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


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A random screenie taken on the little twiglet of a branch line on my HUGE UK layout.  My 'what-if' railway uses slotted post McKenzie & Holland signals and in remote corners of the line some 1870's signals survive too.  The two ex-NER tank engines are in the background because they're still carrying 'cat on a mangle' totems because I haven't altered their textures yet.  The ancient teak brake/luggage van is from Paulz Trainz and the two six wheelers are of my own devising.

 

OYQyhtt.jpg

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I've been buying models from Paulz Trainz lately as he has quite a bit of useful stuff that suits what I want for my layout that isn't available on Auran's Download Station.  His pre-group early NBR models have caught my eye recently as some items are just the thing for my imaginary GNJt.R where elderly rolling stock and locomotives can still be found at work alongside more 'modern' rolling stock from the post-grouping era.

I purchased some of Paul's Hurst 0-4-2 well tanks yesterday.  Most probably because elderly well tank locomotives have been discussed a bit on the forum lately.

(Picture is from the Paulz Trainz website)

I7A0sRR.jpg

Edited by Annie
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I'm having a fairly rotten time of it health wise at the moment so I'm sticking firmly to doing things with my digital trainset.

Continued to work on the twiglet of a branchline which helped to take my mind off things.  The buildings on the small station need their textures working on a bit so that they properly match and the noticeboards need changing to suit the GNJt.R, but overall it's coming together how I want.

4CsIYdE.jpg

 

SAJZh38.jpg

 

nRWtrrt.jpg

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Signals for the earlier pre-group period aren't easy to find.  I mostly use some lovely slotted post McKenzie & Holland signals that I found on Auran's Download Station, but otherwise apart from a pair of lonely LSWR signals there aren't any other lower quadrant signals except for GWR ones.  Fortunately some of the GWR ones are on wooden posts and are of an older design and sometimes I make believe that they are Saxby & Farmer signals which they almost look like if I take my glasses off.

Paulz Trainz has some early signals, but many of the ones he had aren't available anymore due to the files being lost.  But he was able to provide me with this junction signal in both left and right hand versions.

 

kh9O8iD.jpg

 

At the moment it's not exactly easy to say what period my HUGE UK layout is set in.  Most of it is mid period Big Four era and the biggest engines I run on the layout are Atlantics as I've kept it a non-Pacific zone.  All engines and rolling stock are of pre-group origins, - or at least to my knowledge they are since I'm not an expert on the finer points of post grouping rolling stock and that isn't helped by creative 'in-the-spirit-of' reskinning of some wagons and vans into looking like something else by various content creators.  Overall though I'm happy with the picture I'm managing to paint of a pre-war steam railway.  As I continue to progressively work on the layout I am trying to wind back time a little more, but it's going to be a long job and I'm going to have to put up with time warp jumps in and out of various eras for a good while yet.

 

It certainly is a lot of fun though and there is absolutely no way on earth that I could own a layout with over 100 scale miles of trackwork by any other means.

 

xdFmPRh.jpg

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Seems like an appropriate picture for the UK at the moment.

 

fGEqNfv.jpg

 

GNJt.R tank engines on the K&ESR.  The looks-like-a-J72 isn't really as it's been modelled about 4/5ths too short and it's quite noticeable when they're in company with a scale sized J72 or J71.  They were originally made for TS2004 and are fairly basic with no crew.  I tried to adapt one to have a footplate crew and ended up rendering it completely inoperable due to not being able to mod configuration scripts for toffee.  For the purposes of the GNJt.R I call them a Kitson copy built to my imaginary railway company's special order and I think the GNJt.R grey goods livery suits them very nicely.

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Another snap of Furlong station at the end of the twiglet of a branchline I've been working on at the moment.  I love my digital trainset it makes me feel happy.

 

z16GTsH.jpg

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I also have the Atlantic in GNR livery.  My imaginary layout is still very much Big 4 era though bit by bit I'm gradually rolling back time.  Atlantics are the top link express engines on my line as it's a Pacific and 4-6-0 free zone.  I'm presently considering a Raven 'Z' class Atlantic from Paulz Trainz.  I like GNR locomotives well enough, but I like the NER ones best.  I'm considering a NER Tenant E5 as well even though the E5's were only a class of 20 locomotives and they were gone by 1929.  I have plans to buy some NER coaches from Paulz Trainz too, but with the dilemma of whether I buy them in NER livery or LNER livery.  Winding back to the the grouping transition era would let me have the lovely red NER livery so I'm considering doing that.  The Gresley coaches would have to go though.

My HUGE UK layout has over 100 scale miles of trackwork and is great for playing top link expresses on when the mood takes me, but mostly I concentrate on the corner of it where my imaginary GNJt.R has its metals.  The GNJt.R has some wonderful anachronisms in that rolling stock and locomotives from the 1860-70's can be still be found working alongside 20th century pre-grouping era locomotives and rolling stock, but it's my railway and I don't care.

