Bear Creek & South Jackson - progress reports - Building a Mountain Railroad (1080p)

Distractions...

One of the things keeping from working on the route all day every day is that I started working on the HO scale Bear Creek & South Jackson, trying to get stuff done for the op session I held last Saturday.

From the op session: Junction City on the left with the Junction City Turn in town. Redland on the right in the land-down-under.
200111-bcsj-ops-15.jpg



New scenery near Junction City. I got this done the day before the op session.
200110-junction-city-11.htm

200110-junction-city-10.jpg



South Jackson yard (not yet part of the Trainz version of the BC&SJ) with Deschutes Printing and Mack Milling. Still needs ballasting, finished backdrop, road weathering, scenery details, etc. Mack Milling has been a project for around 7 years and was finished about 2 months ago.
200106-south-jackson-paving-02.jpg


Lower Bear Creek with two bridges at once. The top is the main (train is heading east toward Oakhill and then Pocatello). Lower track is the Siskiyou branch which is not yet modeled in the virtual layout.
lower_bear_creek_191221_06.jpg


It's hard to find time to do everything at once.

H.F.
 
H.F. I hope to be spending a lot of my time the ways you are after I retire in a little more than a year. Well done sir!
 
Hey N3V!

I've been complaining enough lately I thought you might like to hear something nice from me.
I built an "inspection" train of 5 locomotives then hit ctrl-F2 to enter driver mode. I clicked on the middle locomotive and selected mode 3 adjusting the camera so that it was slightly above the 4th loco, dialed up some throttle and began scrutinizing scenery as I passed it.
When I found a problem I hit 'pause', then ctrl-F1 to switch back to Surveyor, then '4' to get roaming view back.
I fixed the problem, then ctrl-F2 back to Driver mode, clicked the middle loco again and 'P' to get rolling again until the next problem showed up.
Repeat as needed (there were a LOT or repeats).

It worked G R E A T. This was the easiest piece of scenery debug I've ever done with Trainz.

GOOD JOB GUYS! A very worthwhile feature to have/use.

I was kind of paranoid about using it and was frequently saving my route so if there was a crash I wouldn't lose too much.

Well, I still paranoid, but at least for the two 3 hour debug sessions I didn't need to load the backup.

GOOD JOB GUYS!

Regards,
Horace (I'm impressed) Fithers
 
I've been complaining enough lately I thought you might like to hear something nice from me.

GOOD JOB GUYS! A very worthwhile feature to have/use.

I was kind of paranoid about using it and was frequently saving my route so if there was a crash I wouldn't lose too much.

Well, I still paranoid, but at least for the two 3 hour debug sessions I didn't need to load the backup.

GOOD JOB GUYS!

Regards,
Horace (I'm impressed) Fithers

Hello Horace,

Thanks for the Tip,

I have to give a go too. :D

And the part about being paranoid, been there and done more times than I want to admit, after getting burned on Several Routes, that got corrupted in one way or another.........It's good to be cautious on anything you do with Software Creation, the other day, I had 4 backups of my Weddin Merge, and one night, I started my latest saved Route and Voila, found out, no tracks, no Scenery, only Texture facing me.

Since I have learned in past issues with Routes that went corrupted, I keep a min of 4 older Copies, CPD from CM and stored in separate directory outside of Trainz reach. As well, I use Carbonite for backup......And a portable Drive too.....
Fortunately for me, only 2 saved Routes went bad, the only thing I can figure, Disk Rights didn't make it correctly and showed no errors....It is what is, but I only lost about Hours worth of work, simple to fix, but there you have......

Like your Pictures of Club Route, that is so cool.........:cool:
 
Roberts Creek scenery gets completed on the BC&SJ - part 1

I finally got around to finishing (well almost) the scenery in the Roberts Creek area between Summit and Sherman Butte.

Lets follow a train starting at the arch bridge just east of tunnel 4.

The terrain is a mountain valley carved over the years by Roberts Creek. The area just west of the summit still gets a decent amount of rain. By the time the track reaches the arch-bridge a rain shadow is starting to make itself visible - fewer moisture loving douglas fir trees. As we continue the climate becomes more and more arid.


