How to make a long route interesting to view, and operate ?

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I have found a little bit goes a long ways. Old rails with some boxcars. Abandoned small buildings. So many derelict assets to choose from. etc.

From an old modeler, new Trainzer-

Scenic opportunities can be limited if the route is strictly prototypical. Artistic license, or fictional routes, may employ a more balanced staged approach, such as compressing the distances between towns and landmarks. It helps to focus interest if there are stretches of less detailed scenes (a sort of break in attention) in-between the scenic points, interactive industries, and passenger stations.

Visual interaction with other trains can be a high point. Just passing by other consists draws interest, and an oncoming (meet) is exciting contrast. Hidden staging tracks (or Portals!) are great for this.

Some of the routes are so well signaled that I've been able to throw a consist on one end and hit AI 'Drive,' and just watch. Excellent positioning of trackside cameras is always appreciated!

Hi all, i have recently been looking at the feasability of using software like JMRI to control operations on a Trainz layout, as Trainz already supports numbered/named rollingstock, its farily straight forward to set the route up in JMRI as if it were a model railway... at present the biggest issue i've run into is that once you've set up a session, in trainz you then can't run trains, save and go back to editing the route without the session reverting to the start, which means that you would have to reset JMRI's car locations each time... (which makes the whole thing un-achievable) that said i seem to recall they are currently working on a way to jump more seamlessly between driving and edit mode which would solve that problem and make it much easier... so my point is perhaps we can make longer routse more intresting by setting up a more sophisticated car forwarding system

colinknapp said:

Hi all, i have recently been looking at the feasability of using software like JMRI to control operations on a Trainz layout, as Trainz already supports numbered/named rollingstock, its farily straight forward to set the route up in JMRI as if it were a model railway... at present the biggest issue i've run into is that once you've set up a session, in trainz you then can't run trains, save and go back to editing the route without the session reverting to the start, which means that you would have to reset JMRI's car locations each time... (which makes the whole thing un-achievable) that said i seem to recall they are currently working on a way to jump more seamlessly between driving and edit mode which would solve that problem and make it much easier... so my point is perhaps we can make longer routes more interesting by setting up a more sophisticated car forwarding system

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Yes. In the current Platinum and Plus versions of TRS19 (TRS2019), there is what is called the Unified Driver/Surveyor. With this you can jump between driver and surveyor on the fly. There are still some quirks to work out, but it's great seeing stuff and fixing it on the fly.

MP242 said:

I can think of nothing more boring than driving the Australian-"Great Long Straight"

The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain of Australia from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. It includes a 478-kilometre (297 mi) stretch of dead-straight track, the longest straight section of railway in the world. Earlier passenger services on the route were known as the Great Western Express.

How in the world would one make that long ride interesting ?

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In a word: OPERATIONS

On the example you give of the Nullarbor Straight I would have prototypical AI trains generating at portals and running in opposite directions, and you (the user - in the role of a dispatcher) have to manage the train passes at sidings by changing the instructions the AI drivers are following. This requires setting the route up with sufficient trackmarks at sidings, and using some arithmetic on the fly to calculate arrival times etc etc. Operations like this keep you on your toes and necessitates "jumping" around the trains to make sure you are managing the dispatching job ok. This prevents you having to spend all your time driving a single train. If you end up with two trains facing each other at a signal on a single track section, you fail the session. Challenge yourself.

If you also like the driving role, you can still take charge of a single train while dispatching all the AI trains from your cab. You won't get bored if your computer can handle quite a few trains on the route simultaneously. Any route can be quite a challenge with a good operation scheme, even the Nullarbor crossing.

I know that adding siding (that I add every 10 miles) can break the ice a bit when driving on a single line. I add long sidings that last a mile before going back to a single line. What about smaller sidings? Every 5 miles perhaps? You can maybe add some distant industries with a spline that has box cars from another railroad at a distance to give a bit of an interesting view. I did that a few times. Bridges that go over rivers or rocky terrain are good as well. Even adding some kind of distant transmitter with a flashing red light, or some distant modular trailer park or modular sales lot with a flashing neon sign could be added in a way at a distance to make the driver see something but not quite make out what it is. My thoughts anyway.

- RR70

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MP242 said:

After building several very long routes, I find the scenes: "Here comes that same old train again, that we saw a couple hundred times previously, boring" !

Real railfanning the EBT RR used to be great fun, and riding the 5 mile long trip kept your interest span.

But a 300 mile long route gets kind of boring, and monotonous, after about 20 minutes, even when riding in the cab, controlling the handles, or riding on a seat inside a railcar, one gets quickly lulled away to sleep.

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It seems that you have answered your own question - don't build long Routes.

Build shorter Routes, use "artistic compression". Use "off screen" turn arounds and hold and loading and unloading areas (or portals). Reduce the length and increase the scenic complexity. Add people and bus stop and maybe a short trolley line.

Go back to the roots of model railroading. In HO, a mile long passing siding would have taken 6 feet. That's as big as many entire home layouts were. Loading coal into two sets of 4 cars and coupling and uncoupling them is far more interesting than watching a 30 car coal train slowly make its way thru a tipple.

Look at John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid for inspiration.

MP242 said:

But a 300 mile long route gets kind of boring, and monotonous, after about 20 minutes, even when riding in the cab, controlling the handles, or riding on a seat inside a railcar, one gets quickly lulled away to sleep.

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Which probably explains why no-one has attempted to recreate the 487km (302mile) section of the Trans-Australian line that crosses the Nullabor Plain (which means "no trees"). It is the worlds longest stretch of dead straight track, with a totally flat 360 degree horizon all the way. The only things to look at are the saltbush plants and the occasional fence posts with birds nests perched on top of them.