Sydney Cityrail 2020 Project (In Development)

rjord1

New member
Transport Sydney Trains 2020 Project (Work in Progress)

Back at the end of 2006 I had a thread going called Cityrail 2007/2008 where I had created the entire Sydney rail network for TRS2006
Whichever station you wanted on the Sydney rail network it was in my route.

Then disaster struck and my backups failed at a time where I had hardware issues..... and I lost the lot.....2 years of work.

Got back on the horse and started again rebuilding the project...... then life go in the way and I had to concentrate on work and health. That was 10 years ago.

Today I am announcing that the project is reborn as Transport Sydney Trains 2020

10 years ago I was using Google Earth to place the track as well as track diagrams from the ARHS NSW Bookshop. I notice that they have a newer version of the track diagrams but they are on DVD....and well my computer does not have a DVD player.

However for the Transport Sydney Trains 2020 project I am now using using track diagrams directly from Transport NSW last updated May 2019 to create the rail network.

I am currently developing on Trainz A New Era as Trainz 2019 currently costs around $89 Australian and I will wait a bit before buying.

Will post screenshots of the Transport Sydney Trains 2020 project as it develops under TANA........



Project Status:

The Goal : 210 Railway Stations.....447 bridges covering Sydney,Blue Mountains and the Central Coast

Starting 20/Jul/2019 Rail connection between Chatswood and Hornsby
 
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I have seen some outstanding screenshots of other routes created for Sydney....... have not worked out yet if someone else has created the entire Sydney Rail Network yet.
 
I have seen some outstanding screenshots of other routes created for Sydney....... have not worked out yet if someone else has created the entire Sydney Rail Network yet.


Good luck with your Cityrail 2020 project.

There are several people currently working on different aspects of rail, not only on Sydney, but throughout NSW. You can keep up to date on that through the "Australian Screenshots" thread.

Back in 2010 I started a Sydney Central route which included the City Circle and Sydney Harbour. It incorporated a number of helpful assets which were produced by Steve123, Davido, Memeboy and NSWGR_46class.
The route was driven by a dozen portals to provide plenty of activity in and out of Central Station. Here's one of several video clips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUMHcSUnOQ&t=188s

My route was not uploaded to the DLS because there were a few Sketchup assets with extremely high polys. However it is available, if you 'PM' me with your email address. I'm happy to send you a copy.

Currently I'm working on a 1950s version with no Opera House, and,... which will include the Sydney trams, ferries, red rattlers, NSW 19 Class steamers for Darling Harbour goodsyard , plus a few diesels of that era.

The route is limited from Waverton Station in the north, to Newtown in the west, and to Erskineville in the south.

I have no intentions to extend it any further, mainly because I was only interested in capturing rail activity on video and screenshots.

Cheers,
Roy
 
Good luck with your Cityrail 2020 project.

There are several people currently working on different aspects of rail, not only on Sydney, but throughout NSW. You can keep up to date on that through the "Australian Screenshots" thread.

Back in 2010 I started a Sydney Central route which included the City Circle and Sydney Harbour. It incorporated a number of helpful assets which were produced by Steve123, Davido, Memeboy and NSWGR_46class.
The route was driven by a dozen portals to provide plenty of activity in and out of Central Station. Here's one of several video clips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUMHcSUnOQ&t=188s

My route was not uploaded to the DLS because there were a few Sketchup assets with extremely high polys. However it is available, if you 'PM' me with your email address. I'm happy to send you a copy.

Currently I'm working on a 1950s version with no Opera House, and,... which will include the Sydney trams, ferries, red rattlers, NSW 19 Class steamers for Darling Harbour goodsyard , plus a few diesels of that era.

The route is limited from Waverton Station in the north, to Newtown in the west, and to Erskineville in the south.

I have no intentions to extend it any further, mainly because I was only interested in capturing rail activity on video and screenshots.

Cheers,
Roy


Thanks Roy.... When I saw the other Cityrail work out there I thought maybe I could do a different time frame....... but will still do the entire network as of 2019/2020

By the way I'm Roy as well so this could get confusing.

