1860s Reskins

[trainboi1]

Hello all,
After a long break and a somewhat shorter period fighting to make the game work properly, I've decided to rework my CP reskins and add some more. Currently, I have completed the following:
All 20 of the similar Schenectady 4-4-0s with 16x24 cylinders and 60" drivers. These feature all the updates in DanSSG's original patch, but also reflect ongoing paint research and improved reskin quality, barring some degree of texture artifacting due to DDS compression. Additionally, per a DM I got back in 2018 and never responded to (sorry), I've made a version of the original four engine skins separate from the base model.

Names and numbers are the following:
60 - Jupiter
61 - Storm
62 - Whirlwind
63 - Leviathan
84 - Gazelle
148 - Red Fox
149 - Black Fox
150 - Grey Fox
151 - Yellow Fox
152 - White Fox
158 - Eureka
159 - Diana
160 - Sultana
161 - Juno
162 - Flash
163 - Fancy
The last four, ordered in July 1869, are rather more tenuous:
166 - Argenta - CPRR.org shows this as unnamed and sold by the end of 1869, likely to the LA&SP. Wendell Huffman's roster gives this name, and both show that it was replaced by a Hinkley which came from the Sacramento Valley Railroad and was given the same name. LA&SP paint and number are not known.
167 - Oreana - CPRR.org shows this named San Leandro and sold by 1873, also to LA&SP. Huffman's roster shows the root of the confusion - like the Argenta, it was replaced immediately, but the incoming engine was another Schenectady, the San Leandro, sporting 12x22 cylinders on 60" drivers.
168 - Coldstream - Only on Huffman's roster, shown as replaced by WP Mason 4-4-0 "A" which was named Sacramento on the CP.
169 - Sonora - Only on Huffman's roster, replaced by WP Baldwin 4-4-0 "B" which was named Stockton on the CP.
In the interests of saving space, Coldstream and Sonora replace my original Omaha and Idaho skins. Please back these up if you want to keep them, though I don't recommend it if you ever intend to get Mike's renditions of those two engines.

Additionally to the locos, I have reskinned the CPRR passenger cars to match the paint collected from surviving Wason passenger cars. These have the prototypical numbering, with baggage cars numbered 1-16, square roofed cars numbered 1-10, and clerestory cars representing both Wason and CP cars number 11-60. As far as I'm aware, no arched-roof arched-window cars existed, so I've left their original numbering pattern intact. Cabooses are numbers 1 and 2, representing the only two combine-style cabooses on the CP in 1869.

I've also reskinned the baggage and clerestory coach to represent the CPRR Director's car and its subsistence car. These are mostly distinguished by different lettering on the director's car, and additional striping:

Finally, appreciating DanSSG's quick drives led me to make my own set, comprising 13 train fragments and utilizing the first 16 engines. In total there are 43 consists, with each load being based on a stereograph view available on CPRR.org. There are 6 passenger fragments ranging from 3 to 9 cars in length, and 7 freight fragments ranging from 3 to 12 cars in length. All are single-locomotive, as the only double-heading pictures I've seen were for construction or maintenance purposes (i. e. bridge testing, snow clearing, and construction trains).


I am going to be working on some modifications and additions to my flatcar reskins, to take advantage of Mike's different flatcar loads in the 1800s rolling stock pack, and then once everything's ready for RWA, I'll post the links up here so it can be publicly tested while pending approval.

[CArailroader]

Wow all these look fantastic! Can't wait to expand the fleet.

[trainboi1]

I've uploaded the pre-final packs for upload to the File Library. They should be up before long.
Some more detailed shots and a new thing:
After some looking into the file structure of Smokebox's flatcars, I elected to do some further reskins on his UP flat cars to add a little more variety:


The result is a much more convincing set of CPRR freight consists:

Additionally, I'll post a few close-up shots of the Jupiter and its train as it arrived at Promontory on May 7, 1869. First, the engine. Notable issue is that Jupiter's headlight was damaged in late 1868 and had to be repaired, resulting in the blue and red scheme on my original round of reskins. Unfortunately, there isn't a loco-specific headlight texture, so I had to go with the majority rather than being able to make Jupiter unique in that way.

Immediately behind the engine was a water car, converted from a standard 30-foot flat car. These cars occupied the odd numbers between 1541 and 1551. The tank was a standard SP design, however, so many more existed, both standard and narrow gauge, all across the West.

Third is the subsistence car. In reality this car, like the CP baggage cars, did not have windows, but one must do what one can. It also had the same corner post striping as the director's car below, but that was not possible with the seam layout on this car.

Lastly, and most importantly, the director's car. It may just be me, but I believe the actual director's car is a bit longer. I haven't checked, because this is what we have available, so it doesn't really matter at the moment. Both the subsistence car and the director's car carry the number 1 in Railworks, solely because I couldn't find a good way to avoid their having numbers at all. These cars were not numbered in 1869, and would not be until 1876 when the director's car became V&T officer's car 25, the "Bonanza".

