Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Hroth]

As soon as I scrolled down, I thought "Thats LNWR!" 

[Annie]

Back with working on rolling stock again for the next few sessions with my trainsets.  My Norfolk layout somehow manages to collect all kinds of trial versions of rolling stock that I've forgotten about so I'm going to do a tidy up. 

My own GCR clerestory coaches are in a right old mess, - I've even discovered a composite coach that I can't remember putting together!  This GCR parcel van was about the first serious texture reskin that I did and it's been through various versions and updates with version 4 presently on the DLS.  Only in the picture there's a version 4b (next to the E8) and a version 5.  They both share the same texture files and body meshes, but they have different couplings, coupling scripting and buffers.  Version 5 uses JAG which is a terribly esoteric piece of scripting written by a coding sorceress who is a member of our creator group; - and version 4b uses Bluestar which is now a very old Trainz script, but it does what it says on the tin and I like it even though some people seem to think that continuing to use Bluestar will bring down western civilisation.

Feeling confused?  Well you don't have to work with this stuff.  I'm going to get good old version 4b nicely tidied up and sent off to the Trainz Download Station and version 5 can get shunted into a siding where I can frown at it from time to time until I've figured the thing out.

After that I want to give the 3rd class clerestory a quick tidy and then I'll finish off the composite properly.  I should finally do a brake 3rd after that, but much will depend whether I can still stand the sight of French Grey and Oak Brown.

 

[Annie]

So that's the 3rd class coach done.  New end textures and I even went to the fiddly trouble of fitting air and vacuum brake hoses.  I managed to confuse myself with the brake hoses as I made a mistake with the attachment points and superimposed one on top of the other so it looked like one half of the set wasn't there at all.  I figured it out in the end though and now it's done I can transfer the attachment details over to the other coaches.

 

[Annie]

I did  a little more work on Bedwood to take a break from frowning over strange magical incantations in config files.  At this stage the bridge is just a scenic finishing piece that goes nowhere, but it does have portal tracks should I want to make use of them.  I have considered a hidden loop, but that would mean having to put in another implausible tunnel through the wall.

 

[Annie]

GCR composite WIP.  Final adjustment of the coach side texture still to do and then all the illusion stuff with the windows.  After that it's just the lod to do and it will be all done and dusted.

 

 

 

[Annie]

Aaaaand done.  It must have been my utterly naive state where i didn't have a clue what I was letting myself in for that carried me through when I originally decided I was going to make these GCR clerestory coaches.  The member of the creator group I belong to who made these coach meshes certainly knows how to use Blender, but his texture mapping is a crime.  Each side of the coach needs its textures sized in a different way so that they look identical in the Trainz simulator.  Having just done it all again now with finishing off the composite I had to wonder how my very new to Trainz self had managed to successfully do it.  Perhaps I just thought that was how it was as a usual thing and I progressively problem solved my way out of it a step at a time.

There's just a brake third to do now, - but not today.  I'm going to have a little lie down first.

 

[Edwardian]

I love that bridge, Annie (makes me want one in 4mil), and it reminds me of Victoria Bridge on the Severn Valley

 

 

Those coaches as Things of Beauty, and, again make me want to model the GCR in the 'Denny period'.  He made his, IIRC, out of the old Triang clerestories.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling

[Annie]

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I love that bridge, Annie (makes me want one in 4mil), and it reminds me of Victoria Bridge on the Severn Valley

More than likely that bridge was the very one the digital model creator was inspired by James.  He's made a lot of bridges and bridge parts that all fit together like a kitset and while they are all older Trainz models now they really are quite something.  And yes you are completely right it is a lovely bridge.  Normally I go for masonry bridges, but this time I wanted a steel bridge to cross my little river and after digging about and looking at what was available that was the one that had 'Yes' written all over it.

 

The bridge itself and the abutments and the iron handrails on the abutments are seperate pieces which I had to fit together and then adjust properly to get them fitted in place.  There was a bridge I've used before that did have abutments built into it like the Victoria bridge, but it's a single track bridge unfortunately.

 

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Those coaches as Things of Beauty, and, again make me want to model the GCR in the 'Denny period'.  He made his, IIRC, out of the old Triang clerestories.

Peter Denny's articles in the Railway Modeller were a big influence on me too.  His method of doing lettering and numbers on coaches was a technique I used on my own models when I was working P4 and then later on finescale 'S'.

Running coaches in French Grey and Oak Brown along with engines in MS&LR livery is stretching things a bit for my own time period (circa 1912), but I just happen to like them so that's what I do.  I have wondered about modelling the GCR in the 'Denny period', but with the GER and the Broad Gauge era GWR already well under my skin I really do have to say no and the GCR can continue to have visiting rights on my Norfolk layout.

[Annie]

I thought you might like to see this.  This is a Trainz figure scaled to 4mm scale as if he was actually operating the layout.  I don't make a habit of using these figures because I bump into them while I'm working and say, 'Sorry' or 'Excuse me' and then I feel silly for doing it.

Nobody has done any 7mm figures yet, though some 'G' scale figures were done recently.

 

[Edwardian]

I love that you apologise for bumping into virtual people; I'm sure I would find myself doing that too. 

[Caley Jim]

That's a 'Nothern' thing. Londoners would just give you a dirty look (or worse!). 

 

Jim 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Caley Jim

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

That's a 'Northern' thing. Londoners would just give you a dirty look (or worse!). 

 

Jim 

Well I have to say that the virtual people tend to be very good about being bumped into and don't get upset over it.

[Annie]

Shamelessly stolen from Faceplant.  Stafford LNWR 1860.

 

[Edwardian]

Luvely.

