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

[sem34090]

And off to Ryde!

I'm doing this run with the Appendix to the 1930 IOW Rulebook & WTT sat open in front of me, hence why I got the headcodes right this time! And the whistles too... and the instructions for shunting at various places...

 

[Annie]

Very nice Sem.  It would be soooooo tempting to go Southern with a digital layout, but with the two LNER & constituent companies ones I'm already working on it would be a step too far and I'd never get anything done.

 

Good too that you've got the proper rulebook to go by.  I don't think I could quite manage to actually run any of my layouts according to a proper rulebook or any rulebook of any description, but with a prototype line like what you have there with TS I can see how it would add another dimension.

[sem34090]

Now we're departing Whippingham:

Unfortunately I only have the appendix to the WTT and rulebook. Having the timetable to work to would be fun...

[sem34090]

[sem34090]

[sem34090]

[sem34090]

[sem34090]

A pair of post-grouping locos with strong pre-grouping origins:

[sem34090]

My WIP Mid Hampshire Light Railway, the initial phase of which is essentially the Bishops Waltham - Botley branch.

 

The Goods arrives into Botley, crossing the ex-LSWR lines to access the yard:

 

The goods having arrived into the yard, we can see the passenger service behind. The loco on the goods is No.1 'Waltham', with No.2 'Botley' on the passenger:

 

The Southern passenger, bound for Portsmouth, passes by, after being held at the inner home to allow the goods to cross:

 

The Southern service stops in the former LSWR station, and a couple of passengers may even alight to take the MHLR train! The MHLR staff are not expecting a huge patronage on this train...

 

 

Soon after, No.2 departs with her train.

 

In the meantime, No.1 has been shunting her goods train into the yard, ready for collection by a Southern pick-up goods later. Until that train arrives, perhaps even with a wagon or two to take onto MHLR metals, the terrier crosses back over onto the MHLR side of the main line to take a rest and get her tanks topped up:

 

Some viewers will notice how the LSWR station bears only a limited resemblance to Botley. As, in my alternate scenario, the LSWR had no bay and the MHLR had a separate station, I have assumed that the station would look different at any rate, so striving for complete accuracy was not really required. I did, however, try to get things in roughly the right places.

 

[Annie]

I played trains quite a lot yesterday and just to make a bit of a change from everlasting Summer skies I set the weather to 'changeable'.  What this really means is occasional patches of clear sky in between sudden humdinger type thunderstorms.

Part of the purpose of me having a play about was to generally test everything along the GNJt.R's Seaside branch and to see what else needed to be done.  I started off proceedings with 'Fly' on the return journey of the 'express' to Seaside Magna.

 

 

And it started to pelt down.

 

 

 

 

On the approach to Stanley Farm Halt.

 

 

And the weather started to look like it was clearing a bit.

 

 

Crossing the wooden river bridge under clear skies.

 

 

On the approach to Riverside after crossing the bridge.

 

 

At Riverside the skies darkened and it started to rain again.  (I've since updated Riverside station with different buildings) 

 

 

Ieaving Riverside and heading for Ironbridge station.  No pictures of Ironbridge station because it was half pulled apart at the time for a rebuild.

 

 

And after leaving Ironbridge station the skies cleared.

 

 

At Walberry Old Wharf station the sky started looking a bit iffy again.  The station here is also scheduled for rebuilding.

 

 

On the way to Seaside station it started to rain again.  (Between Walberry Old Wharf and Seaside is a long open stretch of gently curving line where loco crews sometimes compete to see who can obtain the smartest time between the two stations, - they call it the 'speed track'.  All very unofficial and not really approved of by management of course.)

 

 

 

And at Seaside station the skies were clear again.  Seaside is the oldest station on the branchline and very popular with visitors during Summer.  It's also due a rebuild which I want to do without taking away from the character of the original station too much.

 

 

After Seaside station are the workshops and engine sheds (out of the picture bottom left) and the coal sidings where incoming and outgoing coal trains are shunted and sorted.  Ancient eight coupled well tank engines built according to Engerth's patents rule here much to the horror of the newly formed LNER.

 

 

Approaching Seaside Magna station.