Roy J
 
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First thing to do is check all my content created for Trainz a decade ago........ this swimmig pool for example needs some work to fix some issues with it.

lRoyh73.jpg
 
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Another piece of my content to be changed will be the travelpass sign where travellers purchased a blue metro ten for 10 trips on a bus and a red metro ten for 10 trips on a bus or train.

The metro 10 ticket was phased out in 1992 so this is actually obsolete now. I had originally built the object to put on railway station walls....... this I will change and will be replaced with a model for an Opal Card machine.

fAKb4JA.jpg
 
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Hi Roy J,

I don't have any issues with your swimming pool mate, it's an aerial texture and serves a purpose.

Anyway, if you are interested in a copy of my Sydney Central & Sydney Harbour V4 route and sessions, just send me a PM with your email address and I'll forward the cdp files to you.

Cheers mate,
Roy
 
Another piece of my content to be changed will be the travelpass sign where travellers purchased a blue metro ten for 10 trips on a bus and a red metro ten for 10 trips on a bus or train.

The metro 10 ticket was phased out in 1992 so this is actually obsolete now. I had originally built the object to put on railway station walls....... this I will change and will be replaced with a model for an Opal Card machine.

There are two NSW CityRail Ticket machines that are available,...
<kuid:287284:101022> Cityrail Ticket Machine
<kuid2:629836:22025:1> NSW CityRail Ticket Machine 2

ticket-machine.jpg

Cheers,
Roy
 
Before laying the first piece of track I had to choose what the track would look like ...... below is my selected choice


8t5Grhz.jpg
 
I was going to post a map of the Sydney Rail Network with updates of which part of the network have been laid.....however the print route tool I had used a long time ago apparently no longer works.

So instead I have a project status section in the opening post and hopefully I will have some sort of map to illustrate the progress of the project.
 
Finally...... after much planning I have the first bit of track layed heading between between Chatswood and Roseville heading towards Hornsby.
My steps are to first look at each section of track between one station and the other.
The first thing I concentrate on is to plot curves and turns in the track.

What I do is plot the track to the next curve, place the coordinates via Google Earth for the turn and then move the track in a straight line till I get to the next curve at which I get the coordinates again from Google Earth.

I always get coordinates marked for the following situations.

- Where the track enters a platform section.
- Where the track leaves a platform section
- Where a road bridge crosses over the rail bridge
- Where a rail bridge crosses over a road
- Where a rail bridge crosses a river
- Where a rail bridge crosses over other rail lines
- Where a rail enters a tunnel
- Where a rail exits a tunnel
-Where one or more points will need to be added to the track later

At this stage all I am doing is placing markers on Google Earth for each of the above and recording the coordinates in excel

When I reach each station I then go into Trainz and lay the track as it has being entered in Excel.

At this stage I am not worried about points or signals or additional track... I am simply laying 2 pieces of track to go from Chatswood to Hornsby.

Once I reach Hornsby I then go back to Chatswood and using the rail diagrams from May 2019 start adding in the detail such as points and additional track.
Before doing that I first add in the platforms at Chatswood and then the platforms at Roseville.

Then look at roads going over or under the rail lines, adding default bridges as needed.

Signals will be done later when I find a good map showing where the signals are placed on the Sydney rail network. Still looking for that information.
 
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Hi Roy,

Based on what you've listed, you seem to have everything under control.

I started my route from the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a central point, then worked outwards from there. Steve123 had modeled the SHB which he allowed me to use in my route.

I too used Google Earth Pro, which really suited my '1950s era' because it also shows all obsolete tracks (train and tram). This simplified that particular factor for me.

I pin-pointed with markers in a grid fashion on Google Earth, the size of the trainz baseboard (720m x 720m) to cover the area that I was going to model. I then used Windows Snipping Tool to capture an image of each square, then cropped it precisely in my photo-editor program.
I was then able to upload each image into 'Basemapz', then upload them into T:ANE as individual assets. This gave me a good base to work with.

I created and named a separate Layer for the Basemapz, so that once I had all my trackwork and main points of interest in place, I could then delete the layer (which was using up heaps of memory) completely.

Once I knew my track levels were relatively close, I could then focus on the detailing.

It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the progress.

Cheers,
Roy
 
The ballast texture to be used for the middle and sides of the tracks........ this texture appears to have more detail to it closeup than most other ballast textures


Kq5J5Et.jpg
 
G'day Roy,

Welcome back to Trainz!

