Trans-Canada Railroading

[krellnut]

This is the Canadian route David Elsner and I are working on. It all started when I was helping David with his excellent Skunk Route. After it was released he said he would like to do something for me, so we said lets do Winnipeg, my hometown. It started growing from there, and I said I'd love to go right to the West Coast. going East I thought going to Thunder bay would be a great place to end it there. Both a CP\CN yard, with real life places to turn around. But David had said that he flew to Thunder Bay's location, and Google Overlay was blacked out. So I started by building Winnipeg completely, then building West. Both CN\CP have dual mainlines out of Winnipeg. At Portage La Prairie,MB. they both split into separate lines. One CN line heads to Rivers,MB. ultimately heading to Edmonton,AL. The other CN line heads up to Dauphin which could end in Churchill,MB. One CP line heads to Brandon,MB. ultimately heading to Calgary,AL. The other CP line could also go to Edmonton. With a CP line at Calgary, and a CN line at Edmonton, I could take both those lines into the mountains right to Vancouver,BC. As of right now, I have terrain loaded to Calgary and Saskatoon. I have tracks laid for CP to Regina,SK. I have CN tracks laid to Melville,SK. But it bothered me that I really didn't know how far East I could go, so with Google Overlay on, I loaded terrain to Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay,Ont. is not blacked out on Google Overlay. Now I knew how far East I was going. There are one CP and two CN lines going to Thunder Bay. As of right now, I have one CN\CP line done just outside of Thunder Bay. There's a point where the two CN lines merge with the CP line going underneath the CN line, that's where I am taking the three lines,then taking a CP\CN line into Thunder Bay. I lay track first, then go back after and run a train to gradient repair. The one CN line is both laid and repaired. The CP line is laid, and I'm trying to repair it now. But here is where I'm running into all sorts of problems. Gradient repairing is sending huge amounts of track under ground. Repairing across joints now causes one side of the joint to either be above or below the other side. And now that my tracks bin is 23mb. big, it takes over a minute and a half to save a change. My original goal was to get the three lines to Thunder Bay, announce the route, then ask for help to decorate the three back to Winnipeg. But the track is really getting wrecked now. I've tried putting the route into different versions of the game, no luck. Don't know what else to do. If I could have taken the three lines to Thunder Bay, and with the track I have laid, it will be close to 2500 miles(see pics). At this point, the only thing I can think of is too break the route apart. Say,Thunder Bay to Winnipeg. Then other route Winnipeg to Edmonton and Calgary (if it could work that far). I would appreciate any opinions and comments at this point. I started laying last October. In the first pic, the orange lines are the CN\CP yards in Thunder Bay.


I got so wrapped up writing I forgot to do paragraphs, sorry.

[DrewG]

I can't believe you two are.doing that much! incredible about all I can say.

[BoostedFridge]

Good on you guys, that's one heck of a project! The scenery on the prairies would go relatively quick, but that's still a serious undertaking! The scenery on the Skunk route is fantastic, so i'm sure the results will be great!

[GSkid]

I hate the route cuz it's not in the USA.

But seriously... that is a pretty extensive and detailed track system. I'd say break it up if need be if you are having problems. Get some advice from experienced route builders on how to resolve the track issue so it won't need to be broken up.

The main knock I would have on such a huge route is either it is too sparsely populated with scenery objects... or.... even if there is a lot, it's a lot of repeating blah. Making such a large route with enough variety in objects and accuracy to what is really on the real route is preferred....but is a massive undertaking.

Otherwise good luck and I really like how detailed the trackage routes are so far. Amazing!

[krellnut]

While laying track with Google Overlay, there are many sections which in real life would be boring to run. But if any of you don't think engineer's don't get bored with there job, your sadly mistaken. I know two engineer's personally who run Winnipeg to River's,Mb. and they both say its extremely boring. Of course, the scenery plays a huge part, but even looking at the same beautiful landscape over and over loses its excitement. I thought the purpose of a simulator is to simulate real life, and boredom is part of real life railroading. I see now that we all only want to be entertained, no real life boring stuff.

I really thought a route of this magnitude was going to be more well received, but not so. At this point I don't think this will ever be available for download.

