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

[Jake The Rat]

7 hours ago, Annie said:

 

 

The next things you should create are dustpan & brush; you will need them very soon.

(I know what I'm talking about, I own a cat, or rather vice versa. )

 

My first thought was like "What is this good for? Why model a model railway, when you can model the real thing?" But the last 2 pages of this thread have convinced me. This looks great & I'm thrilled to see it continue.

Are you working with TANE or Trainz2019? I still use Trainz2012, & it doesn't seem to have this feature.

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by Jake The Rat
Me fail English? That's unpossible! ^^

[Annie]

6 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Amazing progress   I think you should have a large glass and a bottle of NZ wine, rather than just a mug.

Thanks.  I'm a devoted tea drinker Mike and I can't drink alcohol due to health issues so the tea mugs are highly appropriate.  That nice flat top to the tunnel/scenic break would be exactly where I would park my tea while I was working so there's  more than a few personal touches going on with this virtual model railway in a shed.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by Annie
fumble brain

[Annie]

51 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

wow, Annie

I'm a bit like that myself James.  I bumbled around for a while and then some very helpful folk on the Trainz forum imparted the secret wisdom to me explained how certain tricky bits were done and somehow after that it all came together.

 

16 minutes ago, Jake The Rat said:

 

The next things you should create are dustpan & brush; you will need them very soon.

(I know what I'm talking about, I own a cat, or rather vice versa. )

 

My first thought was like "What is this good for? Why model a model railway, when you can model the real thing?" But the last 2 pages of this thread have convinced me. This looks great & I'm thrilled to see it continue.

Are you working with TANE or Trainz2019? I still use Trainz2012, & it doesn't seem to have this feature.

 

I'm a cat person too Jake, - though after my dear old moggy died around three years ago I didn't get another one since the risk of me tripping over a cat and having a fall was too high.  I built a small Lego city before I started to have issues with my health and over a week or so when I wasn't well my cat systematically destroyed it.  So yes I know exactly what you mean and that's why I posed that cat and the tea mug on the table like I did.

 

Walkley Sidings and its shed were built in TS2012.  I own TANE and TS2019 as well as TMR2017 (Trainz Model Railroad Railway), but the techniques used to make a virtual model railway in Trainz can be used in just about all of the Trainz versions.  Thanks to the efforts of a small group of content creators there's a modest amount of  models available for building virtual model railways, though as time has gone on more model assets are being made that only work in TANE at a minimum.  When I make anything that will get eventually uploaded to the DLS I make it in TS2012 mainly because it's a lot easier to do, - and also because a lot of Trainz folk are still using TS2012 and don't want to have anything to do with the greater complication of the later 64 bit Trainz versions.

Information about building virtual model railways in Trainz is available, but it sometimes takes a bit of looking for and it's a bit patchy in places about how to do certain things.

 

For a time I was wondering as well what all the fuss was about with modelling model railways and couldn't see the point of it, but when a member of the creator group I belong to started to build a representation of the Madder Valley Railway I suddenly understood what it was all about.  I will be continuing to work on my other Trainz projects that follow the usual format of modelling prototype railways, but for the time being I'm taking a break from them to see what other classic layouts from the pioneering era of railway modelling I can turn my hand to.

 

 

[Hroth]

15 hours ago, Annie said:

Getting there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is a railway room and a half!  Want One!!!

 

I'm sorry, the cat just looks like a novelty thermos flask, pump the tail and the tea comes out of the mouth. A similar action with the raised paw and you get milk...

 

What you need is one of those small hotplates sold for keeping jugs of coffee warm.  Place it on the tunnel/bridge and then you can keep a footplate teacan nice and warm, just like on a real loco!

 

Your next task, should you choose to accept it, is Minories... 

 

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

Thanks Mr Hroth.  The cat is just a bit of fun that I don't mind being there, but I draw the line at scale height people.  There are a couple of chaps that can inhabit a model railway room, but I find them dead spooky and find myself saying 'sorry' and 'excuse me' when I bump into them since in terms of the room they are the same height and size that I am.  Some Trainz model railway folk might like them, but I don't.

 

In terms of further furnishings and details I would like to have a teapost, a kettle and biscuit tin.  More and better books for the book shelves is something else that I would like as well.

 

Minories has not been forgotten.  I had a bash at converting the barebones layout I posted earlier to Broad Gauge, but clearances are just too tight and it didn't work out.  So I binned that one and I'll go back to the MET option.

My second hand copy of 'Narrow Gauge Adventure' by P.D.Hancock arrived today and I had a look through it.  I think the pre-trams layout version might be the one to go for.  I've got nothing against trams, but adding in the trams was the start of making the layout too crowded and on top of that laying out all the overhead conductor wiring in Trainz is not much fun at all.  

