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

[Edwardian]

27 minutes ago, Annie said:

My Norfolk layout is broken and is undergoing repairs.  All very worrying and a confounded nuisance.  I'm supposed to be contributing some snaps to the GER Society's Showcase project, but I can't do much if my layout's in a mess.

 

Some testing was done today though which showed some promise that things are going in the right direction and working as they should at last.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to hear that. The deadline of 30th May has certainly defeated me, and rather put me off the whole idea, but I hope you have better luck.  You have already achieved tangible results with your GE modelling, and have screen shots to prove it, so, presumably, you would have something to show them. They were very keen to have you, as they should be.

 

Personally I'm rather annoyed with the GERS's linear thinking. They were going to have a physical exhibition - something we, apparently, used to do before the Plague - but transferred it online as a 'showcase'.  This, they do not seem to have quite understood, frees them of the tyranny of dates.  While I appreciate they want to achieve a critical mass of contributions before 'going live' I can see no earthy point why you couldn't keep it going indefinitely and open to fresh contributions.  Rather, I should have thought that one of the points would be to encourage GE modellers who might then add to the curated online corpus of work.

 

But ignore me, I'm just is a rare old sulk about the what I consider to be the analogue thinking of the 'steering committee' 

[Compound2632]

14 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

While I appreciate they want to achieve a critical mass of contributions before 'going live' I can see no earthy point why you couldn't keep it going indefinitely and open to fresh contributions.  Rather, I should have thought that one of the points would be to encourage GE modellers who might then add to the curated online corpus of work.

 

Have you made this suggestion to the committee? They are not Olympian deities sitting in state at Stratford (though that might be appropriate) but ordinary mortals who are almost certainly broad-minded enough to be receptive to new ideas. Though beware: you might find yourself asked to volunteer to do the curation!

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Have you made this suggestion to the committee? They are not Olympian deities sitting in state at Stratford (though that might be appropriate) but ordinary mortals who are almost certainly broad-minded enough to be receptive to new ideas. Though beware: you might find yourself asked to volunteer to do the curation!

 

I have made my Views known, yes.

 

Individually, they are perfectly charming, but their collective approach I think unnecessarily restrictive and certainly is something I would struggle to work with.

[Annie]

On 30/04/2021 at 22:13, Edwardian said:

 

Sorry to hear that. The deadline of 30th May has certainly defeated me, and rather put me off the whole idea, but I hope you have better luck.  You have already achieved tangible results with your GE modelling, and have screen shots to prove it, so, presumably, you would have something to show them. They were very keen to have you, as they should be.

 

Personally I'm rather annoyed with the GERS's linear thinking. They were going to have a physical exhibition - something we, apparently, used to do before the Plague - but transferred it online as a 'showcase'.  This, they do not seem to have quite understood, frees them of the tyranny of dates.  While I appreciate they want to achieve a critical mass of contributions before 'going live' I can see no earthy point why you couldn't keep it going indefinitely and open to fresh contributions.  Rather, I should have thought that one of the points would be to encourage GE modellers who might then add to the curated online corpus of work.

 

But ignore me, I'm just is a rare old sulk about the what I consider to be the analogue thinking of the 'steering committee' 

Yes if all else fails James I have a sizeable back catalogue of snaps of my Norfolk layout from before I tried moving it over to TANE.  I should be able to find something good enough to put into the showcase and nobody would be any the wiser.

 

My own problems with my Norfolk layout have arisen because N3V, - the makers of the Trainz simulator, - have been rushing buggy software that doesn't work properly out the door in an effort to compete against the other railway simulator made by Dovetail Games.  Having spent days trying to fix things and get them to work I'm now having to gather everything up and take it back to the earliest 64 bit version of Trainz that's still available, - TRM2017.  It is working out ok, but it's demoralising to have to do the transfer of thousands of digital assets for a second time.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Annie

[Edwardian]

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

Yes if all else fails James I have a sizeable back catalogue of snaps of my Norfolk layout from before I tried moving it over to TANE.  I should be able to find something good enough to put into the showcase and nobody would be any the wiser.

 

You certainly could. I suspect, though, you might feel you wanted to show your current work. It would be a pity if the delay caused by the TANE migration issues meant that you could not show the current Norfolk layout.

 

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

My first impression was that the showcase was an on-going thing where new material could continually be added as time rolls on. 

