Snow High Valley Distr Ctr (High Resolution 950x532) Approx

ROW Plasser to the Rescue, let's get this Line open? $$$$ Meter is running!

Good Weds Afternoon all,

Well things after 3 Hard days of Earth movement have progressed in our favor, We had only slight out of alignment moves from Dirt, we are so lucky, but not lucky on our Consist sitting in the 50 feet of water ( I'll discuss that at the end here).

So the Dirt is clear, we have our tracks back and MOW Crews are on full alert and ready to go once we have inspection completed by Mechanical Dept. Mgr's for our next phase of repairs.

Construction Dozars and other items are being loaded up for transfer back to home base in Montana area.

Traffic is back to normal here tonight and we just occasionally close the Road for equip moves onto waiting Semi Trucks Flatbeds ready for Transfer.

I don't think I mentioned but Local Farmers brought in their Tractors to help us out with Earth moving where they could, the Public has been so supportive of us here, as they as well as us, have a very vested interest in getting this area open, they have Grain silos and Animal Stock waiting for Rail pickup.

Our Coal Trains are still rerouted through slightly longer Routes.Delivery time will only be slighted impacted done by having alternate plans when natural or other issues come into play.

MOW equipment is staged and you can see the our Signals our showing proper Aspects.

Also look at where we moved the Dirt back here, remember it covered clear over to the Asphalt on the Right, since this area is now prone to earth movement, we are having our Dept Geologist look into what we need to do for Drainage and Retaining Walls, so will visit this area again, once those changes are implemented as precautionary measures to limit this issue from affecting our Railroad in the future.

It shouldn't take more than 1 day to undercut and refill the area with fresh ballast and proper Machine compaction measures.

Probably 2 more days for our lone Security Guard, till all the Construction Equipment is moved out.

Just an overview of the area.

Now as far as our consist in the water, we have a potential hazmat issue, with our Locomotive in the Bay, it has 4000Gals of Diesel, Plus Battery Acid, and Engine Oil, lots of Gallons, we have to get our Locomotive out of the Bay before the Diesel Leaks from corrosion by sea water, so will enlist a Marine Salvage company, Locomotive has rings on it for lifting and the Frame should be OK........

Since our Track area is finishing up, we'll Marshall our efforts for Consist retrieval out of the Bay.

Stay Tuned for developments.

Thanks for coming by Folks, and I bid you a good Weds.

Tracks almost ready to open, Salvage Boat arrives, Retaining wall installed at Slide

Greetings,, hard to believe this week is almost, ehh? the month of Sept too, Past us, it's been crazy hot and we have a bad Fire in Santa Cruz, Northern Calif.....Bless the Firefighters, some 500 or more out there trying to put a very stubborn fire out.

Ok, so remember we have a potential hazmat situation brewing in the Harbor here, so far nothing leaking yet, but it's only a matter of time before it does! Storms coming in moving the currents around etc.

So we have the Ship Delmas on site and they'vee agreed to help try and get our Engine first then our Caboose and Gondola out, it appears the water was more shallow than we thought, which makes it much easier for the Divers as long as we don't contend with high waves etc. Weather is holding for now!

You can see the engine just below the small Pilot Vessel below, the Ships Cranes should be able to left her out.

It's a good size ship so weight shouldn't be an issue here.

Below on this side is Gondola and Caboose, they'll be an easy lift.


The water is dark but you can see our engine is in Tact so far, and that means the Hooks should be OK to lifting purposes.

A view across the Bay here at night, you can see the Delmas in position, across to the left, you can see the Rail Car Piers we use too.

I have more things in the Bay I want to do as far as development?

Ok, here was our Landslide area we repaired, last of MOW Track Gang equipment see in the ahead, they are getting ready to go home after cleaning our sub bed and Gravel that had dirt pushed in from the slide.

We put a Brown reinforced Stone Wall up, nothing to modern, we are working with the locals here. And they are happy with the new Retaining wall. It blends in with the Natural Scape and doesn't look like an eyesore.

