Betuweroute 2009

Now that things have started to settle down with TS2009, I decided to restart my Betuweroute. Rather than trying to adapt the 2004 version, I thought it would be easier to start anew. Model building has changed a lot since the first version was started so I will probably also make new versions of the many specific objects needed for the route. This also means that this will be a long term project as I tend to get sidelined every time a new objected is needed so don't hold your breath waiting for it to be finished. Not complaining since creating is the the fun of Trainz.

An overview of the route, thanks to Google Earth (GE).

First I went over the route and put placemarkers at interesting locations. Each one was named with its latitude and longitude value.

Inside Trainz, once the World Origin was set, I used my Lat-Long Readers to duplicate the locations of the placemarkers in GE. The approximate ROW of the main track has been located using a temporary spline of blue and yellow dots.


Looking west from the German border



Where the route crosses the Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal

Next, rivers and canals will be added. Using detailed screen shots from GE placed under the grid, I will then locate important landmarks and more precisely place the main tracks. In this version, I will be trying to limit the amount of distant landscaping. Looking back at the 2004 version, I noticed that I would sometimes (often) create whole neighbourhoods far from the mainline in places that would not be seen from the train. Great from a creative point of view, bad from a performance and time point of view.

Here is the first of a long series of basemaps to help me place track and nearby objects

As I mentioned before, this will be a longterm project.

It will also of necessity be my interpretation of the route. Because of the sound baffle walls paralleling much of the track, there would not be much to see from the engineer's point of view. To still provide some visual interest, I plan on including some trackside scenery even if it would not actually be seen by that engineer.

A great route indeed

This is really an impressive project!

Have you used TransDEM to model terrain on the baseboards?

I know its a false impression that Holland is as flat as a billiard table but compared to many other places, it is really is quite level. Since I already like to model the various train systems there, the overall flatness was a bonus as far as Trainz is concerned. So even though DEM data is undoubtedly more accurate, I've decided to ignore minor elevation differences and pretend it really is a billiard table. :hehe:

That mean we can play nation size pool?

Looks interesting though. Being TS09, I will most likely download this!
Zec

Nice project, looking forward to your updates.

Progress continues on the route.

The virtual people can now safely cross over the soon to be busy freight line.

Overview


On the stairs looking across the tracks


Looking back


A track level view


The crossing is a spline so that it can span as many tracks as necessary.

As you can see, TS2009 automatically reduces the textures at a distance so that the wire mesh becomes invisible as you get too far away. I wonder if this distance can be user controlled?

By a small amount, yes. Try fiddling with some of the settings in the .texture.txt files (see the TD wiki). Some, such as mip-mapping and anisotropy, and tiling, can have an effect on how the texture lod works in game.

Zec

Arg, I've been fiddlin' so much I could be in a country band. Was kind of hoping for a simple parameter.

Meanwhile, bicycles can now also easily get to the other side of the tracks too.

This time it's not one object but four.
The path itself which is my old gravel dike sunk to ground level,
The two side walls to cover the sloping ground,
The bridge which is a new for 2009 span to accommodate new Betuweroute track with its built-in sound attenuating walls. Only the far track has the sound attenuating wall in the picture.

Put them all together and you get a bicycle under pass. Many of the more complex structures in my routes are built that way. Using a few general purpose objects, mix and match, and you get a new object. Saves on having to build many one-of-kind objects.

As we approach Zevenaar from the German border, the tracks go underground for about 1500 m to avoid disturbing the built up area.

Here we see the beginning of the descent to the tunnel, with the entrance in the distance


and here a closer look at the first draft of the tunnel entrance.


It is far from finished. Just the bare outline of the entrance with some of the baseboard cut away via a dighole.