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

[Annie]

Further work done on the stone loading platform.  I have yet to figure out how to unload the stone block from the trolley.  The horse does move along very nicely around the track hauling the loaded trolley so that part of it works just fine.

 

 

[Compound2632]

12 hours ago, Annie said:

I have yet to figure out how to unload the stone block from the trolley. 

 

Well, you've got lifting tongs in the picture already.

[Annie]

6 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Well, you've got lifting tongs in the picture already.

To have the skills to actually animate those lifting tongs so they could unload the trolleys would be wonderful.  I'm going to have to do something boring with an unloading track that makes the stone blocks disappear into thin air instead.

[Adam88]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

... disappear into thin air ...

 

That sounds just like money.

[Edwardian]

21 hours ago, Adam88 said:

 

That sounds just like money.

 

Mine, at any rate

[Annie]

How to embarrass myself at Ribblehead on the climb up to Blea Moor.  This is the S&C in TANE by the way, - it looks a bit raggy around the edges, but I can't do anything about that. 

 

The Baldwin 2501 was steaming just fine, but she seemed to be a bit too light on her feet and it was hard to stop her slipping despite freely using the sanders.  562 tons of limestone was the load on the drawbar.  Something tells me that it might have been a bit too much.

 

No.2211 has been setup with a proper Baldwin engine spec and sound files, - and I'm fairly sure I've got her weights and measures correct.  She's a great  engine to drive, but she wasn't happy at all about being expected to climb up to Blea Moor.

 

 

 

[Tom Burnham]

Yes, I'd have thought that load would need to be banked or double headed or even both...

[Edwardian]

Indeed, and it's the Midland, so why use one locomotive when two smaller ones would do?

 

Ht ... coat

[Annie]

18 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

Yes, I'd have thought that load would need to be banked or double headed or even both...

I knew the climb up to Blea Moor sidings to be a fair sort of challenge, but i was curious to see how the Baldwin 2501 would handle it.  From running the Baldwin about on Tristyn in Winter I knew that it was a good steamer, only it's plain that a free steaming boiler was nowhere near enough to get it up to Blea Moor.

 

28 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Indeed, and it's the Midland, so why use one locomotive when two smaller ones would do?

 

Hat ... coat

I have got other Midland engines I can call on to assist the Baldwin, but with my preference for driving with the steam control set I would be driving two engines at the same time and I might be a little rusty at doing that. 

I last tried doing that on the Minehead branch driving two of my mid-19th century engines and it certainly was...... interesting....

[Edwardian]

To be fair, the Baldwin does not represent the Midland's best effort!

[Annie]

20 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

To be fair, the Baldwin does not represent the Midland's best effort!

True enough, though I can't help but like it for some reason.  It does look very elegant in Midland red.

 

Things went much better with a banker on the job.  Fortunately the 1F half cab is a steady little thing and once I set it off in motion I only need to check its coal and water from time to time.

 

 

The Baldwin was still a bit slippy and needed a careful hand on the cutoff lever to make sure it was staying in the sweet spot.

 

 

 

Two brake vans because you never know when you might need a spare one.

 

 

Clear signals at Blea Moor.

 

 

The fully interactive cab is one intended for an Australian Beyer-Peacock.  It's not a bad fit for the Baldwin and the controls all work well.  The gauges are accurate too.  The boiler pressure is set a bit high to suit a later Baldwin Mogul, but I'm not going to mess with it.

 

 

Once on the other side of the immensely long tunnel things went a lot easier and i could ease back on the cutoff on both engines and pretty much just enjoy the scenery until Garsdale's distant signal came in view.

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

I agree, the Baldwin with its Midlandised North American look is attractive and distinctive. One ran on the 4mil finescale Ambergate, which I saw, probably at a Manchester exhibition, in the '90s. 

[Annie]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I agree, the Baldwin with its Midlandised North American look is attractive and distinctive. One ran on the 4mil finescale Ambergate, which I saw, probably at a Manchester exhibition, in the '90s. 

That would have been an unusual model to see on a layout back then.  I suppose that I can make an accurate guess that it was a scratchbuilt model.

 

The same maker who made the Midland Baldwin for Trainz has also made the GNR version.

[Annie]

[Annie]

There were some other snaps I took while 'La France' was charging about on Tristyn & District that almost made it to Christmas card status.

 

 

 

What the...!

 

[Annie]

'La France' at Lynelle station.  The Atlantic is in a sulk because there's something wrong with its brakes and I can't quite figure it out.  'Etes-vous certaine d'être mécanicienne madame ? Ou faites-vous simplement semblant….'