Behind MOW Track equipment we have empty Passenger and local Quarry Power with Caboose sitting and ready to head down tracks in 1 hour as this area will be released by Corridor Mgr as soon as the paperwork and Tracking Time is brought back online. Dispatchers all have to be notified by Briefing and their Computers updated to reflect the clearance. Nothing moves on the Tracks until everything is handed off, Safety is key. MOW will release their Tracking Time in 15mins.

That's all for now.

One more thing, I hear we have a huge Marine Barge Crane Ship, one of Customers we deliver too, that might come in to help on the Salvage attempt here, they are good friends with the President of our Railroad!

Will wait and see what develops?

Big Crane Salvage has arrived to our rescue...(Area Maps)

Well our friend showed up last night, and took over Salvage operations for the Delmas Crews, that ship was released with a big thankyou for assistance and monitoring Locomotive for any sign of leakage.

Coast Guard was also nearby just in case a leak was detected.

You can see this Floating Crane will have no problem lifting out our little Locomotive. They also brought a floating Rail Transport Barge to load the recovered Loco, Caboose and Gondola.

Earlier Ship Delmas was released after Big Crane Guy showed up to take over the Salvage Rescue for us. A big thank to the Crew of the Delmas for helping us out, and they will be compensated for their time with us.

Considering the potential for leaks, we didn't want to take a chance that Delmas Cranes might not be strong enough to lift the locomotive out, 400Tons at least, Caboose and Gondola don't weigh anything like that.

Mr Big Crane Guy is in position and will start lifting our submerged Rail Equipment out of the Water.

The next 2 pictures show us how the Tracks have been set with new Power Plant area etc.

Below in the middle you can see a nice broad Curve with Run around Track to the Power Plant, much better than my original plan.

Our consist has been rescued and is sitting on the portable Rail Car Barge, it will go to Port about 10 miles away and transferred into one of our yards.

We averted a potential environmental problem and huge costs from contamination of Fish in the Bay, this is an act of Nature. So we are very fortunate.

The Public has been great too as they worked hand in hand with us as we made our repairs.

All is well, and the Sun will be up soon, as we see the Barges with Rescued Train headed out to next port.

Wishing you all a Blessed Friday, thanks for coming by.

Looking ahead for the next project, Texture work needed.

Good Friday evening all,

Now that Harbor Salvage is all cleared up, it's time to get back to Lovette Canal area, and see what unfinished areas we have.

Picture below is end of the Canal back of Lovette Mountain area, we have a Cruise ship admiring the beautiful forest and rocky outcrops.

This is a view of the Canal from the other direction as it heads out to the Harbor area.
Continuing down the Canal you see the Bridges coming into view I installed a month ago. Color and Texture is OK in this area. And on right side of picture is the Road I put in here for Cruise Ship Passenger to come aboard the ship after touring the Farmland and Ski areas.

Bridges are looking good and this probably one of the more busier areas of our Railroad as we have double Main Lines on each Bridge to handle the Traffic between Ports and handle it does.

Looking ahead for the next project, Texture work needed II

This is the area just before the Inlet to the Bay are, I've come back to finish the Texture and straighten out some Trees :hehe:I left in the water area....

Shoiws the rest of the area that is unfinished so lots to do, but it shouldn't be to bad, just takes a while to get colors coordinated.

This is coming into the bay inlet from Ocean, Bridge in foreground is Coast Line going into Farm areas. What do know, I see some Grid lines in the Water, got to get those painted out.......

We have a passenger Train headed north on the Coast Line,,,,,Perfect day for a Train Ride.

Please Pray for those who were in that Terrible accident at Hoboken Station, very sad time this weekend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/nyregion/new-jersey-transit-train-crash-hoboken.html?_r=0

Have a great weekend all, and thanks for Dropping by.

Using preformed Farm Layouts


Greetings all, I kind of tripped over something during Texture and Hill Smoothing, I found I had some preformed Farm Country 1, 4 and 5,Items with a small Town Setting......

I think there is more on DSL. And it worked great for the area I was updating.

Below, I just snapped a new Grid and put Farm Country 1 in so you can see how it looks, and this Kuid takes up pretty much a whole Grid Baseboard, so you'll need more area than you think as the Image is deceiving when you look in the Asset Details.