 

Random snap of a GNJt.R tank engine at work.  This is one of the too short J72's that I call a Kitson copy built to the GNJt.R's order.  Four of them are named after former Grand Navigation Shipping Co ships from the early days of the company.  After I got properly correct J71 and J72 models I was going to retire them, but decided not to.  They're older and more simple models made for TS2004, but they're basically Ok.

yvKYW3c.jpg

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Ok done it.  Spent my pocket money for this week.  Three Raven 'Z' class Atlantics will be arriving on my layout shortly.  They're in LNER green as there wasn't an NER livery option for them unfortunately.

 

Isn't it beautiful  G1dDhSj.png

 

aGTCzCP.jpg

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I haven't bought payware for my system so I don't know the score, but in the license for use you get with your stock, does it permit you to reskin for personal use? If so, you will only need freeware such as Gimp, Paint.net and Irfanview plus PevSoft's TGA converter to put whatever livery you choose on your models.

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I think it may be a good idea to keep a listing of available pre-grouping content for both Trainz and TS. There is a lot for MSTS, probably too much to mention.

 

Train Simulator 20xx (Formerly Railworks and Rail Simulator)

 

Payware

 

CR Class 812 0-6-0 (Due for release at the end of this week)

CR No.123 4-2-2

NER Class T2(?) 0-8-0

GNR Class N2 0-6-2T

LBSCR Class A1/A1x 0-6-0T

GWR Class 4300 2-6-0

MR Class 3F 0-6-0

MR Class 4F 0-6-0

SDJR Class 7F 2-8-0

GCR Class 8K 2-8-0

LSWR Class T9 4-4-0 (Rebuilt)

LBSCR Class E2 0-6-0T

GER Class Y14 0-6-0

LSWR Class M7 0-4-4T

 

Freeware

LBSCR Class G 2-2-2

CR Class 80 4-4-0

CR Dunalastair I 4-4-0

LBSCR Class A1 0-6-0T

LBSCR Class A1x 0-6-0T

LSWR Class O2 0-4-4T (IOW)

 

Need to go now, but will continue later...

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I haven't bought payware for my system so I don't know the score, but in the license for use you get with your stock, does it permit you to reskin for personal use? If so, you will only need freeware such as Gimp, Paint.net and Irfanview plus PevSoft's TGA converter to put whatever livery you choose on your models.

I re-skin models all the time and for 99% of models re-skinning for personal use is fine by the creators of the models.  Sometimes you'll find somebody who has filled up the attached notes with a model with all manner of threats about modding their models, but by and large all they do is prove they know nothing at all about copyright law and fair usage of their original material.  Basically so long as what you're doing is for your own use and you're not trying to represent it as being all your own work or trying to sell it then it's fine.

I mostly use Paint.net and Ifranview for what I do.  Sometimes even good old MSPaint has its uses.  I've heard of PevSoft, but I don't really understand what it does and I haven't ever used it.

 

I buy from Paulz Trainz because he has models I can't get anywhere else.  And he has reasonable prices too.  Three Raven 'Z' class Atlantics cost me $US15 which I think is very reasonable.  Wagons and coaches are even cheaper at around $US4-5 for three wagons and $US12-15 for 6-8 coaches.  Most of his models are for older versions of Trainz Simulator, - that is TS2012 and older not including TANE.  I run TS2009 and everything I've purchased from him is fine.  He provides good after sales service and if there is a problem he gets it fixed very quickly.

I will most probably have a look at modding the Raven Atlantics into NER livery, but at the moment it's not a big priority since I'm still running a fair bit of Big 4 era stuff.

 

 

I think it may be a good idea to keep a listing of available pre-grouping content for both Trainz and TS. There is a lot for MSTS, probably too much to mention.

 

 

 

Need to go now, but will continue later...

I really don't know anything about MSTS.  I do own a copy, but haven't looked at it for a long time.

 

A list for Trainz?  There's a lot of pre-group content available, but I'm not sure if I have the energy to try listing it all.  Some older content is a bit naff and has a lot of issues that are a pain to fix and I don't think I'd bother to list them should I do a list as they're fairly disappointing.  Anyway I'll think about it.

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Pevsoft is a range of small utilities for Auran Trainz to make missing shadows, convert PM to IM (early trainz), add attachment points to meshes, and for the TGA files, handle alpha layers and the texture text file.The utilities are mostly useful if you are trying to upgrade earlier stock to run in the later Trainz versions. If you're happy with paint.net that is quite capable of doing the proper 32-bit TGA files anyway.

 

Most of the pre-grouping or early grouping stock I have collected is SECR, LBSCR or LSWR for the Kentish area, but I do have a couple of nice NBR coaches and a tank engine.