 

 

This was also my understanding and, apparently, the understanding of the member who gave me the 'tap on the shoulder'

 

I frankly cannot see why is wouldn't be a permanent showcase with rolling contributions.

 

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

Slapping a date on it as if it's an actual physical venue that must be hired for a set period of time and then packed up and swept out afterwards is really not making best use of the digital medium.

 

Quite.

 

As I understand, if you start a topic before the deadline, you will be able to add to it later using the edit function.

 

However, that's not the point; I still cannot understand why it is necessary to prevent new posts after a given date. 

 

Sorry to make this all about me, but I can only really illustrate on the basis of my own example.

 

There is a layouts sub-forum. Well, there is no way Castle Aching could be presented as a layout - it's more 'barely begun' than 'not yet finished'. So, the layout won't ever feature at this rate.

 

Then there is a sub-forum for sub-layout items. Do I have enough even to start a GER rolling stock topic? Not yet. GER loco and MGN loco topics? I will have, but not yet. Unless I started all these topics, now, however, I won't be able to unless and until there is a similar exhibition in 2022 (assuming I'd be invited back!). 

 

The problem is that when GERS uses the term 'showcase', it turns out they actually mean 'virtual exhibition' (i.e. an event that closes for contributions and runs for a finite period). It's a bit like Boris talking about a 'roadmap' out of lockdown, when actually the thing he's announced is a 'timetable' for lifting restrictions. 

 

Apparently, GERS have not committed to keep the 'showcase' live beyond a set period. Why wouldn't they? Well, they might keep it running, in which case why do they need to close for new contributions? They are clearly still thinking in terms of a 2021 showcase and a 2022 one.  Why? That makes no sense.

 

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

Thinking back to my own brass and jewellers saw days of making models, - If someone had said to me you've got a month to create a really good top quality model for our showcase I would have told them to get lost.  Unless society members already have finished models to hand I doubt that many will be rolling up their sleeves to get something done before the deadline.

 

I was told that exhibitors have to work to deadlines.  Well, I'm not an exhibitor; my personal life does not allow me enough modelling time to commit to a physical exhibition entry, so reproducing that pressure for an online display is not going to work for this non-exhibiting modeller.  Most people in the press who reference having to work to exhibition deadline have a matter of months, not the 6 weeks notice I have effectively been given; not that I realised it was a deadline, so effectively what I'm now being told is "You have a month in which to post your models or bye, bye until next year". 

 

That just makes no sense to me.  And I won't be able to manage it.  

 

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

My own problems with my Norfolk layout have arisen because N3V, - the makers of the Trainz simulator, - have been rushing buggy software that doesn't work properly out the door in an effort to compete against the other railway simulator made by Dovetail Games.  Having spent days trying to fix things and get them to work I'm now having to gather everything up and take it back to the earliest 64 bit version of Trainz that's still available, - TRM2017.  It is working out ok, but it's demoralising to have to do the transfer of thousands of digital assets for a second time.

 

I can imagine, but it sounds as if you have a way to save your creation, albeit a laborious one.  I hope you persist and succeed so that we can all enjoy it once more. 

[Annie]

On 01/05/2021 at 00:56, Edwardian said:

Sorry to make this all about me, but I can only really illustrate on the basis of my own example.

No need to apologise at all James.  This is what you've personally experienced and you're upset about it.  You were led to believe one thing and it turns out the committee were intending something else altogether.  

 

On 01/05/2021 at 00:56, Edwardian said:

I was told that exhibitors have to work to deadlines.  Well, I'm not an exhibitor; my personal life does not allow me enough modelling time to commit to a physical exhibition entry, so reproducing that pressure for an online display is not going to work for this non-exhibiting modeller.

Yes exactly, - and I would imagine a good many other members of the society aren't exhibitors either.  It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea and it's a lot of work. 

 

On 01/05/2021 at 00:56, Edwardian said:

I can imagine, but it sounds as if you have a way to save your creation, albeit a laborious one.  I hope you persist and succeed so that we can all enjoy it once more. 

I have all the digital bits and bobs for my layout saved on a hard drive and also in my Dropbox on-line so I haven't lost any of it.  It's just the business of installing everything and getting everything to work and fit together properly that takes the time.  And because I'm dropping back to an earlier version of Trainz some of those bits and bobs need to be changed out for ones that are compatible with the older version.  BUT I am getting somewhere with it and the layout is gradually coming to life again.