The difference in Choices 1, 4, 5, is way the Tree Patterns are laid out.

I suggest going into Content Manager search DLS with "Farm" as your keyword to see what is available, and check your inventory to see what you have already, I had no idea I had these items, however over the past 2yrs, I've downloaded a lot of things, it might have been on something I imported.

Here are different views of this item to see how it lays out.

Tree groups are differently placed in this one.

Now this is part of it here, and I'll need to adjust/extend out my Coast line Terrain to accommodate the overhang, because if I move it to the left it interferes with the Mainline on the other side.

Here is what it looks like in the planted fields, so I will put in Greenery around the Trees and change the terrain look for each group of trees.

I have to adjust Level on this side, Dirt is too high on this corner of it, and the house have Dirt up to the Roof, may have to use a slight Bridge on the mainline, like a Timber Bridge Struss, etc, or even a Plane Steel Bridge.....

Anyway it will work out real nice for me.......

Thanks for coming by.

Using preformed Farm Layouts II

Back again, I took a lot of Pictures today, so I wanted to post so you could see some more of the Farmland Items I was playing around with. Below is different one from the previous post I talked about. Trees are grouped out differently, so here is what I'm thinking if you have the usual 2 Base Boards wide or 3, you can lay out these different ones of these on side of your mainlines for variation, along with other Farm Kuids and it's not bunched together so if you like that kind of View, and it works for me, should be fast for decorating a long Strip area for Farming areas. Adding some individual Farm Structures in between the these Kuids.

Ok, recall in the last post I mentioned this Kuid takes almost a whole Base Board in width and length, so on the left side you see I moved the Main Line to the left to cleqr some of corner housing of this Kuid, and I need to recolor as is appropriate, Track Gravel etc.and do some leveling.

You can see how close these Farm Structures are to the Main, so as noted previously, I might throw in a Trestle Bridge along this Curve.

I have to move some of the Trees on this right side next to the Train, as they are clumped up a little, no big deal

I had part of this road cut off from when I first merged this Route earlier this year, now :hehe:I connected it over the hill, and did the dirty trick of instant Ground leveling on the left as it has an steep incline over the hills, I might adjust it, or I might do a curve to right and back again to make the Grade not as Steep. So that's why it looks funny here.

Everything is out of wack over here, Fencing is messed up, Trees, all because I had no clue this Kuid was so big, but I was so impressed on how well it would work out, it's worth the redo of lot of edges to blend things in.

More Pictures to post on this area......Be Right back with more.

Using preformed Farm Layouts III (reconnecting an old Road from Merging)

Now you can see the quick and dirty work below, and some grid lines showing.

In this one, looking to edge of Cliff where the Road is hanging in mid air, I'm going to Drop a Bridge in there, rest of the Flat Green area will be raised to max the Road height, and I push out and smooth the other side of this Road to the Water Side.

Side View here, you can see the Chasm in the hill, so when I put the Bridge in, I will probably widen the Chasm more?

In this view you can see the Road continuing on around the Hill, and over the Rail Yard approach track. Looks like I have Trees planted in the Road,,,,,OMG, :'( the things I do sometimes when I move stuff around, :hehe:Like a Bull in a China Shop. One thing is for sure, all I can do is laugh and cry over spelt asphalt!!! LOL........

Road continues on to the other side of the Mountains......Well you know, I'm faking it here, I don't know where it ends, LOL but I'll fix it when I get there.

Here's an over view map of the area I'm working on, and now I know where the Road really goes, God Save Queen, the Road goes to the Coastal area to right of two large Railroad Bridges into Aurora Pier area.

:hehe: Now you know where this mysterious Road really goes. Just imagine I could get lost in my own Railroad if I'm not careful!!!....Ah but that is the Fun, always something new to find and Fix.

Night all and thanks for coming by. Comments and Questions welcome anytime.

Trees in the road? It ain't nothing a few lumberjacks, a stump puller, and a basic road maintainance/pave crew can't fix. You'll be back in buisiness and get some lumber for vacation cottages. Still a good looking route. Can't wait for the next chapter of this series.

