New York Division-Bergen Line - Part Deux!

[minerman146]

Tom! The yards are starting to look much better populated with proper cars. The good news is I'm not done with the 40s yet. I have 1 of 2 done for to day. Then its on the Canadians circa 1970. This means any US holding companies held by CN are coming in, as I frequently saw them.

So before I get totally sick on the 40s I will be working on the following: CN, CP, CV, GT with bonus NYC, CNW, MILW and SCL if can find good images and fonts.
Here is todays offering: 1 of 2 B&O cars from 1958-62.

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I didn't put up the final on this one.

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Ok here is the last B&O forty I am doing.

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This is my 13th 40footer - how are things looking to you on your end. Paint and Color is subjective.
Am I pulling this off with my "weathering and 11 varieties of Red Oxide?
Time for Dinner
Carry on!

*note- I learned something new today.. .the T is for TIMKEN, the Bearing Company. In the Mid-50s some railroads used the smooth rolling Timken equipment cars as a marketing device. If I hadn't worked on cars, I would not have taken a shot and guessed the T was for bearings.
Cool Stuff.

[Acela432]

Minerman,

I looked over the last few pages about getting in touch with dovetail about making EL DLC or a route. Then as I was reading the suggestion about a 3rd party developer I thought about G-trax simulations.

They designed the Stevens Pass and the Chicago Racetrak routes. I also noticed they did a back dated version of Steven Pass. They would be the guys to do an EL route with the detail you are looking for. Maybe try contacting them.

Stevens Pass is my favorite route in TS. It’s exceptionally detailed.

Hope this helps!

[BNSFdude]

I'm pretty sure he's mentioned before that DTG had no interest in taking on his Bergen project about the time he started making it basically a full time job.

[LuisaA]

The fact that DTG wasn't interested in it back then, doesn't mean they can't be interested in it today or tomorrow

BTW I'd also suggest milepost simulation, they did the canadian mountain passes and raton pass

[minerman146]

Guys,
Gtrax and Milepost Simulations are new people for me to pitch to - Its just a matter of 1. getting a hold of them and 2. having them thoroughly examine the route. 3. Explaining and demonstrating the operational capabilities of the route. 4. This is the tough nut - getting them to stop what they are doing, to work the Bergen and get it in a DLC ready state. I think 4 is the real obstacle - its is difficult to change gears and work another project. I can say that I have experience working on another route. I had to stop all work on my route and immerse myself in that project. Fortunately, it didn't work out so I went back to my baby. It was flattering to get called to assist.

I have probably pitched it here dozens of times and you guys do #2 and #3 every day. My objectives with partnering up were to 1. getting technical insight to remove errors and enhance operations. 2. Access to new assets: Period Signals, The Stations, towers, roundhouse and better residential and commercial buildings. 3. Develop Rolling stock, Locomotives such as the C424/25, U33/34CH, Lackawanna MUs, 3. Improve the Track and roadbed. 4. Have access to DTGs artist who makes their buildings 5. Recreate the FORD Mahwah Plant. 6. Build the Entire New York Division.

This is quite the list, and if you have seen the route and read my posts you - know that this route had incredible operating possibilities AND its scenic!
Here are some of the quotes I have heard from 3 different developers and 2 beta testers:

1. DTG knows this route as the 'really detailed route"
2. Workshop cant be DLC
3. Used to many different assets ( Geez I tried man!)
4. They can build EL assets but it has to tie in to THIER existing Routes: There is only one unit that does that - the U34Ch ( I have the unfinished loco and coaches on my machine that I cant take pictures of )
5. Have work with NS to get permission.
6. Mr. Dozell wrote me directly to say he was looking forward to a final version of the route and he would make scenarios for it.

All of the above is heresay except 6.. I could put my desires to rest if DTG or even a developer could speak to me on the phone and say "sorry man, were never going to do and this is why..." I was encouraged my Matt P on several occasions ( you can here him tell me on his youtube videos of driving my route) to get on the partner programme) This led me to believe that it could happen.

Last, let me say this. I KNOW there are many many routes that need to be done and my EL is NOT the only railroad out there. I feel like I suck the oxygen out of the room with my ERIE stuff. So, if not me, what about them?

*BNSFdude - please reach out to me if you need anything, we haven't spoken in a awhile and Im running in triple overtime with finalizing the route. What you say is true, the Bergen is 21 hours a week of work, every week for 5 years. I stopped watching television and cut my sleep time back to 6 hours a night. This is how I do it. I also have a full time job, a wonderful wife and son, I do my work in "off hours" when they are asleep and not around.

