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

[Annie]

4 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

A long way from NZ to Moscow 🙂

That it is Mike.  😁

I have an interest in underground layouts for Trainz as I would like to find assets I could use to model parts of the Metropolitan and District lines.  There are some bits and bobs around for the London Underground, - the only problem is that they are all post WW2 and far too modern to be useful.

It was the old story, - I was looking for something else and I stumbled onto a trial version of a layout for the Moscow Metro Zamoskvoretskaya line. It was all wonderfully grubby and not at all hi-tech like in the tunnels so I thought it might show some promise for some useful material at least.  it was originally built for TS12 and had been updated to TANE so I decided to try and find out if any further work had been done beyond the trial version.  Unfortunately the trail went cold, - there was a Russian website, - but it was plain it had been moribund for quite some time.

 

 

 

However all was not lost as I found another website for Russian Trainz that had what looked like models from the original trial, but much further enhanced and detailed.  The Kalininskaya line had been modelled which seemed to be related in part to the Zamoskvoretskaya line and certainly was interesting, but it was finding the Koltsevaya Line with its incredible stations that was the real surprise.

 

[Annie]

4 hours ago, magmouse said:

I have a wonderful book of photographs of Soviet metro stations - companion to two volumes of Soviet bus stops. The later, especially, may sound a little, er, niche, but they really are amazingly diverse and quite fascinating.

 

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/herwig-christopher-fuel/

 

Nick.

I can certainly understand the appeal Nick.  I had been distantly aware of the Moscow Metro, but had not taken much notice of it until I found this Russian project to replicate what seems to be the entire Moscow Metro system.

The electric trains are driveable and the controls in the driver's cab have all been properly replicated.  There is a very nice set of screenshots with instructions explaining what all the controls do, - only, - you've guessed it, - it's in written in Russian.  I messed around a bit working by trial and error to figure it out and at one point ended up suddenly hurtling at breakneck speed through the tunnels before I finally discovered where the brakes were.  Needless to say I much prefer steam engines, but I imagine I'll get used to driving these things soon enough so I can play tourist if nothing else.

 

My aim is to eventually have somewhere to run Ed Heaps's beautiful Beyer-Peacock class 'A' Metropolitan locomotives so it would be very nice if I can find enough adaptable parts in this Russian project to achieve that.

[Northroader]

I gather if you start looking on Russian sites things called Trojans can happen. I had it happen on one of my threads, and not really knowing what they were or how to treat them, I’ve kept clear since.

Edited January 23 by Northroader

[magmouse]

Just remembered there is a website for the books, with some of the pictures, for those that may be interested:

 

https://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-metro-stations/

 

Nick.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

I gather if you start looking on Russian sites things called Trojans can happen. I had it happen on one of my threads, and not really knowing what they were or how to treat them, I’ve kept clear since.

That's a very good point and it does pay to be careful.  My computer is running Linux and I have a malware plugin attached to my browser software that goes nuts at the slightest sniff of anything malicious.  The Russian Trainz website I found is one of the better ones and seems to be trustworthy, but even so i don't plan on making a habit of surfing the Russian interwebs.

 

1 hour ago, magmouse said:

Just remembered there is a website for the books, with some of the pictures, for those that may be interested:

 

https://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-metro-stations/

 

Nick.

Thanks for that Nick.  Those pictures posted on the review sites are absolutely spectacular and i've already added the metro station book to my 'must buy' list despite telling myself that I have to try to resist buying more books this year.

The work the Russian Trainz team have done to build their digital models is a pretty darn good effort, but to see photos of the real thing just about completely blew me away.

[Annie]

I suppose it would have been easy to predict that I was going to try something like this.  What I wanted to test was whether or not my pre-grouping MET coaches and MET Bo-Bo loco were going to fit down the squared off cut and cover like tunnels of the Zamoskvoretskaya line test model.

 

 

One of the elegantly animated points in the car shed yards turned out to be faulty which caused some problems.  I'm not sure how to fix it, - so for the present time it has to be avoided.  

The boxy Soviet metro coaches turned out to be slightly larger in their cross section measurements than the MET coaches so that means that my idea might work; - but any intending passengers wouldn't want to go sticking their head out a window while travelling through the tunnels as the clearances are fairly tight.

 

 

[Annie]

All set for testing.  My condenser fitted Wolverhampton class 633 'Metro' seemed appropriate somehow.  Apart from that I wanted an engine where I could see what the clearances in the tunnels looked like without any locomotive bodywork getting in the way.

It would have been nice to have tried out a MET Beyer-Peacock 'A' class on this run, but they are for Trainz TRS19 and upwards and won't work in TANE.

 

 

As it happens the clearances were Ok in the rectangular section tunnels which are the ones that I want to use.  Being a test layout the makers had tried out every kind of track/tunnel section they had and some of the junctions down there were a wee bit on the complex side.  The tunnels also indulged in some fairly impressive gradients, but the Class 633 wasn't too much bothered by them.

