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The Mojave & Panamint Railroad.
9 years ago
Okay... So one thing I am more than guilty of is being more active on Deviant Art than I have been here. In fact the tern "neglectful" is appropriate. >/////<
But I'm working on changing that and preparing to post a multitude of submissions here as well as DA. (That and DA has been a butt recently with uploading submissions... or rather no letting me)
So as some of you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a Trainz Player. And by that I mean Auran's (Now NV3 Games) Trainz Railroad Simulator. And the thing I love about it compared to other train simulators is the sandbox mode known as Surveyor. It is absolutely fantastic and there's more narrow gauge content for this franchise than any other one I've seen. Another reason I like using Trainz. I invested in the 2012 (TRS12) edition not too long ago, but may invest in Trainz: A New Era (T:ANE) soon as they've REALLY amped up the graphic detail and enhances the visible Draw Distance to some 25,000 meters or something. In short it just looks better!
My biggest project is the recreation of the United Verde & Pacific, one of my top fave favorite narrow gauge railroads. It was a 26 mile long, 3 foot gauge operation out in central Arizona and one of the crookedest railroad's I've ever seen!! And one of the reasons I love it so much. X3
Although I almost have track and grade finished the yards and the eastern terminal (Where the line interchanges with the Santa Fe, Prescott, & Phoenix RR, later AT&SF) has been REALLY frustrating me, so I'm taking a break from it. I'll post some screenshots of the UV&P route if I haven't already. So in the meantime I've been working on another route, although freelance, called the Mojave & Panamint Railroad.
The inspiration behind this route has been a long time in the making, and like many Trainz routes it owes its origin to a model railroad. I was recently going through my collection of hobby magazines and came across my Feb,93' issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Within its pages is a wonderful article for a wondrous freelance narrow gauge line in southwest California. It was envisioned by Craig Tice, an explorer of that arid region and avid lover of history as well. His early modeling interests involved airplanes, but he particularly loved desert narrow gauge. In fact one of his early modeling endevours was the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad (N-C-O) however he didn't commit to building a layout. However he was also a very imaginative guy and began plotting his own freelance "What-If?" railroad and he called it the Mojave & Panamint.
He spend considerable amounts of time researching and plotting. Even using topographical maps of a specific area to plot a hypothetical Right-of-Way for his M&P. This was so when he built his layout he can better match the topography and geography from the real world to his miniature one. So it's a wonderful blending of fantasy and reality.
His line starts on the southern edges of Searles Dry Lake along what is now the Trona Railroad. He did enough research to discover the the Los Angeles & Independence RR wanted to access the Death Valley region, but never quite made it. So in this case the M&P interchanges with the standard gauge LA&I, which later became part of the Southern Pacific RR. The M&P's southern terminal is Panamint Junction with a modest engine facility. A single stall engine shed which is open at both ends, a depot, and transfer trestle. Craig's HOn3 version uses structures that are blatantly of N-C-O/SPNG style and are leftovers from his previous modeling venture, but have been re-purposed for the Mojave & Panamint RR. I've made a few creative liberties with the set up with Panamint Jct, mostly for operation's sake. Such as a jointly used depot and transfer platform.
The line starts below the southern edge of Searles Dry lake and then skirts the western edges of the lake. The grades here are pretty easy going varying from flat and never exceeds 2%. The next stop along the line is Valley Wells, which is a very important location along the right-of-way. The line terminates at Ballarat, CA, but there is no water between there and Valley Wells. Tank cars are filled here and shipped up to the summit at Slate Range Pass (Slate Range Crossing according to Google maps/earth) where the cars are emptied and the water pumped into tanks there. The grade out of Valley Wells is moderate at a fairly steady 2.5% as the line climbs uphill towards the summit. There is a wye here for turning helper engines coming out of Ballarat. From here the line plunges through a tunnel and descends a steep and treacherous 4% grade into the Panamint Valley. Her the line levels out again and is easy going, entering Ballarat from the Northwest. Here is the primary engine facility with a 3 or 4 stall roundhouse and turntable.
The line is roughly 34 miles long in total, but with the varying grades, different industries, and changes in scenery (and not to mention the standard gauge interchange at Panamint Junction) the route promises to be a pretty interesting one! Fortunately Mr. Craig has come up with his own locomotive roster as well as a time table. These will be useful for creating operating sessions for the route once it's complete. However there are some interesting quirks that I'm debating on keeping or not. Such as a "strict" maximum speed of 20mph. I might bump it up to 25mph, but what do you guys think? Also run-away ore trains have priority over all other trains, regardless of train classification!
So far I have completed track work up to Slate Range Pass, though I have yet to get screen shots. I hope to grab some over the next few days and hopefully by early next week I can post them.
I am a huge believer in collaborative efforts and the biggest thing I could use some help with is re-skinning some content for the route. I've had some luck with some content, as some of my recent submissions show, but there are several items of content I'm not having luck with. So I would really appreciate anyone willing to volunteer their time and expertise, to do a quality job, on re-skinning a few items. Feel free to message me here or send me a PM.
Anyway, that's about all I have for now so I hope you all have enjoyed the shots and teasers to far! Once I have enough of the route finished I might make some teaser photos! Thanks again guys and be sure to leave plenty of feedback!
