy, I firmly believe honesty like in the old days, your word and your handshake is your bond, without that, well the game, at least here is over with......

So far all these small communities have welcomed the Railroad changes in with open arms, we have hired many of them to help in the construction efforts here, so they have a monetary and vested interested in the progression of change, even our Railroad Crew new hires are from several of local enclaves here. What better person to work for you, than one that knows the area..........

This is a Deep empty reservoir for now, but once Lake and Dam Construction changes finish, it will be fulll of water and stocked with Fish for local Fisherman Etc.......

Look at the expanse here, there are so many views to see up here from many different angles.........

That's it for today folks, headed to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with Ranges of 14000 Feet in some spots. We will be in the 7500 Range, nice and cool........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(U.S.)

If you ever get a chance to see this great area, please do..........They are magnificent to view, drive and if you wish, camp as well.......

Have a great week all, see you when I get back.....Thank you for coming by to visit.....It is always appreciated.......Best
 
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Back from Camping...........Aussie Merge with Pipe Loads..

Good evening all,

Just got home from a nice but very smoky Camping Trip, unfortunately the fires in California continue to worsen for us as the Dog Days (extreme heat, 100 or better) continue and you watch, now that the Plant and Tree growth are gone in large areas, will have flooding from heavy rains in some areas that haven't seen such Floods in their lifetime or maybe several decades. At last count, I think we are well over 1500 homes burned due to Forest Fires.

https://www.google.com/search?q=calfiornia+Fires&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

or Google "California Fires".............

So let's go my comfort zone, below is Aussie merge Route, Harbor area specifically, we are headed North with lots of power, 6 on the front, 2-3 in DPU mode, and will need it, because we are carrying heavy Concrete Pipe, Excating equipment, and Heavily reinforced sewer pipe.
IvgybTl.png

Below we are pulling out with our first part of consist from the pipe factory..........These babies are quite heavy, so will need our 8-9 SD45's too pull the grade, in addition, we have a snow storm approaching.

And here we go, and here goes the Snow Storm too.

Looks like our Local mountains are going to get some much needed Snow for Moisture content. Meaning, we need a good Snow Pack this year........

The Green Pipe below is our loads headed for some large city renovation projects.

Amazing shot here, are train is the length you can see the last part of your train as you complete a Round Loop to head higher in elevation.

I see we also have some heavy Industrial Transformers too, and some other special Gas Pipe............

Looks like some more snow coming down as we head up with my SD45's, very reliable engines to work with......

Looks like we get some relief from the Snow over in this area. No problems if it snows for us, I have excellent Crews working on this particular Train.

Awh, now it looks like we might almost have a White Out starting here.

We cross a very cold and swift moving River here, and it might freeze over in another month if the cold weather holds.

On other news I see "Eagle River Railway" is released, and it looks like I need to go buy that Route, as it looks fantastic from all available information, and great looking pictures......I let you know once I accomplish the task of procuring one very interesting Route to play with......

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?146898-JR-Route-Release-Eagle-River-Railway

It's good to be back, I didn't have WiFi, so I missed my Forum and the great people that make it fun to read up the latest ideas, problems, Products, what's new etc. I'm so happy to see we have a common place to share our ideas and good friendship.

Have good week, and our prayers go out to those that have lost their homes in these terrible Fires...............

Watching the Riverside Fire rolling up into the San Bernardino Mountains........It's a bad fire........

See you all in a few days =with some more pictures and commentary.

Thank you for dropping by as always, it's appreciated.......
 
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Flaam changes

Good Morning all,

Getting ready for another Road Trip to see some family we haven't been able to for a while, It be nice to see some of the Midwest I haven't ever seen before.
Good thing, it isn't Winter, so other than some rain here and there from Thunder Showers, it should work out great.......

Over to Flaam, this is the extreme North end of the Route and I needed to add on some Tale Piece Squares to adjust for large Elevation changes.

These areas, the new heights can be from 1000-1300 Feet Max to get the effect I want.........So here I have leveled a lot of the Tiles added. But as you can see, I haven't finished it. I'm using full circle expansion to quickly draw the new elevation heights, but it takes more time for me, due to week GPU, and that's another reason I switch to Wire Mode it is 2-1 speed increase or more.

Now this end needs to be filled in, and it will change many more times till I get it too look natural and not just hanging Cliff Drops..........It will make more sense, once I get the changes done.

