What Should Be The Maximum Miles Used On A Trainz Route?

I'm all for big routes . But how many here run trains for the entire length of the line ? Or DEM ? Or wish too for a given Railroad ? Having run a train now as I had always dreamed about . LOL I was wondering if there could be a job in it LOL ?:hehe: . Pay others to run trains to your desired location . LOL

Matt
 
I'm all for big routes . But how many here run trains for the entire length of the line ? Or DEM ? Or wish too for a given Railroad ? Having run a train now as I had always dreamed about . LOL I was wondering if there could be a job in it LOL ?:hehe: . Pay others to run trains to your desired location . LOL

Matt

I have done it a few times on my own large mega-merger amalgamation of multiple routes. The total length is about 190 miles end to end, not counting side routes, branches, and yards. The trip took well over 8 hours and I found myself nodding off in places. In the end I decided it wasn't worth it and let the AI do the boring driving of the long distance stuff and I stick to the switching and fiddling around. The puzzle of pulling various freight cars out of a yard and sorting them so they get to their destination without impacting the hotshot freights and varnish can be a challenge in its self and quite a time eater as well. In the length of time I spent driving the 190 miles, I tied up the mainline a few times, delivered boxcar loads of goods, pulled a bunch of coal hoppers on a mine branch, and interchanged freight with a through running manifest. That operation too is interesting. You need to cut the engines off, direct the AI to drive to the engine terminal, wait and x-amount of time there, and then switch in and out any freight needed to complete the run. Once the switching is done, the AI is directed back on to the point and told to continue the schedule.
 
John .......... You and I are on the same wavelength .:hehe: Especially the nodding off part . I do find AI's fun to direct and ride in from time to time . But well said Sir :cool:

Matt
 
It also depends upon how many different lines are running simultaneously, and with how many trains. It might seem as though the newer structure in TANE which appears to only load the part of the route being viewed would make the overall size irrelevant, but it's easy to forget that the program still has to keep track of where all of those trains are, how fast they're going, what signals are being triggered, etc. whether or not they're in view.

The upshot: it may still depend a lot on how fast your computer's CPU is and how much memory you have, at least for the kind of routes described above. If it's a straightforward single line extending for any number of miles, then presumably the only limit would be your patience and hard disk space.

--Lamont
 
I'm all for big routes . But how many here run trains for the entire length of the line ? Or DEM ? Or wish too for a given Railroad ? Having run a train now as I had always dreamed about . LOL I was wondering if there could be a job in it LOL ?:hehe: . Pay others to run trains to your desired location . LOL

Matt

I used to be an actual railway worker. I was employed in the Diesel Locomotive & Rail Car Facility. I did maintenance, minor repairs, fueling and switching of locomotives. I guess now I'm, more or less, a Virtual Railroader.

And now when I think about it, I think I'll just do the bare bones in my route - tracks, signals, hills, trees and JR buildings - the bare bones. I'll wait until I get T:ANE or TRS2019. Then I'll start laying down the buildings and other assets. I think that would be a more wise and logical plan, agreed?
 
I have done it a few times on my own large mega-merger amalgamation of multiple routes. The total length is about 190 miles end to end, not counting side routes, branches, and yards. The trip took well over 8 hours and I found myself nodding off in places. In the end I decided it wasn't worth it and let the AI do the boring driving of the long distance stuff and I stick to the switching and fiddling around. The puzzle of pulling various freight cars out of a yard and sorting them so they get to their destination without impacting the hotshot freights and varnish can be a challenge in its self and quite a time eater as well. In the length of time I spent driving the 190 miles, I tied up the mainline a few times, delivered boxcar loads of goods, pulled a bunch of coal hoppers on a mine branch, and interchanged freight with a through running manifest. That operation too is interesting. You need to cut the engines off, direct the AI to drive to the engine terminal, wait and x-amount of time there, and then switch in and out any freight needed to complete the run. Once the switching is done, the AI is directed back on to the point and told to continue the schedule.

Yeah I have an 80 to 85 mile route planned like I said and will split it up into two sections. This way I can do more diverges from the mainline to small towns and add other details. Of course I can use some help with it too if anyone is interested as far as any questions I may have on it, or I can give them a cdp file of the two part route and they can make corrections so things run smoother.

The two part route, when combined, consists of long distance (the full 80mls) heavy freight travel plus road switching that is along the route. This way I can have two options - long haul or switching. Both parts will have variable industries such as a coal mine and sulphur plant. There will be oil refineries, food factories etc. Will have to figure out where I can do a from industry A to industry B method, rather than just bringing empties to my objective and picking up loaded cars to take back to the yard.

If you want to talk about nodding off at the switch after 8hrs, I almost did a route from Edmonton to Jasper. That's a 12hr drive by freight train. Making an Edson to Jasper route or Hinton to Jasper line would be easier by far because they're closer of course.

- RR70
 
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My dream route was Philadelphia PA down the NEC to Perryville MD . Up to Harrisburg PA to Pittsburgh PA . A gift made for myself had that Plus more . Perryville MD to Baltimore MD and Harrisburg PA to Camden NJ . They had tracks laid as now for the most part . But it included lines I have no interest in . And just running the plane track rout was a bit boring . And at 40 mph , a lot longer then I realized . The size of the route pushed my PC to its limit . So I quickly learned bigger isn't always better . The DEM itself tuned out to have issues I felt made it not worth any real time .

The DLS has many large routes that fit the bill of areas I most want to model . So merging and imagination will get you the size anyone could want

Matt
 
I find long routes boring. That's why I'm making the New Mexico Rail Runner passenger/freight... 60 miles route. I think on this route, there is always something to do. I was going to post a pic of my map, but my desktop crashed.
 
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