 

I can see a case for developing Sem34090's idea of lists of stock, and in the case of trainz, noting which version(s) of Trainz they work on. I've got various versions, but I too have stabilised on TS2009 and TS2010, and have had to convert some stock which was TS2012 backwards (quite easy), and some TRS2004/TRS2006 stock forwards (can be a right pain).

 

My current interest though is actually pre-steam, I want to model Lord Carlisle's horse-worked colliery lines as they were up to the opening of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway. Fortunately both MSTS and Trainz have working horses, which so far none of the common modelling scales have.

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Thank you for the details about Pevsoft AR.  I should have a proper look at it sometime and just have a play about with it to see what it can do.  A downside of having narcolepsy is that I find myself resistant to trying new things and especially learning to use new graphics or mesh editing software since it's a real struggle for me to concentrate long enough to actually understand what it is I need to do.  9tZCX97.png

 

I have the Australian 4-6-0's for TS2012 and they are really nice Sem. Beautiful engines to drive and the AI stuff and physics is really well done.  I also purchased the Beyer Peacock 4-4-0T for TANE at the same time as it was a Black Friday sale and everything was seriously cheap.  Australia either purchased or built Beyer Peacock influenced locomotives in fairly large numbers which has caused me me to consider an Australian layout more than just the once..

 

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 My favourites are the SMR colliery 4-6-4 tank engines which while being only Beyer Peacock copies are unmistakeably Beyer Peacock influenced in every inch of them.  I have a coal and steelworks layout with an urban traction railway as a part of it and it's the 4-6-4T tank engines that rule amongst the hot steel and coal.

 

uWEpyeJ.jpg

 

I never really got on with TS2012, - apart from the fact it made my much rebuilt ageing computer scream for mercy, - I didn't like what they'd done to 'improve' the editor (surveyor) and I didn't like the session layers that'd they'd sewn into everything so it became a nightmare to try and join different layout boards together.  As for TANE I don't know much about it and some on-line friends who've got it say it's Ok, but whenever I think about it I find myself thinking of circles of salt and garlic.

 

My Raven 'Z' Atlantics arrived and one of them is in NER livery, - the other two are LNER livery, but with slight differences between them in the livery details which is nice.  Once again the GWR station on my layout ended up with foreign visitors while I did a screenshot.  I don't have any NER coaches so some 'Litho' style GER ones in Lake livery did the honours.

 

niosEqG.jpg

Edited by Annie
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My current interest though is actually pre-steam, I want to model Lord Carlisle's horse-worked colliery lines as they were up to the opening of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway. Fortunately both MSTS and Trainz have working horses, which so far none of the common modelling scales have.

 

Trainz has plateway wagons and other early types as well.  The working horses are certainly interesting.  I had a horse drawn tram on the layout at one time and I should really think about bringing it back as it was a lot of fun.

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Borrowed an GNR 'H1' tender for the C1 Atlantic.  Not entirely ideal as the locomotive is still in LNER livery, but I'll get around to fixing that eventually.  I don't think I'll be running the GNR 'H1' (K3) itself though as it's a bit too modern looking for me.  The Gresley steel side coaches have all been banished and replaced with teak coaches so bit by bit I'm creeping things back to the grouping transition era.

 

AebQh2z.jpg

 

The long suffering Debton (GWR) station has had a bit more work and late period signals replaced with earlier ones along with a better canopy and island platform buildings so passengers actually have some reasonable shelter now.  An LNER passenger train has always been on the timetable to leave and arrive at Debton, but normally at the bay platforms and there definitely wouldn't normally be two 'foreign' passenger trains lined up to leave at the same time.

GWR No. 4600 usually works the local trains in and out of Debton so the 'Atlantic' theme carries on.

 

Ldi1dSF.jpg

 

TS2009 and earlier versions is a real desert for decent GWR coaching stock so the only coaches I have are 4 wheelers.  Same goes for locomotives in the transition period.  517 class, 850 class, 2021 class and that's pretty much it.  Plenty of goods rolling stock though.  I have more BG GWR stuff than I do SG GWR stuff truth be told.

 

Edit:  I forgot the Dean Goods, there's a TS2009 version.

Edited by Annie
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I loved those Australian locos you've both posted. I have mostly MSTS Australian stock, nit very much Trainz stuff, but in OpenRails I do have the Lithgow ZigZag with some 1890s locos, and several books on the NSWGR locomotive stock, which was a strange mixture of Beyer-Peacock and Baldwin for a time.

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So, I've installed quite a few locos now, from quite a few websites.

 

None of them are working.

 

I've installed quite a few coaches. Most of them are working.

 

What's gone wrong? Can anyone suggest what dependencies I may need?

 

In the meantime:

post-33498-0-12644800-1521336162.png

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