Chicago Goose Island and North Side Switching

[MonsieurMungo]

Hello RWA,

Long time Lurker and first time poster here. Just wanted to share my route I've been working on for the past year or so. I uploaded a pretty early version of it to Steam a while back that you can check out here. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557500016 However, after much debate, I've ultimately decided that I want to use additional assets (like RCAP) not available on Steam, meaning that I will not be able to release it on that platform. Lucky for me RWA seems like a great place to release it once it is ready to be sent out into the world! If anyone is interested I will need beta testers in the future.

This route is mostly based off of a real terminal railroad that existed in Chicago. I live and work in the area so it's fun to re-create the rail network that once existed in the place I walk around every day. If there is interest, I would be happy to share more information and other content I am using for research, but just for the sake of keeping this first post short, here are some images of the progress I've made so far.

North Ave. Yard



Switching into Morton Salt



Goose Island



Street Running up Lakewood



Finkl Steel


Street Running Galore

[minerman146]

This looks really tight, and you use just 4 dlc and it's in workshop and you researched the heck out this. Very impressive. 2 thumbs up!

[dejoh]

Looks fantastic. I've worked extensively in the area you've modeled, especially Goose Island. I see a first rate industrial route in the making.
If you could, more screens please.
Thanks

[buzz456]

Looks fantastic. I've worked extensively in the area you've modeled, especially Goose Island. I see a first rate industrial route in the making.
If you could, more screens please.
Thanks

RU allowed on the North side?

[dejoh]

RU allowed on the North side?
LOL Back in the old days when I would work anywhere if the pay was good.
Now I hang close to base.

[Chacal]

This will be a welcomed addition to our library!

[mindenjohn]

With the soon to be available (to the rest of the world) Marias Pass the timing could not be better. A welcome switching route, looking forward to crawling around the spurs.

[MonsieurMungo]

Thank you all for your responses! I’m looking forward to sharing more.

Looks fantastic. I've worked extensively in the area you've modeled, especially Goose Island. I see a first rate industrial route in the making.
If you could, more screens please.
Thanks

More screens coming later tonight when I get home. Can you tell me more about working in that area? What years and where? That’s really cool!

I’ve been really fascinated with this area since I was a little kid. I remember my aunt taking me to see General Iron scrap yard sometime in the late 80s. In college, in the later 2000s, I lived close by in Wicker Park/Bucktown and would ride my bike through the area. Unfortunately, I missed seeing it at it’s height. Fortunately, there are some excellent resources and photos to use as references. I’m sure some of your are aware of them.

http://chicagoswitching.com/
Tom Mann and Tom Burke have an amazing collection of photos and info here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39092860@N06/albums/72157657870065262
Tom Burke’s Flickr has additional photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/76677346@N04/albums/72157636485100566
John Smatlak has another impressive collection of photos of the area.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104cm.g01790193502S/?sp=1
Of course Sanborn Maps is another great resource for getting a peak into the past.

https://www.historicaerials.com/
I’ve found that 1963 areal image of the area is the sharpest and most useful.

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?/forum/224-gi-general/
Lastly, Dave at the Elvas Tower forums has created a masterpiece of a route of the area. His route largely inspired me to give a shot to try building my own version in Train Sim. He has spent an insane amount of time modeling all of the key buildings in the area. Something I might consider doing as well but I am unsure if I can or want to dedicate the time doing as well since, after looking well into it, modeling in TS looks to be another whole can of worms and looks a bit intimidating to me. However, it may be something I will find necessary down the road since it’s hard to find existing assets to fit properly in the already cramped areas in the route.

If anyone has any additional resources I haven’t covered, I’d love to see them.

[MonsieurMungo]

This looks really tight, and you use just 4 dlc and it's in workshop and you researched the heck out this. Very impressive. 2 thumbs up!

Thank you! I must say that I quite enjoy your New York Bergen route!

[jpetersjr]

Will this route also include third party assets as well, or just items from Steam?

[MonsieurMungo]

Will this route also include third party assets as well, or just items from Steam?

Yup. I’m even using some of yours.

[jpetersjr]

You will probably like to hear that the legendary Lamborghini Countach from Cannonball Run 1 is up.

...P.S, if you're also building the Chicago El I recently uploaded this to my website as well, an elevated loft.
Later I'll be uploading it here at RWA as well as I prepare the website to be shut down.

https://jpetersjr1.wixsite.com/big-j-productions

[MonsieurMungo]

You will probably like to hear that the legendary Lamborghini Countach from Cannonball Run 1 is up.

...P.S, if you're also building the Chicago El I recently uploaded this to my website as well, an elevated loft.
Later I'll be uploading it here at RWA as well as I prepare the website to be shut down.

Wow these are amazing! There is a small portion of the brown line I could include. Why not. I’ll download this later. Thanks for sharing!

[jpetersjr]

You will probably like to hear that the legendary Lamborghini Countach from Cannonball Run 1 is up.

...P.S, if you're also building the Chicago El I recently uploaded this to my website as well, an elevated loft.
Later I'll be uploading it here at RWA as well as I prepare the website to be shut down.

Wow these are amazing! There is a small portion of the brown line I could include. Why not. I’ll download this later. Thanks for sharing!

Good simming.

[MonsieurMungo]

As promised, here are a few more screenshots. Today, we are taking a load of boxcars full of giant rolls of paper to the Chicago Tribune printing facility. We also have two tanker cars to be dropped off at the Bloomers Chocolate factory. Yes, if you have ever been to downtown Chicago, and the air smells like chocolate, that smell comes from this plant.

We are starting our short journey from the North Avenue Yard.


About to pass under the Halsted/Chicago Viaduct. This is a cool view. Someday I will post some videos of train activity I have seen at this very spot.


Here we are under the Viaduct.


A couple of the Chicago Tribune printing facility. I still need to do a lot of fixing and detailing work in this area.



A couple from Grand Ave. First one looking North, the other looking south towards Bloomers Chocolate.



More to come as time permits.