On this side, you can see my new Steel Bridge, and behind this cut off Range, will have a Watershed type wetland area for the animals.. You can see the Lakes on the right half of the Dam Control area for Hydro power Projects, we need lots of natural Electricity too.

Different side of the lake area, don't pay attention to Ground Color's that's unfinished.

This is the lower canyon side of the lake Reservoir System.

I had to hop a mountain top across from the deep canyon area so you get a different perspective here......And you can see I have added Mountains into the Corner of the Route I was talking about earlier, as the Ridge line is now starting to look more natural, there is no longer a cut off edge........This is a larger area too, as you look at how small the consists is in this shot of the deep Canyon Gorges............

This Wetland area is slowly taking shape,,,,the surrounding mountains, need a lot of work, as I have said before, I get an idea of how I want something to look, but it takes me a while to get it too what I envision it to be over time, and I never know how exactly it will work, or if it even does?

Over on this side, I was trying too see how different type Rock Textures would look for my Dam areas of the lake Reservoir System, and I am not sold on these Rocks yet, I need to find something more appealing or less of this Texture blended in with 1-2 more variegated Colors.......

Now this is a great shot of the upper North end of the Route, and you can see the last part of the new Tiles I added, on the bottom Right Last Tile Row, and they are sitting down over a 1000 Feet, or zero Elevation. The Whole Route has lots of twists and curves, which really makes for interesting Rail and point of interest lines.......

Over over on this side we are putting in some Trees and new Farm Housing etc........The Ice Water Lines you see, will be redrawn........That was due to me cutting down the Mountain Elevation by 300-500 Feet, So that's why the Texture looks strange till I get it re Textured from the changes I made.........Mad Hatter at work her for sure......LOL

That'll due for today,,,,,,,

BTW I didn't get Coal Country Route yet, that is on delay for now, as I prepare for some other things I need to do ahead of it........

Have a great Friday and thank's for coming over.........
 
Taking a ride on Marias Pass (delightful)

Good Day all,

This week was both good and bad for me, I got to see my Oral Surgeon post op, and had a great report, the surgery to clean out infection and save two teeth was a great success. SO now I can go finish the rest of my Dental work. As most of you know, when you get in your Senior yrs, and older, keeping the last of what remains of your teeth is important, unless you are into Dentures, many of my friends do have them, and I can tell you, a good % do not like them or the maintenance that goes into owning a pair.......!

The bad part, I have Sciatica Nerve inflammation for the last 3 weeks, and those who had this nerve disease know all too well it can effect your body movement and daily routines, including a good nights sleep..........Hopefully this too, shall pass?

https://www.google.com/search?q=sciatica&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Now for the happy part of the day, playing with Trainz takes my mind away from the pain and I immerse myself in Route Building, or playing, as was the case last night, where the Route was Marias Pass, a large and very interesting Route to play with.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...i131j0i67j35i39j0i131i20i264j0i10.EzzaQN1fHZo

I highly suggest trying out one of the Marias Pass Routes, as you can see their ones for different versions of Trainz lovers. I'm having a ball with mine.......I have 2 different versions to play with, not sure of what the difference is. But there is plenty of Country to run long Travel Points as well as Industries well spaced for those that enjoy shorter runs and lots of Shunting activity. The Rail Switching Yards are of good size and variety as well

I believe we are at MP1221 and for today's assignment, will shunt a MOW Consist, Hoppers, Slab Cars, and our own Caboose with Fred Light attached.

It's 5:00 PM so this will be Red Eye shift with late afternoon start, and plenty of Coffee and Treats, and we have worked these before, as we are a normal Night Crew, and there is quite a bit of Shunting and Switching to keep us alert tonight. Weather is great, just some high clouds against a Blue Sky.....How much better can it get in this pretty part of the country, I dare not ask, I we might see a Bambi or the Mr Bear looking for Salmon..........Anything is possible at this altitude and time of year.

Here is the rest of our MOW consist, which will be dropped off in another Rail Yard tonight, when we pick up some empty Hoppers from the customer back to point of origin Plant.

At the end of our MOW, we have one car of Rail Sticks for small sectional Repairs, sidings and stuff......Camp Cars with Sleep Qtrs and Kitchens for the work crews........

Ok,,,,,Dusk is approaching, Blue is getting darker, and Stars will approach the night sky.....

Our Crew has the orders, and we are on the move, looks like we have a bit of Soot Fire cleaning out in our Exhaust, normal for this loco, as it has been sitting a little, MOW assured us. This Loco has up to date 90 Day Maintenance window completed.......It better be, or I will have someone head, if we break down........

