Reading Company - Bethlehem Branch
- Thread starter K4andT1lover
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K4andT1lover
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K4andT1lover
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kcwright_rm
Cumberland & Eastern RRTC
oh i know, route building is a big pain, especially for cities 
Building cities is a pain! It's, well, overwhelming!
What do you do?
Simple... well sort of. The problem with building cities is their obvious size. There's way too much going on and having all the assets in there will suck the power out of your computer and ruin an otherwise well-running route.
To get around this, don't get mired down in too many details unless you're up close. Put the recognizable buildings where they can be seen and put in some of the city in the background. Yes, that's some not all. You don't need to build areas far from the tracks if they're not going to be seen, and you don't need to model every back street absolutely accurately unless there's a need for it.
A very fine content-creator made some, now much older, content for just this solution. Search on the DLS for dmdrake. Dave Drake made a Cityscape series. These building consist of splines, actual city-block objects, and simple-textured buildings. They're not super detailed, but they work quite well for their fill in the background purpose. He also did make some nice showcase buildings, that work well in the foreground as well.
What do you do?
Simple... well sort of. The problem with building cities is their obvious size. There's way too much going on and having all the assets in there will suck the power out of your computer and ruin an otherwise well-running route.
To get around this, don't get mired down in too many details unless you're up close. Put the recognizable buildings where they can be seen and put in some of the city in the background. Yes, that's some not all. You don't need to build areas far from the tracks if they're not going to be seen, and you don't need to model every back street absolutely accurately unless there's a need for it.
A very fine content-creator made some, now much older, content for just this solution. Search on the DLS for dmdrake. Dave Drake made a Cityscape series. These building consist of splines, actual city-block objects, and simple-textured buildings. They're not super detailed, but they work quite well for their fill in the background purpose. He also did make some nice showcase buildings, that work well in the foreground as well.
K4andT1lover
New member
Great advise, John! I plan on using some of his city splines in my route.
I also saw another route where, in the distance, all they used were simple pyramid roofs. No buildings at all. Simple background planes could work also; depending on the situation.
Ron
I also saw another route where, in the distance, all they used were simple pyramid roofs. No buildings at all. Simple background planes could work also; depending on the situation.
Ron
Can I see close up shots of your Souderton station and any other stations you did? Did you make Quakertown station yet? For my route I just improvised and kitbashed buildings together. Is there any way you could at least send me a copy of your Souderton station? It looks finished in the screenshot. Are you using Fishlipsatwork's DEM as well?
About the tunnel, I used tunnel 1 voie in mine. Yours is too skinny and tall, the actual tunnel opening. Also, why is there a big difference in elevation from the Perkasie end to the north end? The tunnel has an uphill grade heading north on my route. I found a track chart of the line from 1976 (Conrail) and one by SEPTA more recently showing track removed from Hilltop north in Lehigh County. On both charts it does show an uphill grade heading north through the tunnel. The problem with the old hog dem that fishipsatwork (Paul) made on the dls is that it’s 1/3 arc data and you sort of have to guess track elevations and stuff. It doesn’t have the grade pre smoothed for you. I’m just going to try to make the grades the best that I know. I know the Beth Branch is hilly from what I’ve seen. That was one of the straws why Conrail abandoned it as a through route in October 1984 for freight trains. The line via Reading has easier grades which has been NS since 1999. Conrail started calling it the Bethlehem Running Track between Lansdale and Quakertown after the abandonment of the line through Coopersburg, Center Valley in Oct 1984. That section was Conrail owned then sold to SEPTA in 1993. The line up to Quakertown was bought by SEPTA at some point, maybe 1983 after regional rail service switched from Conrail operation to full SEPTA operation. Of course, diesel commuter service north of Lansdale was gone at that point, it was terminated July 26, 1981. Also, parts of the second track are abandoned, overgrown, and severed in places.
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I'm trying to decide which track is best. I saw pics of the real track from June, 1987 on a website during the 425 special excursions and the inactive track is kind of gray, and the active track brown but I will accept the closest match. The two tracks in the foreground are tracks from a payware route by JR but they look the closest. No joints, bolts, or switch frogs and points though. I do have a freeware procedural track with joints and bolts that I could use, but I like the look of the JR tracks better. They have that aged, worn look to them. This shot from my route is looking south at Quakertown station.
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K4andT1lover
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K4andT1lover
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The TransDEM route is made fairly close to prototype. I then went over the entire route using topo maps, aerial photos and Google Earth to try and get all the crossings as close as possible to real life. In a few places I had to compromise to make things look normal; even when I knew they were not perfect. The Perkasie / south portal was one such area. Quakertown / Hill Top was another.
Ron
Ron