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"Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? "

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timchgo9 (19 posts)
Apr-30-02, 12:26 PM (EDT) "Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " Okay...It was a fine spring day, and I was out running errands and got stopped by a train or two, and while biding my time at he IHB crossing at 31st Street in LaGrange Park, I began thinking about my own route that I have begun in MSTS... inspired.. I went home to continue my work, and after about an hour... I trashed the whole thing, for several reasons... First of all, it's not going the way I want, I was trying to capture the feel of the Chicago Suburbs in what I was doing, well I bit off more than I could chew, by trying to construct a 200+ mile route, with little or no experience. Because as I went around the next couple of days, I began to look at the tracks of two rail roads (Specifically the BNSF from Chicago, and Indiana Harbor Belt) as they travel through my area, and consequently, I was reinspired. I am not, however, going to model either one of the above lines 100% accurately, well, probably not even 50% accurately, for one reason.. .Time... I don't have the time to go out and take pictures, look up maps, and such, so, again, I am going for the "Feel". The new route, with the same name as the old, will be about 50-70 miles long, with an interchange to another railroad for some variety. The terrain has been generated, and tracks are being laid, but, my problem will be capturing the nature of the buildings around here... in the suburbs of LaGrange, Western Springs, and Hinsdale, the BNSF runs through the "Downtown" areas of these burbs, and they are quite attractive areas, with streets, shops, and METRA stations all present. There is also plenty of industry too, and a real neat place called "CP LaGrange" where the BNSF crosses above the IHB, and can be a great place to watch trains. So, digital camera in hand, I plan to get some texture photos, and set to work on the buildings as time allows in TSM. If anyone can provide some textures, or even (dare I ask) want to create some of the buildings, I would appreciate it, or just send me digital photos of downtown shots of Western Springs, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Berwyn, Cicero, etc, etc. I would appreciate it. I think a route like this would be quite interesting, and fun to navigate, because with all of the industry, switching activities would abound. Now, mind you, this won't be like the "real thing" but a combination of the real thing, and my creations. Oh, yeah, and is this art? I think so, after all, some of the creations I have seen from buildings, to cars, to locos, certainly qualify. I hope to have this route done as soon as I can, because I am eager to share this with everyone. TimChgo9
(Launching the new and improved CCRW) Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... LawrenceKellie Apr-30-02 1 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... timchgo9 Apr-30-02 4 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... Fixit Apr-30-02 2 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... timchgo9 Apr-30-02 3 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... mdeming Apr-30-02 5 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... sniper297 Apr-30-02 6 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... mdeming May-01-02 7 RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... ... timchgo9 May-02-02 8

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LawrenceKellie (1486 posts)
Apr-30-02, 01:02 PM (EDT) 1. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " Do it for yourself, don't worry about anyone else. If you are pleased with 25% accuracy, then fine. It is impossible (yes, I know that is an allness word, which should not be used) to create a route 100% accurate to real-world routes. The tools are just not there.So, you do it to the level that you feel comfortable. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
timchgo9 (19 posts)
Apr-30-02, 02:22 PM (EDT) 4. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " 25% to 50% accuracy is probably what it will wind up being, but, I would like it to portray the area that I love so much. I grew up about a mile south of C&NW's (Now UP) Proviso Yard, and about 4 block north of the ICG main to Iowa (Which is now CN I believe, with some BNSF traffic as well) Between the trains, close proximity to two expressways, AND being about 15 minutes south of O'Hare airport, it was a "noisy" neighborhood as it were. But, you can't travel very far in this area without running into railroad tracks... I'll keep up with progress reports.....
TimChgo9 Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Fixit (22 posts)
Apr-30-02, 01:10 PM (EDT) 2. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " Hey there Tim,
I like that area also. Watched many of trains there. If you go about a mile or so north on the IHB, you will see CP KOREN on the west side of the tracks. If in your route you want to get some of the buildings close to the area, I'd suggest flipping through the ones in Europe1 and 2. These buildings may be closer to the ones in that area. If you do create that route and upload, no matter what condition, I'd download it. I am in VA now and I miss railfanning the BN, err BNSF. Been that long since I've been there.