 

And red is the the best colour for bloomers 

[Annie]

Wot nobody posted a Railway Children 'Jenny' picture yet.  

[Compound2632]

 

Oops! Wrong Jenny. The right wheel arrangement though...

[Hroth]

On 23/03/2021 at 17:48, Annie said:

I thought you might like to see this.  This is a Trainz figure scaled to 4mm scale as if he was actually operating the layout.  I don't make a habit of using these figures because I bump into them while I'm working and say, 'Sorry' or 'Excuse me' and then I feel silly for doing it.

Nobody has done any 7mm figures yet, though some 'G' scale figures were done recently.

 

 

Is he controlling the layout in the manner of a Theremin?

 

 

 

[Annie]

52 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Is he controlling the layout in the manner of a Theremin?

It looks like it doesn't it.    I have got some vintage looking controller models I could set him up with if I decided to keep him on.

 

A pleasantly interesting demonstration of a Theremin by the way.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Annie
more to say

[Annie]

Book Corner:

 

 

Seeing the lovely green Crewe type 2-2-2 in my earlier post reminded me that the Loco Profile No.15 I ordered arrived safely this week.  KingKit in Shropshire were the vendors and I really do have to commend them on their good service.

 

 

Another arrival was (draws in a good breath)  'Locomotive Engineering and the Mechanism of Railways. Vol. II.  Sixty Four Large Plates Illustrative of the Locomotive Engine and Carriages and Plant'  by Zerah Colburn.  And no it's not a real one, - I'd have to sell a kidney to get one of those. It's a facsimile reprint by Gyan Books PVT. Ltd. in New Delhi.  It was actually surprisingly cheap to buy and the postage wasn't expensive either.

Before ordering a copy I'd read all kind of dire reviews about how awful some of these facsimiles are, but I decided to give it a punt anyway.  So what's it like?  The paper used is nice and of reasonable quality (I went for the cheaper soft cover edition). All the illustrations have been placed with care upon the page;  I think they could have been larger given the size of the page, but the images are all clear without any of the strange blobs, twists, blurs and variable contrast that I've seen with some of the on-line copies.  The images could have been a little darker, but they are visible and my big magnifying glass couldn't find any loss of detail.

As a reference the images are both useful and infuriating in that all elevations of the locomotives aren't shown, BUT when it comes to 19th century drawings and the general lack of them I'd have to be fairly petty to get too wound up about it.

 

I have been plotting to commision a Crewe Type and 'Locomotive Engineering and the Mechanism of Railways. Vol. II' has a complete set of illustrations for one of the breed.  While I have digital copies of these illustrations it's neither easy nor comfortable to snuggle up to a computer monitor to do any serious plotting, - hence the main reason for my purchase.

I shall of course have to wait until the god of down the back of the couch cushions brings forth wealth again before I can go ahead and give the nod for a start to be made.

 

(image Wikipedia)

 

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Annie
Um.........

[Hroth]

On 20/03/2021 at 11:21, CKPR said:

Re.the Kelvedon & Tollesbury in model form, if you can get hold of Railway Modeller for June 1976, a layout based on the "Crab & Winkle" was 'Railway of the Month' - I can do my usual camera phone photographs  from my copy if need be.  

 

Just found my copy, thanks for highlighting this issue.  45 years ago...  Eeek!

 

Another interesting thing  in the 06/76 issue is the (very*) short CJ Freezer Minories Mk2 article!

 

* Barely a trackplan and a paragraph!

[Annie]

All the discussion about Colman's mustard vans prompted me to make a faux tinplate one for my 0 gauge trainset. 

(This is a WIP snap, - I've since changed the wheels)

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Annie
more to say

[Annie]

No.3 resplendent in its new lined black livery at Elgar Junction on my Norfolk layout.  Long serving Affiliated (Imaginary) Railway Companies  engine No.4 is a 2-4-0T, but its driving wheels are larger in diameter (72 in) whereas No.3 has 58 in drivers.  What I wanted with No.3 was an engine similar in purpose to Adams K9 class 0-4-2T of 1877-8 which were assembled using the wheels from older withdrawn engines and who knows what other bits that were lying around Stratford Works.  No.3 does look a lot more elegant than an Adams K9 though.

I managed to find suitable wheels for No.3, but the way they were texture mapped meant that they had to be black and not blue.  Black wheels didn't really look the part on a blue No.3, but having already established in the Affiliated Companies' history that lined black had been an official livery before changing to blue I decided that No.3 would be a black engine.  And very nice she looks too.

 

 

 

No.3 at work on 'Bedwood' on test engine duties.

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

Looks more like a product of Stoke than Stratford to me?

[Annie]

6 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Looks more like a product of Stoke than Stratford to me?

Never said the Affiliated (Imaginary) Railway Companies' engines were from Stratford.  If you look at their number plates really really closely it says they were rebuilt there though.  No Stephen they are all much messed around with Knotty 'B' Class 2-4-0T's which I happen to like the look of.   When I mentioned the Adams K9 class I was using it as an example of the kind of role I wanted No.3 to undertake.

 

https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/LOCOMOTIVES-OF-THE-LMS-CONSTITUENT-COMPANIES/LOCOMOTIVES-OF-THE-NORTH-STAFFORDSHIRE-RALWAY/i-6BwQVx2

 

In my alternative Norfolk somebody from the Affiliated Companies was slipped a copy of the 'B' class drawings one dark night and they took them off to a locomotive builders who shall remain nameless and they set about building all manner of variations on the 'B' class theme which I'm sure you've seen on these pages many times before.

 

[Compound2632]

Ok thanks. Not paying sufficient attention.