 

 

 

[Annie]

More 'La France' driving fun.  'La France' now has working tender brakes which seem to have made a slight difference to how quickly she wishes to come to a halt.  Brake specs on the steam controls driving menu are for a Westinghouse brake system because N3V have never figured out how to represent the vacuum brake.

It was recommended to me by a talented engine spec creating gentleman that I try out his engine spec for a SAR Pacific locomotive on 'La France'.  Like most of the engine specs made by this gentleman it requires an expert hand to get it to work well, - and really that's exactly what I'd expect a De Glehn compound to be like to drive.

Not long after I took this snap 'La France' was running fast with her safety valves screaming in a most un-GWR like fashion and I was desperately sighting signals and doing my best to remember the layout of the road ahead. 

Between the footplate moving about under my virtual feet and the bark of the exhaust up the chimney it was beginning to feel a very real experience indeed.

 

'Lâche, lâche, laisse-moi courir !'

 

 

At Lynelle station again with a much less sulky 'La France'.

 

[Annie]

The poor old TS2004 fireman got a crick in his back and had to go home.  Fortunately there was a keen young lass at Lynelle station who was all set and ready to take over.

 'La France' has got a different tender to the one it originally came with because it wasn't put together all that well and I didn't like it much.

 

 

Think I might have done a similar snap to this before.  'La France' and 'Oxford Cathedral' meet at Tristyn station.

 

 

A job I will be doing very soon is sorting out all the GWR engines on 'Tristyn in Winter' and setting up the post grouping engines and rolling stock with their own session because it's all a bit of a muddle at the moment.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Annie
Wrote more words.

[Annie]

I'm not sure what I'm letting myself in for.  I've set up a session for circa late 1930s/pre-WW2 GWR.  I actually own quite a few GWR engines that fit into that category, - a shirt button 57xx and 45xx, late GWR lettered 57xx's and a Collett 2251.  I've got more 45xx's with GREAT WESTERN on the tanks which I suppose can sneak in.  All are Penzance engines, - but if you don't tell anybody I won't.

I've got three GWR Aberdares as well from different eras with a collection of different tenders, - so at least one of them should fit the bill.

Most of these model engines had their birthday back in TS2009 and my 45xx's go back to TS2006, - though I've given them a good fettling and tidy up.  I regard them all as good practical no fuss models that look like what they are supposed to and they work well.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately most of the GWR goods/mineral wagons from the same era are fairly dire.  They were banged out cheap and cheerful by their makers in a Bachmann/Hornby, -'If you don't look too closely, - it will do,' - kind of fashion.  And they were more or less Ok in the older versions of the simulator, but in the new 64 bit simulators from TANE onwards all their faults are glaringly obvious.

Paul Hobbs made some excellent PO wagons that still look reasonable.  And work from the Trainz Classic 3 team was very good as well.  Ed Heaps made his Scottish wagons and developed a highly adaptable wagon underframe kit.  But hardly anybody had bothered to make anything better for the GWR until Steve Flanders set up his own wagon works and started making GWR wagons.

 

The two GWR 3 planks are very old good quality models from the TC3 team.  I was very lucky to find these.

The 2 plank wagon and the Loriat 'B' are Steve Flanders work.

 

Steve's 7 plank wagons.

 

Some of Steve's PO wagons.  Most of these are Wiltshire area wagons.  With a mixture of Welsh anthracite wagons, Burton on the Water traders and the Wiltshire wagons to dig through and sort you'll have to forgive me for making any mistakes.

 

 

I could show you a lot more, but I don't want your eyes to start glazing over.

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Annie
added a picture

[Annie]

OOPS!!  A Collett 2251 is far too late for my intended time period, - so back in the digital trainset box it goes.

 

Please come back Dean Goods, - all is forgiven.  

[Annie]

This is the GWR 'Aberdare' model I have.   This is the unlined version and it's paired with a Robinson ROD tender, - which is one of the tender variations that were available for this engine.  It has magic number scripting so it can be assigned any number taken from the 1940 group of surviving engines before BR got at them.

These were made for Trainz TS2012 and were only available for a short time until their maker decided to withdraw them from sale.  For some reason or another I've not really made much use of them since I purchased them.  It could be because the majority of my GWR engines were obtained for my 'Penzance to Camborne' project and that's not exactly 'Aberdare' territory.