 

 Quite a bit of rebuilding is going on around here.  The GWR signals have since been replaced by antiques from the 1870's and there's work going on with the station itself too.  After this running session I had a longish stint with completing all the backyards of the houses alongside the railway line, - which was mind numbingly tedious, but necessary.

 

 

No.5 heads away with a train of NER bogie coaches while 'Fly' waits beside the dairy factory.

 

 

No.5 caught the bad weather too.  (snap taken along the seafront at Seaside Magna)

 

 

No pictures of Seaside Magna station because the builders said, 'Go away and come back later', so here's a snap taken of 'Fly' on the approach to the Seaside Magna New Wharf station while a J70 sets off for the town tramway that runs beside the main street.  The town council insists on proper skirted tram engines being used on the tramway which caused me some problems as proper digital model tram engines without faces on aren't that easy to find.

 

 

 

And it looks like I didn't take a snap of the New Wharf station.  Either the builders chased me off again or I was getting tired and forgot to take one.  I found some timber built buildings from Scottish branchlines that are absolutely perfect for an independent railway like the GNJt.R.  Using generic mainline company type buildings never looked right for the GNJt.R, but that was all I could find at the time.  Soooooo it's been a bit of a spree of rebuilding stations just lately as well as lengthening some too short platforms, making signalling and trackwork adjustments & etc.

 

One problem that I didn't expect was that my old litho coaches had stopped working with passenger interactive platforms.  It's only a very simple pick up and set down passenger script that they've got because of course they don't have an interior or any seats.  But despite that the illusion of passengers getting on and off the train was very nice to see and I really missed it.  So anyway I decided that these old coaches are going to the 'works' for some overhaul work as well as getting their passenger scripts mended so they'll be out of circulation for a short while.  These were the very first models I made for Trainz when I started out and while I know they're quite basic and not entirely prototypical as well as being a bit toy trainish I do like them and enjoy running them on my trainset even though I do have other highly detailed and prototypically correct 'finescale' coaches with accurately modelled interiors that I could use instead.

 

And that's all for now.  I hope I haven't bored you all to tears and put you to sleep with my ramblings  

[Annie]

Looks like our posts crossed Sem.  I do like your snaps of the Mid Hampshire Light Railway.  More pictures please as it really does look lovely with some really nicely done scenic details.  

[sem34090]

I'm afraid that's all there is so far! Beyond the bounds of the shot there are only blank hills! Oh, and some track.

[Annie]

It looks like you've made a really good start though Sem and I'm looking forward to seeing future developments  

[sem34090]

If I get the chance I'll finish of Botley station, then proceed on to the single intermediate station (on the real-life branch at any rate). I've put a loop in there already, to allow me to run round until I extend all the way to Bishops Waltham. From there I will probably extend the line beyond its original length towards Winchester (maybe have an S&M Style terminus beside the Cathedral?!) or up towards the LSWR's Mid Hants line at either New Arlesford (The end of the preserved Mid Hants) or Itchen Abbas. If I get as far as that then I may need to look at purchasing the Just Trains Mid Hants Railway route and producing a Southern Railway version of the route, without the modern-era trappings. I suspect I will extend in stages. Once Botley to Durley (Halt in real life, but will be a more substantial undertaking in my version) is completed scenically, I have already got track to Bishops Waltham to extend the scenery onto. Once that task is done, I will lay track to the next principality, and keep going until I reach my chosen destination.

 

Incidentally, the terriers are the WC&PR ones included in the pack, and these can be renamed and renumbered in-game to any name between 3 and 11 letters, and any number up to 9. As such, I have No.1 'Waltham' and No.2 'Botley' on the books at the moment, with No.3 'Durley' and No.4 'Hampshire' to follow.

 

Eventually I will probably backdate the route to pre-grouping days, especially once we have an Adams Radial and LSWR Liveried stock (Coming from Digital Traction). I suspect the MHLR will see an 0415 joining its fleet when that happens, and I suspect it would be a reskin of the EKR version I expect they'll include.

[Annie]

That very much sounds like a plan Sem and I like the sound of it.  It's good that the WC&PR Terriers have been made so they can be re-numbered and named as that's something I have problems with when it comes to some locomotives for Trainz.

[sem34090]

I think I went through all of the versions offered across the three Steam Sounds Supreme terrier packs, but one really nice feature is that any loco, in any livery, can be rebranded to any number (Depending on how many digits the original had) or name (where applicable), with any chimney, bunker or other small detail variation in game without having to modify the model.

