minerman146 wrote:First, as always, your work ... is outstanding. Second, I follow your thread, see the images and read what your experiencing. I cant help but to identify with you. So, as someone with similar experiences I must ask. What is your time commitment? How do you work - the time? Do you have a regimen? How do you grapple with knowing the work that you do can take years? I appreciate the level of fidelity you pursue to reproduce the real thing. It really shows. The expanse of your terrain texturing, for example, blows me away! The level of commitment you have is, well... Let me tell you, its worth it. Its art. Its unique. Its special. This kind of dedication is unusual in the world. It warrants being remarked on!
Thanks Minerman... it's good to know I'm not alone.
I started the route in Jan 2015 with the thought of just redoing the run from San Bernardino to Barstow, daylighting the tunnels and adding in the third main. I would have wound up with something much like the Workshop route 'Cajon Pass Modernized'. It quickly became a neccesity, I thought, to add the West Colton Yard and include the Colton-Palmdale Cutoff at least to Phelan since the Cutoff seemed like an afterthought in the original Cajon. I knew I was fooling myself to an extent and would eventually feel compelled to complete the cutoff and add the UP Mojave sub to Mojave which then meant I would feel compelled to add the BNSF Mojave sub as well and then it felt like the right decision to eventually add the Needles sub up to Daggett so I could make it to the UP Yermo yard. These certainly weren't quick decisions, it took a year and a half before I felt I had the right 'reach' for the route and even then I was resisting the addition of the Lucerne Valley sub and the branch line to Black Mountain Quarry, but if I didn't put them in then it would feel as if something was missing and I really hate that feeling. When I see a line branch off of the main route I always wonder where does it lead, what does the next mile look like and the mile after that, and the miles after those - before you know it I convince myself that it must be added because I can't stand not knowing.
I haven't kept a log of how much time I've spent working on the route, my best guess is about 2400 hours so far over 2 1/2 years though I have been taking breaks which probably add up to six months off, most notably the 3 months I was effectively without a computer the last quarter of 2016. That works out to an average of 23 hours per week which helps keep me off the streets wandering around in a retirement fog. I don't really have a set schedule for working on the route, I just do it as the mood strikes which is quite often. I believe you've mentioned in the past that you work in a linear fashion, methodically completeing 1/4 mile after 1/4 mile. I don't have the fortitude to work like that, my approach is very much scattershot because I become very weary working the same neighborhood day after day after day. I feel as if this is an advantage for me because there are many times when I don't know how to proceed to get a believable look in an area so fleshing out some basics and then moving on to another area gives me time to mull over the situation and quite often what I do in one area strikes me as the solution to a problem I was having in another area weeks or months ago.
The order in which I do things is probably close to what many do and the times I do them can be anytime, many times I wake up at 3am and have a 2 or 3 hour burst of energy;
1) Lay down a good hunk of track, for example, the first week on the route I placed the track from Summit to San Bernardino including the A and B yards. I started at Summit because I prefer laying track downhill for some reason.
2) Place roads within 2 or 3 blocks of the tracks, sometimes more if they are visible from the tracks especially if they are perpendicular to the tracks and there is a long line of sight down them and flesh out all overpasses and grade crossings.
3) Ravines, rivers, washes, canals etc.
4) Terrain painting
5) Go for the most dense scenery first and the biggest structures or just as valid for me, the sparse areas that can be filled quickly with asset blocks.
6) Terrain painting
7) 1st round of static trucks, cars, clutter
8) Telephone poles, transmission lines, fencing etc. (so much fencing, my god, someone nuke Hesperia along with a good hunk of the Lucerne Valley)
9) Terrain painting
10) Scattered housing/scenery I find the hardest to do. Dense developements and industrial areas are relatively easy and look proper even without much detail. Scattered houses require much more detail in order to look inhabited.
11) Terrain painting
12) Detail clutter
13) Terrain painting
14) Rip up something I did wrong and start over
15) Lay another large hunk of track and repeat steps 2 through 14
16) Go back to an area I left unfinished and have a good cry.
17) Play Battlefield and shoot sumthin'
18) load/unload points
19) Track markers
1b thru 19b) Beer, brandy, scotch, wine or aspirin as needed. Medicinal purposes only, you understand.
And just to be contrary, mix up the order any way you see fit in order to be working on something you hate the least at that moment.
As far as doing something that takes years, I try not to think about it. I work one acre at a time always thinking that's one less acre when done. It's also motivating to reflect on all the time spent so far and push on so that all that time doesn't seem like it was for naught. One of the best feelings I get is when I'm working one area and I can see an area that I finished months ago come into view.
Download the PRB from page 51 of the Powder River Basin thread.
by gtrtroger » Thu Jun 08, 2017 10:47 am 
