Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway

[nsl714]

'Tis true. So far the rest of the route has handled ok in terms of framrates. We'll see what happens once scenery begins to spring up.

[nsl714]

Milestone! Urban Sprawl!



But not so much as it appears...



I finally dived into the world of scenery tonight and placed some buildings as well as some L structure at Lake and Wells. It appears promising. With much thanks to Jpetersjr for the appropriate buildings. They'll be everywhere in the city when I'm done with them!

Stay tuned for some scenery updates on the rural end of the route as well...

[CSX2057]

impressive!

[Bananarama]

The track is Scalerail from 3Dtrains. In particular the elevated system uses the Open Deck track. I will admit that while it looks pretty good, there are a few drawbacks. There are no switch point/frog shapes, so I have to bodge it with the variations of open deck track, as well as the tieless rail in some places. And the 4 track mainline seems to be hard on my framerates. I however believe the good outweighs these points, and for the sake of aesthetics I can overlook them.

What are the specs on the prototype track? I might be able to produce a suitable model to replace the bridge type.

[nsl714]

Could you elaborate on what kind of info you want Marc?

Overall, the open deck track section is pretty similar to the structure on the L. The only major difference being a walkway between each line. These photos give the general idea.

http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/gallery ... ta4446.jpg

http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/gallery ... ta4257.jpg

http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/gallery ... sRaveB.jpg

Thanks!
Zach

[nsl714]

On a wet fall day in 1962, Train 309, the 5:26 PM Lake Bluff-Mundelein train, eases out from under the Chicago and Northwestern at the start of it's 18 minute journey.



A few months later, on January 19th, 1963, train 309 prepares to leave Lake Bluff for the last time.



Back in happier times, in the spring of 1961 train 303, the 7:54 Lake Bluff-Mundelein train leaves its Lake Bluff Terminal.



One minute later, train 405, the the 6:56 AM Milwaukee Limited, slows for its own stop at Lake Bluff.



So yeah, my Scenery Wizard, whom I will credit as "Tim" for now, has begun his onslaught on the miles and miles of scenery that must be done, by sort of easing into the first mile or so from the Route Origin at Lake Bluff, IL. To say I'm pleased is an understatement!

Zach

[buzz456]

That has all the makings of a real work of art.

[jpetersjr]

Very soon the first batch of Chicago North Shore special buildings will be coming, making good progress on a new set of buildings that will be released special with this route.

Here's a glimps at what's coming for the route.

Vintage Chicago Buildings 1.jpg

From what I know these were all vintage buildings that once stood in Chicago.

[nsl714]

Thanks very much guys! I'm glad to hear we have disproven your doubts as well Mdurdan. However, there is a LONG way to go. Approximately 57 miles of track has to be laid yet, and and bout 97 miles of scenery needs to be placed. And on that note, I can say that I laid the 11 miles worth of Chicago and Northwestern railroad which paralled the North Shore between Tower KO and Oakten Street, the length of the Skokie Valley Line.



A C&NW F7 set stands by as CNS&M "Freight Locomotive" picks up 35 cars of coal from the Oakton st interchange in Skokie. The North Shore will take the train 20 miles north to Great Lakes Navel Training Station, where the same C&NW crew will take the train back for delivery to the local power plant. (Twas' a complicated deal that dated back to the 1920's, when the power plant and North Shore Line were owned by the same interests, Samuel Insull. )



That is if the train will ever move. The GG1 didn't like the loaded cars one bit, and refused to move in a northerly direction. A bigger engine may need to be called for. Or smaller coal hoppers.

Zach

[Bananarama]

Do you have details on the third rail (measurements of width and height), and was it everywhere, or only on the elevated portions?

[nsl714]

Marc,

PM sent.

Thanks!
Zach

[nsl714]

I'm a long way from Chicago....







Milwaukee to be exact. I went on a track laying spree these past few nights, and made it the 40 miles from Waukegan to Milwaukee. I won't bore you all with the intricacies of that bit right now, (It's decidedly straight and green,) but I must share the northern extremity of the railroad, the Milwaukee Terminal. It was built on the corner of 6th and Michigan Streets in 1923, and was on a nice hill sloping down from west to east. The throat was a nice challenge to put together, and for the most part I've got it. The bit wiggling down to the storage tracks needs adjustment, (I derailed seconds after taking the screenshot.) But overall, I'm happy with it.

Zach

[jpetersjr]

Perhaps later after I finish with the buildings for the Chicago part of the route I might be able to build you some of the buildings for Milwaukee, but you'll have to help me in finding some reference photo's.


Nice progress so far though, hope to be able to send you the next set of buildings soon as well.


By the way, do you have any reference photo's for some of the smaller buildings in Chicago?

[nsl714]

I'm starting to get back into the routebuilding thing again. Tonight I placed the Harrison St. Shops in Milwaukee.



Also, (but not pictured), I tweaked the Downtown terminal throat. So now the cars don't hit each other on the way down to the lower yard.

Let the building continue!

Zach

*EDIT*

And after looking at various photos, the mainline alignment was a bit off. I had too much of an S curve in it. So after straightening it out a bit...



Spot the Difference!

[NickelPlate765]

Sweeeeeet!


NKP765