As of now, I'm able to continue with gradient repairing, more troublesome now, but its working. My personal goal is to get those three lines along with Thunder Bay built, then stop with the track work for now.

One more thing I'd like to mention; 99% of all the mainline curves are super elevated. Running through Ontario all decorated would have been incredible.

[DrewG]

Please make it available. A scale that size of CN and CP tracks is amazing and I'd love to have it.

[Chacal]

This is tremendous and amazing work, Krellnut.
I read your post and should have posted back, I know it can get discouraging if you don't get feedback.
Maybe others are like me and thought this project is so huge it is scary. The first thing that came to my mind after reading your post was "he's gonna melt his computer".
I hope it works for you!

[dejoh]

I still think a detailed route representing either Thunder Bay or Winnipeg, showing industrial sidings an yards would be a most appreciated endeavor.
Running cross country seems like a daunting task. You have my complete support to you and your team. I hope you continue.

[thecanadianrail]

This is truly amazing, even just completing the trackwork and terrain and making it available to the public would make it great, personally im not the best with trackwork compared to scenery so I would like it to make the Edson subdivision (Edmonton to Jasper), especially since I live 2km off of the mainline just outside of Edmonton! Or if you decide to actually complete it I would be more than glad to help with these western sections since im right here....quite literally I can go outside and take a look at everything!

[GSkid]

Lets see here Wally .... as of now, you have 280+ thread views (granted.. a chunk of those are re-views) and 50+ downloads on each. Not too bad for less than a week. Remember that some people can go weeks in-between visits to the site, so be patient. Also.. there are people that won't bother downloading those files. If it isn't available instantly as a posted picture or video, some won't bother. Understand that threads on this forum are a strange animal. Some get tons of replies, while others get lots of views but not a single reply. Just the nature of the beast.

Also keep in mind that you are a victim of your own success. The download numbers for both your ES44 & SD70 10-packs total 3900+ combined. Then there is your ongoing crown achievement "Krellnut's US Freight Car Sounds-2015" at 3100+ downloads. That number is likely a little low cuz people had downloaded earlier versions and some I'm guessing never updated to the new one. Considering how much good feedback and downloads it got, anything after it pales in comparison. Kinda like winning a movie Oscar early in your career... it's kinda downhill from such a very high peak. Plus, sound packs are more useable and universally likeable than a route....so don't expect sound pack levels of downloads of it.

As for boring? There is two kinds of boring in this case. The good kind of boring is making the scenery along the route as accurate as you can...especially towns and landmarks. A route that would be the same boring as you would be being bored riding the real life route.

The bad boring is a route made with more barren landscapes and a scarce amount of objects that barely tries to mimic the real life route. Basically a generic looking route.

We like what we see so far. Don't make or not make the route based on feedback levels. Make it cuz you want to. A work of passion. If people like it, they'll download it. If they don't, they won't. If feedback levels are your main gauge as to if you will build it or not, then you are building it for the wrong reasons IMO. Build it cuz YOU want the route made.

[DrewG]

David elsner has been posting some videos of the route on his YouTube ( under the name David Elsner) and it looks quite fantastic.

[Chacal]

Oh. I was thinking no scenery had been laid out yet.
This looks very good!

[krellnut]

Thanks guys for the responses. I'm not really sure where this will end up, but I'm gradient repairing the one CP line to Thunder Bay. Then onto the second of two CN lines to Thunder Bay. Build Thunder Bay, repair some track elsewhere, I'll post some pics and we'll take it from there.

[artimrj]

Keep in mind that tracks.bin is going to grow further when you start adding siding and platform markers. Their info goes in there also. The longer they are the more they take up so you may want to just make short ones to designate sidings and let people add their own markers in scenarios. AI people on platforms also go in the tracks.bin.

[krellnut]

Keep in mind that tracks.bin is going to grow further when you start adding siding and platform markers. Their info goes in there also. The longer they are the more they take up so you may want to just make short ones to designate sidings and let people add their own markers in scenarios. AI people on platforms also go in the tracks.bin.

I know, I know, its going to keep growing! Also speed signs, crossings and signals. Anything that glues to the track. Speaking of signals, are you interested in signalling the three lines from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg for us. Please, pretty please. Buzz says your the best.