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Colleagues,Tonight a few images as we take the eastbound Olympian Hiawatha over St.Paul pass at a steady 25mph, which is the maximum speed allowed on this grade. It requires about 90 minutes to run from Avery to Haugan. Of course we cheated and started the activity near Falcon.A word about video performance. I was using a GeForce-2, with 32M of member and frame rate under the conditions you will see (with everything turned to the max) ran around 5, which given the slow train speed was no real problem. I replaced this board yesterday with a GeForce FX-5200 with 128M of ram. Frame rate approximately doubled - and yes I am using the latest drivers. What does this suggest - well to me it suggests that KuJu did not multiple buffer the video in this program. I would submit to PI and others currently working on a replacement SIM, that if it is possible to multiple, or at least double, buffer the video, even to certain cards with a switch for this in the preferences, it would be nice. FS-2004 runs considerably better on the new card, but then, scenery graphics for an airplane need not have as much detail as for a train.I am planting a gozillion clumps of trees using several of VoxLands and others trees, all of which are greatly superior to the MS trees. There are stands of Fir, Douglas Fir, Norway Pine, and Sitka Spruce in profusion with tree counts between 9000 and 12000 on each, but as planned, about 2/3 are set at level 7, and anyone should be able to adjust the level setting to thin out the trees if they wish. I have taken, probably 300 captures doing this sim, and when it is done, I am tempted to put a zip file of about 100 of the best ones in the library and suggest that prospective users download that first to see if they really want the rest of the sim.J. H. Sullivan
RE: RMD-4, Tree Planting in Progress, Scenic Views
It's like they took the Ophir Loop, regauged it and electrified it...I had no idea this chunk of the Milwaukee was this rugged.Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century! www.kelticsylk.com
RE: RMD-4, Tree Planting in Progress, Scenic Views
Colleagues,It was a very rugged area to build a railroad through. The Milwaukee chose this route, largely because the better route around the BitterRoots was already occupied by the NP and GN. When the NP built their line this way in 1880, the BitterRoots were considered impassable for trains, and so they swung the mainline many miles to the north through SandPoint etc. The Milwaukee, Pacific Coast Extension was started in 1908, and although other routes were considered, this one was chosen as the shortest way. What is really remarkable about it is that the maximum gradient was 1.7% compensated, and the maximum curve was 10 degrees, in terrain that ordinarily would have required 2% or more, and perhaps 18 degree curves. The NP, Wallace Branch, which is included in this Sim. has curves to 18 degrees and 3.8% grades (4% compensated in the real world), and downloaders will find it challenging, and not a little frightening to handle a short freight over Lookout Pass - which is only a few miles northwest of St.Paul Pass. Originally nearly all the fills were timber trestles, and there were only a few bridges that were steel from the start. I know that Clear Creek and Kelly Creek are originals, and I believe Dominion Creek on the east slope is original, but Saltese & others were originally Timber. The plan was always to either fill them, or replace them with steel, but the 1910 forest fire destroyed most of the timber trestles and damaged Kelly Creek bridge, hastening the changeover. As an aside, if you read the book "Undaunted Courage" by the late STepen Ambrose, which concerns the Lewis & Clark expedition, you will find that the indians knew of only one good way through these mountains and that was over LoLo Pass, 50 miles or so to the Southeast, and even they advised L&C against trying to go through the mountains.J. H. Sullivan
