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

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

Xeon porn, - I am sooooooooo tempted.  If I put this into Deeper Thought - my present dual Xeon processor computer, - it could just about alter time and space with its incredible computing power.

 

 

EDIT:  My daughter who has been initiated into the arcane mysteries of galvanic calculating devices has checked out the specifications and she says it's not any better than any computer I already own (despite having penthouse views over Manhattan ).  

So I won't be buying it and my wallet can now come out of hiding.

However the search shall continue..........

 

Crikey!!!

 

Reminds me of one of these...

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

More snaps from the WIP Hundleston branch.

 

I may have to enter the horrors of the red or grey and when, - and did they have cast plates debate since I'm going to have to retexture more than a few goods wagons.

 

Suitable engines are proving to be a slight problem.  The Armstrong 4-4-0 and the '517' are fine, but the Dean Goods might need some work.  I do have a '850' saddle tank as well, but it's a really awful model so I don't want to use it.

 

I dug out my 'litho' 6 wheel coaches and I surprised myself a bit at how good they looked since I haven't seen them for a while. I should do some more since what I have made so far isn't exactly a typical branch passenger train.  I'm actually not short of coaches since I have all of Steve Flanders pre-grouping coaches and some by Skipper1945 as well.

 

Further work has been done around the swing bridge.  Despite the sprawled out size of the layout most of the work I did today was fairly simple with laying down miles of hedges and fences, - which is actually quite relaxing to do.  It's the all the detailing around the warehouses and the railway itself that takes the time and effort.

[Annie]

Nobody seems to be about.  Must be all snowed in along some cutting somewhere.

 

[Compound2632]

22 hours ago, Annie said:

Suitable engines are proving to be a slight problem.  ... the Dean Goods might need some work. 

 

 

A common problem.

[Annie]

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

A common problem.

Actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The overdone shine and too light green paintwork proved to be an easy fix by editing the mesh's ambient, emissive and diffuse settings from their TS2004/TS2006 spec to make the model look a lot better in TS2012.  After a bit of a search on Auran's Download Station I was able to find the correct tender for the Dean Goods as the one it was posed with was from a Dukedog made by a different Trainz creator and I wasn't looking forward to having to re-letter it if I couldn't find the right tender.

 

So after some number plate and buffer beam number editing I now have two Dean Goods and if I sort out a second '517' that should give me enough engines to work the line for the present time.  The Armstrong 4-4-0 is a bit of an indulgence and it will most probably be classified as a 'visiting engine' rather than being assigned to the shed. 

[Annie]

Engines at Huddleston.

 

Dean Goods, not by Oxford, but by Paul Hobbs.  These are quite old models now, but are still very good.

 

This pair were made by Skipper1945 whom as you can see makes amazing digital models.  He is quite elderly now and not in good health so he's no longer making models sad to say.

 

[Annie]

In between testing various versions of Broad Gauge wagons to make sure all their magic scripting and attachment points are how they should be I've been continuing to work on Huddleston.  It's not all escapism from the horrors of the rebuilding of Truro though since Huddleston needed a town.  True enough it's a little postage stamp of a town compared with Truro, but the similarity lies in that more than a few building models will be common to both.

Huddleston, still very WIP and I'm having problems because I can't find enough suitable buildings.  There certainly are plenty of Victorian era buildings for Trainz, but the folk who made the models were wanting them for the modern error so they have modern windows and doors as well as gaudy modern signage (in the case of shops).  I can see myself having to undertake a huge re-texturing session on about three dozen buildings in order to knock all the modern out of them.

 

 

A wider view with the MPD and carriage sheds included.

 

 

Huddleston station.  I got utterly sick and tired of the generic GWR buildings that were made for Trainz back in the early days of TS2004.  A part from a small handful of models made by Steve Flanders nothing has been made in the way of new GWR buildings since then.

I have no idea what station this station building is based on, but I thought it would do nicely for the terminus station of an absorbed railway company that at one time dreamt big dreams of the great things they would do.

 

 

Another view of the station.  The lift bridge over the river can be seen in the distance.  The line curving towards the bridge is the goods only line that serves the the riverside warehouses.  As I press ahead with sorting out the trackwork as well as removing all traces of Americanism I'm also doing basic scenic work with fences, trees and hedges as well as fixing roads.

 

 

The horror of it.  This is the '850' saddle tank I mentioned earlier.  I replaced its dreadful spindly threepenny bit wheels with much better ones and I've killed all the overdone shininess settings for the body textures, but can't do a thing with the raised brass lettering on the saddle tank.  All the engines this maker created have the lettering done with a brass material that's a part of the body mesh.  Well not quite all, the very last two or three engines he made don't have it and I haven't a clue why he ever thought it was a good idea.

And as you might have guessed nothing can be done with removing that brass lettering.  Despite looking awful the model does have a very well written engine spec and it runs very well.  No other '850' saddle tank model has been made for Trainz so I guess I'm stuck with it until either a better one turns up or I get annoyed enough with it to commision a replacement.

 

 

[Edwardian]

20 hours ago, Annie said:

Engines at Huddleston.

