by Tomcat » Sat Feb 22, 2020 12:08 am
Here is what I do and I have no idea if it's the proper way to do these things but it works for me.
My first free roam is setup when I first create the route through the 'Build' option. Thereafter I never bother using 'Build' again. As I lay down track, lets say every 5 miles or so, I click on the 'Scenario Tools' icon in the editor and then go to the 'Scenario Markers' icon and then place a new free roam marker and give it an appropriate name that has some meaning for me. After some time I wind up with a bunch of free roam scenarios that I can pick from to get me the closet to where I want to work. I usually use town names for the free roam scenario names. If towns are pretty far apart then I may add a 'Pre Town' and 'Post Town' free roam where those scenarios would be about 5 miles before and after the town. If there are no towns for a really long stretch then I'll create a free roam with some name that relates to a landmark of some sort - might be a grade crossing, an overpass, a river, siding name - whatever has some meaning for you where you can know exactly where on the route the free roam is.
As I go along the route I'll add new free roams and delete those that I have already finished working around and at any given time I may have around 8 to 10 free roams available to choose from.
or you can just have one free roam and then once you get to the editor, bring up the #9 view and ctrl-left click where you want to go and then hit the 'go' triangle near the compass thingy at the top of the screen. I prefer many free roams because I can also add different consists to each one so I can test newly laid track without having to drive from miles away or just drive through slowly to check out scenery placement.
Download the PRB from page 51 of the Powder River Basin thread.