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Annie

[PaulG]

It was very easy to put a few photos and text regarding my Colchester c1955 layout and a couple of loco projects on the GERS Showcase. Layouts in my 50 years experience are never "finished" (!!); 

 

 If this goes well, which I'm sure it will, we can have a refresh/new contributions/layout updates etc etc sometime in the future.

 

To my knowledge there was never any intension to have a real life model railway exhibition.

 

The M&GN Society was hoping for a model railway exhibition last year as in 2019; not sure if it wall happen this year.

 

Paul

 

 

[Annie]

A huge cheer up on a morning when I was feeling not all that well.  Ed Heaps on the Trainz forum has announced that he's making a T26 (E4).  With Ed being the skilled digital craftsman that he is I know that it's going to be absolutely marvellous.

 

(Early WIP render screenshot)

 

4 hours ago, PaulG said:

It was very easy to put a few photos and text regarding my Colchester c1955 layout and a couple of loco projects on the GERS Showcase. Layouts in my 50 years experience are never "finished" (!!); 

 

 If this goes well, which I'm sure it will, we can have a refresh/new contributions/layout updates etc etc sometime in the future.

 

To my knowledge there was never any intension to have a real life model railway exhibition.

I will be putting together some screenshots very soon Paul.  All this has caught me at a time when I'm not doing so great with this illness I live with as well as my much loved Norfolk layout having a lot of problems with being upgraded to a later version.

It's certainly very good and a step in the right direction that the GER Society is welcoming towards virtual modellers like myself as I know from the Trainz forum that there are a lot of enthusiasts like me who had to give up physical model making due to ill health or changes in personal circumstances.

 

I think perhaps some misunderstandings have occurred over the GER Showcase project which haven't been helped by me not being all that well at the moment and generally feeling depressed over my ability to make anything that I would consider to be any good.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Annie
more to say

[Edwardian]

12 hours ago, Annie said:

A huge cheer up on a morning when I was feeling not all that well.  Ed Heaps on the Trainz forum has announced that he's making a T26 (E4).  With Ed being the skilled digital craftsman that he is I know that it's going to be absolutely marvellous.

 

(Early WIP render screenshot)

 

Stunning, Annie.  look forward to seeing the end result.

 

12 hours ago, Annie said:

 

I think perhaps some misunderstandings have occurred over the GER Showcase project which haven't been helped by me not being all that well at the moment and generally feeling depressed over my ability to make anything that I would consider to be any good.

 

Same here - though in my case I daresay with less excuse regarding my modelling and inability to cope with the odd rules and regulations, and more cause to doubt the worth of my contribution than you. 

 

I think it would be great if you can show on the 'showcase' what you've shown here; how worthwhile and attractive this virtual modelling is. 

[Annie]

9 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I think it would be great if you can show on the 'showcase' what you've shown here; how worthwhile and attractive this virtual modelling is. 

So far there seems to be just two other digital modellers besides myself and they use Dovetail Games's Train Simulator instead of Trainz as I do.  There is more available for the GER through Dovetail and its affiliates, but to my mind their simulator isn't so user friendly for world creation and unlike N3V/Auran they don't encourage the creation of freeware.  It is a good start though and hopefully others in the society will consider virtual modelling after seeing what we are doing.

I wasn't going to, but I ended up posting some screenshots of the Hopewood Tramway.  The coordinator for the Showcase project commented that he didn't know what the purists might think, but he thought my screenshots were lovely.

 

And it doesn't rain, but it pours.  Cameron Scott from Darlington Works has posted a render screenshot of his own T26 that he's working on.

 

[Annie]

I'm back with testing things out again in the latest TRS19 SP3 version of Trainz.  The snap is from the standard gauge version of my Minehead layout.  So far all is looking well which is encouraging.  I'm going to try a version of my Norfolk layout in TRS19 and see if it will work or not.

 

 

[Edwardian]

14 hours ago, Annie said:

So far there seems to be just two other digital modellers besides myself and they use Dovetail Games's Train Simulator instead of Trainz as I do.  There is more available for the GER through Dovetail and its affiliates, but to my mind their simulator isn't so user friendly for world creation and unlike N3V/Auran they don't encourage the creation of freeware.  It is a good start though and hopefully others in the society will consider virtual modelling after seeing what we are doing.

I wasn't going to, but I ended up posting some screenshots of the Hopewood Tramway.  The coordinator for the Showcase project commented that he didn't know what the purists might think, but he thought my screenshots were lovely.

