New York Division - Bergen Line: Scenario Builders

[minerman146]

Between Work and working scenery - I dabble is research for some of the consignees on the Bergen. As actual waybills are extremely rare to come by, a bit of creativity is in order. So first I research the customer, the products they make and the raw materials used. Then, I search for suppliers and check how the products are shipped. Then I find real customers and their locations. In the end, we get an idea of what, how much, where and from where all these cars go. I think and I hope you will agree, this will really add interest to our switching and train building duties.

This consignee in East Rutherford is a perfect example. See if you can figure out what is going on here!

NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY BRANCH cont.

Consignee: Dubois (Diamond) Chemical (2 Track, Private)
Final Destination: East Rutherford, NJ
No. Cars: 2 Type: Covered Hopper
Commodity: Plastic Pellets
Frequency: 1 per week, on demand
To Station: N. J. N. Y. Junction
From Station: Jersey City, New Jersey

Consignee: Dubois (Diamond) Chemical (2 Track, Private)
Final Destination: East Rutherford, NJ
No. Cars: 2 Type: Sparger type covered hopper car
Commodity: Sodium chloride
Frequency: 2 per week, on demand
To Station: N. J. N. Y. Junction
From Station: Jersey City, New Jersey

Shipper: Dubois (Diamond) Chemical (2 Track, Private)
Consignee: Stikney Water Reclamation Plant
Final Destination: Chicago, IL
No. Cars: 1 Type: Tank Car
Commodity: Sodium Hypochlorite
Frequency: 1 per week, on demand
To Station: Jersey City, New Jersey
From Station: N. J. N. Y. Junction

Shipper: Dubois (Diamond) Chemical (2 Track, Private)
Consignee: Blue Plains Water Treatment Plant
Final Destination: Washington, DC
No. Cars: 1 Type: Tank Car
Commodity: Sodium Hypochlorite
Frequency: 1 per week, on demand
To Station: Jersey City, New Jersey
From Station: N. J. N. Y. Junction

[xxuntitledxx]

Don't forget... once my route is close to being released we can also start on some cross over scenarios with my Central Jersey route. NS operations and CSX operations out of Jersey City and Newark. So look forward to that being done too.

[goddrauG]

Minerman doesn't really appreciate others sort of "advertising" on his topics.

[xxuntitledxx]

I've talked to him about it for your information, so it's okay. He's helping me with my route. We already are in the planning stages.

[goddrauG]

My apologies. This happened before on the main Bergen thread, and I didn't want to start it again.

[minerman146]

My apologies. This happened before on the main Bergen thread, and I didn't want to start it again.

Guarddog - Thank you for looking out for the Bergen and its integrity - I really appreciate it. In the case of xxuntitledxx and even if I hadn't spoken to him before, he merely refers to his route, no link, no request to come on over and check him out. He's just communicating that we can extend scenarios between our two routes for " maximum funnage" and I am all for that.

xxuntitledxx - I am in the last 60 days here for sure with the route. You, my friend have a looooong way to go! I'll be right here or via PM to discuss any relevant subjects.

And guys please check out my route manual - its unfinished and still pretty darn cool!
to both of you!

[xxuntitledxx]

Very True Adam...very true... lol

[OldProf]

I wonder how many route builders begin by working up a users' manual? This strikes me as an excellent idea.

[minerman146]

I wonder how many route builders begin by working up a users' manual? This strikes me as an excellent idea.

I wonder too!

I am familiar enough with the EL operations to know you need one. We have 6 yards and 50 customers, through and local freight and a commuter rail road operating on the same line. That in itself needs a manual. Plus, and this will be done, you need to know how to path your trains through the interlocking - I will tell you how so you don't get frustrated guessing. If you guys can live with my 1974 manual, I will get you close to running it as correctly as possible.

The manual and the route was thought up at the same time - I want to see this route operated! What has not been fully tested by me are loaded scenarios - how many trains can we get on this route before crashing the game?

[NStrains]

What has not been fully tested by me are loaded scenarios - how many trains can we get on this route before crashing the game?

