Virginian Progress

It's just before dawn and I'm checking some of the lighting effects on Virginian 125...
I tried to make the side grilles so you can see through them...

which sometimes results in a moire effect.Cab view is my first attempt, cobbled from a photo of real thing...

laid over the parts of the Acela...This part still needs a lot of work and may take a while.I'm thinking of releasiing it as a beta, just the way it stands.Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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RE: Virginian Progress, tryagin, Jul-31-04, 00:19 AM, (1) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Jul-31-04, 09:52 AM, (2) RE: Virginian Progress, tryagin, Jul-31-04, 12:19 PM, (3) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Jul-31-04, 02:21 PM, (4) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Jul-31-04, 02:26 PM, (5) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Jul-31-04, 03:41 PM, (6) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Jul-31-04, 06:03 PM, (7) RE: Virginian Progress, mjs2101, Jul-31-04, 11:19 PM, (8) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Aug-01-04, 10:43 AM, (9) RE: Virginian Progress, tryagin, Aug-01-04, 11:46 AM, (10) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Aug-01-04, 12:02 PM, (11) RE: Virginian Progress, RSD 12, Aug-01-04, 12:57 PM, (12) RE: Virginian Progress, stephenburr, Aug-01-04, 01:47 PM, (13) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Aug-01-04, 03:18 PM, (14) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Aug-01-04, 09:55 PM, (15) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Aug-01-04, 11:33 PM, (16) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Aug-02-04, 07:40 PM, (17) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Aug-02-04, 09:36 PM, (18) RE: Virginian Progress, chuckzeiler, Aug-02-04, 09:51 PM, (19) RE: Virginian Progress, KeltikSylk, Aug-03-04, 08:15 AM, (20)

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Frank, you should be proud of your achievement with your version of Mike's EL2B's. I really enjoy running this set of locos on Swissie's Mountain Electric beta. Thanks for sharing these, and I'm sure that they will be a welcome addition to the fleet of heavey electrics already in the library.
Tim

Street and Interurban Electric Railway Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)
Turn Off your TVs.

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Frank, a quick note before I go to work today. First pix below shows the lead cab, and some texturing that needs your attention. Also I drew in extended grab irons (in red) on the cab. The CB&Q had a similar arrangement, the idea was that to gain access to the windshield, you would place your feet in the lower grab, hang on to the upper grab, and pull yourself along the side from the cab door to the grabs leading up the nose.The second pix shows that I have extra doors on this side of the trailing unit. I've circled the doors (in red) that should not be there. I might have a bad FreightAnim EL2B-D-2.s file, and I'll look into that when I get home this evening. I added some grabs to the roof in red also.

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Leave it to old eagle eyes Chuck to see the most glaring, and subtle booboos. I guess i was paying too much attention to the trucks swiveling to notice these errant textures. This is why it is good to have him on your team, and is a big reason for our successes in the past. Tim

Street and Interurban Electric Railway Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)
Turn Off your TVs.

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-31-04 AT 02:45 PM (EST)