Farmland upgrades and Road Hill leveling continues

Good Sunday all,

I was very busy last night, doing a lot of Smoothing, Planting Trees, well you know the Gig and with the exception of one minor detail I thinking of Changing, I think I have it OK.

Below we have NYC Freight slowing, as it has some traffic ahead, the spur on the Right is new, and serves a Country Hardware and Feed outfit.

Remember I said the Road ( Black ARROWS) was out of wack when I merged the Layout in, and parts were missing, Mountains were cut off in the middle, lots of Fun stuff to fix, I got the land re smoothed and raised where I thought appropriate, and leveled the large Farm Country spots so not they are not 1/2 covered in to Roofs in Dirt.

You can see ( 2 Pictures below) the new spur off of Main Tracks to combo ( Red Arrow)Hardware and Feed building lower right...Should 2-4 cars weekly as local Farmers come here for many different things. I probably will load a small Dock for new Farm Tractors and other things we deliver here.




I changed the Road a lot to allow lower lying Farm Buildings to level out and the Road to Rise into the steep Hill...It all worked once I dropped in some curves which reduces the Gradient Rise in feet. Some curve rather than just a straight road looks more interesting and gives some added detail..

Planted groups and individual Trees of lots of Variety's.....Tried not to over saturate the area with trees to maintain an open look in the Farmland, there are rows of tilled fields, but not to much....Tried to maintain some balance and give a natural effect.

Dropped in a bridge, and put a small Stream coming out of the Mountain side down to water canal below....I think that will work, I might add a few more trees on the water side here as well.........Another set of pictures to post for this area.

maruffijd said:

Trees in the road? It ain't nothing a few lumberjacks, a stump puller, and a basic road maintainance/pave crew can't fix. You'll be back in buisiness and get some lumber for vacation cottages. Still a good looking route. Can't wait for the next chapter of this series.

Click to expand...

I'm talking to the City about that Tree in the Road now, it seems they got Road Plan changes and the Contractor didn't see it or get it in time while they were installing the Road, so he didn't want to remove the Tree without permission, so he just paved it into the Road.........Imagine that!

Thank you for kind Comments too......

Farmland III (need help on Farm Structure placement ideas) Pics 2, 3, 4, Thanks

Continuing on, the blue line below, I added in Bridge, and raised the Terrain up 1/2 way because the Concrete Supports are not to long, so the Dirt had to come up to meet. All worked out fine......

I added some Pine Tree Groups in with the Trees that came with Farm Country Kuid I used.

Over view Map here, the Yard is Aurora and has a Engine Facilities several Tracks for sorting, and I believe a Coal dump area too.

My small issue from last night, (Red Circle) is some Farm Buildings I put in center of the Field, Sort of, LOL, and I'm not sure I like the placement,

I'm thinking of moving to one of the ends in the field, possibly closer to the Highway.....????

DO you think it is fine where it sets, or do I need to move it?

This is a night shot below from the Highway side viewing across the fields........

Over view from the air to see what you think of the location, and it's and easy move to relocate this structure on the field, I do copy and paste mode, then just redo the Brown lines, about 5 mins or less....I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the placement of it?????

This is last corner of the Farm Country Kuid, and I was able to get the Main Line moved over about 25 feet to the left of these houses and get the Ground dropped so it all works nicely now. Added several Trees in here too.
Just another view from a different direction., and this is in the Evening time too, that's why it's somewhat Dark, but I think it works OK for you to see the details in my Pictures.

Have a blessed Sunday and thanks for coming by to visit.

Honestly, I feel moving the structures closer to the road is a plus. As is, there would be possible crop damage as any people or vehicles would have to trample something costing the farmer money. If you do leave it where it is at, at least put in a path to connect the "island" to the main road. Another idea is to extend the surrounding grass as a skinny line along the road as croplines don't actually touch the road. This is just my point of view.

maruffijd said:

Honestly, I feel moving the structures closer to the road is a plus. As is, there would be possible crop damage as any people or vehicles would have to trample something costing the farmer money. If you do leave it where it is at, at least put in a path to connect the "island" to the main road. Another idea is to extend the surrounding grass as a skinny line along the road as croplines don't actually touch the road. This is just my point of view.