A nice touch with the '633' is that the chimney smoke turns off when driving from the footplate, - though it starts up again should I go off for a wander.  (Smoking behind the engine shed again are you, - detention for you!)

 

 

 

There were some sections with circular tunnels and these were lower, but a little wider than the rectangular ones.  When I entered the first one i was worried that I was going to knock the cap off '633's chimney, but there was enough clearance.

 

 

Most of the stations on the test route were fairly plain and ordinary and might show some promise for reskinning into something suitable for use in an imaginary London underground arrangement, but there were two that were a little more ornate.

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

Union of Swindony Sociable Republics.

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

On 23/01/2024 at 16:22, Northroader said:

I gather if you start looking on Russian sites things called Trojans can happen. I had it happen on one of my threads, and not really knowing what they were or how to treat them, I’ve kept clear since.

 

You need one of these then

 

[Northroader]

He won’t manage against spikey toes.

[Annie]

Playing in the snow.

 

[Annie]

More No.9 in the snow.  Quite a fun little engine to go trip shunting with.

 

 

 

[Annie]

Something pretty to put on your mantelpiece sir?  This little 'P' Class is by Connor Law who also made my GER E22 tank engines for me.  It's a freebee that he's offering while he's working on some other P Class livery variations.  I don't really know what I'm going to do with it yet, but no doubt I'll think of something.

 

 

A Fletcher-Jennings based on the preserved 'Captain Baxter', - a payware engine also by Connor Law.  I chose the 'as was' in 1980 preserved condition model.

The dark satanic mills at Gwladys Ddu could do with a wee shunter, - or they will once I've laid their sidings in place, - so I might as well give this nice little engine something do.

 

[Annie]

I was poking about at Minehead after patching the old SP1 version of TS2019 to SP5.  I never ran any of the later versions of TS2019 as i jumped straight to TRS22 so this is somewhat of an experiment.

 

A sparrowcam snap taken of a general view over the station at Minehead looking towards Dunster.

I've included a copy of the 1899 OS map with a red X on it to show approximately where I took the snap from.  I suppose I haven't made too horrible a job of it all things considered.

 

 

 

Albert and George are about to set off driving their trusty E.B.Wilson well tank to see what the condition of the track is like after the layout having been archived away for all this time.  One of the bowler hat brigade is coming along for the ride to keep an eye on things, - so they'd best be minding their manners.

 

[Annie]

I'm having a frustrating time with TRS19/TS2019.  I fixed and tidied up various things around Minehead and everything was looking better, - only when I came to take some screenshots I discovered that the screenshot application was ignoring parts of the image so that they simply weren't there as if they'd been rendered invisible.

I'm using a Linux application named 'Spectacle' and it's been fine with taking snaps in TANE so I was really surprised when I saw what was happening.  The environmental lighting was completely redone in TRS19 which makes me wonder if that's what's causing the problem.

 

I took this early morning snap at Minehead and while it doesn't look too bad at first glance the track has entirely disappeared under the E.B.Wilson well tank and the steel rail has disappeared from off the baulks behind the '850' class.  It's just possible to see that I've blended in the turntable reasonably well by getting rid of the huge square slab of concrete that was attached to it, but when I tried to take a close up snap of it parts of the ground surface disappeared.  Annoying is not the word for it.

 

 

Some time ago I was given a small collection of Broad Gauge signals by Steve Flanders that are made to a higher standard of detail than the ones commonly available on the DLS and Steve's website.  The bay platform at Minehead retained its disc and crossbar signal after this type of signal had been replaced elsewhere on the branch by slotted post semaphore signals.  Normally I'd be very pleased to have such a nice model of the correct type of signal at last, but when I tried to take a snap of it things kept disappearing.  🙁

This was about the best I could do unfortunately.  🙁

 

[Annie]

A promising test snap.  I found a Linux screenshot application called appropriately 'Screenshot' and it seems to do what it says on the tin.  With the way it works it's plain it's intended for taking still pictures and not ones of things in motion like I tend to do with a lot of my locomotive snapshots.

BUT the main thing is that it takes a proper snap without removing objects from the picture so it will do for now.

 

 

This version of my Minehead layout tended to be a home for several of my mid-19th century engines so don't be surprised if some of engines you might see on the layout don't look much like GWR ones.

[Annie]

I dug into the archives and found all my mid 19th century Crampton files.  Trouble is I was still learning about modding engines back then I failed to archive the mods I made to them as well.  Still it won't be all that difficult to sort them out again now that I've got my Windows 11 computer sorted out with all my favourite modding software installed.

Only problems is at the moment I'm having to put up with Trainz TRS19 putting council bin men wearing hi-vis gear and/or Italian pizza delivery guys turning up on the footplate and claiming to be engine drivers.

My favourite grubby weathered SER Crampton locomotive is a case in point.