I remember your project quite well with great anticipation, and was sorry to hear what had happened with all the work that was lost.

Not sure if you are aware but I have created a number of NSW station assets such as signage and seats etc; for the CityRail/Countrylink era, as well as assets for the modern Sydney Trains/NSW Trainlink era, including an Opal Top Up/Ticket Machine as well as Opal pole readers, which may be of help to you.

Looking forward very much to your new project!

Cheers,

Matt
 
Using Google Earth to plot where the rail lines , points, bridges and such may at times not give you a full picture. As this project is being created slightly differently to the prior project I have put in a control check to catch what Google Earth does not show.

For example when I catch the Tangara from Chatswood heading north there is one section before Roseville where the train crosses points between Help Street and Wilson Street. After mapping all the points between Chatswood and Roseville I only had the one set of points before Help Street but not the one after. This is because a set of points I needed had been either blocked by tall buildings in Google Earth or the points were under ground....possibly the latter.

The rail diagram shown below (updated May 2019) gives me the ability to catch anything like this not shown on Google Earth. It will show me what is happening in the tunnels and underground stations where for example North Sydney has a number of points under ground which are not seen by the satellite. It will also tell me the length of all underground platforms which will be handy with the City Circle for example.

The diagram also shows me where the metro line stops in Chatswood and the set of points used by the metro train to switch from one line to the other on both ends of Chatswood Station.

If you want these diagrams for your Cityrail route go to
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/industry/asset-standards-authority/find-a-standard/train-operating-conditions-toc-manual-track-10


Make sure you get the file under the section showing latest version Effective 14 May 2019 which is 26.53 MB
Also look at the document below it from December 2017 which is 78.68 MB not sure if there is anything in there not on the May 2019 file,

CeaHWaw.jpg
 
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G'day Roy,

Welcome back to Trainz!

I remember your project quite well with great anticipation, and was sorry to hear what had happened with all the work that was lost.

Not sure if you are aware but I have created a number of NSW station assets such as signage and seats etc; for the CityRail/Countrylink era, as well as assets for the modern Sydney Trains/NSW Trainlink era, including an Opal Top Up/Ticket Machine as well as Opal pole readers, which may be of help to you.

Looking forward very much to your new project!

Cheers,

Matt

I did have a backup of the entire route saved on my domain where my website was. However the domain provider decided they were no longer going to provide a domain called .au.com and apparently they claimed they sent me notification which I never received. When they deleted my domain i lost my backup of Cityrail 2008 as well as all my emails.

All of the pictures for the project in this forum also disappeared when my website was removed as the pictures were stored on my domain. I complained that they should have had something in writing from me before removing my domain name.... but well that's how the entire Sydney route died a decade ago.

My backup procedures are a thousand times better in 2019.
 
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Roy
For signals check out DRKD data. Just search Google for DRKD.

BTW.
I've a working copy of the Sydney Metro area, dem based, all major lines etc, not much scenery but track infrastructure reasonably true to real life as much as can be achieved in surveyor.
PG
 
Roy
For signals check out DRKD data. Just search Google for DRKD.

BTW.
I've a working copy of the Sydney Metro area, dem based, all major lines etc, not much scenery but track infrastructure reasonably true to real life as much as can be achieved in surveyor.
PG

Oh nice..... that would have taken a while to get that all done. I had originally tried to have DEM included in this project..... even purchased TranzDEM ..... but had been unable to get it to work.

Thanks for the tip on the signals.
 
Hey Roy,

That link to the train-operating-conditions is quite useful, platform lengths, etc. I may have to apply a few adjustments to my route after reading through it.

I keep telling myself "This is just a hobby - if I make a few mistakes, who would know." lol

I don't suppose they had a similar publication dated back to the 1950s ?

Google Earth has been kind to me, showing the obsolete trackwork in the Darling Harbour area,... but I'm not really convinced that I've got it right just yet.

By the way, have a look through elstoko's NSWGR assets, particularly his catenary, which are set to the correct height; and his range of pro-track. Ranger_51 has the NSW signals, which also include wall-mounted tunnel signals.

Cheers,
Roy
 
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