The Siskiyou Line

[Bananarama]

DTG are aware of the DM terrain texture issue, which has been a bug since TS2013/2014, but never got around to fixing it.

[BoostedFridge]

I got on a bit of a run laying track tonight...

Dunsmuir extension.jpg

Just need to add the yards at Dunsmuir and Mt Shasta, as well as some miles of a certain logging railway... Then back to scenery.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

That is a long route.

How many track miles do your reckon?

[BoostedFridge]

The picture immediately above just shows the extension from Black Butte to Dunsmuir which is 22 miles. From Dunsmuir to Springfield Jct the 'main' line of the Siskiyou is 320 track miles. It's a huge haul, and I will be releasing the route in phases as I complete it. Dunsmuir-Medford will be the first phase.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

The picture immediately above just shows the extension from Black Butte to Dunsmuir which is 22 miles. From Dunsmuir to Springfield Jct the 'main' line of the Siskiyou is 320 track miles. It's a huge haul, and I will be releasing the route in phases as I complete it. Dunsmuir-Medford will be the first phase.

Thanks.

Is it a crew district in the prototype? At 35 MpH average, it still takes like 10 hours to traverse.

[BoostedFridge]

The route covers two full crew districts. Dunsmuir-Ashland was a district up until the late 70's, when the run got extended from Ashland to Medford. The second district is from Medford to Eugene.

Through trains are only part of the operations on the line. There are six local freight jobs that run on the route, which will provide a nice balance to the slower grind of the long and heavy through freights over the passes.

I have ran the length of the line at track speed a few times to get a feel for how much distance one can expect to cover in a scenario. Within a 45 to 90 minute scenario, you can experience a good and diverse mixture of terrain and grade changes, as well as prototypical AI traffic.

[GenericZack]

Happy 2 Year Anniversary Siskiyou!

[BoostedFridge]

Happy 2 Year Anniversary Siskiyou!

Thanks Zack!

I just reread my original post, and had to chuckle at my estimate of 'another 1000-1200 hours to finish the route...' I have put another ~900 hours into the route since then, and I'm only about 65% done with the first half of the line!

I have learned a LOT about route building, Railworks, and the line itself in that time. This work has also opened the door for some of the friendships I have made in this community, which I am grateful for. I'm still excited and upbeat about completing the route in a relatively timely fashion, and even more excited for you guys to get to run some trains on it.

Enough maudlin, time for some screenshots!

1. The line ascends the 'gentle' 1% grade up the 'west' slope of Snowden Hill, while the Oregon slough slowly flows through farmers fields and irrigation systems.

20170320001936_1.jpg

2. Under the gaze of Mount Shasta, three 'levels' of line are visible as the tracks snakes down the 2.2% grade from Mott siding into the Sacramento River Canyon. I like these double horseshoe track alignmetns, as I can cover almost eight miles of track with only two and a half miles of scenery!

20170315032626_1.jpg

3. Amtrak's 'eastbound' Coast Starlight serves as a test train for checking track and easements in the canyon. This is some very early placeholder scenery for the famous Cantara Loop.

20170317032009_1.jpg

4. The beginning and ends of the lap sidings at Mott and Azalea. These will provide some fantastic opportunities for three way meets in scenarios, and creative use by scenario authors. Much terrain work is required in this area before scenery work would begin.

20170315022950_1.jpg

5. The main track, and siding at Upton, looking geographically north at Black Butte. Placeholder scenery again, but an idea of things to come.

20170314015352_1.jpg

[VITORMARQUES]

I can not wait to ride this magnificent route. Sounds like a very good job.

[GenericZack]

I cant wait to see the Cantara Loop fully done up.

[BoostedFridge]

Progress update:

After placing a lot of grass in the Snowden / Ager area I started going a little nuts, and moved down to Dunsmuir to finish the yard, and terrain in the area. I've massaged the terrain around the roadbed through town, and about 3 miles up the Sacramento River Canyon. Placed some tree assets on the hills around Dunsmuir, and tested out a few combinations of terrain texturing.

Still lots of work to go here:

The 'Downtown' yard, looking south. Track is laid according to the 1979 SP Track Chart.

20170329025913_1.jpg

The 'uptown' yard and engine service facilities.

20170329031145_1.jpg

20170329031205_1.jpg

[Tomcat]

Those are wonderful shots. 2nd and 3rd shots are possibly the most convincing wooded hillsides I've seen in TS2017, perhaps even a bit better than the hillsides in TSW!

[ET44C4]

Those are wonderful shots. 2nd and 3rd shots are possibly the most convincing wooded hillsides I've seen in TS2017, perhaps even a bit better than the hillsides in TSW!

I agree! The trees/scenery is fantastic!

[Ericmopar]

It looks great Boosted.

[BoostedFridge]

Thanks guys!

It is easy to make a good looking forest by having high density asset blocks. The real trick is getting the forest to be just thick enough to cover the steep hillside with the minimum amount of trees. Having some variance in the ground texture underneath is necessary to prevent the hillside from looking monochromatic too.

There is still lots of work to be done in this area before even those hillsides are complete.