Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production

Perfect manual terrain editing on my bernina route is quite impossible due to the shape of the XTracks that doesn't have a 3D ballast as ScaleRail, so i'm planning to built some new tracks shape to swap with the old one. I'm not planning to built track section for all the XTrack narrow gauge sections, just about the twenty I used
in my route.
I'm planning to use LODS as ScaleRails does...
I found hard to find rail section scheme so I draw them from some sheet I have, could anybody give a look to these scheme and tell me what he thinks...?
Thanks a lot, i post a pic of the first section: a n1t3mstr
Regards, max

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http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/User_files/410f569b6d1700d6.jpg

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RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, Swissie, Aug-03-04, 05:09 AM, (1) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, OTTODAD, Aug-03-04, 08:42 AM, (2) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, merlin78, Aug-03-04, 11:38 AM, (3) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, OTTODAD, Aug-03-04, 12:06 PM, (4) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, merlin78, Aug-05-04, 11:20 AM, (5) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, Hack, Aug-05-04, 02:20 PM, (6) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, merlin78, Aug-05-04, 03:57 PM, (7) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, Hack, Aug-12-04, 03:45 AM, (10) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, merlin78, Aug-12-04, 08:00 AM, (11) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, OTTODAD, Aug-05-04, 04:41 PM, (8) RE: Swissie: new narrow gauge track shape in production, OTTODAD, Aug-05-04, 07:45 PM, (9)

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Hi Max,I don't have an accurate drawing for the rails in use on the Bernina line with me currently, but over the last few years, the RhB has replaced the relatively light (and worn out) tracks from the founding years with standard mainline tracks as used anywhere else on the RhB, or the standard gauge Swiss Federal Railways. I'd say this means you are certainly accurate with the (UIC standard?) profile above.A few of the old profiles still exist. Apart from a couple of sidings such as the small freight yards in Poschiavo and Tirano, the old, light tracks can still be found (if I remember correctly) on a short section of the mainline through the Innschlucht tunnel (the first tunnel when leaving St. Moritz) up to the small station of Celerina/Staz, in Ospizio Bernina station, and possibly also around Cavaglia. The replacement shapes you have in the works here look very good! I'd think you may want to make the base even higher (without changing the actual track position) so that it reaches deeper into the ground. There are some steep grades and narrow turnsto model, and with the terrain limitations of MSTS, and the 7% grade of the Bernina, I'd expect that you will have the tracks floating up to 1m above the terrain especially in curves. Observe that when you set the embankment for a track section to cut embankments at 45° and 18m wide (default RE setting) and hit the "Y" key to adjust the terrain to the track, then the terrain is not only lifted 9m either side of the track, but also before and after your track piece - which in curves interferes with the adjacent track pieces. If you work your way uphill, you will burry the previous track section whenever you adjust the terrain to the newly laid one, and if you work your way downhill, then you lower the terrain under the previous track section when you adjust the terrain to the newly laid one, which at the end of the process has your entire curve hanging in the air...Looking forward to your route! Btw: Can you shed some light on the rolling stock for it? Will you be doing some NG RhB stuff, or does anyone else have Bernina motors in the works? I'd love to drive one of the 1908 vintage motors over the pass in MSTS! See below!Lukas a.k.a Swissie

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Hi Max !Swissie confirms what I have been saying before that Swiss Metre Gauge rails are the same as used on Main Lines, creating no problems where Narrow Gauge crosses or merges with Standard Gauge as is often the case.Can not be done with present Xtracks Double-Gauge joining it with Narrow Gauge, the height of the rails being different !This piece of track you are showing is the most perfectly shaped I have seen in MSTS so far. Now if you could make Narrow Gauge Points with proper looking Frogs, Wing and Check rails like these on the Heidi / Bernina line then that would be something !!! Take Care, O t t o.

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@Swissie: thanks for the informations, it was something I didn't know...! Anyway I swear that the old Bernina Railcars will be my first project as soon as I end this project.@Otto: I'm planning not tu built all the section to replace the ones in XTracks. Just the ones I've used in my route. They are about twenty.Anyway this is what I've done today: I think that maybe I went too much with the ballast grade on the side, and made ties too small and with too much distance between them... I'll make some adjust.The structure is the same on ScaleRail, that is to say a false layer that gives the illusion of 3D ties and some other tricks...Regards, max

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-03-04 AT 12:17 PM (EST)

Yes Max, you are on the right tracks ! (forgive the pun)As you said, the ballast and ties need working on but looking at your perfect track example, showing the rail head cross
section being almost square, which is what our U.K. rails also look like, does the rail head below look right to you ? I re-
textured the running surface to make them look brighter, what one would expect Main line rails to look like. Getting the ties spaced right so that they maintain the same gap where track sections join must be a headache ?I hope your rails will have a profile like the ones in your picture ! Would like to have another ride on a BERNINA which is an improvement on the HEIDI as far as Scenery is concerned ! Take Care, O t t o.

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...looking to some bernina pics, i've noticed that i nthe real world where new tracks are placed, the ballast covers almost all the ties, they appear just between the rails, so i've tried to model the section n1t30mstr in this way...
what do you think about this...?
is it a good idea...?
feel free to criticize it...regards, max

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I think it would be useful for a poly saving technique - otherwise, it looks rather odd.BTW, I see you're using ScaleRail textures on your model. Please make sure you don't release my textures with any of your work. Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.comPro Series SuperPacks

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mmm... yes i think quite the same, but hack, please explain me clearly how you could keep the poly number so low: i'm working on the n1t30mstr, and comparing with yours, i've understood that your ties are made only of 3 faces (me the same...); well, you have on that section 'bout 50 ties: how is it possible that ShapeView tells me that there are only 132 poly...?!
what other trick did you use...?!
please help me, i think i'm going to redo a standard ballast, and make ties of just two horizontal faces, the lower darker, so that it gives the 3D illusion when seen in perspective, as you used on you ScaleRail on the second LOD... do i say right...?!
For the texture, no problem, i've created different files, but i want you to know that i'm not planning to release my work with your texture, i just used it to quickly paint the model and have a look at the finished work... else i will you ask clearly if i can use them...
thanks a lot, regards, maxp.s. hack answer me if you're planning to built ScaleRail narrow gauge too, if 'yes'... i throught my project towards th window...!!

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>p.s. hack answer me if you're planning to built ScaleRail
>narrow gauge too, if 'yes'... i throught my project towards
>th window...!! I plan on doing narrow gauge, but I don't think you should stop on my account. The more the better! Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.comPro Series SuperPacks

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finally i've left the project of this tracks, i think it's better to focalize my attention and spent my time building the route and working with route editor...
so for bernina-bahn version 1 you'll have to accept for not perfect terrain aligning, and for the same story you'll have MSTS default overhead wire...
then we'll see for version 2...
thanks, regards, max

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This rail head looks perfect, Max !I think that the lower part of the rails could do with being a bit lighter in colour, like the above picture of the real rails, the middle part being in the shade a bit darker than the lower T-section, creating a bit of a contrast between the surfaces, emphasising the shape better.Take Care, O t t o.

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Hi Max !This picture shows what I meant by making the lower parts of the rails a slightly different rust brown, the lower flat part being a lighter brown. The top sides and bottom part of the rails being almost the same colour and the vertical part in between being darker emphasises the shape of the rails better than if it were the same dark brown all over.O t t o

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