[Annie]

Testing on Walkley Sidings.  Since I'm going to upload this layout to the Trainz DLS I have to make sure it all works properly and doesn't have any errors.  This can be a real problem with Trainz when people upload a layout that's full of models that they got from other websites without giving any indication as to where they got the models from.  Playing hunt the dependent assets all over the internet is not fun and leads to endless frustration.  I'm my case I have all kinds of things that I made for myself, but never uploaded to the DLS so I have to make sure that none of those models have sneaked their way onto the layout.

 

[Annie]

Severely distracting myself with old C.J. Freezer plans.  Definitely a possibility especially since Steve Flanders has made a model of the station buildings and over roof. 

 

 

 

I owned a copy of this little book back when I was in my 20s, but somehow it got lost when life happened.  I've just now purchased a second hand copy taking care to buy the same edition as the one I owned.  I know Peco did a later version with a different title, but it looks a bit too modern and dismal era like for me to have it on my bookshelf.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Annie
more to say

[MikeOxon]

20 hours ago, Annie said:

Testing on Walkley Sidings.  ...

 

I should be interested to see video of 'Walkley Sidings' running as a model railway.  Presumably, you can suppress the smoke and steam for a 'realistic' model experience?

 

I remember when 'Ashburton' was so popular a model as to have become almost a cliché.  I gather from C J Freezer's description in the 'PSL book of model railway track plans' (1988) that it was actually something of a pig, operationally.  Horse or rope shunting seemed to be a necessary part of its operation.  Can such things be represented in Trainz?

[wainwright1]

11 hours ago, Annie said:

Severely distracting myself with old C.J. Freezer plans.  Definitely a possibility especially since Steve Flanders has made a model of the station buildings and over roof. 

 

 

 

I owned a copy of this little book back when I was in my 20s, but somehow it got lost when life happened.  I've just now purchased a second hand copy taking care to buy the same edition as the one I owned.  I know Peco did a later version with a different title, but it looks a bit too modern and dismal era like for me to have it on my bookshelf.

Hi Sem.

 

I think that Cyril did around three books on track plans which all had several editions. I have always been a bit wary about the radius of the curves especially on the smaller layouts, as they can be ridiculously small and if you built a layout as per the plans the overhangs on coaches coming around the bend would look awful.

 

All the best

Ray

[sem34090]

Ray - Annie is not me! For one thing she's much more talented at virtual modelling than I and also lives on the opposite side of the world!

 

I know the fact that I posted the thread originally is slightly confusing, mind.

[Annie]

Ray, - Sem started off this thread then very kindly donated it to me when I ended up posting here more than he did.

And Sem there's nothing wrong with the virtual modelling you do, - in fact Sem (HINT) I haven't seen you post anything about your projects here for a while now.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Annie
fumble brain

[Annie]

10 hours ago, wainwright1 said:

I think that Cyril did around three books on track plans which all had several editions. I have always been a bit wary about the radius of the curves especially on the smaller layouts, as they can be ridiculously small and if you built a layout as per the plans the overhangs on coaches coming around the bend would look awful.

 

All the best

Ray

Yes the curves are a bit tight with with his plans, but given the date when the books were first published that was pretty much par for the course back then.  The usual thing that is done when adapting a C.J.F plan for the Trainz model railway format is to open out the radius of the curves.

'60 Plans for Small Railways' was my favourite of the plan books he published; - more than likely because I never had much in the way of an space for a layout when I was younger.

 

11 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

 

I should be interested to see video of 'Walkley Sidings' running as a model railway.  Presumably, you can suppress the smoke and steam for a 'realistic' model experience?

 

I remember when 'Ashburton' was so popular a model as to have become almost a cliché.  I gather from C J Freezer's description in the 'PSL book of model railway track plans' (1988) that it was actually something of a pig, operationally.  Horse or rope shunting seemed to be a necessary part of its operation.  Can such things be represented in Trainz?

It should be possible to edit config files to turn off smoke and steam Mike, but as to there being a simple 'off' setting there isn't one.  If I made a video of Walkley Sidings I could call it 'Shunting Mistakes I Have Made'.  I really like shunting and that's what Walkley is designed for, but I do have a lot of 'oh bother!' moments.

 

Yes Mike there are shunting horses in Trainz.  Older models they were made during an intense period of experimentation with horse drawn vehicles a few years ago now.  They aren't seen so much these days since to make them work realistically a lot of invisible track needs to be laid so they can be maneuvered into position to draw a goods wagon where it needs to go.  I did experiment a little with using a shunting horse on my Broad Gauge Cornwall layout, but even setting up  to work one siding and a wagon turntable got complicated really fast.

[Hroth]

MY copy of 60 Plans... has Shillings on the front cover!

 

I've also got a copy of the (April/May?)* 1957 issue of Railway Modeller, wherein dear old CJ published Minories for the first time with scaling for OO or TT3, which was going to be the Next Big Thing.  It shows the basic layout and the wider "goods shed" variant.  All one one page, apart from a small paragraph on a later page.

 

Railway Modeller may have beaten Private Eye to the "see Page 94 meme", though the last bit was actually page 95...

