Railworks America

Thought I would post a quick shot of a WIP I have cranked out just today. This is a loose interpretation of the the Intermountain Power Project in Utah that I stumbled across on GE. It's going to make a great addition to a route that I am working on, but it will be finished before the route and released to you all fine folks. Yes, it's big.

Think it's looking great.

That will be a great addition.

It is indeed big! Is it rail served or directly next to a coal mine/open pit?

Speaking of rail served power plants, is merry-go-round operation possible? I.e. the train being unloaded while slowly moving over a discharge chute? So far any loading/unloading scenario I've played was a single car at a time, quite tedious when there are like 120 in a coal train.
When coal gondolas are being used instead of bottom discharge hopper cars, we need a model of a rotary dumper. Or just assume the gondolas are being turned over when passing through a building of sufficient size to hide any machinery that might be inside.

Thanks Buzz and JPeters, I'll be starting the texturing soon. What I want to do is release it in two different forms, one will be assembled close to as it appears in the photo and the other will me modular so everyone that wants to use it in a route can use it to their needs; it'll be more work on my end with the exports and such, but I feel doing it this way will make it more appealing to more users due to the assembled size. How does this sound to you?

Looking good!

Speaking of rail served power plants, is merry-go-round operation possible? I.e. the train being unloaded while slowly moving over a discharge chute? So far any loading/unloading scenario I've played was a single car at a time, quite tedious when there are like 120 in a coal train.
When coal gondolas are being used instead of bottom discharge hopper cars, we need a model of a rotary dumper. Or just assume the gondolas are being turned over when passing through a building of sufficient size to hide any machinery that might be inside.

Funny you mention that, because I asked that very question just the other day and have not gotten any hits yet. I believe that having to stop your train completely will be a LUA scripting thing. I am wanting to make a new coal unloading point, but I don't know how to do the blueprint for it (having a blueprint editor brain fart) and I would like to make one that will allow for multiple cars to unloaded at once. Optimally, in-motion unloading would be amazing. I did start a model of a rotary dumper, but once again, I would need help with the animation and scripting portion of that project. If there are any takers out there that are savvy in this area, them please PM me and we'll talk.

There should be Ferris wheels, merry go rounds and other animated fairground rides available here or elsewhere that should help with animating a rotary car dumper.

When it is housed inside a discharge building the train runs through, it will hardly be visible due to noise and dust pollution rules. So some large machinery turning a circular shape with the silhouette of a railcar inside will suffice. I doubt one can turn a gondola over in Railworks anyway, so the illusion will have to suffice. Appropriate loud clanks and bangs, the rumble of coal falling etc, plus some dust will do. With a modern dry fog dust suppression system in operation, nothing will be visible from the outside.

More important IMO is the slow moving train going in loaded and coming out unloaded. This probably means a scripted trigger has to unload the gondolas/hopper one cars at a time while leaving the engines free to pass. If the engines pass over the rotary dumper at all, I have the impression car pushers handle the train. With a bottom discharge operation, the engines can pass safely over the chutes, so that is even easier to simulate

http://www.heylpatterson.com is a manufacturer of bulk onloading technology.
Here is one of theirs in action:

Longer video from Ukraine:

Animation, I'll have to play with. Right now, I would really just like to make a new discharge point that is longer than the current ones if this is possible which will allow for multiple cars to be unloaded at one time.

Just bought a book on Lua scripting, what journey that will be...