 

As an example, I could place an BR Black A1x (Let's say that, as placed, it is 32655 with the normal bunker and Marsh chimney) and renumber it to any 5-digit number (Let's go for 32662 in this case), with any of the following options:

 

Normal Bunker (As built)

Normal Bunker + Open Coal Rails (LBSCR Pattern)

Normal Bunker + Closed Coal Rails (LBSCR Pattern)

Normal Bunker + Open Coal Rails (KESR/Makeshift Pattern)

Extended Bunker (Rearwards - IOW Pattern)

Extended Bunker (Upwards - KESR Pattern)

Toolbox behind bunker (As built)
Toolbox atop boiler.

Marsh Chimney (As rebuilt)

Cast Chimney (IOW Pattern)

Drummond Chimney (LSWR/IOW Pattern)

Spark Arrester (Hayling Island Pattern)

Westinghouse Pump (Dual Braked)

No Westinghouse Pump (Vacuum Braked only)

Wheel Weights

No Wheel Weights

Drummond Dome

Stroudley Dome

 

I really want someone to do a few reskins for the model, but it is so complex because of all the variations. Each variation in bunker, dome, etc, needs to be reskinned in order for the model to work correctly.

[Annie]

The evening drawing in at Debton.  I don't often use the editor in Trainz in low light timespaces  (ie. evening and night), but sometimes it's useful to get a different impression of how everything looks.  I guess around 80% of the buildings I have on the layout have some kind of night time lighting effects so the overall impression is really nice.  I'm not modelling the heaving metropolis so I don't want things lit up like a Christmas tree.

 

 

'Fly' again on the evening train.  With my older litho coaches now in the works I hauled out some other later versions I'd been messing about with.  The 5 compartment 3rds which are based on a photo of a Metropolitan Railway Carriage Co coach I found somewhere have quite high resolution textures compared with my older coaches.

 

 

The No.11 teak 1st class coach is a very early low resolution model I made ages ago and I decided to work on its textures a little to improve their appearance.  Ideally I should remake it with better textures, but it will do for now until I've upgraded and polished the other coaches.  It doesn't look too bad alongside the Metropolitans.

 

 

One of Paulz Trainz NBR teak luggage vans with the NBR crest replaced with the Grand Navigation crest.  I'd like to get some of his 1860's NBR 3 compartment firsts as with a stretch I could still make use of them on the layout since old first class coaches tended to have longer lives due to their more luxurious interiors.

 

 

I unearthed some older 'try-out' 6 wheel clerestories I made at one time and these could be nicely upgraded as well.  These simple coach meshes do look better as a 6 wheeler, but I'd prefer it if I could have this mesh as an arc roofed version as well.  The green coach at the end is a 'Foxwater Light Railway' try out sketch I did and it will most probably tag about on some local passenger trains since nobody (including me!) really knows where Foxwater is.

 

[Annie]

I would love to have those kind of Terrier options in Trainz Sem.  The GNJt.R has two which are 'defaced' TTTE models because the 'proper' models have their cab roof modelled all wrong even if their paintwork is absolutely exquisite.  I really don't know what variety of Terrier the ones I have are claiming to be, but they are useful on the lighter local passenger trains.

 

[Annie]

This is the NBR 1st coach Paulz Trainz sells.

 

[sem34090]

You've got a nice bog-standard Brighton-Converted A1x, so at least they modelled it accurately for the faced version, and for a sizeable proportion of real ones.

 

Train Sim and Trainz both have their own advantages and disadvantages, and I think my standing is that I enjoy train simulator for routes set firmly in reality, or are based on it, or have a believable premise. There are fictional routes, and I have a few of them. I think I enjoy Train Simulator in a very different way to trainz: in TS I enjoy learning a route, where the gradients are, the speed restrictions, and all that jazz, and learning each loco, each cab being different.

