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

[Martin S-C]

Do I-Spy Cap'n Birdseye driving No. 044?

[Annie]

He's a very old driver figure for Trainz Martin, dating back to TS2004 days and officially identified as being 'GWR steam driver' and in this situation he's without his friend 'GWR steam fireman' .  Over time he could be found everywhere driving just about any Uk steam engine you could care to name, but he is a very well made digital model figure and I decided he could stay.  With all that driving experience behind him it would be foolish of me not to keep him on.  

[Annie]

An update on my terminus. Introducing Dawsbury. Also the S69 has been replaced with a similar but smaller R24, seeing as the DLS has both.

Trainz 2.png

Sorry about the low-quality screenshot. My little GER branch is starting to really take shape now.

You're making a good start there Red.  I see you found all the GER buildings I told you about.  Most of the LNER buildings on the DLS are for the ECML and are not really suitable for either the GER or the GCR.  I've struggled a bit with trying to put together stations on my own layouts with what is available and hopefully things will improve as time goes on.

Have you found the GER coaches by robd yet?  They are actually reskins of Midland coaches by Ken Green, but very well done and certainly look the part.

[RedGemAlchemist]

After even more fluffing around No.044 has been converted to a tramway engine. This is a really nicely made engine, though the body mesh when I saw it in the attachment maker software is a bit terrifyingly complex for such a small engine. Just as well my computer has 16Gb of RAM! Its textures are of the kind that are made of hundreds of small pieces, but after a lot of messing around I did manage to change the buffer beams and buffer shanks to dark blue instead of red. The buffer heads themselves got a tidy up as well with better textures but each buffer head seemed to have a lot of texture parts to it so it took awhile.

The tramway skirts and bell were fixed in place using the attachment maker software I've just recently taught myself how to use and I took the opportunity to retexture the bell model into looking like tarnished brass for No.044. The two behemoth tram engines use a much more smoke stained and grimy version of this bell. The tramway skirts are based on the mesh for a long signboard and it was just the right length for the job. It would have been nice if the mesh had been a little wider, but I think it will do.

 

No.044 now has a much wider working range over the two tramways than it did before; - especially over Hopewood Tramway metals since that line has a lot of roadside sections and that is certainly pleasing. All in all it's now quite a useful engine.

 

Certainly a unique beast. What was it originally out of interest?

 

Thanks very much, and yes I did. Very nice they are too. Decided to bump the date forward so I can have every GER locomotive on the DLS at my disposal. 1919 is perfect for that.

Edited January 26, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[Martin S-C]

Annie... and anyone else who may know such things - how much GCR stock is available? I have always hankered to do something inspired by Peter Denny's work in a simulator.

And I'm a bit confused by the various Trainz versions. I see 2004 / 2009 / 2012 getting mentioned. Is there an "ideal" version that balances good functionality with the widest possible choice of freeware pre-grouping stock?

[Annie]

It's a freelance engine made by a chap who apparently has made all manner of similar things.  When I got it was in NER livery, but I reskinned it for the GER.  The backstory I devised is that it's a engine acquired by the GER when they absorbed an unspecified minor line somewhere and it eventually ended up being sent to the Windweather Tramway.  The tramway additions such as the skirts over the driving wheels and the bell were done by the workshop staff at Windweather to make No.044 a bit more useful so it could work at the harbour or over the roadside sections on the tramway.

 

The original can be found here:  https://cograilway3d.wixsite.com/cograilway3d/locomotives  It seems to be mainly a Thomas the Tank Engine website, but don't let that scare you off.  The engine's maker calls it a NER F10.

 

I can give you a copy of my GER reskin either with or without tramway additions if you like.  My one has the extra bonus  that it has a working cab interior driving option which the original doesn't.

[RedGemAlchemist]

The GER version without skirts would be nice thanks. Help bulk out my fleet a little as currently it only has 6 locos.

 

And I just looked up the various 2-4-2s the LNER has owned. With a few minor modifications it could just about be a GER Y65 "Crystal Palace Tank."

Well, I say minor. I genuinely have no idea. It was just an observation that the two have a resemblance and at least in my inexperienced mind it's not totally out of the realm of possibility to make the freelance 2-4-2T at least moderately look like one.

