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

[DonB]

The mention of the wrong type of telephone / telegraph poles, a few posts back made me look again, I was impressed by the catenary sag of the wires in photo https://i.imgur.com/jfyhHsM.jpg.  That feature seems impossible to replicate in model.

(I do miss the post numbers that used to appear at the top of each post!) 

[Northroader]

Please, Miss, what about St. Germans, Miss?

 

p.s. all your class loves you and we don’t want anuvver teecher, cos some of us are too dull to understand all this virtual stuff until you show us nice pictures of wot you done.

[Annie]

Don't worry Northroader I'm not going anywhere.  I'm feeling a bit better now.    

 I really do have to keep a close eye on myself when I've been away asleep for a good while since my brains is still all jumbled up for anything up to an hour afterwards.

 

St Germans; - I've just checked and the same maker who did all the other Cornwall shelters I've got has done the St Germans one as well.  He's done the main station building too, but that isn't quite so useful for the Falmouth line.  I find myself really starting to like these Cornwall Railway buildings, but I don't like seeing them all down on their luck and BR Blued.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, DonB said:

The mention of the wrong type of telephone / telegraph poles, a few posts back made me look again, I was impressed by the catenary sag of the wires in photo https://i.imgur.com/jfyhHsM.jpg.  That feature seems impossible to replicate in model.

(I do miss the post numbers that used to appear at the top of each post!) 

I really have no idea how the chaps who make digital model telegraph poles get them to do that Don.  When I first started  working with railway simulators I was terribly impressed that the telegraph poles and power poles had wires.

[DonB]

I, too, have no idea how the digital wizards do the designs which you are using so effectively. There's probably a maths formula to generate the catenary shape, but such things were  beyond me when I was a student, such a long time ago, and totally out of my league now!  (That and the inability to sing in tune are my greatest regrets!) 

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, DonB said:

There's probably a maths formula to generate the catenary shape,

Yes.

 

Catenaries are interesting, in that amongst other things, they are useful for square wheels.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Regularity
Square wheels give you a smooth ride

[Annie]

Needed a break from layout building so I fired up TS2019 and visited the Minehead branch.  It's quite funny really since I'm working on a standard gauge layout that I'm converting to the Broad Gauge and my version of the early 1890s Minehead branch is a Broad Gauge layout that I converted to standard gauge.

 

I like my mucky SER Crampton, - it's one of my favourite engines.  It's been too long since I last took it out for a run.

 

TS2019 puts their own idea of a driver on the footplate; -  Only all of them are for the modern error.  The young SER fireman Sebastian always seems to attract the ladies though.  Everyone else gets stuck with some untidy looking scruff wearing Hi-vis.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a nice old layout.  Many of its details are historically inaccurate, but it was built with what was available at the time and it's very nicely put together.  Apart from changing out the old trees for current models and changing some of the signals I've left the layout as it is and haven't changed anything else.  Even though it's running in the latest version of the simulator it's a nice reminder of just how skilled some of the layout builders were back in the TS2004 era.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Annie
revised picture added

[Annie]

In the TS2019 simulator during passenger loading at stations it's possible to see the numbers of passengers in each carriage and while taking my SER Crampton out for a run I couldn't help but notice a general reluctance on the part of the digital travellers to ride in the two first class coaches in the train.  At station stops the passengers don't half fluff about finding the seats where they want to sit and the numbers go up and down between the coaches, but while the second class coaches were sometimes packed the first class coaches were never above being at a third of their capacity.  Plainly first class fares were a bit on the steep side in 1890!

 

The revised viaduct model with taller support piers Steve Flanders sent me is excellent.  This is the Carnon viaduct on my layout and it looks so much better now.  The area around it is still a WIP, but we're getting there.

 

I got mentioned in the latest N3V Trainz newsletter with my screenshot competition entry.  For a long time there was nothing but pictures of American dismals diesels going into the competition until some of us Uk steam era types started entering to mix things up a bit.

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Annie said:

In the TS2019 simulator during passenger loading at stations it's possible to see the numbers of passengers in each carriage and while taking my SER Crampton out for a run I couldn't help but notice a general reluctance on the part of the digital travellers to ride in the two first class coaches in the train.  At station stops the passengers don't half fluff about finding the seats where they want to sit and the numbers go up and down between the coaches, but while the second class coaches were sometimes packed the first class coaches were never above being at a third of their capacity.  Plainly first class fares were a bit on the steep side in 1890!

 

 

Does the algorithm have adjustable parameters, to reflect factors such as the wealth or social standing of passengers, or, indeed, reluctance to travel too close to the engine? What happens if you marshal the first class carriages in the centre of the train?

[Annie]

In this case the 1st class coaches were in the centre of the train and it was the 2nd class coaches behind the engine that were always full with the 2nd class coaches at the end of the train being almost as popular as well.  I didn't especially go peering at the two composite coaches, but on reflection they never quite reached being loaded to capacity.