1) Crossing the arch bridge downgrade heading railroad east. This is the fourth time I've done scenery in this area, partly because I thought I could do better after the first two attempts and the third attempt (covered in the Tree Top Flier video on the Horace Fithers YouTube channel) was lost to database corruption.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-01.jpg



2) Passing another train at the Roberts Creek siding.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-02.jpg



3) Did I mention there are a number of bridges in this area?

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-03.jpg



4) I switched to PBR track from the venerable JR track I'd been using. I still think the JR track looks better, however PBR track mates MUCH better with PBR scenery textures, especially on grades and where the terrain next to the track is tweaked. Non-PBR track has impossible to get rid of gaps next to and below the track in such circumstances, but I have to try hard to get that behavior with PBR track. Don't combine different magnification PBR textures next to the track though - even PBR track can't cope with that!

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-04.jpg



5) Did I mention there are some bridges around this area?

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-05.jpg



6) Same bridge, another angle.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-06.jpg



7) Sweeping S-curves in a mountain valley and TRS19 did a great job rendering the scene. I did however spend a lot of time tweaking the terrain mesh to avoid those ghost corners, luckily the new hot swap between Surveyor and Driver made that a LOT easier.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-07.jpg



8) Lots of grass splines mixed with TurfFX help the close up appearance of the scenery.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-08.jpg



9) Love the 3D of those PBR textures!

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-09.jpg




to be continued ...

HF
 
Roberts Creek scenery gets completed on the BC&SJ - part 2 (continued)

Continuing from the previous post...


10) The twin falls area.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-10.jpg



11) Did you notice the different color of the mountain/hill sides? The vegetation mix is also changing.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-11.jpg



12) Another sweeping curve.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-12.jpg



13) My favorite shot of this bunch of screen captures.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-13.jpg



14) Did I mention there are a few bridges in this area?

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-14.jpg



15) Getting closer to Sherman Butte.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-15.jpg



16) There's a ranch off to the left (the cattle guard in the road should give it's presence away even if you can't quite distinguish the cattle on the far side of the dry wash).

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-16.jpg



17) Another bridge... I love the 3D of the PBR textures. When used well, hey add a HUGE amount of realism to a scene.

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-17.jpg



18) This could have been a bridge, but the railroad went for a culvert instead. Sherman Butte is just around the corner to the left. Not much has changed there so we'll leave off with the photos here...

200203-bcsjv-roberts-creek-1080p-18.jpg


I don't even want to think about how many hours I've spent sitting in front of my computer!!!!

Hope you liked the show.

Horace Fithers
 
HF
I'm finding the hot swap feature too convenient. Can't seem to ever finish my switch list with all the intermittent scenery tweaking I feel compelled to do along the way.;)
Your scenic work looks great HF. Inspiring!
Thanks for sharing.
Casey
 
It really like this area, well detailed without overdoing.
OK as always Horace!
I found many bridges in this area ...:D
 
Hello Horace,

Bridges and then there was a Culvert, got to say, I love this Route, know why?

Every area here is unique, you Sir have taken an generous amount of time to go thru, and make each part inspiring, we absolutely want to take a walk, a drive, a Ride on the Caboose, or with the Engineer if we were to be so lucky.:p

This Route is a hit, and it hasn't hit the streets yet......:D

Keep up the good work, but allow yourself some time to breath my friend..........;)

If one thing in my life, I made mistake on, was not working with the SP RR, my beloved Black Widows, and saw a many of their trains in all areas of California, alas a Fallen Flag, I do miss them a lot........So when someone makes a outstanding Route like this, that I can run in Current Trainz, it really will make my day, when you release it........We are all excited here.........As well patient.........

Thanks for the latest Screen Shots..........:wave:
 
Ride along Roberts Creek

If you liked the screen grabs of the new scenery along Roberts Creek you might find this video of interest.



