Railworks America

First of many screenshots. Terrain is done with ReDem and 1/9 arc second DEM files. Rather than shrink the pictures, I'll post links...

http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/river_mouth.png

The rail line at the bottom of the picture is the UP main line through the Columbia River Gorge. The little sort yard to the right is the HR RR origin. the HR RR goes near South up the river gorge to the right.

The old historical Columbia River Gorge Highway is the winding road going up the hill in the top left. What's so interesting about that, is that there has been no regrading for the road. I simply laid the road down on the terrain where it showed.

MadMike1024 wrote:What's so interesting about that, is that there has been no regrading for the road. I simply laid the road down on the terrain where it showed.

I can believe that...I done some samples for another member where the track run along the edge of a mountain with a river running alongside and you would swear the terrain was mapped in some places to the "inch" in detail. You could actually see what could be the river line edges and track base.....and I could only use 1/3 arc DEM.

Looking good there for starters MM, look forward to more WIP shots...

Looking good, keep us informed.

Yeah, nice work, Mike! Looking good!

More shots:

http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/up_main_west.png
Up Mainline Heading West. Hood River on the left, Columbia River and I-84 on the right
http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/up_main_east.png
Up Mainline Heading East. Industrial area to the left, and the I-84 overcrossing.
http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/Passenger_loading.png
Passenger loading area for the tour train, freight sort area for the Mt. Hood.
http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/river_bridge.png
First bridge over the Hood River.
http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/Williams_Creek.png
Williams Creek on the right.
http://mdroaming.home.comcast.net/Switchback.png
One of two switchbacks left on a working railroad.

Enjoy
MM

Looking good there MM.... Nice work indeed so far, a keeper for sure.
I like switchbacks and the grade looks like a good drive....a WIP shot when scenery is added will be appreciated.
Keep'm coming.....

While I'm here... I used the Project Platform, and some other RW addons. How bad is it to use payware resources? Would you get the route even if it had some?

MadMike1024 wrote:While I'm here... I used the Project Platform, and some other RW addons. How bad is it to use payware resources? Would you get the route even if it had some?

I would because part of paying for a new route is getting the new resources. There is just not enough free resources that fit the bill for me.

Well that surely depends on whether I have the payware or not I think Project Platform and Isle of Wight are widespread, with other routes it may be more difficult.

I'm seeing some city area in the first screenshot of your second post, will the route be going right through the city?

Mike, even tho there are a lot of Railworks haters on the Steam Forums, I'm not one of them. I have never had a problem with payware. You guys/ gals put a lot of time into this stuff and deserve to get something out of it.

This route is really looking great!

Toldrabald wrote:Well that surely depends on whether I have the payware or not I think Project Platform and Isle of Wight are widespread, with other routes it may be more difficult.

I'm seeing some city area in the first screenshot of your second post, will the route be going right through the city?

The city to the upper left is Hood River Proper. The UP main runs East/West at river level and skirts around it on the river side. The Industrial area on the right is a dredge fill that the Port of Hood River put in specifically to get room for industry. Mostly though, the town of Hood River is a scenic backdrop with a couple of industry drops fronting on the main line, and a spur into the industrial area. As always, with the limited tools we have it will not look exactly right, but will be representative.

Even though it doesn't actually exist, I'm planning to add a tunnel on the West end of the mainline to hide an AI train in for scenarios. East side is around a corner and long enough to hide a Westbound, but I may put in a hide tunnel there too. All this is because the main is only about 2 miles long and mostly visible.

I haven't figured it's mechanisms out for myself, but you can use portals to send trains in and out of your route.

Toldrabald wrote:I haven't figured it's mechanisms out for myself, but you can use portals to send trains in and out of your route.

I actually have the Hinkle 6 train (TOFC/COFC) moving through the area about 10:05 now, it makes servicing the industrial area a little more of a challenge. AI trains are interesting to work with.

Nice to see this being built. I had at one point contemplated doing it myself after researching US shortlines and tourist railroads, being just the right length for a modest RW project.

BigVern wrote:Nice to see this being built. I had at one point contemplated doing it myself after researching US shortlines and tourist railroads, being just the right length for a modest RW project.

I live near there (60 Miles), and my mother lived in a house near the line for a period of time. I have embellished the industrial area and it's rail service quite a bit, to give those who like switching(shunting) excercises something to do. There is a bit of customer service on the line, so freight runs are needed as well as the excursion trains. I went to the EOT at Parkdale, OR and am building the town at the moment.