(WIP) Caldwell County Railroad

[NDORFN]

To kick things off, Here's some info I blatantly plagerized from the Railway Association of North Carolina...

"The Caldwell County Railroad Co. operates between Hickory and Lenoir, serving businesses in Catawba and Caldwell counties in North Carolina ’s Western Piedmont . The railroad began service in 1994 over a former Norfolk Southern branch line that was purchased by the Caldwell County Economic Development Commission. It was subsequently leased to Caldwell County Railroad Company, a subsidiary of Southeast Shortlines Inc. Commodities carried by the railroad are plastics and building materials."

I've built the line using ReDem and RWDecal, placing lines exactly to real-world position and generally followed gradients only compromising where it came to level crossings. The CCR (it's actually CCRR but I'm calling it CCR in tribute to the band) presently only uses the mainline down to Lenoir and very few of the sidings, but I've kept almost all of the many sidings set as "in use" and am working on a storyline for the route set in a near future economic boom where the local industries are enjoying a massive revival. Oh come on, It's not that hard to believe is it?

Anyway enough of the boring stuff. If you want an idea of what it's going to look like, look up Hickory NC on Google earth and take a look around. Also Google street view reveals alot as most of the route is adjacent to roads. Plenty of time for chit-chat later! Here's the goods...

Looking down the 2.5% gradient in Hickory. This is where the real CCRR house thier loco's... in a wire cage.

Caldwell County Railroad 01.jpg

Another view of the "depot" from the Sonoco Recycling shed. Century Furniture in the backround.

Caldwell County Railroad 02.jpg

Looking up the Century Furniture siding. Still somewhat overgrown.

Caldwell County Railroad 03.jpg

Looking up the 2.5% grade.

Caldwell County Railroad 04.jpg

Gotta run, rugrat is nipping at my heels...

[PapaXpress]

Please sir, can I have some more?

[SCLALINE]

Nice

[NDORFN]

The main feature of the route is the trackage. The area, whilst seamingly quite flat is actually very hilly and the variance in gradients through the whole line is amazing. So I've put to work what I consider my forte in route building, painstakingly laying track which is realistic to ride on. Most changes in gradient are done in 0.1% increments. I'm working on replicating that bowed track you see sometimes where each segment dips badly at the fishplates. It's easy to make it look prototypical, not so easy to get the loco's to ride it realistically due to the lack of simulated suspension and the fact that 1 meter is the shortest length of track.

ANYWAY ... Onward

I've tried to capture the trackage in these pics. Problem with smoothly transitioned gradients is they're really hard to photograph without special lenses.

Caldwell County Railroad 05.jpg

This is the other end of Century Furniture. That's about a 2.5% downgrade transitioning into about a 2.5% ascent on that loft (can't remember exact figures, whatever).

Caldwell County Railroad 06.jpg

To the best of my knowledge the whole prototypical line has a 10mph limit presently, which is the limit for alot of my route, so it can definately be considered a switching route. Unfortunately, when you're running a train at really low speeds you need loads of detail around you or it gets boring, so the first release of the route will leave people with lower-end comps out. Don't worry, the whole point of creating this route is to perfect the art of balancing detail against performance (like Canadian Shortliner did with Bay of Quinte) before getting stuck into the Blue Ridge Sub. I'll release a "lower detail" version (that is to say still as realistic but with less objects) to consolidate my skills. Right, back to work. Why are you still reading this? Go play trains.

[SCLALINE]

http://vimeo.com/8202398

[imnew]

Looks good ! Cant wait to try out that detailed track work. Must have taken some time to get it right. Nice to see so many routes being made these days.

[Griphos]

This is incredibly promising. Bring on the switcher routes, I say! And fidelity to track gradients is a wonderful focus for a route. Looks very good scenery wise in many of those pics as well. I've always thought you don't necessarily needs lots of details, just the right ones. It's about capturing the feel of a place. But, heck, I haven't laid one single meter of track so that's only an end-user's perspective.

Looking forward to this one. Lots of wonderful routes in development out there! Going to be a good year!

[NDORFN]

http://vimeo.com/8202398

Everytime I see that video I feel like I need to put even more effort into the track laying. Notice the "kink" in the line just ahead of the loco?... That's the kind of detail I'm trying to achieve but my decals don't have enough detail to see exactly where those kinks are and higher detail decals just lock up the system. I'll just have to incorporate some kinks and bumps randomly.

[PapaXpress]

You need to remember something... Only you know where the real kinks and bumps are.

The second thing you need to remember... you are allowed some creative license.

The third thing you need to remember... HAVE FUN!

The rivet counters usually can't afford to travel on location and make sure you got it right.

[SCLALINE]

dont worry about every rivet, really - it looks great - one thing i love about RW is we can make the routes look Beautiful

[Csxgp38-2]

Aha, as a NC railfan I say it shall be correct, or else!!! Haha nah, I don't get up to the mountains too much, looks like you've really captured the look of NC though. One thing, we have lots of pine and oak trees. Great job so far!

[NDORFN]

Aha, as a NC railfan I say it shall be correct, or else!!! Haha nah, I don't get up to the mountains too much, looks like you've really captured the look of NC though. One thing, we have lots of pine and oak trees. Great job so far!

Well that was a fluke. I made some basic referece to Google street view to get an idea of the types of trees but mostly I'm just using HSC trees near tracks and a few 2D trees in the backround. I can't stand those rotating 2D trees though. Have to say, I really like NC. Definately a state I'll be spending some time in when I come to the US.

[NDORFN]

The rivet counters usually can't afford to travel on location and make sure you got it right.

Just incase they can...

Rivet Counter.jpg

I've been chatting to one of the guys from the railroad and some locals from the area who belong to the CCR Facebook page. I told them I'd upload some pics of the route for scrutiny... This is the response I got... "ight that sounds good......hav u already did it"

Man I wish I could have actually heard him say that.

God bless America.

[Csxgp38-2]

Haha, that's how we talk in NC.

[NDORFN]

Been experimenting in rough trackage. Seen this alot in photos. Doesn't show up so good in screenies but looks good in the game both trackside and in cab and is very realistic to drive on (well, from what I've seen in videos anyway).

Rough Track.jpg