Hello all,
I am slowly returning to Trainz and I am excited to publicly share my work involving the Key System and the greater San Francisco Bay area in general. I am publishing this thread in the Screenshots subforum instead of the Freeware Announcements subforum to avoid any presumptions of a release in the foreseeable future. I tend to work at a leisurely pace and have a portfolio of projects outside of this undertaking. Nonetheless, I want to have a place to share my progress. I look forward to applying the new content creation features in 2019 to these models when the next Trainz installment is released to the public.
The layout (not currently pictured) was made with TransDEM and includes Marin, San Mateo, and Alameda counties (San Rafael, San Francisco, and Oakland) while I plan to cover territory as far north as San Rafael and Fairfax in the north and with San Francisco and Oakland to the south, I have omitted San Jose at this time but there may be a future extension that includes San Jose. While the primary focus is on the Key System, I am making allowances for other companies that existed during the Key System's lifetime, such as the Interurban Electric Railway in East Bay, the San Francisco Municipal Railway in San Francisco proper, and the Northwestern Pacific interurban up in Marin county.
In addition to the layout, I am working on rolling stock and real life buildings that exist (or existed) in the San Francisco Bay area. Among these are the Transbay Terminal, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Bridge, the Ferry Building, and other major landmarks like the moles in Oakland. San Francisco arguably had some of the finest railway architecture west of the Mississippi river.
And of course I couldn't launch this thread without sharing the progress shot of this iconic ACF Bridge unit! As of now, there are three types of rolling stock under construction - the Bridge unit, the steel unit (ex-Sacramento Northern), and a wooden unit. While my sculpting abilities in 3DS Max have come very far from what I was capable of years ago, I am still quite novice when it comes to modelling in this program. The Bridge unit is almost complete on the outside apart from some of the detailing, bogies, and the pantograph. I look forward to the next phase of construction, namely the interior.
And here is a render of a steel unit; these were originally from the Sacramento Northern and built by Hall-Scott Motor Car Company in Berkley, California. As of now, the basic shell is complete and requires additional details and livery applied. I must admit I know next to squat about these particular cars (or many of the other cars) and so I will be diving in to all of my study materials and other resources. I've been holding on to a 2 volume DVD set consisting of the history of the Key System I will have to sit back and watch some time. I had the good fortune of having visited San Francisco back in December last year for my birthday. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to visit the Western Railway Museum. One day I shall make another trip out there and visit. Stay tuned for more renders and the first round of in-surveyor screenshots, mainly in and around the yards in Oakland.
I am slowly returning to Trainz and I am excited to publicly share my work involving the Key System and the greater San Francisco Bay area in general. I am publishing this thread in the Screenshots subforum instead of the Freeware Announcements subforum to avoid any presumptions of a release in the foreseeable future. I tend to work at a leisurely pace and have a portfolio of projects outside of this undertaking. Nonetheless, I want to have a place to share my progress. I look forward to applying the new content creation features in 2019 to these models when the next Trainz installment is released to the public.
The layout (not currently pictured) was made with TransDEM and includes Marin, San Mateo, and Alameda counties (San Rafael, San Francisco, and Oakland) while I plan to cover territory as far north as San Rafael and Fairfax in the north and with San Francisco and Oakland to the south, I have omitted San Jose at this time but there may be a future extension that includes San Jose. While the primary focus is on the Key System, I am making allowances for other companies that existed during the Key System's lifetime, such as the Interurban Electric Railway in East Bay, the San Francisco Municipal Railway in San Francisco proper, and the Northwestern Pacific interurban up in Marin county.
In addition to the layout, I am working on rolling stock and real life buildings that exist (or existed) in the San Francisco Bay area. Among these are the Transbay Terminal, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Bridge, the Ferry Building, and other major landmarks like the moles in Oakland. San Francisco arguably had some of the finest railway architecture west of the Mississippi river.
And of course I couldn't launch this thread without sharing the progress shot of this iconic ACF Bridge unit! As of now, there are three types of rolling stock under construction - the Bridge unit, the steel unit (ex-Sacramento Northern), and a wooden unit. While my sculpting abilities in 3DS Max have come very far from what I was capable of years ago, I am still quite novice when it comes to modelling in this program. The Bridge unit is almost complete on the outside apart from some of the detailing, bogies, and the pantograph. I look forward to the next phase of construction, namely the interior.
And here is a render of a steel unit; these were originally from the Sacramento Northern and built by Hall-Scott Motor Car Company in Berkley, California. As of now, the basic shell is complete and requires additional details and livery applied. I must admit I know next to squat about these particular cars (or many of the other cars) and so I will be diving in to all of my study materials and other resources. I've been holding on to a 2 volume DVD set consisting of the history of the Key System I will have to sit back and watch some time. I had the good fortune of having visited San Francisco back in December last year for my birthday. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to visit the Western Railway Museum. One day I shall make another trip out there and visit. Stay tuned for more renders and the first round of in-surveyor screenshots, mainly in and around the yards in Oakland.
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