Retiring a longtime route project.

I started my Sunderland area route when I got Trainz in 2004. I started with the junction at Ryhope Grange which, in my innocence, was at height Zero and not aligned NSEW as I knew nothing about how to do this. It looked OK if you turned the living room light off and squinted a little. Undeterred I pressed on extending it to the surrounding areas, then I realised it had no gradients so I tried to retrofit them with mixed results. Every time I got an embankment signal or station looking good , I would find a new item that looked better so everything had to be replaced. I'm too thick to use DEM so all terrain had to be hand formed and then disaster struck when the game flattened all the terrain and removed all textures, essentially vaporising 2 months work. I repaired it after that but gave it up in 2014 and it then eked out a precarious existence on old hard drives but at the start of the first lockdown I discovered it on an old USB drive and I have upgraded it a little since then.
 
There but for the grace of god... (and better luck with my backups)...

John, I can't add much that hasn't already been said, but I would like to say I am glad you have found the inspiration to start a new project. I have always appreciated your contribution to the Trainz community.

Also would like to say that I also grieved the loss of my 15 yr old canine trainzer buddy in 2019 more than words can express. She had been in her spot beside my desk for almost my entire time with Trainz. I swore I would never go through that pain again, but eventually reached a point of acceptance, and now I have a new little buddy who has me laughing again (but who has much less patience for the time I spend on my computer playing Trainz!!!). I am sure you can see the not so subtle moral of my story :).

Phil
 
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There but for the grace of god... (and better luck with my backups)...

John, I can't add much that hasn't already been said, but I would like to say I am glad you have found the inspiration to start a new project. I have always appreciated your contribution to the Trainz community.

Also would like to say that I also grieved the loss of my 15 yr old canine trainzer buddy in 2019 more than words can express. She had been in her spot beside my desk for almost my entire time with Trainz. I swore I would never go through that pain again, but eventually reached a point of acceptance, and now I have a new little buddy who has me laughing again (but who has much less patience for the time I spend on my computer playing Trainz!!!). I am sure you can see the not so subtle moral of my story :).

Phil

Thank Phil for the kind words. It's a slow go with the new route along with a couple of false starts. I'm going at it S L O W L Y as my old piano teacher used to write in my lesson books way too many times to count. I'm also picking that smallish area near Plum Island on the coast to start with and the work inland, and plan not to attempt building every baseboard on the route and instead focus on only the surrounding baseboards. As I finish an area, I will add in more to it since this is a DEM-based route this go around that can be somewhat easier.

We do have a new older cat. She belonged to my sister and came to live with us after her cats didn't get along with this one. She spends her days napping next to me as I Trainz. Our dog does visit too and brings his toys with him for me to play with him.
 
This song sums it up...
Games and other things you can play are always a way to get away. Content is like the soul of a person, it represents what they do. RIP the old, in with the new project.
 
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