 

* I can't recall which as my old-mags-to-keep are in a pile of boxes, and I don't have the will to locate them.  Luckily I scanned the pages and have them in my "projects" ringbinder, though I didn't include the mag date...

 

 

[Jake The Rat]

On 14/06/2020 at 03:33, Annie said:

Severely distracting myself with old C.J. Freezer plans.  Definitely a possibility especially since Steve Flanders has made a model of the station buildings and over roof. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashburton (or, as he spells it, Asburton) has been modelled by razor: <kuid:78778:100059>

I've downloaded it with TANE (faster & no 100MB per day limit) & imported it to Trainz2012. Like always, some assets are missing, & unfortunately the track is one of them.

But there is also an amalgamation of this route with another one of razor's (Windrush <kuid:78778:100021> or Windrush V2 <kuid:78778:100212> ), named Ashburton (now with the 'h') to Windrush Railway V2 <kuid:234086:100617> , & here the few missing assets seem to be nothing too important.

The trackplan of Ashburton Station in these layouts looks very much the same like the one above.

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Jake The Rat said:

 

Ashburton (or, as he spells it, Asburton) has been modelled by razor: <kuid:78778:100059>

I've downloaded it with TANE (faster & no 100MB per day limit) & imported it to Trainz2012. Like always, some assets are missing, & unfortunately the track is one of them.

But there is also an amalgamation of this route with another one of razor's (Windrush <kuid:78778:100021> or Windrush V2 <kuid:78778:100212> ), named Ashburton (now with the 'h') to Windrush Railway V2 <kuid:234086:100617> , & here the few missing assets seem to be nothing too important.

The trackplan of Ashburton Station in these layouts looks very much the same like the one above.

 

The track I found on a third party Czech website.  I really don't approve of people who upload layouts to the DLS that are full of assets that have to be hunted for on obscure foreign websites.  Especially if they don't mention in the description text where those assets can be found.  Three missing assets are from websites that have disappeared altogether which is the major risk with using assets that aren't on the DLS.

The track plan might be a match for Ashburton, but that's where it ends since the station looks nothing like Ashburton.  That might sound a bit snotty, but the correct model buildings to build Ashburton are available and since the layout's maker has done a reasonable job of the rest of the layout it seems a pity to ruin it by using poor substitutes.

 

I'll get around to doing Ashburton eventually as I have some other projects I want to complete first.  Thanks for drawing my attention to these layout though.

[sem34090]

17 hours ago, Annie said:

Ray, - Sem started off this thread then very kindly donated it to me when I ended up posting here more than he did.

And Sem there's nothing wrong with the virtual modelling you do, - in fact Sem (HINT) I haven't seen you post anything about your projects here for a while now.

Well we can't be having that -

[Annie]

Thank you Sem, - and very enjoyable screenshots they are too.

[Hroth]

Ahhhhh!

 

The dark, satanic world of Semland..... 

 

Mephetic is a good word too!   One wonders what souls are being tortured in the fires of Crewe in the fourth image down.  Muahahahahahaaaaaa!

 

Very nice!!!

 

Actually....  I originally looked at the pics on my tablet, and I have the brightness turned down a bit, so it all appeared a bit darker than just now on the Big Computer.  So, sorry for impugning your colourscape!

 

Nahhhhhhh.... 

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Hroth
Confession

[Annie]

My latest Trainz Model Railway layout, - a BLT based on the 1889 OS map of Seaton, Devon.  Still WIP, but getting there.

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Annie
added pictures

[Edwardian]

I am enjoying the model railway layout format.

 

In Annie's shed there are many rooms .... 

[Hroth]

58 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

In Annie's shed there are many rooms .... 

 

More Shed, Less Garden.

 

Now thats a win!

 

[Annie]

Thanks very much James.  It's an interesting format and I find myself approaching it in a different way to my other larger prototypical 'serious' layouts.  It's a model railway so I do my best to make the scenery look like it's built over a framework then covered covered with strips of glue soaked paper rather than sculpted like I do with my other layouts.  And there's other things like the grass hopefully looking like dyed sawdust rather than using all kinds of grass and weed models like I would usually do.  I grew up reading John Ahern's books so that still seems to remain a strong influence even now just as it was when I was in my teens and twenties.

 

Something tells me that I'm going to end up with a virtual garden full of sheds with the way I'm going.

[Annie]

More Seaton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeOxon]

Fascinating stuff!  A whole new modelling genre in its own right.  Now, where are the power feeds and point motors?  Also an unstuck corner, where the backscene is curling away from the frame.

 

On a different topic, I see in the news that we have exported a couple of coronavirus cases to you.  I'm sure NZ will cope better than we seem to be doing here.

[Hroth]

7 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

Now, where are the power feeds and point motors? 

Yes, for true orthenticity there should be bits of black and red wire sticking through the baseboard and soldered (badly?) to the track.  And Peco insulated rail joiners too...  As for the control panel, switches or prod and stud for working the SEEP point motors?

 

But these things can be taken too far, it looks good as it is!