Edited January 26, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[Annie]

Martin if you don't mind  buying payware the GCR pack by Darlington Works will give you a good selection of goods wagons and more GCR locomotives than you can shake a stick at.  https://darlington-works.weebly.com/gcr-heavy-freight.html  At $19.99 it's the bargain of the century with the amount of engines and rolling stock you get.  Darlington Works also has freeware GCR Sacre 2-4-0 tank engines which are seriously nice.  They also have a freeware 1B 2-6-4 tank engine in GCR livery as well as a 9F 0-6-2 tank engine.  The 9F 0-6-2's are particularly useful because they were used for just about everything.

Otherwise robd on the DLS has done some lovely GCR coaches in the dark oak and French grey livery and I did a clerestory third coach to match these.  I did do a couple of GCR wagons which are on the DLS, but stopped making GCR models when Darlington Works released their GCR pack because those goods wagons are better than anything I could ever do.

 

As to which simulator to use opinions might vary, but I feel the latest version which has just been released, - TS2019, - is a bit too new and still a bit buggy and if you want to do layout creation/world building it's not easy to use if you've never done anything like that before.  T:ANE, - Trainz: A New Era, - is the previous version.  It's had most of the bugs knocked out of it and it works Ok.  Nice lighting effects and the game engine can fully make use of the quad core processors in use in computers today.  I haven't done much world building with it, but it seems to do that alright too.

Versions like 2004, 2006 & 2009 are well obsolete now.  I used the 2009 version for a long time and liked it, but it would be really difficult to find a copy now.  Its big advantage was that it was very much designed around world building so the tools are good and to my mind easy to use.  Don't worry about the 2010 version which is still around and can be found on sale still as the later version TS2012 works better.  I use TS2012 a lot as I find it easier to do world building with and I know some Trainz folk still use TS2012 for this even if they are going to ultimately run the layout they've built in T:ANE.  Copies of TS2012 can still be found, but its status is a bit marginal.  The DLS is still accepting the models I make for TS2012 because a lot of people still use TS2012 because either they can't afford a computer able to run the later versions, - or they just don't like the later versions.  How long this might continue though I don't really know.

More models are being made for T:ANE now and some older models are being upgraded by their makers to T:ANE.  Models made for T:ANE are seriously difficult to rework to run in the earlier versions since so much is different with regard to file structure and the way the game engine works & etc.  Older models will work just fine in T:ANE though.  In my opinion Martin, - if your computer is up to it go for buying a copy of T:ANE.  All the pre-grouping stuff available will run it without any problems and they will look a bit nicer too.  T:ANE seems to be on sale somewhere at the moment according to Sem so I'd say go for it.

[Annie]

The GER version without skirts would be nice thanks. Help bulk out my fleet a little as currently it only has 6 locos.

 

And I just looked up the various 2-4-2s the LNER has owned. With a few minor modifications it could just about be a GER Y65 "Crystal Palace Tank."

20190126_154558.jpg

Well, I say minor. I genuinely have no idea. It was just an observation that the two have a resemblance and at least in my inexperienced mind it's not totally out of the realm of possibility to make the freelance 2-4-2T at least moderately look like one.

You would need to get out the 3D modelling software to turn the freelance 2-4-2 into a 'Crystal Palace' 2-4-2 Red, but I do agree there are certain similarities.  I own a old payware 'Crystal Palace' Y65 by Paulz Trainz in GER grey livery.  It's Ok, but with the way its textures are applied impossible to convert to the earlier blue livery.  I wouldn't recommend going out and buying one unless you're doing a post war line and you really really feel you need one.

 

Paulz Trainz Y65 with mods to textures & etc done by me.

 

I'll sort out my GER 2-4-2 and put it in a Dropbox folder the same as I did for the G15 Red.  I'll PM you the link once it's all good to go.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Annie

[RedGemAlchemist]

You would need to get out the 3D modelling software to turn the freelance 2-4-2 into a 'Crystal Palace' 2-4-2 Red, but I do agree there are certain similarities. I own a old payware 'Crystal Palace' Y65 by Paulz Trainz in GER grey livery. It's Ok, but with the way its textures are applied impossible to convert to the earlier blue livery. I wouldn't recommend going out and buying one unless you're doing a post war line and you really really feel you need one.

 

Paulz Trainz Y65 with mods to textures & etc done by me.

 

I'll sort out my GER 2-4-2 and put it in a Dropbox folder the same as I did for the G15 Red. I'll PM you the link once it's all good to go.

Cheers. And I'd have no idea how to make those modifications. Tried making some freelance locos back in the day but they all turned out a total mess.

 

Also looked on that guy's site. Love the little freelance 0-4-0T as well, so I'll definitely get my hands on that.

[BlueLightning]

T:ANE seems to be on sale somewhere at the moment according

 

So it is. I just picked up the Platinum Edition for $29.99, down from $287.00!

