Virtual New Haven RR, a WIP project for RW

[ozinoz]

Excellent - you guys certainly have set the standard in route quality and rolling stock inclusions.

[ozinoz]

Thomas' new rolling stock looks great. How is the progress going in relation to a full release of Ver 1? Cant believe there has been no news in 2 months My other equal favourite route project has bitten the dust while I have been away on holiday; its all hanging on you guys now...we're all counting on you



Grant

[ozinoz]

The new Trailiner equipment screenies look great - looking forward to getting my hands on this. Any update on a Ver 1 release?

&


ps: cant believe I am the last 3 posts in this thread over 2 months...

[CARex]

ps: cant believe I am the last 3 posts in this thread over 2 months...

We're still alive and kicking.

There was some illness for a short while as well as a 'relocation' (and all that goes along with such).

But there are at four (different) period Pullman coaches in the pipeline and an overhaul (poly reduction) of the RDC-3 model is at hand. Time consuming at best, but I'm hoping to have it, at least, in V1.0.

We're planning the other RDC's to be included in a later version.

[ozinoz]

Thanks Bob for the update. Lots of health issues seem to be going around at the moment - hope everybody involved fit and well...

New Pullmans, Trailer cars, new Cabeese, on top of what has already been released - this REALLY is a super project. I am probably most looking forward to the promised steam facilities in Springfield, so I can finally put Ms Connie to work

[GreatNortherner]

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words.

In addition to what Bob said, there has also been a lot of work editing the interactives on the route, to allow for much better player/AI and AI/AI interaction. Tom Pallen has kindly been tutoring us on the special requirements of action-packed switching scenarios, so we could do some dramatic improvements in terms of scenario possibilites. This is a bit more time consuming as we first thought, mostly because it requires a lot of additional testing, but I think in the end it will be worth the extra delay.

Cheers,
Michael

[CARex]

As previously mentioned... the RDC revisions are nearing completion. It’s currently half the poly count of the original model. And there is still room for approximately another 3 or 4K Poly reduction in the undercarriage.

Meanwhile, I thought y'all might enjoy a progress peek...

RDC_LowPoly_7B.jpg

[dgallina]

Nice work Bob! These will fill a BIG gap in equipment available for Railworks IMO!

Question:

Will these be available to buy separately in other road names or for reskinning?

The following also had these in some numbers and combinations of RDC 1-4 types: B&O (16), B&M (109), CN (28), CP (53), CRR NJ (7), NYC (20), PRSL (12), Reading (12). There are many other original roads that had one or two and a massive number of secondary owners.

Thanks again!

Diego

[CARex]

Diego,

We were actually thinking about making it/them available separately as well. We haven't worked out all the plans yet.

The NH had all four versions on the books. I've modeled the three larger ones, but not the shorter bodied RDC-4 (RPO) version. Although it is in the plan.

Now that I've gotten the -3's body & chassis less poly heavy than it was... when it’s finished, I hope to move forward on the other versions. Basically, just modifying the body shell’s to the appropriate configuration.

Eventually I will get to my favorite... the 'hot rod' -4.

[dgallina]

Awesome news, thanks for the follow-up.

Diego

[arizonachris]

Very nice looking model there, Bob. Had to look that one up, "Rail Diesel Car". Interesting concept. Really looking forward to this route, I know you and Michael and Tom are all busy with life and everything else. Keep up the great work!

(I won't ask about the "Black Beetle")

[buzz456]

Very nice looking model there, Bob. Had to look that one up, "Rail Diesel Car". Interesting concept. Really looking forward to this route, I know you and Michael and Tom are all busy with life and everything else. Keep up the great work!

(I won't ask about the "Black Beetle")

See it by my house every now and then.

cn_rdc_1501_ii_by_wolvesone-d4agnn3.jpg

[ozinoz]

Another website update - a new tank car this time.

Can anybody help me regarding the font used by the NH on their rolling stock / loco tenders. The font that has been used on the rolling stock looks like a Railroad Times New Roman, but the font available from Railfonts as New Haven looks very different. Does anybody know if their font style changed along the way and when. Did they have a different style for tenders as opposed to rolling stock? Would like to do a New Haven steamer (possibly one of Dicks USRA - not proto I know, but it is steam ) and I am just interested in what it should be.

and thanks...

Grant

[dgallina]

Hi Grant,

I'm not an expert, but what I've been able to find on the web so far suggests one of two depending on whether you need serif or non serif.

The non serif is NH Atlantic:
http://www.railfonts.com/cgi-bin/font_s ... age13.html

The Serif is 58 Rodeo:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/baselinefo ... llery.html

Hope that helps!
Diego

[philmoberg]

NH Atlantic is a pretty close match to the "streamline" font the New Haven used, but you have to be careful working with it in the smaller sizes, because subtle differences, such as a downward shift of the middle bar of the "E" can occur. Typically, I make the lettering twice the size I want it, past it as a separate imaged and reduce that by 50%. It's a nicely done font, in any case, and I recommend you're purchasing it.

There are several close matches to the later serif font, from the McGinnis era, but I haven't found anything that doesn't involve fiddling one or more characters. A good freeware alternative to 58 Rodeo is the free version of Rockwell, but that, too, needs some adjustment of certain characters (the "A" especially), and needs to be shortened a bit vertically. Ultimately, I made up a "NEW HAVEN" image based on railroad drawings I have a copy of, since the road name typically is all you tend to need in his font. PM me an e-mail address and I'll be happy to send it along, once I find out where I backed it up.

Numbering on passenger cars and locomotives, from the delivery of the lightweight cars (mid-'30s) was a popular font of the time known as Futura. An extremely close match to this is in TrueType Century Gothic, which can be used pretty much as-is, unless you really want to nitpick about the "1" (which I do, as a rule).

Up until the McGinnis era, freight car lettering and numbering was a based on a fairly common version of Railroad Roman, which was developed by the [first] USRA or the ARA, depending on the source you read. I'm inclined to believe it was the latter, since I've seen reference to it in sources that pre-date the USRA. I recently found a freeware Railroad Roman 1916 Normal (which also comes with an extended version) on one of the free font sites, and it has become my first choice for most projects needing this sort of lettering. It also is appropriate for New Haven heavyweight cars pre-dating the lightweights, and probably for last days of wooden passenger cars as well.

I also have version of both heralds, done either from railroad specifications or scanned from company paper. PM me an e-mail address if you want a copy of either or both.