 

Dean Goods, not by Oxford, but by Paul Hobbs.  These are quite old models now, but are still very good.

 

This pair were made by Skipper1945 whom as you can see makes amazing digital models.  He is quite elderly now and not in good health so he's no longer making models sad to say.

 

 

I feel that those Dean Goods should have their domes painted over!

 

But what a stunning pair you've ended with.  An Armstrong Wolverhampton 517 with a straight-backed Swindon bunker and a Dean "Armstrong" from Swindon.  Surely that dark green with Indian red frames is a divinely inspired livery?  Really very excited about those. Starting to lose control, in fact .... Nurse!

[Annie]

They are indeed a stunning pair of locomotives James.  All the models made by Skipper1945 are like that, - exquisitely built and finished with really exceptional detailing.  I also have his 'Achilles'  class 'Royal Sovereign'  and his 'City of Truro' in the same beautiful livery.  He also made a 'Dukedog' which is very nice, but one of those would be well outside the intended time period of my layout.

 

Yes the the two Dean Goods really should have painted domes, but sometimes with brass work on digital models it can prove impossible to paint out a brass dome without every bit of brass on the model being painted out as well.  For old models from TS2004 days they are nicely made, but from what I've seen of their texture images they are laid out in the simple format common back then so the brass might have to stay.

 

Somehow by stealth I've become a Great Western modeller.  The proper pre-grouping Great Western of course, - none of that modern image nonsense that came later for me thank you very much.  My copy of volume one of Russell's 'A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines' was to delivered to me this morning which pretty much puts the seal on it.  One of course only needs the first volume if they are of the true faith.

 

My small library of reference books is steadily growing.  The Broad Gauge is still very much my focus, though it's difficult to ignore the narrow  standard gauge side of things from the same era and I'm not so fanatical as to completely attempt to ignore it.  This morning our nice postwoman was also staggering under the weight of James' Lowe's 'British Steam Locomotive Builders' which is a substantial brick of a book, but one I'm very glad to now own.

 

The Broad Gauge wagon project is going well.  I'm working with two other members of the creator group I belong to and it's a perfect example of the useful qualities of the internet with John living in Canada and Chris living in the USA.  The object of the exercise wasn't to make fastidiously correct Broad Gauge open wagons, but to make a series of generic mid-era wagons that can be textured to resemble a range of prototypes.

The wagons in the picture are all wearing a basic grey blank texture which can be easily changed and modded to , - well, - whatever I want really.

We're at 12 variations at the moment with another 6 planned and I think once that's done that will round the project off nicely.  Then it will be my job to make some more textures for them.

There's quite a bit in getting each wagon sorted since they are all set up for a wide range of loads and and 5 different tarpaulins so everything has to be set to the right height and checked that it all fits correctly.

 

[Edwardian]

10 hours ago, Annie said:

They are indeed a stunning pair of locomotives James.  All the models made by Skipper1945 are like that, - exquisitely built and finished with really exceptional detailing.  I also have his 'Achilles'  class 'Royal Sovereign'  and his 'City of Truro' in the same beautiful livery.  He also made a 'Dukedog' which is very nice, but one of those would be well outside the intended time period of my layout.

 

Well then, he has no excuse for not doing a Duke and a Bulldog as he's halfway to both!

 

10 hours ago, Annie said:

 

Somehow by stealth I've become a Great Western modeller. 

 

[Annie]

I'm expecting a copy of 'The Great Western Way' by J.N. Slinn as well in a couple of days so the evidence is strongly mounting against me that I've gone Great Western.

 

 

I haven't forgotten my Norfolk railways though and the layout's  been getting some maintenance and a little tidy up as well this past week .  No pictures because it was all things like moving trees back away from the line and generally sorting out stuff like magical levitating milk churns and hampers on station platforms. 

[Caley Jim]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

............ the evidence is strongly mounting against me that I've gone Great Western.

A charity needs to be formed to fund research into a cure for that! 

 

Jim 

[Northroader]

Aye.....

 

[Caley Jim]

I'm currently half way through the top one of these. Where are all the others, though?  Wagons, livery etc., etc. 

 

Jim 

[Annie]

2 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I'm currently half way through the top one of these. Where are all the others, though?  Wagons, livery etc., etc. 

 

Jim 

Give the man a chance Jim.  80% of my growing GWR library has come from the 2nd hand market which has made things a lot cheaper than it might otherwise be.  I managed to get some out of print books at very fair prices too so long as I avoided the ones that must've been decorated with gold leaf going by the prices the vendors wanted for them.  Some of the books were in as new condition as well and looked like they'd never been opened or handled as if they'd been purchased and put in the bookshelf and never looked at again.

[Northroader]

Annie’s right, Jim. We’re working towards it. I’ve got a generous daughter who knows I like books, so if she gives me a token she doesn’t have to think about Christmas presents, and I’ve had one burning a hole in my pocket for too long. They’re both very good books, how they’re put together, thoroughly recommended.

[Annie]

Latest wagon from the Broad Gauge wagon project.  This will be a wagon for my own use and I'll be doing a clean unweathered version as well that I'll be handing on to the project for uploading to the DLS.