 

Guess I need to get a laptop that will actually be able to run it now!!

 

Gary

[Martin S-C]

Thanks Annie, that's such a helpful reply. Will all the older models from TS2009, TS2012 etc work in TANE?

[RedGemAlchemist]

I can answer that Martin. The answer, AFAIK, is just about everything can be "moved up".

Edited January 26, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[BlueLightning]

Martin,

 

Yes everything from the earlier ones works fine in T:ANE

 

Gary

[Martin S-C]

Thanks all. I bought the TANE platinum pack today for under £22.00.

[Ravenser]

An update on my terminus. Introducing Dawsbury. Also the S69 has been replaced with a similar but smaller R24, seeing as the DLS has both.

Trainz 2.png

Sorry about the low-quality screenshot. My little GER branch is starting to really take shape now.

 

You need a trap point  between junction 60 and junction 10 for protection of the main line from stray wagons, arguably continuing into a headshunt which would allow you to shunt the yard without fouling the main - especially as it looks to be evolving into a through station

[Annie]

Yet another GER 3 plank drop side wagon, - a shorter 10 ton one this time.  From what I've been able to glean from the interwebs the GER did start to vacuum fit and pipe only fit some of their goods wagons fairly late on after the war.  So this wagon is in too late a condition for my tramways and it will be for DLS upload only.  I'll do some unpiped ones for my own use as well since Windweather Harbour seems more than capable of swallowing up all the merchandise wagons I send its way.

Unlike many other pre-grouping railway companies the GER's main traffic was in merchandise with coal and minerals in a distant second place and livestock traffic lagging even further behind.  Once I started to look at Norfolk harbours and the traffic they handled I got some clues about this, but after reading an article on the GER Society website my hunches about likely goods traffic were well and truly confirmed.

 

Edited January 28, 2019 by Annie

[Annie]

And here's a 7 plank GER merchandise wagon.  The design was originally devised circe 1903 by experimenting with extending 5 plank wagons with extra planks and ironwork, but this is one of the ones that was built as a 7 plank wagon right from the start.  It's rated for 12 tons whereas the conversion jobs were only rated for 10 tons loading.  Possibly one day I might try making one of the converted wagons should I find myself at a loose end.

 

[Northroader]

Very strange thing happened last night, talking about GER wagon thingys. I’ve had a wood van of theirs for some time, yesterday I went to a show at Bristol and there was an old second hand brake van going “buy me”, so I did. Put it on the line next to the van for a putative GER goods train, and, blow me, they’ve both got the same number on!!! Ain’t that weird??

[RedGemAlchemist]

The universe is indeed full of strangeness.

[Martin S-C]

* spooky Twilight Zone music *

 

EDIT: Annie, superb texturing to the interior of that 7 plank, and the outside as well but the grubby wood colour of the interior is especially well done.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Martin S-C

[sem34090]

An update on my Railway Operating Division project for Dovetail Games' Train Simulator 2019: http://sem34090.simplesite.com/441152081

[Annie]

* spooky Twilight Zone music *

 

EDIT: Annie, superb texturing to the interior of that 7 plank, and the outside as well but the grubby wood colour of the interior is especially well done.

Thanks Martin.  Part of the reason why the interior wood looks so nice is that I spent a while on getting the normal map for it adjusted to give the best effect.  The textures for the wagon are all on the same texture piece which made it difficult to get the right balance between the inside and the outside appearance of the wagon.  In the end I did two normal maps, one to make the exterior look its best, and the other to make the interior look its best and then cut and pasted them together which worked out very nicely.  I don't know if that's an approved techique or not, but it certainly works for me.

 

 

Very strange thing happened last night, talking about GER wagon thingys. I’ve had a wood van of theirs for some time, yesterday I went to a show at Bristol and there was an old second hand brake van going “buy me”, so I did. Put it on the line next to the van for a putative GER goods train, and, blow me, they’ve both got the same number on!!! Ain’t that weird??

I know at least one of the GER wagon transfer sheets available has various pre-assembled typical wagon numbers on the sheet all ready to use and I would guess that's why you ended up with two wagons that are the same number.

[Annie]

An update on my Railway Operating Division project for Dovetail Games' Train Simulator 2019: http://sem34090.simplesite.com/441152081

That is a seriously large and ambitious project Sem.

[sem34090]

That is a seriously large and ambitious project Sem.

It's been made a ton easier by using an existing route as the base for the initial release, but the prototypical route is still going to get done eventually.