Last of Last - I think the NS-NJT aspect of the route is working fine - that's what we have now. Once I finish Middletown, we would have full representation of NS operations, 100% of the Bergen County Line, and 70% of metro north from Suffern to Middletown. I actually am very happy I did it this way to mix to the modern and old a bit.

[TheTeenageFoamer]

It takes a lot to make a great route. A lot of time and sacrifice. But in the end, you feel like you’ve created something that people can enjoy for years.

Haha! This is page 91 and before long you will need to make “New York Division-Bergen Line - Part Trois!”

[minerman146]

Here is my Erazt ACF 3 Bay Cylindrical Hopper. I am hoping with all the stencil work you will forget its really a 4 bay Canadian model.
This is my first one in 2048X2048. There were 25 of these maroon cars, the next 50 were all gray with black lettering.

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And that is it for this weekend.

Easter Sunday - Peace.

[trainman844]

Very nice

[Fireexplorer249]

That looks really awesome! How were you able to increase the resolution?

[TheTeenageFoamer]

The thing that amazes me about this route is that he was able to keep the density of the scenery really consistent throughout! I need to take notes, I think.

[minerman146]

I took Sunday as a day of rest and contemplation. Monday was a whirlwind and now I am here and read to go.

First the Mail box:

Fireexplorer asks how did I increase the resolution? 3 parts. 1. increase the layer in Gimp from 1024 to 2048 2. In the DDS tool, I opened and then exported a box car from Feather River Canyon that was in 2048 by 2048, then exported that as a dds. 3. After painting on 2048, I saved the working dds to the Feather River Canyon one into TcPcDx, and last saved to completed texture to my box car file and voila! The whole this was a fluke as I wanted to check out the alpha layer to see if I could discern what DTG did with Alpha. Truth is - they paint their alpha to make shadows, so I couldn't use It. But I realized then that I could use the dds at that resolution to first enlarge and then copy to. I thought that was clever.

TheTeenageFoamer is amazed! So, am I. You know, that 1250 foot rule on each side works. Sure when you pull up in the air you get scenery to the edges of the screen (if you center over the track). But, what ya get is depth. Depth of Field and perspective - look those up and learn them. When your route building your are creating a 3D painting of a landscape. The further the depth, in visible distance, the better. This is part of the "looks natural-like" I work on. I have to say I have seen some awesome deep rural and mountain scenery over here. I have seen suburban and rarer still urban, but the New York Division got 30 straight miles of Urban to Suburban. The amount of buildings alone is completely ridiculous! I tried to use those scenery squares when I started the route in Mahwah. Since the ground is so uneven, the amount of time I spend leveling and trying to make it ok was not worth it. I said to heck with it and started laying every, single, building for as far as my patience and stamina would allow. It would take me a month sometimes to go a mile. (that is crazy) The affect - worth it. Here and there I fell apart and just couldn't stick to it (East Ho-Ho-Kus) (East Glenn Rock) and (East Ridge Wood). hmm that is the same stretch of track. There are some "thin parts" on the route. When I decided to rebuild Suffern to Harriman, I had a valley to work with and just said the heck with it … scenery is a mile, plus wide to Harriman, then 1.5 plus to Highland Miles then 5 wide at the Moodna. Crazy Stuff but had to be done to convey the place. Good comment Foamer!

Last up is tonight's picture this is the Gray Cylindrical Hopper in EL. The inspiration for this type of hopper is the Maroon EL model that I knew existed and the other was a B&O hopper I saw in a picture behind an EL switcher. I have artwork for another 5 of these so I need to get cracking!

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Carry on!

[minerman146]

When a man's gotta do the Wednesday route update post a man has gotta do it.
So here goes:
Route Update Status:
( ) Route? I thought we were repainting now
( ) Oh yeah sure!
( X ) Guilt - such the guilt!

Yes I am freaking out that I have made zero ( nadda for you New Yawk people) progress in Middletown. You know I did this funky 180 degree turn like 4 times so far and got the repaint bug. Then we got the Dunmores and then we got GP9s. Then I did 2 more box cars and 2 hoppers. And now work is a madhouse - shortstaffed - insane projects and I got the flu. (this close to going to see the doc). I cant figure out how to integrate working on 2 projects at the same time. Both require their own 'groove' for optimal artistry, I cant crack this nut! A few posts back I said repaints are harder than route building. Easy when doing one - but when your are looking at 30 repaints or more and you have done 17 so far - its harder. The repaints have longer sessions go make noticeable headway. Its research, base model build, isolating the model form the original pack, unpainting existing model so it can be re-painted, then aligning decals, maintain or establishing proportion, tuning, weathering, testing and then correcting errors. In route building, I can have productive 1 hour sessions. In repaint land - aligning decals to match up to source photo can be hours. The more time put in the better the end product.