I can only speak for those of us here that have LESS than the required 2.8ghz+... It will be a struggle. I can barely get 15-18fps with an empty route other than whatever train I'm running. QD scenarios usually stay at 15-16fps. It is however, usually a fairly smooth display. No real bad stutters or hesitations. But as soon as I start to load up a free roam with a bunch of rolling stock, it crashes, a lot. I can only imagine it would be much better for anyone that actually has 2.8ghz or more. Or just keep the scenarios relatively small as far as area traveled and quantity of rolling stock used.

[minerman146]

NS,
And this is what you experience on the Bergen as well. The QDs are little load tests for the route, Suffern should be very demanding on your system then. And free roams - if I hear about performance issues, crashes and errors, its always on free-roam. Why is that? And should I worry about that for scenarios? I don't believe the Bergen will handle being run like a train set!

[NStrains]

NS,
And this is what you experience on the Bergen as well. The QDs are little load tests for the route, Suffern should be very demanding on your system then. And free roams - if I hear about performance issues, crashes and errors, its always on free-roam. Why is that? And should I worry about that for scenarios? I don't believe the Bergen will handle being run like a train set!

Yeah I experience this on almost all routes that I have. If I set up a free roam referencing google earth, I almost always have TS crash before I get to finish and test. And even then sometimes it won't crash until I go to actually run the free roam. I don't think I've ever had a QD crash on me, but I have had some what were heavily loaded with assets slow me way down.

I wouldn't worry too much about scenarios, unless you want one to cover the route end-end. In that case you would probably have a lot of rolling stock and AI traffic that would slow it down or crash it.

But again, this is just coming from someone who only has 2.3ghz and sees 2.75ghz when overclocked. Which NVidia always does when I'm playing TS.

[jalsina]

The route is very ambitious, very complete, with a lot of detail and therefore very realistic.
This punishes somewhat the frame rate. But I can get fps from 20 to 30 in QD.
I remember a couple months ago, I ran the entire route up to the north and the fps were lower there, about 15-18 fps.

However the current major problem in the route at this moment is that it has a good amount of speed limits errors. Sometimes you are in a 30 mph leg and you see a 30 change coming in. Or you are running at 40 and then you see a 60 mph change but with a light 20 yards before, which change the speed to 30 with no warning and with no track switching at all (obviously a speed change driven by the light which are not visible in the game).

In my opinion, before good scenarios can be designed, most of those speed limits have to be fixed.

[minerman146]

The route is very ambitious, very complete, with a lot of detail and therefore very realistic.
This punishes somewhat the frame rate. But I can get fps from 20 to 30 in QD.
I remember a couple months ago, I ran the entire route up to the north and the fps were lower there, about 15-18 fps.

However the current major problem in the route at this moment is that it has a good amount of speed limits errors. Sometimes you are in a 30 mph leg and you see a 30 change coming in. Or you are running at 40 and then you see a 60 mph change but with a light 20 yards before, which change the speed to 30 with no warning and with no track switching at all (obviously a speed change driven by the light which are not visible in the game).

In my opinion, before good scenarios can be designed, most of those speed limits have to be fixed.

Jalsina, thanks for speaking on this subject. I would need to address some of this by specific location. I actually bury some signs to put limits on x-overs for example, because there are speed restrictions on the switches. That wasn't what you were speaking of. So one issue is missing posted speed changes yes? This thread is for what you pointed out - correct errors that may impede scenarios and/or I document what is there and why. I think this is fun to fix to improve fidelity. All I need is a screen shot and the issue. I know this route! And Thanks brother Jalsina for that first sentence - wow!

[jalsina]

Jalsina, thanks for speaking on this subject. I would need to address some of this by specific location. I actually bury some signs to put limits on x-overs for example, because there are speed restrictions on the switches. That wasn't what you were speaking of. So one issue is missing posted speed changes yes? This thread is for what you pointed out - correct errors that may impede scenarios and/or I document what is there and why. I think this is fun to fix to improve fidelity. All I need is a screen shot and the issue. I know this route! And Thanks brother Jalsina for that first sentence - wow!

No. When I refer to visibility of speed limits I refer to the HUD strip.
What I described above was from a short QD run from Patterson Westbound Freight to NJ to (VIA) Suffern. There are in this short leg 3 or 4 issues.
I can´t help you chasing others SL. I will send you a PM telling you why.