I'm always wary of poking around in the scripts that control such things since they're witten in a coding language that might as well be ancient Sumerian when it comes to me understanding it, but it would be interesting to see if there is any special references to the class and loading of coaches.

 

Edit:  I've had a look at a couple of the magic interactive platform scripts, but I don't see anything in particular that looks like class related loading of coaches, - but then since I really don't know what I'm looking at it's difficult to say.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Annie
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[Annie]

Pay attention now class.  I've mentioned the landscape mesh a few times while discussing working on the layout so I thought I'd show you what it looks like.  The white lines mark everything off into 10 metre squares and since adjustments can only be made on the white lines you can see at once why the landscape shaping tools are so coarse and why it's difficult to get any precise shaping done with them.  Moving any grid up or down will cause the mesh to produce sharp edged ridges and pointy four sided pyramids; - which of course is not what is wanted.  So that's where the tedious bit starts with trying to smooth everything out as much as possible.

The example I'm showing you is the stream that runs under the Penwithers viaduct and eventually it will follow the line of the valley and go all the way to the edge of the layout.

 

 

And now with all the ground textures switched on again.  The stream bank spline is essential by the way since the landscape tools can't make a stream bed that small.

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Pay attention now class.  I've mentioned the landscape mesh a few times while discussing working on the layout so I thought I'd show you what it looks like.  The white lines mark everything off into 10 metre squares and since adjustments can only be made on the white lines you can see at once why the landscape shaping tools are so coarse and why it's difficult to get any precise shaping done with them.  Moving any grid up or down will cause the mesh to produce sharp edged ridges and pointy four sided pyramids; - which of course is not what is wanted.  So that's where the tedious bit starts with trying to smooth everything out as much as possible.

The example I'm showing you is the stream that runs under the Penwithers viaduct and eventually it will follow the line of the valley and go all the way to the edge of the layout.

 

 

And now with all the ground textures switched on again.  The stream bank spline is essential by the way since the landscape tools can't make a stream bed that small.

 

 

And here was I thinking that creating a physical landscape was difficult at times.  Thanks for the explanation of how virtual modelling works Annie, it's all a bit of mystery to me. And i can see that you do have your work cut out for you. 

[Annie]

No.5 has been out and about again track testing with a train of 6 wheel luggage vans in tow.  In more than a few places transitions between embankments and bridges were not the best with various annoying dips and bumps in the trackwork.  I was determined this time to get them finally sorted out and I have to report that this time around I was successful.

 

 

This was the big one though.  This is the new embankment leading up to the east end of the Ponsanooth viaduct.  If you look carefully you can see one of the dips in the track in the picture.  However it wasn't only that one as the trackwork on the overbridge visible in the right hand side of the picture had an upwards bow in it and the bridge itself needed releveling.

Overall the job I made of the new embankment is pretty good and I figured out how to lay it to the correct gradient reasonably well, but there were these odd small dips in the track mostly at the lower end that really did need fixing.  I now know why the original layout builder made his masonry version of the Ponsanooth viaduct so long; - It was set at a gradient so he had the entire length from the occupation overbridge  to the other side of the valley in which to layout the gradient.  And of course laying out a gradient with a bridge/viaduct is a whole lot easier than building an embankment.  A Brunel timber viaduct has to be level so my gradient is a lot steeper, but manageable.  I suppose the original layout builder was worried his weedy standard gauge engines wouldn't be able to climb the steeper gradient  

Anyway I got it all done and it's good now.  Next is the Pascoe viaduct, but I didn't want to start on that until I had what I've done so far properly sorted out.

 

[Annie]

I was doing some messing about over in the Devastation of Truro.  No pictures coz the silly girl who had the camera forgot to take any, but there will be some later.  I've added in a clean new layout board where I deleted the old corner board for the crime of being in too much of a mess and I've leveled it all out ready for becoming a fiddle yard at the end of the Newham branch stub track.

I realised that the fiddle yard would be partially in view so I'm working on a solution taken from building physical model railway layouts where there will be a screen of buildings hiding the fiddle yard, but not just a single row of buildings, but about three streets worth.  In this case though the rows of buildings are placed quite close together to create a forced perspective type illusion.  From a distance over near the railway station all that can be seen is a variety of different roof levels and house chimneys giving the impression of buildings lining normal streets over a wider area than they are in actual fact.

I haven't looked at laying out the town streets properly yet, but I'm fairly sure that most of the ones that are there now aren't in the right place.  My plan is to make the buildings and properties along St. Georges Road and St. Georges Street , Richmond Terrace and Richmond Hill reasonably detailed and then increasingly fade the detailing off as distance increases away from the station.

 

 

I have my gigantic 500Mb Jpeg map of Truro from the NLS which will be very useful, but by Sod's law I'm going to need the map that joins onto it to properly build the town.  Nearly every railway station along the Cornwall Railway seems to have managed to place itself right where the OS maps cut it in half so two maps instead of one are needed to do anything any justice.

