Powder River Basin

[NStrains]

Yeah I think Minerman can attest to the asset per block/rolling stock deal. Its something I battle with using an under powered laptop. So when I set up a free roam or play anyones scenario I have to see how much rolling stock has been placed and where. If there is a ton of rolling stock in a dense area, it will most likely crash in that area. Or if there is too much in general, the route won't even load for me.

[JohnS]

Tim and I are messing around with some static locomotives. We'll see how it works.

Buzz is doing all the work and I'm in charge of messing around!

[ColoradoRailfan]

This route looks outstanding so far! Hopefully i'll be able to run on this route if you release it

[Tomcat]

This route looks outstanding so far! Hopefully i'll be able to run on this route if you release it

Thank you. It will be released in stages but I don't know if it will ever be finished as it is still very much an experiment rather than a bonafide WIP. Most of my time is spent on Cajon - Mojave so The Powder River Basin will take quite some time before I have anything approaching the full extent of what I want to do (some number of years at least).

The first stage may be forthcoming in a month or two and will contain the track shown below and perhaps 7 to 10 miles of scenery. What I have so far is about 21 miles of the Black Hills Subdivision, 16 miles of the Orin Subdivision and 3 or 4 miles of the Campbell Subdivision.

I don't want to drive Bob or Buzz crazy with multiple stage releases cluttering up the file section so I will most likely release it on MediaFire in stages and then when it's either finished or I give up I'll submit the final version to Bob for release here.

PRB001.jpg

PRB002.jpg

PRB003.jpg

I think the track work is significantly better than Cajon-Mojave but there are still things that drive me crazy and I can only works towards making each mile of track better than the last mile. I'll get around to posting screenshots of what drives me crazy at some point.

So what will be included and what do you need;

Track is complete for the section shown.
Milepost markers
Track markers
Speed limits and signage complete
7 to 10 miles of completed scenery
Distant Terrain without the Texture folder (not much of an issue considering the terrain in Wyoming)
Perhaps two standard scenarios; one being taking empties from Donkey Creek Yard to Caballo and the other, taking a loaded coal train from Caballo to Donkey Creek Yard - both with appropriate AI traffic.


The route is based heavily on the following payware; Tehachapi Pass (3DTrains), Sherman Hill (DTG), Soldier Summit (DTG) and Steven's Pass (GNTX/DTG)
Freeware is the same as my Cajon - Mojave route with assets from John Lippai, SMMDigital, RCAP and EMDSD90MAC and Tomcat\Orin (Route Markers/Thumbnail/Track Rule/Texturing)

Warning: Although I have yet to put more than 500 assets in a single tile the graphics demand appears to be higher than Cajon-Mojave, so if you can't run Cajon-Mojave then this will almost certainly be a problem. I have yet to experience a crash while running the route so far.

[JohnS]

This is fantastic news. I really look forward to this.

[imnew]

I echo ColoradoRailfan!

Tomcat,

What parts will you complete first? Orin Line?

[Tomcat]

What parts will you complete first? Orin Line?

I actually hadn't given it much thought up to this point. Orin first seems like it would be the logical way to go, then continue on the Canyon sub and wind up in Guernsey. After that, I suppose the Black Hills sub should be worked Westward to the yard at Gillette. The Campbell sub is fairly short and could be added at any time.

Once that is done then I'll start thinking about extending the Black HIlls sub Eastward.

[imnew]

Alrighty. Orin first sounds really logical to me as well And on that bit of good intel I will grant my self a beer. Thanks Tomcat

[Tomcat]

East Belle Ayr Junction

[JohnS]

Wow! that's awesome! I think I'll watch the video again

[emdsd90mac]

Wow!! This is awesome stuff here. I was working on a version of this some time ago, but lost it all in a crash. Way to go!!

[Tomcat]

Wow! that's awesome! I think I'll watch the video again

Glad you like the video. The amount of traffic on the line in it's heyday is almost the definition of awesome.

Wow!! This is awesome stuff here. I was working on a version of this some time ago, but lost it all in a crash. Way to go!!

Thank you, I hope I can do it justice... what I do with it remains to be seen. If nothing else it's a really nice change from desert scenery and provides a welcome change of pace from Cajon - Mojave. Sorry to hear you lost the route in a crash. How far did you get?


A small bit of work this past week around MP 588 on the Black Hills Subdivision (West Campbell);

Screenshot_Powder River Basin_44.29079--105.32534_06-11-19.jpg

[JohnS]

I have the Pentrex combo video of the Powder River Basin. The amount of trains was amazing to see.

[Tomcat]

A quick and dirty 180 degree panorama of Donkey Creek Junction. Some stitching errors are visible if you look closely at the track but those are the result of the post processing rather than kinks in the track.

To the left the tracks head almost directly East towards Donkey Creek Yard and on the right they head West towards Gillette.

DCJPano.jpg

[imnew]

Thanks for the update tomcat. Looks great