We are headed thru our next town.........We pass the combo Freight/Passenger Station, night lighting is good, and important for everyone's safety.

Now we head out to the Country, our tracks go thru twists and turns, but nothing exotic......The Route is well laid out and constructed by MOW Crews, Grade is negligible at this point.

Well looky here? We rate a switch-man and other yard crews too assist us with the shunting moves, how cool is that, of course they get off in another 1 hour or so, but will be long gone......

We start one of several moves to cut off the MOW group part, and on the left is our empty Hoppers await the pickup.

We are pulled ahead of our Switch and will back into the Maintenance area of the Yard to drop these MOW.

MOW move will sit to the side of a Car Repair House. Another Crew will pick up this MOW equipt and Cars for there Job tomorrow......?

Ok.....will pick up some more of this Trip in a couple of days......Hope you like it, and I hope you check out the Route, I think it is well worth it.......IT works ok with my Laptop, and I don't get too much Frame Stutter with Weak GPU.......

Have a blessed day............
 
Good Day all,

Getting ready for the last Road trip of the year, headed out to Illinois to see some extended Family members. Weather is good, a bit warm, maybe humid too, but not in the 100's like it has been here.

So will flip over to Flaam for a bit, you'll get to see the Oil and Gas facility I made on the upper peaks of the Ranges, 800 feet or higher,,just to the side of Hydro Dam and Lakes area.

While we see that, I have been working and playing on Marias Pass, and had another one of those Signal issues with a several Red Lights not clearing on large areas of main line, no excuse for that at all. So after fooling around with it for an hour, (not my first rodeo with stupid signals that don't want to function) or shall we say, don't play with with others.....LOL

I find the signals BNSF style refuse to operate as intended......Too Bad for me, I liked their style, and it could be the version this route was made in, or it could be T:ANE up to his old tricks of the trade....Who really knows.......

We go to plan "B", rip out all the signals thru the layout, and I found a cool way to do it, rather than visually searching the Route, which has miles of Mainline and Switching locations, I did "FIND OBJECT" then sub routed to "Track Objects" or "Track Scenery"

I think it was objects and found all the signals easily and quickly, by keep the menu search window open to left of the Track Screen, in "Surveyor Mode" within about 20-30 mins, could have been less, I removed 2-3 doz signals out of the Route, hit "Save As" too save to new file, just in case I goofed something up........ Close Surveyor, reopen and voila ready to start dropping in new signals that have super Scripting or similar, allows me to check how I want them to operate, it was 1:00AM in the morning last night, eh, this early morning, and my eyes started to close, that's when you make unintended mistakes, so it was time to hit the sack for the night, and start today......

Probably take the rest of the week to re signal and test the Route for correct Aspect Functionality.

Already with just a few signals in place, I saw a remarkable difference in operation, so I know what I suspected was correct.....I also plan to add a few will placed Crossovers for some of the Industrial leads.

One thing about the Marias Pass, it has an excellent selection of Single and Duel Tracking setup in designated areas of the mountains, as well, not over use of Tunnel Passes either...It is a fascinating Route to run and play with........You won't be bored......And there are some Portals at each end of the Route, I believe they might be set to connect to other Large Routes? Not sure, but it appears that way.......

Al right lets get over to Flaam now, and see that Oil Center development.

I notched out the Mountain sides here, and put just enough area for what I wanted to drop in. And it works nicely for me.......

Here is an overhead view of the Refinery, not all the tracks needed where here when I took this picture, I found I needed some Loops in the back left corner to accommodate secondary Shunting needs for Construction and Trash handling.......But this gives a good idea how the facility will work here. If you look carefully in the Lake area, you'll see a small white Dam in place for Hydro and Electrical needs. Refineries use a fair amount of Electricity for Oil Extraction, Refining Etc. And just above this Refinery, there is a Power Plant that will augment our power needs too, when the Water in the lake is low thru some parts of the year.

Good business mgt relies on multiple uses of Power, raw material supplies, never have all your eggs in one basket........It really is a delicate balance of power.

Another view across the valley here, of our Oil Refinary and Trains loading up on mainline to get Oil loads for Market, Pier business, super Tankers......

We are pushing up a 2.5% Grade here into the back for Oil Loads, these are empty, so it easy to do.......Signals working as intended.

One Train coming in from other areas of the mountain with Empties....It will wait till the first longer Tanker Train gets shunted into the loading Docks here for Oil and Gas Loads.