But I'm working on changing that and preparing to post a multitude of submissions here as well as DA. (That and DA has been a butt recently with uploading submissions... or rather no letting me)
So as some of you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a Trainz Player. And by that I mean Auran's (Now NV3 Games) Trainz Railroad Simulator. And the thing I love about it compared to other train simulators is the sandbox mode known as Surveyor. It is absolutely fantastic and there's more narrow gauge content for this franchise than any other one I've seen. Another reason I like using Trainz. I invested in the 2012 (TRS12) edition not too long ago, but may invest in Trainz: A New Era (T:ANE) soon as they've REALLY amped up the graphic detail and enhances the visible Draw Distance to some 25,000 meters or something. In short it just looks better!
My biggest project is the recreation of the United Verde & Pacific, one of my top fave favorite narrow gauge railroads. It was a 26 mile long, 3 foot gauge operation out in central Arizona and one of the crookedest railroad's I've ever seen!! And one of the reasons I love it so much. X3
Although I almost have track and grade finished the yards and the eastern terminal (Where the line interchanges with the Santa Fe, Prescott, & Phoenix RR, later AT&SF) has been REALLY frustrating me, so I'm taking a break from it. I'll post some screenshots of the UV&P route if I haven't already. So in the meantime I've been working on another route, although freelance, called the Mojave & Panamint Railroad.
The inspiration behind this route has been a long time in the making, and like many Trainz routes it owes its origin to a model railroad. I was recently going through my collection of hobby magazines and came across my Feb,93' issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Within its pages is a wonderful article for a wondrous freelance narrow gauge line in southwest California. It was envisioned by Craig Tice, an explorer of that arid region and avid lover of history as well. His early modeling interests involved airplanes, but he particularly loved desert narrow gauge. In fact one of his early modeling endevours was the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad (N-C-O) however he didn't commit to building a layout. However he was also a very imaginative guy and began plotting his own freelance "What-If?" railroad and he called it the Mojave & Panamint.
He spend considerable amounts of time researching and plotting. Even using topographical maps of a specific area to plot a hypothetical Right-of-Way for his M&P. This was so when he built his layout he can better match the topography and geography from the real world to his miniature one. So it's a wonderful blending of fantasy and reality.
His line starts on the southern edges of Searles Dry Lake along what is now the Trona Railroad. He did enough research to discover the the Los Angeles & Independence RR wanted to access the Death Valley region, but never quite made it. So in this case the M&P interchanges with the standard gauge LA&I, which later became part of the Southern Pacific RR. The M&P's southern terminal is Panamint Junction with a modest engine facility. A single stall engine shed which is open at both ends, a depot, and transfer trestle. Craig's HOn3 version uses structures that are blatantly of N-C-O/SPNG style and are leftovers from his previous modeling venture, but have been re-purposed for the Mojave & Panamint RR. I've made a few creative liberties with the set up with Panamint Jct, mostly for operation's sake. Such as a jointly used depot and transfer platform.
The line starts below the southern edge of Searles Dry lake and then skirts the western edges of the lake. The grades here are pretty easy going varying from flat and never exceeds 2%. The next stop along the line is Valley Wells, which is a very important location along the right-of-way. The line terminates at Ballarat, CA, but there is no water between there and Valley Wells. Tank cars are filled here and shipped up to the summit at Slate Range Pass (Slate Range Crossing according to Google maps/earth) where the cars are emptied and the water pumped into tanks there. The grade out of Valley Wells is moderate at a fairly steady 2.5% as the line climbs uphill towards the summit. There is a wye here for turning helper engines coming out of Ballarat. From here the line plunges through a tunnel and descends a steep and treacherous 4% grade into the Panamint Valley. Her the line levels out again and is easy going, entering Ballarat from the Northwest. Here is the primary engine facility with a 3 or 4 stall roundhouse and turntable.
The line is roughly 34 miles long in total, but with the varying grades, different industries, and changes in scenery (and not to mention the standard gauge interchange at Panamint Junction) the route promises to be a pretty interesting one! Fortunately Mr. Craig has come up with his own locomotive roster as well as a time table. These will be useful for creating operating sessions for the route once it's complete. However there are some interesting quirks that I'm debating on keeping or not. Such as a "strict" maximum speed of 20mph. I might bump it up to 25mph, but what do you guys think? Also run-away ore trains have priority over all other trains, regardless of train classification!
So far I have completed track work up to Slate Range Pass, though I have yet to get screen shots. I hope to grab some over the next few days and hopefully by early next week I can post them.
I am a huge believer in collaborative efforts and the biggest thing I could use some help with is re-skinning some content for the route. I've had some luck with some content, as some of my recent submissions show, but there are several items of content I'm not having luck with. So I would really appreciate anyone willing to volunteer their time and expertise, to do a quality job, on re-skinning a few items. Feel free to message me here or send me a PM.
Anyway, that's about all I have for now so I hope you all have enjoyed the shots and teasers to far! Once I have enough of the route finished I might make some teaser photos! Thanks again guys and be sure to leave plenty of feedback!
it is possible to hide all the screen controls for taking screenshots, and even to control everything with shortcut keys,
or it least it still was in the 2010 release which is the most current one i have.
not that i'm suggesting doing so unless you wish. just though i'd mention in case you weren't aware.
Slugsmasher does have,some awesome content, thoug some of it has problems and errors being loaded into TRS12. I would like to invest in Trainz: A New Era because of the enhanced draw distance. Though I would probably use TRS12 for route building and T:ANE for operating. I do recomend TRS12 As it is a little more reliable that 2010. But on the downsde it doesn't play as smoothly.
Most of the motive are reskinned models by Togog, as well as some of his rolling stock.