Follow train 201, led by four GP9s from tunnel 6 past Cooks Creek, Sherman Butte, Twin Falls, Roberts Creek siding, Arch Bridge, through tunnels 5 and 4, up to Summit Yard covering about 24 miles of track and scenery. I think this area is one of the best (if not the best) scenery areas I've created in Trainz.

Here's a couple of maps of the area.

MAP2-1080p.jpg



MAP4-1080p.jpg


There are still some tweaks to be done, but this marks an important milepost for the BC&SJ: scenery completion along the mainline!

I'm gettin' excited fer shure!

Horace Fithers
 
I've just watched your latest video. Stunning work, it looks fantastic. You've done such a great job creating this route.
 
Horace, a quick question for you: I've got Model Railroad Planning 2004 laying out in front of me and I have it turned to the article entitled Fine-tuning a track plan for operation, which for everybody who doesn't know, is about the Bear Creek and South Jackson. Is that the same version of the BC&SJ we see in post #241? Or has that BC&SJ been torn down and rebuilt with the one featured in post #241?
 
HF,
Loved the video! :Y:

It is so cool seeing the transition from arid to wetter terrain. You've captured it very nicely.

I didn't notice any credits for Marketing, so I am guessing that your Assistant, Hanover Phist is handling the marketing of your route. He's doing a great job showing off your creativity. I think he wants a raise. :hehe:

Great job - the route looks simply amazing!

Heinrich505
 
Horace, a quick question for you: I've got Model Railroad Planning 2004 laying out in front of me and I have it turned to the article entitled Fine-tuning a track plan for operation, which for everybody who doesn't know, is about the Bear Creek and South Jackson. Is that the same version of the BC&SJ we see in post #241? Or has that BC&SJ been torn down and rebuilt with the one featured in post #241?

Yes, it's the same layout that was in MRP 2004. What in tarnation are you doing with a 16 year old MRP?

Horace
 
Yes, it's the same layout that was in MRP 2004. What in tarnation are you doing with a 16 year old MRP?

Horace

Still have it from when I bought it back then. I've been a subscriber to Model Railroader for over a two decades. I'm one of those who don't throw things away. Also, MRP 2004 also has the Dayton & Troy, which approachmedium used basemapz to recreate in Trainz.
 
I'd forgotten about the Dayton and Troy being in that issue. I haven't looked at it in years. A lot of things have stayed the same in the track plan, but somethings changed. In the article I spoke somewhat glibly about using a staging manager to drive trains up and down the helix, exchanging crews at South Jackson and Browning (on the far side of the backdrop). In practice that crew position never materialized, crews drive their own trains through the helix and in and out of main staging under the peninsula. Having the staging leads punch through the backdrop means either crews get to practice the limbo or they take a hike around Cape Horn (walk the full length of the 150' aisle). I wish I knew then what I know now... Virtual railroads never have a problem like that though. Ops are continuing on the HO scale BC&SJ.

Horace
 
Love your videos. Amazing to me to see how you take what you learned in the model rr world and apply it to the virtual. Your credit have me laughing ever time, nice to see Larry, Moe and Curly have a job. Thanks for sharing the videos and pictures of your progress.

Rob
 
Oh AI! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I did something really dumb on the BC&SJ route.

I programmed portals at the east and west ends of the railroad to emit trains that run the length of the route.

Things were going fine with around 6 trains running, when all of a sudden there's a 3 way meet at Bear Creek yard.

Now this yard has a lot of tracks and a lot of ways for trains to pass each other.

The first thing that happened was the GN Empire Builder eastward which needed to make a station stop to the left of the main promptly jumped into the siding on the right of the main. I guess the siding was probably about 10 ft shorter than the main....

Then a westward train decides to dive into the yard and the engineer gets stuck. I got him unstuck by hand throwing a few turnouts. Bad idea.

In the meanwhile another eastward train arrives. Guess what track the AI picks?

AI_01.jpg


The freakin' yard is EMPTY. And the two trains end up on the same track....

I guess I'll need to signal the whole stinking yard.

or just run AI trains in one direction at a time.

Pretty amazing stuff.
 
Back
Top