You can see our Storage Tanks, and we have more on Order, as these do not have all the capacity we need., our Plant is running at 60% for now.....But we need a lot more storage capacity for future needs of Community and Overseas Market Traders we supply....Sound familiar. Look at the Sunlit Shadows in our Lake below....Pretty cool I think.

Working on smoothing some of the mountain slopes here.........

Now the floor of the refinery is not finished, I need to Change to Gravel, and the tracks need to goto DOCK RAIL style, so this is all roughed in, too see if I have enough room, and I did not, I had to scalp 50 feet more in the back end of the lot, because more Rail and infrastructural changes are coming in for Refinery needs.....It's still a WIP.......

This is the Office building I selected for the Suites and White Coat personal, I think it will do nicely. And you can see I got the Grass gone and Gravel worked in here now.........Tracks haven't been changed to DOCK RAIL style, but that's easy to do, and I need more X Crossover connections too for Shunting needs.

I selected a Smaller Water Tower for this front area, and I might put a larger one in the back 40 as they say......I have lots to chose from....Just need to make up my Mind...LOL

That'll bout do it for today.....

Thank you everyone for dropping by to see me...........
 
Good Day all,

We made to Illinois after 3 quick days on the Road, and saw some really pretty Country, and amazing Rock Formations.

Now over to Marias Pass, I have been busy adding some more Oil Storage to the Refinery Center and some additional other Trans Load facilities with some Tracks changes etc.

Adding new Safetran C Signals to mainline and some Team Track areas.

Our Trip on Marias continues into the night with some Shunting moves for empty Hoppers etc, and we are running with a Caboose too.......

Here we are going thru the Country, just a few lights in mostly pitch darkness as we cross the numerous farming areas. Our Locomotive light is plenty bright for us too see our way.

A string of Hoppers is waiting for pickup.

We are pushing the hoppers down the mainline to assemble with the rest of our consist.

Got our cars picked up and the Caboose is hooked up with FRED light in the back.

Getting ready to drop of these cars in a few stops.

coming round the pass as we head on.

We approach a large empty for now Rail Yard. Take a look at the Switches, they are Solar Charged and operated, this is the first Route I have downloaded that had these type of Switch setups..

Looks like we have night Traffic waiting for us at the crossing.

Next day we are picking up some empty hoppers at the Pulp Factory.

Never noticed these Cabs have night Running that can be seen thru the engineer's Cab Window.

There is lots of Marias Route to see and learn about, I Really like it.......

Time to run, got lots to do in the few days were here to visit.....

Thanks for dropping by.........
 
Marias Train Movements Etc

Good Day all,

Having fun out in Illinois, found out that Canadian National serves thru this area yesterday, when a thru Freight passed me by, and I saw CN on the Red Engines......There are several RR's that serve the State.........

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

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/transportation-system/Network-Overview/rail-system/index

https://www.google.com/search?q=illinois+Rairoads&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

This last link is great for Illinois lines, check out the Abandoned listing too.

Over to Marias, I have been re signaling the whole line, and it is working really nice, I will come back and add some Gantries later once I see the spacing is correct.

Also redoing some of Speed Signs here and there for my preferences.

Below we are moving some Consists out over the Valley.

Using some NS Power to make the moves..........We have a oncoming shorty on the other side.

Moving some cars around, and left our Caboose on Main#2 as we Shunt around here, our tracking time is 30 mins, and they would prefer less if we can do it, as lots of other Freights and Passengers are on the move too....This is a large RR......Plenty of space is allocated to get things done.

MOW on one side as Farm orders and Pipes go the other side.........

Cab View here as we leave our caboose alone for a bit......

Load of short Ribbon Steel here for some Track repairs up the line....Lots of Track changes here and there.

These cars are great for the Crews to Sleep and Eat in...........

Ok....We have the clearance to move North now........

Picking up some Coal Loads here for transfer to Power Plants etc. And this area has Gang buster Lumber business....I'm testing the Log loading areas now......Had to find the right cars to accept the loads........

We pull out to mainline with our scheduled load of the day.......

Well we are off with the Family to see a local Train Museum in a nearby Town, that should be cool......

Got to run now, we leave here in about 3 days to travel back home, which will last about 4 days or so on the Road, taking the longer Southern Route.

Have great day and thanks for visiting.
 