Click to expand...

Fantastic maruffijd, I just needed another set of eyes, and me not being a Farmer, that makes perfect sense.....I'll move it over and put in some Green next to the Road, it didn't even dawn on me about Crop Lines touching the Road..........

One other Ques, do think just Plane Dirt road is reasonable for the Farm?

Thanks for the help here.

1. You are welcome. There is value in some 3rd party observations, and a fresh set of eyes can spot what is overlooked.

2. Sure. Plain dirt would be fine. A farm "driveway" can be any thing. Dirt, gravel, ashphalt, concrete, shredded tire bits,... It's up to how frugal or creative the farmer wants to be. I have even seen one made out of leftover lumber from when the house was finished being built and the owner did not want to waste one spinter.

maruffijd said:

1. You are welcome. There is value in some 3rd party observations, and a fresh set of eyes can spot what is overlooked.

2. Sure. Plain dirt would be fine. A farm "driveway" can be any thing. Dirt, gravel, ashphalt, concrete, shredded tire bits,... It's up to how frugal or creative the farmer wants to be. I have even seen one made out of leftover lumber from when the house was finished being built and the owner did not want to waste one spinter.

Click to expand...

Copy that, and I've seen some funny things, but on the other hand, Farming is darn near a 24hr job, depending on what is needed to keep it going. I have lot of respect for the Farmers, they keep us fed, but some of the stuff they come up with, your spot on!

I did a lot of Tinkering tonight, have a slew of Pictures and more advice needed on some Road additions I have in mind for nearby area. So if I may I will call on you for some more guidance.

I Plan on talking about background Wall Boards which hopefully will be interesting for some Corner and end of Base Board Horizon issues you see when your looking across the Base boards at distant objects etc.

It's late and I'm off to bed before I see the Sun again,just remembered it's Monday, where did my weekend go!!!!

I really can see how folks can spend Hours, Days, Weeks on their Route, everywhere I look I see something I want to change or improve in some way, and hey, I haven't even learned how to Reskin yet .....

Maybe some day I'll cross that path, but just am having to much fun building, and Merging Routes.

I have a desktop New HP and I want to get this whole thing ported over to it, too see how the dedicated Video Card works, vs my Laptop, which I know I push to its draw able limits, you can see the Horizon Sheets of Mountains, Water etc drop out of sight at certain Ranges of View when driving a Loco, or scanning ahead on Draw Distance....

Thanks again for your assistance.........

Relocation of Farm House, and Green built fixes

Good day all,

I moved the Farm House out of the middle of Planted Field, dropped in a road and widened the Green area between Road and Crops. Thanks maruffijd for the great advice Sir.....


I decided I wanted more Green around the Farmhouse (black arrow) and I think it works out pretty well.

View from across the Field on Track side...Beautiful star lit evening and lots of Smoke coming out of the house, they must be Smoking and Curing some meat tonight.......

I even found Ranch Sign for the place.........LOL

Dropped in 2 lane Dirt Road, didn't have any Scrap Lumber laying around for now, Asphalt is too expensive, we are just starting up our Farm, going to take several Growing seasons before we have enough money for that improvement......

Overhead map for clarity....Blue arrows, put in lots of trees in these corners and raised the Dirt a little....Yellow Arrow is new Farm House relocation. Red Arrow is Green Belt improvements.

Rail Yard below is directly across from the Farm area I was working on.....Lots of surprises coming.......Thanks for coming by.

Back Ground Panels you can use anywhere on Layout, ?New Asset brought in Turbine Loco


Just wanted to share about using Backgrounds Panels, you find these in your inventory I believe, if not let me know and I'll post the some names of the ones I use, I think this one is called Country..

Have you ever looked across your Baseboards from the Rail, while your Driving or doing surveyor work, and you see the edge of your 't board and it just doesn't look finished right, or if your like me with Merged routes, you see the Black edge of another Panel from across where you removed a panel you didn't need because of too many Excess Panels......