[Annie]

Time for an inspiring picture.

 

[Annie]

So I've ordered the other digital map of Truro from the NLS, - which is only sensible because it shows more of the general area than just the city itself and I've got work to do in those areas as well.

Interesting because my last 1880 map (1878 survey) with posh coloured details was priced at 5 bob down in the bottom right hand corner and this one I've just purchased from the same survey/publishing date is marked at being 7 bob a copy.  The fine print on the bottom of the 1906 OS maps for the same area say they are based on the 1878 survey as well but revised.  It must've been a really good revision because what was the old one colour 2/6d map in 1880 now costs 6/8d in 1906!

Fun with maps.  They can be great time wasters, - and also very annoying when I discover I've made a mistake with something I've done on the layout.

[Annie]

To take a break from trackwork and viaducts I thought I'd sort out the rural countryside on the northside of the station.  It's all been a bit of scraggy mess after I deleted the totally incorrect sprawl of the outer suburbs of Truro the original layout builder had copied from Goggle earth.

The big OS map was really useful with this since nearly every tree is shown on the map and I could see where there were supposed to be processional lines of trees and where there were none or very few on boundary lines.  And the same for roads too since some of the original roads on the layout are modern or even flights of fancy and imagination.

.

 

The fun all came to a halt though when I discovered St. George's Road was too far to the west by 40 metres and I had to shift it.  It's now basically done, but the mess and devastation has been much added too since all kinds of things had to be shifted.  I started to get sleepy so I stopped, but I will go back later and finish things.

St. George's Road is a road that has to be in the correct place since it acts as a datum line for positioning just about everything in Truro.  Some of the problems the original layout builder had with trying to fit everything in around the station area are certainly because he had St. George's Road in the wrong place.  Richmond Hill is the other road that I have to make sure is placed correctly as well, but I won't be worrying about that until I start work on the city itself.

 

[Annie]

Inspiring picture time.

My hopes of getting a digital model of one of these are now very slim, but perhaps one day..........

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Northroader]

Same for me in O scale brass, but we can still dream.- nice model, innit?

Edited September 22, 2019 by Northroader

[Annie]

Snaps of No.5 out doing a final track test before signing off the job as done.  Some folk don't like my 'Sharpies', but I do.  Sing along with me, 'I like my Sharpies and I don't care, I like my Sharpies and I don't care.......'

 

 

Snaps taken from the 'official inspection position' which lets me see No.5's wheels and the wheels of all the vehicles in the train.

 

 

 

 

The start of the gradient up to the Ponsanooth viaduct.  With a heavier train No.5 would be in trouble, but this time around all was well.  A few more 6 wheel wagons and it would be, 'Look Mum, I'm slipping to a stop,' halfway up the grade.

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Annie
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[Annie]

 

Found a copy of this book second hand at a good price.  Since I have a thing for single driver locomotives it's a 'must have' book for me to add to my library.  I don't know how long it will take to get to me though.  The the RCTS book on Broad Gauge Locomotives took hundreds of days by slow wheelbarrow via Mesopotamia before it was eventually delivered. 

[Compound2632]

I think it was that book that introduced me to the Great Northern singles - not Stirling! Victoria and Albert, by Beyer Peacock.

[Annie]

The work I did yesterday with realigning St. Georges Road was all wrong as well so I tore it all up this morning and had another go.  The boundary wall of the church and the row of houses that shouldn't be there marks where the road was before.  The original layout builder had got the river all wrong as well because there's the river and there's a stream beside it as well that used to flow into the tin foundry for tin foundrying purposes.  For some reason he fudged them both together making what should have been the river flow along where the stream should be and left the stream out altogether.

Quite a few things need moving to where they should be now, but it's worth it because now all the houses near the station yard as well the tin foundry itself have a place to go instead of being cramped up against the side of valley wall.

 

 

The viaduct at Truro also needs to be divided up into the Carvedras viaduct and the Truro/Moresk viaduct with a short embankment between them.  I'll most probably do this while I'm working on getting all the countryside on the north side of the viaduct sorted out.  Once I've done that I'll have a good look at the city of Truro itself and forget all about it and do something else instead and make a start on sorting out the houses and buildings neighbouring the station yard. 

[Edwardian]

14 hours ago, Annie said:

 

Found a copy of this book second hand at a good price.  Since I have a thing for single driver locomotives it's a 'must have' book for me to add to my library.  I don't know how long it will take to get to me though.  The the RCTS book on Broad Gauge Locomotives took hundreds of days by slow wheelbarrow via Mesopotamia before it was eventually delivered. 

 

Don't worry, on 1 November the UK will become Singapore, so, presumably, a little closer! 

[Annie]

I don't know whether to laugh at that or not James with the horror of [forbidden 'B' word] about to descend upon you all.