 

[Edwardian]

Many here have far more extensive libraries than do I, however, here is the GW section...

[Hroth]

21 hours ago, Annie said:

I haven't forgotten my Norfolk railways though and the layout's  been getting some maintenance and a little tidy up as well this past week .  No pictures because it was all things like moving trees back away from the line...

 

Take care with that, The Woodland Trust are very anti tree-pruning along the railways here.

 

Personally, I'd like to see all trees removed from inside the Railway Boundary Fence. Railways are NOT linear woods!

[Annie]

6 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Take care with that, The Woodland Trust are very anti tree-pruning along the railways here.

 

Personally, I'd like to see all trees removed from inside the Railway Boundary Fence. Railways are NOT linear woods!

Well at least with a digitally simulated railway I can simply move the trees to the other side of the boundary fence.  Mostly it's because I didn't notice that a branch is reaching a bit too close  when I originally placed a stand of trees.

I think it is a bit nuts though that the old ways that things were done by the real  proper  historical steam era railways are no longer being adhered to.  It just seems plain unsafe and foolish to allow trees to grow inside the railway boundary.  No doubt the Woodland Trust has more than enough trees it can protect on the other side of the fence without weeping over anything that strays onto railway land.

 

30 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Many here have far more extensive libraries than do I, however, here is the GW section...

 I am not jealous in the slightest (she says making a terrible job of lying).  I am trying to do my best though to keep my GWR books confined to a particular historical period though; ie. the Gooch, Armstrong and Dean era since I'm not really interested in anything beyond that era,

[Edwardian]

25 minutes ago, Annie said:

Well at least with a digitally simulated railway I can simply move the trees to the other side of the boundary fence.  Mostly it's because I didn't notice that a branch is reaching a bit too close  when I originally placed a stand of trees.

I think it is a bit nuts though that the old ways that things were done by the real  proper  historical steam era railways are no longer being adhered to.  It just seems plain unsafe and foolish to allow trees to grow inside the railway boundary.  No doubt the Woodland Trust has more than enough trees it can protect on the other side of the fence without weeping over anything that strays onto railway land.

 

 I am not jealous in the slightest (she says making a terrible job of lying).  I am trying to do my best though to keep my GWR books confined to a particular historical period though; ie. the Gooch, Armstrong and Dean era since I'm not really interested in anything beyond that era,

 

Yes, I'm afraid my interest extends to the mid-'30s.

 

Most of the books are themed, e.g. locomotives or particular lines, rather than restricted to particular periods.

 

I notice that some are missing!

[Annie]

 

While studying holy writ  Russell Vol. 1 I had all my instincts regarding this unfortunate piece of digital modelling confirmed.  No '850' ever carried any GWR lettering of any kind or species on the sides of its saddle tanks save for one engine only in 1947 that had GWR painted on its saddle tanks for the purposes of making a film.  The '850' class remained true to the old principle that it wasn't necessary to broadcast far and wide who GWR engines belonged to because people would just know.

I am thinking about commissioning an '850' once the Vulcan built B&ER 4-4-0ST that's presently being made for me is done.  Though if I'm sensible it would be better to go for a '1076' 'Buffalo' class since as a digital model it would be reasonably simple to have both a convertible Broad Gauge version and a narrow  standard gauge version based off the same basic 3D mesh and animation files.

 

Being an enthusiast for the old Broad Gauge has amusing consequences though.  I was looking at making some red livery open wagons for Huddleston and I couldn't believe how small and narrow the test wagon I was working on was.  With Huddleston I'll be working on the principle that, 'The wagons that thou shalt maketh shall be red.  And be thou not deceived by the grey men whom shall lead thee into error......'

[Annie]

17 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Yes, I'm afraid my interest extends to the mid-'30s.

 

Most of the books are themed, e.g. locomotives or particular lines, rather than restricted to particular periods.

 

I notice that some are missing!

Unauthorised borrowing!  Or perhaps my affliction, vague misplacement.  Either situation is equally annoying though.

 

The mid-30's, - a dangerous time with civilisation already taking steps along the road to rampant modernism.  However I do know what you mean since I'm presently looking for books on the GWR in Devon and of course  authors don't restrict themselves to the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th and cover the whole GWR era, - sometimes they even mention (shudder) the nationalisation era.

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, Annie said:

Unauthorised borrowing!  Or perhaps my affliction, vague misplacement.  Either situation is equally annoying though.

 

I think the missing volumes will be found scattered around the house; Atkins, Beard, Tourett is conspicuous by its absence, for instance.

 

2 minutes ago, Annie said:

The mid-30's, - a dangerous time ... 

 

No doubt the GWR conveyed Roderick Spode on his way to address the Black Shorts' Minchinhampton Eagle Battalion ...

 

 

 

[Annie]

5 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

No doubt the GWR conveyed Roderick Spode on his way to address the Black Shorts' Minchinhampton Eagle Battalion ...

 

 

 

Tut tut, - world domination and a new order for mankind while wearing shorts....... Really, - what were they thinking.