[mrennie]

Great work there Daniel! You've really spruced up the locos and rolling stock. I look forward to downloading them.



Mike

[wopflyer]

Great Job, trainboi1!

I'm looking forward to downloading all of these.

[trainboi1]

Thanks all!
Looking over the roster again, I noticed there were a further three 4-6-0s matching Buffalo's description:
83 Mountaineer:

85 White Bear:

and 87 Tempest:

In addition to the new names, numbers, and tender paintings, I altered the brass colors on the original engines to better match that of the 4-4-0s, darkened the boiler jacket similarly to what I'd done on my recent touch-ups, modified the front arabesques on the headlight to match a preserved example, and enlarged the tender lettering to match this photo:

Once I'm completely satisfied with the brass (or more accurately, have convinced myself that I can't do any better with the materials available to me) I will probably send these up as well. I've set them up with similar quickdrives to what the 4-4-0s have, but without any of the passenger consists and lacking the desert freight consists, since these engines seem to have worked over Donner Pass.

[mrennie]

Good job! I was going to do the other three but ran out of time (and besides, I couldn't find an engraving of a 19th century mountaineer to use as the basis for my own painting of one).

Something else you might like to research is the striping on the ends of the pilot beam. I was never totally convinced that I'd got that right.

[trainboi1]

Thanks for the heads up, Mike. My gut says that your lining on the pilot beam is correct, though I've sent out some queries all the same.
In the mean time, I decided to start making some color updates on Omaha and Idaho as a start to upgrading the UP stock. I've got most of the upgrades I want done, including pointing the frame and suspension scarlet, accenting the equalizing lever supports and pilot braces with polished iron, replacing the stripes on the headlight, and replacing the names.

There is one more thing I'd like to do, though - I'm looking to color the forward boiler support in polished iron, but have not been able to find it. The part in question is this:

Any idea where I might find that in the textures?
Quick evening update: Have also done the UPRR caboose. Might do custom decals to add the division labels under the reporting mark.

Unfortunately it also has its own mapping issue that I've been unable to solve...I've eliminated all of the original orange from the textures, but there is still some showing on the door frames:

[trainboi1]

Today's project was a fleet of UP coaches. At the road's inception, it used a light straw yellow similar to CP, but with sienna brown platforms rather than CP's ochre. Little else is known, but photographic evidence indicates that decoration and coloring varied greatly from one car to the next. What I applied is a fairly standard pattern of the time:



Around 1866, shortly after Omaha and Idaho arrived, the UP switched to a darker color. UP was partly owned by PRR at the time, so there is some thought that they may have used Tuscan red; other sources suggest that they used Pullman brown, which is what I went with. In these early years, UP seemed to letter practically every car differently, so choosing a text was not easy (Andrew has drawn up no fewer than ten roadname patterns for UP in the 1860s, although some are propositions for possible color combinations) but I went with gold color text and a red drop shadow here. Striping is the same blue-grey as on the earlier cars, but with no corner post or letterboard filigree.



Number ranges are left largely untouched as virtually no roster from this time period exists. We know that sleepers were assigned in the 20- range, so I made sure that was vacant, but that's as far as I could get.

[mrennie]

These new liveries are beautiful!

Idaho's front boiler brace is mapped in Omaha_Black_2_nm:

Omaha_Black_2_nm_boiler_brace_mapping.jpg

[trainboi1]

Thank you! Glad I saved that map. That turned out to be the support behind the crosshead pump, but on referencing some of my materials I realized I needed that to be polished iron anyway. Now I feel comfortable calling these two "done":

I've also started putting together quick drive consists with them. 4 passenger consists, 6 freight consists, for a total of 20 between the two engines.

[Fireexplorer249]

Awesome work on these textures! Really looking forward to running these packs!

[trainboi1]

119 and co are up to date, with an accurate Crerar & Williams headlight livery, maroon frames, and revised tender text and lining. I'm going to see if I can add text to the builder's plate as well, but aside from that, the only things left now are to make a version of the UP cars using 119's included rolling stock, so people can use either DLC, and then to make the division decals for the cabooses.


Additionally, the cabooses have their division marks! Scaling needs a bit of work to fit in the limited length of Smokebox's car bodies, but they really complete the look.

[brand0n7]

To Trainboi, I would like to know how to contact you because I like your work and I want an email address to reach you at so I can ask questions. My email is trains5677@gmail.com, thank you.




Sincerely Yours,
Brandon Inzer

[brand0n7]

I like the work by Trainboi1. Can trainboi1 contact me at trains5677@gmail.com, please? I just want to ask some questions.