Lehigh Valley area in trainz

Way interesting!

Peter Pardue Matthews, aka Narrowgauge tried his hand at making an operational incline but that never got very far. May be someone else may want to attempt fate and try again. Not being a modeler or scripter, I have no idea what is required to do that.

And I just realized, you were referring (probably) to the switchback (or gravity) railroad that ran from Summit Hill to the top of Mt. Pisgah, where (if I recall) the cars would descend the incline uninhibited, and then be towed back on the return loop to Summit Hill... So, no, this is not that incline the track is there on the map for it, but my map doesn't go all the way to Summit Hill, so I just keep it hidden and probably am not going to work on it.

I understand this railroad became quite a tourist attraction after it was no longer useful for transporting anthracite... some refer to it as America's first roller coaster...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/14-fun-facts-about-roller-coasters-180972920/

I've expanded the route, the main line now runs from the Lehigh Gap to just past White Haven, and westward branches go to Freeland, Hazleton, Tamaqua, etc... I decided to include all the rails I could find, and sort them out Later. I feel this way i can make either a modern or historical route. I'm probably going to wait until both TranzDEM and Trainz can handle setting up and importing 1m DEMs. the terrain looks so gorgeous in TranzDEM, then i get it into Trainz and all the detail is gone.

Apologies, as I have not yet figured out how to resize photos in the forum...

Fierogt87 said:

I've expanded the route, the main line now runs from the Lehigh Gap to just past White Haven, and westward branches go to Freeland, Hazleton, Tamaqua, etc... I decided to include all the rails I could find, and sort them out Later. I feel this way i can make either a modern or historical route. I'm probably going to wait until both TranzDEM and Trainz can handle setting up and importing 1m DEM's. the terrain looks so gorgeous in TranzDEM, then i get it into Trainz and all the detail is gone.

Apologies, as I have not yet figured out how to resize photos in the forum...

Click to expand...

Good Day Sir,

Had read about this Route in past, found it amazing how cars could be pulled up such an incline and returned full of heavy Coal loads......:mop:

Route Pictures very nice.........

Fudge, my last post was supposed to have a picture, but it didnt post for some reason, here it is, lehigh gap to white haven...

Nice. Im currently working on making a DEM for my own Lehigh Valley Project to putz around with for my own purposes for now. I'm planning on making it for the LVRR/CNJ mainline from Easton up to around Mud Run, just because I like Thorpe and Lehighton. But my main focus is going to be the LNE west end, so Pen Argyl to Bethlehem, as well as to Tamaqua, with the Catasauqua branch and Allentown Branch. (as well as the Northampton and Bath)


Edit: Actually, slight change of plans. Currently I am attempting to create a DEM for the entirety of the PA Anthracite railroading scene which I will then release on the DLS. This includes not only all of the railroads and branches in the lower, upper, and mid fields, but also the LVRR mainline from Easton up to Sayre, and the NYOW from the NY border down to Carbondale/Scranton. I figure that this will allow people to have a DEM for their favorite railroad/area of the Anthracite region.


As for a functional inclined plane, it is possible, but you have to cheat the game with invisible track a bit to make it function. What you have to do is use invisible track to make a junction at the bottom of the plane, then have the invisible track drop down below the actual track. Then it is just a matter of making a Barney car to shove the cars up the plane. I don't think we actually have one made yet, nor the proper engine spec, but it will need to be set up as a locomotive with a bunch of power and adhesion to avoid wheelslip.

Then all you have to do is set the switch to align to the real track and shove the cars past the junction, essentially driving over top of the Barney car, which will be on the invisible track below the actual rails. Then you uncouple from the cars from the engine and back up, throw the junction to align with the invisible track, then drive the barney car forward until it couples to the railcars and then shove them up the hill. I got it to work this way a bit over a decade ago, but didn't have enough knowledge of engine specs to make one that didn't suffer from wheelslip. (I also use a similar method for creating gauntlet tracks for scale tracks)