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Flaam and Old Time Steam Locos from Notes:shebashetan7on

Good morning all,

Well it's been a great time in Illinois to see the Country, some boat trips down the lakes and Rivers, and tomorrow, we head back home, a Rain Storm is headed our way here, and out to the East Coast. Probably about 4-5 days, will take some time too see some of the other States on the way home....

So I have been busy doing some Industry and Track approach changes in Logging and Lumber areas......Lots of problems with my Speed Limits, probably I have some misplaced speed posts......

Did some AI testing with the Trains, did pretty good, just some Track mark changes and placement.

One location I have some issues with a Red Signal, probably using the wrong signal type or I need to add some invisible's, but generally speaking, most of my Signaling is working well with the bonus of Lunar Lights, which I really like.

Flaam below, is a top View of the change of Elevation with New Tiles added at the North End of the Route. There is a 1000 foot change here, if you look to upper right Tiles, you can see the lower elevation points.


This is one of the Creators updates on CN equip, I downloaded them and they work perfectly.....Love the Livery Color.

Author's Notes:shebashetan7

Credit to Pencil42 for original mesh. V&T mogul no. 5 Carson re lettered to CPR mogul no. 4 Savona.

Canadian Pacific No. 4 (Savona) formerly Virginia & Truckee No. 5
'Carson' was one of eight nearly identical 2-6-0's built by Baldwin Locomotive Works from 1869 through 1873 for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.
She was sold in Feb. 1883 to D. O. Mills (Onderdonk Construction), contractor for the Canadian Pacific Railway line of the Canadian government in British Columbia,
and was lettered CP # 4 Savona. Resold 1887 to Inter colonial Railway in Nova Scotia, she became ICR number 190. ICR rebuilt 190 to 0-6-0 type in 1908, and she was renumbered to ICR 1025.
She became Canadian Government Railway with same number, and later Canadian National Railway number 7083.
In 1926, she was scrapped.
Drivers: 48 in
Cylinders: 16 x 24 in
Empty weight: 56,000 lbs
Weight over drivers: 45,000 lbs
Tractive effort: 12,060 lbs
Boiler Pressure: 130 psi
This model is based on Ben Neal's (bdaneal) Inyo model; modified with permission.
Revision 4: Updated sound when traversing junctions

Here are the rest of these his creations.

Another part of the Flaam upper Northern part.Blank tile grid area in the open meadow area between Hills and Mountains will be a Wetland and small lake tributary........

Thia large open area here is for Oil, Power, and Utilities Plants and Yards.......Just the right amount of area, however, on the Right side these small hills will be cut down, and will use Background Panels to make it simpler for the GPU, a little experiment to see if the land is flatter, with less angles for the GPU to draw. I think it works out OK, because when you add Assets in here, it allows for a trade off on Graphic Draws.

Here is the last picture of what I downloaded. Really happy with these Assets.

These are Passenger Livery to go with the Locos......

Another overview of the Mountain and Valleys I'm working on, currently there is this new steel bridge installed with Test Train to test the Grade Etc,,,,,

Another little Loco I downloaded that one of our Kind Creators made, thank you for the terrific assets.......

Time to run, lots to do on our last day here in Illinois.

Have a great day all.
 
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Back from Illinois........Some Trains we saw on the Road........

Good Evening all,

Just in from a great trip to thru the mid west to Illinois, back by way of the Southern Route.

We had a great time and got to see some old friends for a bit. And while on Travel thru many states, caught a lot of Trains in Stasis and on the move, so I thought I would share some of the quick pictures we took, and maybe some of you will recognize these fine fellows......


I took a lot of photos, rather I should say Mr's Blue took a lot while I was driving, so I am trying to wrack my brain where I saw these little guys........

This one was on display, but the problem was the nice fence and roof covered it up to the point I couldn't get the whole fella in the picture.....I plan on Researching some of what we saw and provide the links when I find them.........

This is up in the Colorado Mountains I believe..........I odn't know if this runs or not, we saw it as we passed thru.

This looks like an old Amtrak engine? And had what looks like a possible leased engine helper from?

In the next pictures are some Passenger Cars it was pulling up the Grade........

Here are some of the Cars it was pulling........

I'm not familiar with these cars, but I will look on my notes of the trip to see what city this was, escapes for the moment, because we went thru so many.......





Dome car on the back, I think this was 8 passenger coaches........

And I have some more pictures too share, I can't believe how many Trains we saw on this Road Trip......

There is a lot out there to see........

Going to bed, I write more tomorrow........Nite ALL.......
 
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