Backdating Sherman Hill

[Alpenfreight]

Hello All,

As I'm sure many people here are as well, I am a big American Steam fan. I am going to be backdating Sherman Hill to before 1953 for personal use and was wondering if anyone knows of some good sources I could use to base my work on. I am not going to be going for 100% accuracy, but I do want to make it feel like the steam era. Anything about what Laramie and Cheyenne might have looked like during the 40s and early 50s would be appropriate. I am going to probably do this work in scenario form (like the stephan's pass backdating) so it will be possible to share.

I have found this site which will atleast help me get rid of some of the track. But I am unsure of what the roadways were like in that era.

http://www.avoe05.dsl.pipex.com/us_sherman.htm

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Bananarama]

Most of the line is unchanged from the steam era. The biggest difference will be the buildings, signals, the wye on the C&S connector at Cheyenne, and the steam, stock yard and tie treatment facilities in Laramie.

For photo reference, "The History of the Union Pacific in Cheyenne" by Robert Darwin is very thorough, but at around $200, it's cost is prohibitive for most budgets. You can also scan the various UP forums on Yahoo Groups and check their file libraries.

[Ericmopar]

The biggest issue would be the missing coal docks and the huge roundhouse that used to be in Cheyenne.

[Ericmopar]

The biggest issue would be the missing coal docks and the huge roundhouse that used to be in Cheyenne.

[jpetersjr]

Another problem are the missing cars, not very many late 40's cars around in the sim, yet.

[Alpenfreight]

Thanks for the comments thusfar

Another problem are the missing cars, not very many late 40's cars around in the sim, yet.

I was thinking of using Horseshoe curve assets as it's based on 50s-60s autos. Not toooo far off. Certainly better than modern ones.

[DrewG]

RW&A route has good 50 & late 40's cars.

[Alpenfreight]

Well things are going pretty well thusfar. I've completed a 'first pass' from Dale to Colores, changing signals and objects along the way. I've also changed all points to manual switches because I believe they wouldn't have had Dispatcher controlled ones so far out then, would they? This route definitely wont be 100% historically accurate, probably nowhere near it. But I do want something that atleast gets rid of modern traffic and objects so that it feels right to run some big steam around.



I am not the most well versed in how everything on the railroad operates, and I was hoping someone here could help me. I set up a small scenario to run a short freight from Dale to Colores. Along the way I had to switch to the opposite track to align myself with the siding in Colores. The problem is when I got there, stopped and switched the track, the signal never changed to yellow or green. Requesting pass at danger did nothing. Is this becasue the track is only supposed to be run in the opposite direction? Did I muck something up when adding the new signals in?



Help is appreciated!

[Bananarama]

I believe the line was CTC when tracks 1 and 2 were realigned through Dale Creek and the 3rd track (Harriman line) was installed.

[Alpenfreight]

I believe the line was CTC when tracks 1 and 2 were realigned through Dale Creek and the 3rd track (Harriman line) was installed.

Interesting, I wonder if I should go back and set some to CTC switches.

I did a bunch more work yesterday evening. I made the route single track from Laramie to the Hermosa tunnels on the outbound. I read that the original route was single track between those locations up until the late 40s and that eastbound went through the old route and westbound through the newer track.



I'm pretty set on this being the route I recreate. Beyond making that section single track, I've gotten rid of where the Harriman section connects to the original line (This route will be sans Harriman and Speer, but I'll leave most of it intact if I do want to make a 50s version at some point). I've also done some work on Laramie to add some coal facilities and to start making the area over so that it looks the part in accordance to a few pictures like this:



My biggest question right now is how to do AI road traffic. I've looked around for some tutorials but I can't find anything. Do I need to lay new road entirely, or can I change the cars that appear on the existing road?

-Jake

[Bananarama]

You can change the cars on existing roads by replacing their reference in the traffic manager blueprints. You'll also need to update the road textures from yellow to white stripes, as well as use appropriate road signage for the era.

[Alpenfreight]

Some initial shots in Laramie

[ozinoz]

I see nothing....

[ColoradoRailfan]

I will be heading up to Cheyenne to railfan and catch the Cheyenne Frontier Days train. I may get shots of the yard also.

[Bananarama]

Tip for steam nuts: UP does a dry run to Denver one week prior to the Frontier Days weekend. So if you wish to avoid crowds and get some great run by video, or maybe some unobstructed stills around the the Cheyenne steam shop, now's your chance.