That door is driving me nuts...It's a mapping problem I thought I had fixed...I'll check it out.I thought there is a rear side door. It was on Mikes original textures.That texturing around the cab is where several panels meet. Does it show up on the lead unit? I'll check that one too.Handgrabs...Yes there is a set of grabs behind the engineers window. If you look at the earliest screen shots (when the grabs were yellow) you'll see they were there originally. I took them off because all the photos I had there weren't any. Of course all the photos I had were of the opposite side of the unit. I' will add them back. There is also white or yellow paint on the side behind the top few in some pictures and a builder or warning plate under the bottom set.As for the nose grabs...Depends on when the picture was taken. I have several views of 126 without any at all and others with all of them. Same with 125. Many of are without the rails under the headlight.The drawing Mike used shows only one grab on the nose. A short one over the number board. There is also only the pilot step.I got the grabs I'm using from 223 (off the back cover of "The Virginian Era") the one under the number board is the longest (though I have it too short). I think the grabs were added sometime in the late '50s early '60s as the photo of 223 was taken in 1961. All my photos' from the '40s up though 1958 don't show them.I wish thes railroads would make up their minds...Makes it tough on us modelers I hadn't realized there was a grab under the nose, a sort of bar stock step...I missed a few things on the trucks, speed cables, the fact that the roller bearing caps DON't rotate, etc... and the pilot. Seems the nose step on the body is smaller, and the large one I show should be above the coupler on the pilot top front.I was going to add dummy boxes inside to simulate equipment you can see thru the grills. There are also louvers on the side of some of the roof boxes.Oh yeah, there is also that wiring that connects the two units.I fooling with the idea of a crew...Do you think that adds or detracts from a model?I'm going over all the photo's now...Maybe we need different sets of D files for the different eras?HOLD THE PHONE!
I just realized what we're seeing...The extra grabs are Norfolk and Western practice. Number 223 is actually a Norfolk & Western unit. All the Virginian units were numbered in the 100 series (125 to 128)and had none of the extra hardware. N&W renumbered them as 200 series (225 to 228) after the merger in December 1959. They were renumbered again in September 1960, which is why there is a 223...Apparently they were never repainted in N&W livery.Electrification (and the service life of the EL2Bs) ended in June of 1962.Thanks for making me look into this Chuck!So...The real VGN units don't have the grabs. To make a N&W unit, you leave the paint alone and add the grabs with a new number. Since she's numbered 125, the nose grabs and step should go...Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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Frank, looking at the drawings, it would appear the the rear door was on the fireman's side only. But I'll look over photos to see if there was a rear door on the engineer's side, possible a railroad modification.

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It looks like it's only on the fireman's side. I have a couple pictures of the fireman's side with no rear door on the trailing unit.I'm making optional "D" files renaming them V for VGN version and N for N&W version I'm gonna put two sets of freightanim statements with one commented out.The fact that they never lost their livery makes things a tad easier!Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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As best I can tell, the grabs behind the cab side doors are original equipment, as they show up in the builder's photos, complete with kick plates. A careful look at the scans I sent you earlier show #126 at Roanoke on March 27, 1959 (page 61) with the extra grabs forward of the side cab doors on both sides of the unit. It's possibly a N&W loco at that time, but still numbered in the 100 series. Definitely a railroad modification. I don't know the exact date of the N&W/VGN merger, just "in 1959". BTW, the same original equipment grabs with kick plates are on the left inside rear of each unit, again based on builder's photos.

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-31-04 AT 11:24 PM (EST)

Frank, Looking at a couple of other photos that I have, it seems the rear door was on the firemans side only on both units. As for the grabs, it seems the only ones on the nose is a single grab on each side, right above the numberboard/markerlights. At least on #125 and #128. And then on the engineers side behind the door, a set of grads go all the way up to the roof, not present on the fireman's side.MykelEdit: Mistake in the numbers.

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Tim, I cobbled together a stand-in for a Virginian C-1 caboose,
http://www.club-e-stores.com/Caboose/VGNcabooseC-1.htm
using your Sumpter/WVRy caboose as a basis. Is this OK with you?

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Why, certainly it is! Boy, that old SVRy No.5 sure is getting around! Looks great, Chuck. Nice cobbling!Tim

Street and Interurban Electric Railway Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)
Turn Off your TVs.