 

These days the locos are very accurately modelled and scripted, and each loco behaves very differently - You can feel and hear a terrier struggling where a Castle passes with ease, a Bulleid will slip if you don't manage the sanders and regulator carefully. When running a service out to Freshwater with W10 you need to keep an eye on the pressure or you won't get as far as Calbourne, and make sure you have enough water for the trip back to Newport! You begin to get a feel for which locos steam well, which ones are right for a given job, which ones are right pigs (but fun challenges!) and which ones will do more-or less anything. The sounds these days are truly wonderful, mostly produced by the renowned Steam Sounds Supreme, and each loco has an individual sound set. When you have a Midland Compound Piloting a Bulleid, you can tell which is working the hardest by the sound, and it's usually the Compound, and the sound of a pair of 4300's working out of Kingswear on a Summer Special up the bank towards Greenway tunnel is divine. The locos are much more expensive than trainz, but for realistic steam locos that you have to learn the ways of Train Simulator wins hands down.

 

I do also enjoy trainz, but I get a different sort of pleasure from it, more of a 'Train Set' Pleasure, of playing trains but having unlimited space. The trains can be controlled from the cab, and I do so occasionally, but they are much the same to drive. For me this isn't the point with trainz, the point is using the 'DCC' control option and enjoy playing with a virtual trainset whilst I plan out my next actual layout. Indeed, I have used trainz in the past for layout planning purposes! The variety of different locos available when compared with TS is mind-boggling, even more so given that a huge amount of them are free, and it doesn't matter that (to drive) they are all more or less the same - they look different and they look good on your trainset. I think Annie can probably explain this appeal better than I can. It doesn't matter that I can't have a myriad of terrier variations: I have (or will have when I bother to download one!) a terrier, and that's good enough. The different bunkers and chimneys would make no difference to the performance or sound of the loco, unlike in TS, so they are not really needed all that much.

[Annie]

Some of the better models for Trainz can be quite individual and have some of the characteristics of their prototype.  I like the GER Claud as an example because it does have the fast, slightly prone to slip qualities of its prototype.  The NER T2's (Q6) 0-8-0's from Darlington Works are another good model that their maker spent some time over getting to work as they should.  On the 3ft 6inch gauge side I have some Kitson-Meyers that act and sound very like the real thing.  However I do agree that quite a few of the locos on offer can be very samey and fairly vanilla in their characteristics.

Some of Paulz Trainz 0-6-0's I've got are virtually identical in their characteristics and don't give you much of clue that they're doing anything at all and yet the Engerth 0-8-0 well tanks he made have all the qualities of their prototype with their ability to move a heavy train from rest and what's more they sound and feel like they're really doing it.

 

 I'm not above going and hunting for better engine spec and steam sounds files for my locomotives since I like my locos to work properly, but I do agree that Trainz strength does lie more in the area of world building more than being a true down there in the steam and grease and coal loco driving simulator.   Because of my silly sleepy little clockwork brain I can't manage to drive a steam loco in TS and I just end up being horribly frustrated so I envy you a little Sem because you plainly can use the simulator as it's designed to be used and get a lot of fun and enjoyment from it.      

 

Thanks for identifying my Terriers by the way as I'd feel a bit silly if someone asked and I had to say I didn't know  

Edited April 13, 2018 by Annie

[sem34090]

I'll go with that!
 

With TS I would highly recommend it, but would recommend starting with simple controls: a Forward/Reverse switch and a throttle/brake handle on the HUD. What's quite nice is that the controls in the cab still move so that you can see what needs to happen.

 

I may be sending you another PM in a moment on that theme...

[Annie]

Oh and I meant to post pictures of the NBR 1st/2nd composite and the Brake 2nd which I also have my eye on.  All fairly generic as a lot of railway companies used the same design.  Some of Pauls other NBR coaches are more Scottish railway specific so while they're interesting I won't be going for those.

 

 

[Regularity]

The Southern passenger, bound for Portsmouth, passes by, after being held at the inner home to allow the goods to cross:

 

There would have to be a very good reason for the trains to run in that sequence.

 

As the major company at the crossing, and the one owning the original right of way, the Southern would control the operations, but regardless of that, a branch passenger train would have priority over a goods train. A pickup goods train on a light railway would be just about as far down the priorities as you can go: although classifications at the time used letters rather than the later (and current) numbers, there was still an order of precedence, so A trumps B just as 1 outranks 2. The branch passenger is likely to be a B, and if classified at all, the light railway goods train something like a K.

[sem34090]

I did think of that afterwards, and it does make much more sense to do it that way round. Quite what possessed me to do it how I did I don't know!