 

Well, I was hoping to pop along to see your 'showcase' entries, but, alas, my access has been removed.

 

I am informed that access was removed because I had not 'pledged' content prior to 1 May; so another rule of whIch I was hitherto unaware like the 30th May submission deadline, which, apparently, I should have anticipated because it was "implied" by the fact that the "showcase" had an opening date.

 

So, a deadline for saying whether you will post content before the deadline.  Who knew?

 

Well, I didn't. 

 

I think you've done well to get any content up inside.  

 

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

I am informed that access was removed because I had not 'pledged' content prior to 1 May;

Well I certainly didn't know about that rule either James and I can't remember when I 'pledged' if at all.  I think I did say 'yes' at some stage of the proceedings so i supposed that must be a 'pledge'.

 

I didn't post anything to the Showcase that hasn't been seen here already so you haven't really missed anything.  I posted some snaps of my latest GER goods wagons; various snaps of Y14's dashing about being useful; and a few snaps of my 'what-if' collection of variations on a GER Tram engine mostly lurking around Hopewood on Sea.

[PaulG]

James, when the Showcase goes live on the GERS website at the end of June, you together with the rest of the world can view.

 

Looks a great Showcase of East Anglian railway modelling in all scales.

 

Paul

Edited May 3, 2021 by PaulG

[Annie]

GER Society Showcase snaps, - a preview:

 

As I said in my previous post all of these snaps have been posted here before so I'm not revealing any hidden secrets.

 

Tram Engines, - various.  All were snapped at Hopewood on Sea except for the one of No.025 at Bluebell Woods engine shed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goods Wagons:

 

 

 

 

Y14's:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Annie
More information

[Edwardian]

35 minutes ago, PaulG said:

James, when the Showcase goes live on the GERS website at the end of June, you together with the rest of the world can view.

 

Looks a great Showcase of East Anglian railway modelling in all scales.

 

Paul

 

You'll forgive me if my interest has paled in the circumstances. 

 

At the very least, attempts to recruit contributors has been badly handled in this instance, with the result that I'm pretty uninterested in the venture now, but I'm not wanting to get into an argument on Annie's thread.  I'll just kick back and enjoy the blue.   GERS's loss if they can't deal better with people.

[Edwardian]

28 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

 

Thanks for that, Annie, they look superb.

 

That night time shot is particularly evocative.

[Annie]

Thanks very much James, - that night time screenshot is a particular favourite of mine.  There were other snaps I took from the same goods run, but that one is the best of the bunch.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

11 hours ago, Edwardian said:

That night time shot is particularly evocative.

 I agree, that looks fantastic Annie, well done.

 

Douglas

Edited May 4, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Annie]

Testing along the Grimwold branch in TMR17.  I'm fast coming to the conclusion that my present computer is too wimpy to run my Norfolk layout and that many of the problems I'm having are due to lack of processor power.  

 

 

 

 

[rocor]

6 minutes ago, Annie said:

Testing along the Grimwold branch in TMR17.  I'm fast coming to the conclusion that my present computer is too wimpy to run my Norfolk layout and that many of the problems I'm having are due to lack of processor power.  

 

 

 

You should junk that slothful Cray of yours and get a Cerebra. 

 

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, rocor said:

 

You should junk that slothful Cray of yours and get a Cerebra. 

 

All that might as well be in Greek as far as I'm concerned!  

 

Jim

[Regularity]

29 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

All that might as well be in Greek as far as I'm concerned!  

Θα πρέπει να σκουπίζεις αυτό το κορεσμένο Cray σου και να πάρεις ένα Cerebra.

 

Happy now?

Edited May 4, 2021 by Regularity

[rocor]

54 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

All that might as well be in Greek as far as I'm concerned!  

 

Jim

 

It is a jocular reference to some postings on this forum from January last year, where a little confusion occurred regarding super computers and the machines that us mere mortals would own.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, rocor said:

You should junk that slothful Cray of yours and get a Cerebra. 

Ha ha. 

 

My present computer is powered by an i5 processor that's becoming a little weary and running a railway simulator is getting to be more than it can do.  It was always intended to be no more than a stopgap until I could sort out something better.

I have a Hewlett Packard tower server powered by a pair of Xeon processors that I purchased some months ago and I think it's well time I stopped procrastinating and made it my next Trainz computer.