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Cool!I'll take one, please.I made some more progress on 125 based on your comments and observations. This is the "Virginian" version...
I went with TransNorm instead of the alpha, so the "world" doesn't disappear through the windows. The first two pictures are alpha, the rest transnorm.I redid the vents in black, but left them see thru. To fix the texture transition on the nose I had to merge the entire body into one piece. This makes the mapping a little more complex, but eliminates that issue you pointed out. Now however, the transition to the flat area stands out. One way to eliminate this totally would be lower or elimnate the "shine" of the locomotive. I'm gonna try that next.The N&W version is just a swapped freightanim. It has the extra grabs, and the nose step.Haven't touched the trailing unit yet...Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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Frank, it just looks purtier and purtier. Can't wait to see the finished version Mark

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Looking good Frank! I hope it's done and uploaded to the library soon.Also, that Virginian caboose is a must have! Will look good with 125 and Enocell's Virginian trainmasters.All we need now is a route to run these Beauties on. Say, the part of the Virginian from Deepwater to Roanoke, which includes Mullens, WVA, were the Virginian electrification ended.

Steve Burr

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I hadn't planned on uploading Tim's caboose, because it's close, but no cigar.There is a steel Northeastern style Virginian caboose already in the file library, file name VGN307.zip, which is a lot closer to the C-10 prototype. I'll think about uploading Tim's C-1 stand-in.

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Frank, I was dragging my butt down Marias Pass 3.1, in about 25% dynamic brakes, and got to thinking everything was OK, but then I realized I was not testing on a default route.Almost every route I have on my computer has been modified in some way. Mostly just replacing the default rail, but then there’s Xtracks, and I honestly have not tested your EL2B on a default route. Have you?I was concerned about the glare on the windshield area (pix below), and thought I should bring it to your attention, but then realized that these were not default conditions, since I’ve also applied Kosmos to the sky.Also, the air brakes on the trucks appear to be red. My best guess would be that these locos used copious amounts of sand for traction in their daily work life, so most of the trucks textures would be dusted with sand.My opinion, you should decide if you are presenting these locos “as delivered” or as “in service”. I vote for “in service”, but you could present both .ace files, and include info in the readme for changing the clothing.Even if you don’t do it, I will dirty up those trucks.

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Nice shot Chuck!A very short test consist...

I have the steel caboose, but yours looks more like N0 41 in the book "Virginian Era"I've been playing around with the seams and the textures and some details. If I kill the shine, you get "in service" pretty quick. My photos show little if any shiny paint. It also does wonders for hiding those texture matches...
The brake cylinders are red, a sort of rust color...but I'm not sure how to weather them or the trucks without screwing up the textures.The changes I've made have added too many polys or something because my fps is now down to 5 from 8.I haven't changed the trailing unit at all yet. The V1.S file has a lot stuff in it, two of them may cut my frame rate even lower. The N1 files includes even more hardware, so I'm not sure at this point if I'll go for the N&W version.Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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Frank, I attempted to dust the trucks. The first part of the project is to identify which patches affect which part. I finally found the patch which controls the color of the truck sideframes.
Unfortunately, that small patch controls a lot of stuff. Is there any way to either re-assign which part pick up which color patch, or can you add another patch? Here's where I found the color for the truck sideframes, the only green in the .ace file, below.

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-02-04 AT 09:39 PM (EST)

No problem...I'll work it up. I'll remap before I move onto the trailing unit.I'm gonna borrow your texture "title" idea...Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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Ok, if I can add one more thing to your plate, I have an odd glow on the span bolster, between the pilot and the first axle. Can you fix that too, please?And, it appears that the grab irons (the FreightAnim file) are using one of the patches that I modified. I'll find it.I think I have the truck textures under control, at the expense of some textures elsewhere, I'm working on a balance.

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The glow is caused by the highlighting. I got too lazy to change the material for the frame and just made the whole thing Hi-Shine. It disappears when you go with Normal. Of course I could go back and change the material on the pilot...I'll try that.It just occurred to me that I may not have remapped the details on the new copy I sent you. I'll check and remap if necessary. I've set a lot of parts to use a modified blank.aceI made myself laugh last night...About halfway though the remapping it occurred to me that it would be easier to just remap the trucks I also wanted to ask you if you need a bigger area than the tiny square used for the trucks... There is a large area next to "Rust" that isn't mapped anywhere.One more question...Do you think I should keep going with the Normal or stay with the specular lighting?Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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