Terry
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timchgo9 (19 posts)
Apr-30-02, 02:17 PM (EDT) 3. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " It is a great place for train watching... As an addition, about a mile north of me is the UP's (formerly C&NW) Proviso Yard, and about 4 blocks south of me is the ICG (now CN?) single track main to Iowa, I believe. And, the Chicago and Great Western used to run through the town I live in (now it's the Illinois Prairie Path) All of that was the original inspiration for the first design, but now that I have clearer idea of what it should look like, I have trashed the old route in favor of the new, and improved and streamlined. By the way, one of the treats of watching trains aroud here is the variety of locomotives... on the IHB seeing CSX, CP Rail, BNSF, Wisconsin Central, Conrail, UP, and NS is great, along the BNSF is CN, BN, SF, NS, SP, and UP locos. And now, on the "old" ICG main through Hillside there is BNSF traffic, as well as IC, and CN... so, it's a great variety, and I have the pictures to prove it. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
mdeming (79 posts)
Apr-30-02, 04:38 PM (EDT) 5. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " I have track charts of the Bellwood interchange of the IHB & CGW.If you plan on incorporating this on your route I can help. I am ncorporating it on mine so maybe we can interchange traffic when msts 2 comes out.
Mike Deming Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (2238 posts)
Apr-30-02, 09:12 PM (EDT) 6. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " Must be art, cuz it sure ain't science!
First route I tried to build was the C&NW Galena Division from downtown to Proviso. I was doing just what you're talking about, capturing the flavor rather than going for accuracy, so the 40th Street yards had less than half the actual trackage. That's the trouble with big yards, even when empty they make a big hit on the framerates due to the complexity of the track object shapes, load them up with enough loose consists to make them look good and you need a killer rig just to run it. I also was going with a "what might have been" concept for it, so all the industrial spurs along the line that have been removed since I was a kid were gonna be included. I only had 128mb of RAM at the time, and being my first attempt at route building I hadn't learned the lesson of backups yet, so I lost the whole thing after building from Clinton Street to Cicero Avenue. Bummer. I even had the interchange with the Chicago Belt Railway (the other "Belt Line") North of Brach's Candy.Ah, well. One of these days I'll do it again, probably after all the bugs are out of Xtracks, I wasn't really happy with the Western Avenue interchange;
Can't really do justice to that without double slip switches. Going for a 50's look would be the best to my way of thinking, to include all the streetcar trackage and interurban routes. Funny that Microsoft started the Flightsim series with Chicago Airports, but ignored it completely in trainsim in spite of Chicago being the railroad crossroads of the nation. We oughtta form a Chicago Area MSTS club and get everybody together once in a while, I met Don Shepley for breakfast at Denny's in Oak Park last week, and he knows practically everything there is to know about the old interurbans. I bet with a bunch of us we could pool a whole lot of knowledge and resources and come up with something really great. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
mdeming (79 posts)
May-01-02, 08:49 AM (EDT) 7. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " A chicago area msts club sounds like a good idea, I'd join.
Mike Deming Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
timchgo9 (19 posts)
May-02-02, 12:37 PM (EDT) 8. "RE: Route redirection... hmmmm.... is this art??? " A Chicago area club wouldn't be a bad idea. I for one, however, am and "armchair" train buff. My dad got me hooked on train watching as a kid, he's a big train buff (HO Layout in the basement, train pictures everywhere) and I still love to do it. As far as one loco type to the next, I don't always know what I am looking at (my area of expertise, is military history) But, I do enjoy watching them, my brother is also a big train buff, and he occasionally goes with me when I go train watching. Anyway, a club would be interesting, we could probably come up with a great route to upload, etc. etc. Besides, I am not averse to learning new stuff. Since I am out of work for now (computer jobs just ain;t out there for us techie types) you can usually find me out at the aforementioned CP LaGrange, with camera in hand... I love that place. Even if we came up with a website to swap information at. Oh, and sitting in my drawer is about 2 dozen rolls of film containing train pictures that I never had time to develop, I wonder, just what kind of texturing gold mine I have here??? Anyway. A chicago club is a great idea. After all, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a train around here, so, there is all kinds of things we can do..... Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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