Railworks America

I guess its about time I start to share some progress...

I plan to do California Capitol Corridor which uses the old SP main line from San Jose up to Roseville yard (yea I know it goes a bit further, but I always stop at Sacramento). I will also include Niles Canyon all the way up to Pleasanton. The route will be based largely on what the line looks like today, with a few of the industries from the 80's put back in just to add the ability to roll the clock back and run a bunch of bloody noses around .

The whole route has personal significance to me as I grew up in the Newark/Niles area and watched SP (and UP) roll by and take the CC up to Sacramento a number of times to visit the railroad museum. I was able to spend time at both Niles Tower and East Oakland Tower before they were closed down, and met a lot of great people. Today both my sons love the drive to the canyon to see and occasionally ride on the trains of the Niles Canyon Railroad, and during Christmas we use up what is left on my ACE ticket to ride down to San Jose for Christmas in the park.

So far I figure I have 48+ miles of mainline laid out with a few bits I need to rip and replace, and I have two yards done (Santa Clara and Newark), with two more in progress (Fruitvale and the Oakland Intermodal Yard)... gonna take a year I figure, maybe more.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4oXMp9mB6vM/Talk0lBC9HI/AAAAAAAAASY/qGxPrKf9OEk/s1600/San+Jose+Diridon+Station+%25282011-04-16%2529.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8suy5eqtBek/Talk3I8UnoI/AAAAAAAAASc/rcIrpbeIKlY/s1600/Santa+Clara+Station+%25282011-04-16%2529.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jD5m1FVSKOA/Talk4zfc_0I/AAAAAAAAASg/pa95NF5_da4/s1600/Newark+Juction+%25282011-04-16%2529.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-miC_rDfO-QE/Talk6lUYJUI/AAAAAAAAASk/gwc-RoKNopQ/s1600/Niles+Junction+%25282011-04-16%2529.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ABGPJPY7Azo/TalX7xCx1vI/AAAAAAAAASM/mC-bAAT4vd0/s1600/Oakland+Intermodal+Terminal+%25282001-04-15%2529.jpg

One more Amtrak Route to Enjoy. I never been on the Capitol Corridor, but I love the uniqueness in California Routes. What is needed now is a Set Of Amtrak California Cars and ACE Cars and we have gold.

Remember to Save, Save, Save and Backup often. Keep in mind RW2 likes to throw unexpected errors in your path, but don't get discourage.


Good Luck!

Ya that sounds great although they don't have one for MSTS yet.Looking forward too the Route when it is ready.

Really looking forward to it.

Great stuff. Wish you good luck on your project. Cant wait for this one

Well I failed to follow the three cardinal rules: "Back up, Back up, Back up". I added something last night that RW didn't like and now I am trying to fix it blindly.... and I haven't backed up in days.

I know where it the problem is in the route, as I can fly around the area, but not go near it. I think it has to do with a platform I added there.

Update: Well all is not lost. The error is hiding in two of my 'Track Tile' bin files. Unfortunately these two files encompass the greater part of my work in Oakland Intermodal which was an accomplishment I was quite proud of. I will tamper with the XML in the bin files and see if I can remove the offending object(s), at worst I lost three days of intense work.

Any lost is a bad lost. A recurring lost is a nightmare!

Thankfully Win 7 had a copy of a slightly newer version of the two bin files. There was still quite a bit of track missing, but I was able to crack them open using RWTools and add about half of the rails back in from the bad BIN. I still don't know what RW is choking on. The XML in the bin is well formed, and just from a number of spot checks (there are over 10,000 lines in this one) nothing seems to be miss. I have some theories, but until I understand the object structure of the track tile XML, I won't comment.

And now for screen shot of Oakland Intermodal. This is after 4 hours of investigation and an hour of adding some track back. You will see where there is track missing by the single turnouts and empty spaces.

How is yiur Route coming along any progress of it yet.What is the Trackage % now & scenery?

Been doing little bits here and there. The mainline is down but need leveling in several places. The major yards are half done. What going to stop me is trees. They just don't exist yet.

I invite you to read my blog. I don't post as frequently as I use to but its all there.

Wow - this is gonna' be some route!

Lets not get too excited Look at when I posted the first thread. Even I can't believe its been a year already.

I have a ton of work to do on it. I would be willing to let others help me, but this is my passion and vision (and childhood if you read my blog) so I would be "in charge". Right now I may squeeze in five days a month on the route, and devote the rest of my time to super-detailing, model building and repaints (I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN MY REQUEST LIST!!!!).

It *might* be ready next year, but who knows.