 

 

 

'Tristyn in Winter' has a nicely modelled colliery tucked away in one corner of the layout so perhaps my 'Aberdares' will finally get a chance to show what they can do.

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Annie]

I was bored and at a loose end this afternoon, - and the yard and MPD at Gwladys Ddu was really annoying me.  In fact almost everything about Gwladys Ddu was annoying me......  So... I set to and made it better.

A major problem with Tristyn in Winter is that while it is set out really well for thundering about with passenger trains, there are almost no sidings and where there are goods yards there are no goods sheds.  There are some interactive industries where a product is picked up somewhere and delivered somewhere else, but outside of that not much as all.

 

Apart from the colliery , - which does have extensive sidings, - the only large goods yard is the one at Gwladys Ddu.  And guess wot, - no goods shed. 

And then there's the MPD at Gwladys Ddu as well which is the main MPD for Tristyn & District which had a generic engine shed which I didn't like much.

 

 

There's still a bit more to do, but I'm really pleased with what I've done so far.  Possibly I might have overdone the 'Dark Satanic Mill', - though with there having been a scattered mix of not very convincing modern factories on the same site before I started I think it's a major improvement.

 

I replaced the terrace houses behind the goods shed and generally improved the various walls and fences and got rid of the ones I didn't like.  I planted some more trees here and there as well.

The layout's original builder has a liking for having clutter and rusty old rubbish strewn about all over and I don't, - so all that was got rid of as well.

[monkeysarefun]

Hey Annie can I ask -  how does one go about creating assets for trainz? I've been knocking around with Blender doing Australian classic cars mainly but I'd like to turn my hand to something else for a bit.  I assume its a case of creating the 3D mesh and applying materials etc, but is there a repository or something they get put in  and is there a nifty certificate you need to sit for to prove  you are trainz compliant?

 

As an example of my work, may I post my  most recent Blender modelled car, its actually a UK prototype by Jowett which never saw production before the company turned up its toes. No blueprints exist so I had to base this model on a handful of contemporary photographs that can be found in the  Bradford Museum. (I dont model drivers, that is an artistic skill I do not possess).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Annie]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Hey Annie can I ask -  how does one go about creating assets for trainz?

Wow!  If you are creating such beautiful models such as that Jowett in Blender you would be more than well on the way to being able to create assets for Trainz.  My own 3D modelling skills are limited to making simple static models in Sketchup 8 and texturing them using Paint.NET.  I wouldn't have a clue how to make anything with Blender.

 

I do know though that there is special importing software involved that converts a Blender model to the format that can be loaded into Trainz.  Recently however everything took a further leap with the use of PBR materials and a change from the more simple .im mesh files to trainzmesh which I know absolutely nothing about.

 

The webpage that most new modellers for Trainz get pointed to is this one: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Tutorial_for_Blender

 

There are content creation pages on the Trainz forum:  https://forums.auran.com/forums/content-creation-support.12/  However I will warn you that forum members do tend to be suspicious of new folk who don't own a copy of Trainz due to the number of spammers who try to invade the forums.

 

I'm sorry that I couldn't be more helpful, but to me making functioning models for Trainz using Blender is akin to the use of magic.

[monkeysarefun]

9 hours ago, Annie said:

 

 

I'm sorry that I couldn't be more helpful, but to me making functioning models for Trainz using Blender is akin to the use of magic.

 

 

Thanks Annie, thats more than enough to get started. I've got the week off but am on call which limits the amount of things I can get up to so that'll give me a chance to sit around with the cricket test  on and play with trainz..

 

Interestingly, when I registered for a trainz account just then  it said there was already an account with that name and password, so at some point in the far past I must have been up to something. I do dimly recall buying a copy of trainz from a local model railway exhibition back in about 2004 or so, maybe its from back then! I don't think I went anywhere with it, my PC of the time was not very well-specced.

 

I understand the suspicions regarding scammers. I'm in a couple of Blender modelling  Facebook groups, much as I detest that platform for so many reasons, including its total unsuitability for being any kind of useful forum. One group is well managed but the other is a free-for-all so 90% of the posts are scammers who copy-and-paste other modellers work from hum3d, artstation etc and pass it off as their own with tags like "Bringing ideas to reality is all I love doing ...was wondering you might need a 3D model Kindly inbox me with your reference", its pathetic.

 

Anyway, I'll have a bit of a play - if it goes ok I may hit you up for some suitable prototypes to have a go at. It'd be annoying to spend weeks on something only to realise that my Hogwarts Express or Flying Scotsman has been already well covered!