I gotta figure out how to get back on the route and keep going with Middletown. You, of course, will hear about it foist!

In other side news: I extensively updated the markers at Harlem Station for Spin over at http://www.ohiovalleysystem.com/OVSRails/ who has completed a scenario for that itty bitty yard. I asked him to integrate my box car pack and Rudi's 44 tonner. I will post here after I run it and pass blessing upon it.

In other other news - I have a legit request to go to Teterboro, NJ to pickup up those 15 consignees I have been talking about for 2 years. This industrial area is located just east of "Ready-Raw' in Carlstadt and is in between Teterboro airport and the Meadowlands sports complex. This would greatly expand local fright operations out of Croxton. That is hard to resist. The biggest obstacle is all of the residential in that area and the Route 80 over pass.

Carry on!

* We have a message for members of the Little Orphan Annie Secret Society * MMSS1 - where is Grand Union and what track needs to be laid to get to it? Sandy wants to know where to send the reefers.

[minerman146]

Kathy bar the Door - its the Wednesday route update post!
Here is the skinny for this week:

Route Update Status:
( ) I am being stalked by Scarlett Johansson
( ) Dog ate meh homework
( X ) We're working just as fast as we can!

We are actually working on the route again. I gotta say taking 2 months off to do repaints was a weird experience. Technically, the work was on route related stuff, but Middletown was just sitting there doing nothing. So, were back, working on base scenery and it will be 'some time' before we can release this section. The cool part is that its a solid 72 miles to Hoboken and uh 17 miles to Port Jervis. This is just crazy stuff to look back over my shoulder a know how much distance there is behind me - just wow. Lastly, as soon as some photo worthy material appears, I will post right here.

In case you are not aware - the 2 B&O box cars that I had been working on have been released and are ready for download on Mr. Stephan's site. The cylindrical hoppers are in the shop having their numbers repositioned. They should get posted in the near future. I also just picked up a book on amazon Erie Lackawanna Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment I spare no expense in acquiring research material. Since I am a wise apple, I will take a shot at doing every darn box car type that they did. Well, as many as we have models for. I honestly had NO idea of all the variants. They all have places to go - except the Blue One which goes to General Mills in Buffalo. ( I think were gonna need a bigger route). I am looking forward to more rolling stock work once we move on.

As far as finishing off the route is concerned, I suppose that if the route was done, I wouldn't need to post anymore on Wednesday's.
What to do, what to do....

One last thing … I want to shout out to my bro XXuntitledXX who is working on the Lehigh Line Project: Wow, your are doing some great kitbashing man!

Carry on!

[mmss1]

See what happens when you are away after so long? The Bergen already a beauty and the best route for TS gets better and better !! After re-adjusting TS from .AP file hell & putting down TRSE5 & walking away from my redo of the Blue Comet Route. I JUST CAN'T STOP RUNNING THIS !! And getting RW Enhancer is really making this route POP now !

My sincere thank you on the Carlton Hill Spur Minerman ! It is perfect ! The Carlton Ave grade crossing had me flashback to 1975 ! Royce Chemical is perfect. Even my wife said that brought back memories ! Switching out PS-2 70T covered hoppers of buffers @ Royce is going to seem second nature !

Here are a few screens of a Dundee Drill coming out of Croxton. Has a few extra cars for Vornado & American Foods (Gulden's Mustard) along with it that will stay on the holding track by Monroe Street.

BTW Minerman, I will get back to you on Grand Union this weekend :). Thanks again.


Headin' out of Croxton


Lovin' the new stock too ! Great work & thanks to all involved !


High Tide on the Hackensack River @ HX.


Coming across the meadowlands with those famous WOR-AM antennas in the background (710 on your dial folks !)

[mmss1]

Beautiful Work !! It was the "Summer of '75" all over again. Only thing missing is the big old Flintkote Water Tower that loomed overhead at the BJ split. But it is so fun reliving this and drills at Dundee again. Here are a few shots from servicing Royce Chemical last night. I have to show this to Al Royce III, he get a kick out of it.

Sitting @ BJ Tower waiting to start


Setting the "Hampers" at the end of the Royce Siding


Clearing Carlton Avenue after setting 4 CH's. Traffic here during this could back up past Union Avenue in Rutherford to the south & all the way to the Gregory Avenue Bridge & Main Street in Wallington to the North during a drill.


Heading back towards Croxton "Long Hood Forward" past Royce.


Crossing RT 17 heading east. Seems to be a "Lane Hog" heading south on 17 but those who live in the area are use to this. It is an everyday event for us.