American Tunnel Portals in TS12

Hey everyone,

I've recently been trying to get into building tunnels with the dighole/tunnel lining/portal system, rather than using the less versatile and frankly unrealistic built-in tunnels. I model almost exclusively American, and was wondering if anyone knew of some tunnel portals that would look good and work well with American routes. It seems to me that most tunnel portals out there either look too distinctly European, or the portal isn't at the correct height (too low, especially for intermodal, autorack, and other really tall rolling stock. A lot of the tunnel liners are this way too). I know there are the tehachapi style portals and tunnel lining, but the tunnel lining has track built into it, which I don't really want because I want to use a track that has a custom sound on it for the tunnel. On top of that (I know this has been discussed before, but I still don't really have any solutions), is there a good way to get some darkness/shadows in the tunnels? Back in TS2009 I used the tunnel gloom spline available on the dls and it worked just fine, but in TS12 it doesn't seem to be dark enough at all (almost no difference). Does anyone know of a solution to either of these problems?

Thanks in advance,
Erik

It would be interesting to see if these fine tunnels work in TS10/12 (they require easy config file fixing) (I can help you fix them, via PM).

By: rodgilfr
Tunnel 3
Tunnel 3 Without track


By: Fred24
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc339/cascaderailroad/Screen_010-5.jpg
Tunnel1 voie
Tunnel2_1 voie
Tunnel3_ voie
Tunnel4_1 voie

jrfolco, author #73500 has a selection of US tunnels and portals that work pretty good. As good as anything works with digholes, that is. :'( Fictional routes are easier because I can locate and orient the entrances wherever I want without worrying about real world coordinates, so I generally set the track N/S or E/W centered over one baseboard square, then apply ONE (and ONLY one!) AJS dighole. Add one of jrfolco's portal splines, then the tunnel, then sculpt the terrain around the portal. Works okay - except when it doesn't.

For sound inside of tunnels, I use a poor's man solution: lay a track that has "bridge sound" over the one with the tunnel. it may be a little tedious to superimpose it, but it works quite well (You can lower the existing track of the tunnel and leave the one with the sound, or vice-versa). let us know if it works for you.

sniper297 said:

jrfolco, author #73500 has a selection of US tunnels and portals that work pretty good. As good as anything works with digholes, that is. :'( Fictional routes are easier because I can locate and orient the entrances wherever I want without worrying about real world coordinates, so I generally set the track N/S or E/W centered over one baseboard square, then apply ONE (and ONLY one!) AJS dighole. Add one of jrfolco's portal splines, then the tunnel, then sculpt the terrain around the portal. Works okay - except when it doesn't.

Click to expand...

You'll find them on my website under the My Content page. Choose a portal with the corresponding tunnel. You can then download them from the DLS. There is a tutorial on installing them on the Tutorials page. Look for them in Surveyor under 'Objects/Spline Mode'.

Joe