In Picture below, you can't see far in distance, it looks like Terrain just falls off.....now look to the Right, and see the difference with similair colored panel dropped in, and I raised the edge of existing Panel, to give a small hill, and it matches the back ground hills too.....IT looks great,,,Now I don't need to add another panel, yes you can have high mountains on you edges, you can have Water, but there are places where you'll still see it end. I have routes merged where a Water way someone made goes about 100 feet and stops at the edge of baseboard and it looks really funny as your up on train Bridge looking out your Loco, from engineers Cab, and you see it........Catch my drift......Of course it is all in what you want and accept........

Ok look in middle top and see the Back and front of Wall Board here.....Now look at Dirt Field and drops off at edge looks funny, but when I drop in another board and bridge the Gap, and level it slightly below the Dirt Field using elevation Tool, it will make this look great, plus Board is painted on both sides, you can flip it too to get the side you like best.....Neat Trick I think....

Here's another view of the Board, YELLOW arrows so you can see how it looks from the back side as well,,,,,I indented the Board about 3 feet in from the edge, I've seen folks put the board in the middle of a baseboard and have tracks running on both sides,......

New loco on Scene, this is a Gas Turbine, I believe it is more powerful than traditional Locomotive,,,,,Got me a UP Caboose tonight from the DLS.

And here is a UP Slug ( with Blinking alternating lights on Top too) :mop::mop:I found too, I'm setting up a Tanker Train to run, with 58 Tankers in Tow,,,,Thanks Dave Snow for his awesome looking Tankers he made for us........He is the Wizard.......


And for the real Show Stopper, X18 UP 8500 HP Gas Turbine has been downloaded tonight and pressed into service.....:mop:Thank you Cloaked Ghost for the Great work on this one......I've been looking for this and other Turbines, I got a CN Red & Black Livery if I recall too.....

That's it for now, got some Honey Dues stuff to get on with........Before my Wife gets me.....LOL

Glad I can help. If I can answer any questions, I am at your service.

One word of advice:

I recommend the backdrops that don't have the attached sky. The ones with the sky sometimes have off hued skies that are noticable from a distance, and really show this during sunrise/set as a blue sky painted drop looks odd against a red sunset. Good news is there are more than enough solid and spline drops to shop for, so finding one that fits should be easy.

OH! BTW, I have been taliking to a Travel Agent to see if I can by a ticket to the area for a short repite from the daily grind

Background Panel addit info &(Traffic Tunnel or Traffic Road over Mtns)need advice?

Thanks maruffijd for the help with Painted Skyline on my background, I had forgotten, several month's ago I had put one of these similar backgrounds in another part of my layout and I did do night work, and saw mismatch with Sky Color at night looking in that direction, so now I need to live with it, or go find some replacements with no Sky......Appreciate the pointer.......At the time I didn't know they came without painted Sky. As you see here it definitely sticks out there in Starry night scene.....:'(


Ok.. so here my dilemma, I've known for a while when I merged this route that I had a cutoff road to nowhere, ending at the base of Canyon....So now I'm working in this area, what do you think would look better, Road goes into Tunnel just like Rail Line on Left side with Rocky opening, or do I go up and over the mountains? I like to do what looks best here, and I'm not sure??

Suggestions please......

Here is a better picture of the Road, and you see the Rail Side going into Tunnel on Left, and I redid these fields too,, lots of Shrubbery and Granite Rocks added to Tunnel on Left, I didn't care for the plane concrete Opening I had......I need to look around for better looking Tunnel Covers I think!

Here is Map overlook, and the Red Line is proposed highway either over the Mountain, or through it, and It would empty out next to Tracks somewhere on the low end of the hills and then continue next to mainline, finally connecting to Aurora Yards over at the Bay, which does not have a Highway entrance at the moment..Only a short Road from Cruise Line Landing just below and slightly left of the Large Red Arrow........

This is other end of the Road that comes away from the proposed Tunnel (small red Arrow) and goes into the Coastal and Beach side North of Aurora Yards over by Lovette Water Canal Inlet........

Here is a picture further away from the Hill and you can see where the Road ends at base of Mountains for more visual perspective.