 

 

 

In TANE the Trainz software wanted to put drivers on the footplate as well, - but that was fine since the driver figures it put there did actually look like proper engine drivers.  Not anymore though, - now in TRS12 and TRS22 any old hopeless looking scruff is likely to turn up.  Once I can get in and mod the scripts a bit all will be fine, - though it does make me wonder if this is what modern day Train drivers really look like.

[Edwardian]

I love that Crampton, but why is it driven by Pablo Escobar?

[Annie]

42 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I love that Crampton, but why is it driven by Pablo Escobar?

I want to know the answer to that as well James.

[Annie]

A computer recycler-refinisher that I've dealt with before had a good deal on ex-lease wide screen monitors so I purchased one of the HP monitors which seemed to be the best choice for what I wanted.  And what a difference it makes with the visible landscape in Trainz.  My previous monitor was an ex-lease NEC which is a good brand and had a nice clear image, but had a fairly small aspect ratio compared with more modern monitors.

 

It looks like Pablo Escobar is no longer on the Crampton's footplate, - only a council bin man wearing a yellow hi-vis jacket has turned up instead.

 

 

Another test snap taken at Minehead.  I'm really pleased with my 'new' ex-lease HP monitor, - at only NZ $126 it was a real bargain.

 

[Edwardian]

Lovely views with some wonderful equipment.

 

Funnily enough, I have a similar train!

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Lovely views with some wonderful equipment.

 

Funnily enough, I have a similar train!

Thank you 😀

 

Yes it's a fairly classic formation to be found on a late 19th century GWR branchline.  My clerestory is a 6w ex-Broad Gauge tri-composite, but otherwise a near perfect match.

 

Your venerable old rescued layout is looking nicely cheered up with its new station building.

[Edwardian]

I had thought to erect it in the house, but if I can fit the test track layout, I will put that up in instead. My thoughts were (i) to get to a working layout, it's probably not more hassle than persuading the rescue layout to work, (ii) as the scenics on the rescue layout need renewing, again, the test track probably isn't much more work; and, (iii) the test track is a roundy roundy and with generous enough curves to run most things. A long way off any of this, but we'll see. 

 

In the meantime, I continue to be cheered by your pictures of a realised virtual railway world.

[Annie]

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

In the meantime, I continue to be cheered by your pictures of a realised virtual railway world.

Thanks, - it's been really nice to bring out some of my older layouts from my archive hard drives.  I messed things up with trying to make the Minehead branch dual track in TRS22 and once TRS22 started having stupid faults and issues and broken scripts with every 'update' I was stuck because I couldn't take the layout back to TS2019-TRS19 where things were still sensible and working as they should.  At least with this version I still have the good work I did on Minehead, Dunster and Blue Anchor.  Doing Stogumber again won't be so terrible, but with Crowcombe Heathfield I had done a lot of topographical work with the landscape as well as rebuilding the village and the station and that's just going to have to be flagged away.  Perhaps a year from now TRS22 might have been properly sorted out, but I'm not going to hang around waiting.

 

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I had thought to erect it in the house, but if I can fit the test track layout, I will put that up in instead. My thoughts were (i) to get to a working layout, it's probably not more hassle than persuading the rescue layout to work, (ii) as the scenics on the rescue layout need renewing, again, the test track probably isn't much more work; and, (iii) the test track is a roundy roundy and with generous enough curves to run most things. A long way off any of this, but we'll see. 

It would be wonderful to see the rescue layout restored to usefulness again, but on the other hand a roundy roundy test track has a lot of advantages when it comes to fettling locomotives and rolling stock.

You've had a good many issues and responsibilities lately with moving your elderly parents out of their house to a better situation so being able to retreat sometimes to the peace of your own small created world is definitely beneficial, is good for the soul and has much to recommend it.  These past 6 months my daughter has been unwell and if it wasn't for 'Tristyn in Winter' and being able to run trains about in the snow during quiet moments I don't think I would have done so well as I have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Annie]

Another of my mid-19th century engines has had the digital dust blown off it.  This is a Longridge 0-6-0 of circa the mid 1840s.  R.B. Longridge & Co were a Locomotive Works established in 1838 at Bedington.  They quickly developed a reputation for quality work, but due to strong competition from other makes they found themselves unable to compete and the works closed in 1853.  It's been estimated that they made 209 locomotives altogether including six Broad Gauge engines for Daniel Gooch.

 

 

No.5 was a 2-4-0 standard gauge Longridge locomotive absorbed into the GWR from the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway during the mid-1840s. 

A good enough excuse for me to run my 0-6-0 about on GWR metals.  It needs a little bit of tidying up here and there, but it always was a good runner when I had it hauling mineral trains on the Eastlingwold & Great Mulling.  Brakes are a wee bit on the appalling side which is why I've set the tender up with functional brakes.

 

 

Edited February 6 by Annie
More words needed.