Kettle Valley Railway screen shots

LAST EDITED ON Sep-23-04 AT 08:32 PM (EDT)

Hi, I'm new to the forums but not to Train Siming. I normally read the forums with all there comments, suggestions and heated debates. But for the first time I'm jumping in. I am currently designing the route of the Kettle Valley Railway in Canada. I wasn't going to post it for a while but decided what the heh. The route is no where near complete and so far consists of 5 miles of track heading west out of Pentiction BC. All textures and terrain are MSTS default, and of course there are no buildings. The primary structure under construction is the Trout Creek Bridge trestle which is completely modeled and 80% textured. The lattice work is all that is left and is proving a difficult challenge that I'm not sure how to do. I do all textures in PhotoShop 7. If anyone has any constructive suggestions, they will be greatly appreciated. The route will eventually span from Vancouver BC to Midway BC about 350 miles of track. Since new programs and materials have come available as of late the speed through which I am progressing is really good. Much better than previously. Of course the learning curve is forever present, but fortunatly my background speeds things up a bit. I am very luck this way. I am starting my own company with the prospects of creating large detailed routes. As close to prototypical as MSTS will allow. I have so far spent a large sum of cash just to get the publications and materials required to do such a task, but it is possible. The company name is High Iron Productions and I plan to have a website up and running in the up and coming months. Based also on the avialability of my I.T. freinds schedule. I will keep all posted as things develope. Juggling my current job which involves a lot of away from home time means things will happen quickly with lulls in between.
All screen shots are along the benchlands of Okanagan Lake on the west side, the train is heading north. In first pics, Penticton is just above the locomotive in the valley at the south end of the lake. Hwy 97 along the shore below has yet to be placed. The gap with the train on the end of the very strong track is the Trout Creek Canyon, south of Summerland BC. This is where the Trout Creek trestle will be placed. Included some progress shots of this as well.
It is 618 feet long, and 238 feet above the canyon, combination lattice deck truss span and deck plate girder spans. Tallest bridge of its type in North America and tallest on the KVR. Anyway, enough of my blabbering, here they are, the first shots!
Hope you all enjoy the preview.
P.S. Credit to the designers, of the locomotive and rolling stock on the test train. These are available for download at train-sim.

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RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, James, Sep-23-04, 08:49 PM, (1) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, ENR3005, Sep-24-04, 02:00 AM, (2) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-24-04, 03:00 AM, (3) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, ENR3870, Sep-24-04, 03:47 AM, (4) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-24-04, 08:35 AM, (6) Rusty Track Texture, Steven, Sep-24-04, 03:52 AM, (5) RE: Rusty Track Texture, scottb613, Sep-24-04, 09:20 AM, (7) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, Robber Baron, Oct-28-04, 09:58 PM, (18) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, rjbradley, Sep-24-04, 10:01 AM, (8) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-24-04, 11:33 PM, (12) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, KeltikSylk, Sep-24-04, 10:02 AM, (9) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, erniep, Sep-24-04, 10:13 AM, (10) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, ENR3005, Sep-24-04, 09:10 PM, (11) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-24-04, 11:51 PM, (14) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, RMapplebeck, Nov-12-04, 01:49 AM, (21) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-24-04, 11:40 PM, (13) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, ENR3870, Sep-29-04, 05:01 PM, (15) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Sep-30-04, 07:50 PM, (16) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, KVR Nut, Oct-27-04, 02:07 PM, (17) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, wmalder, Oct-28-04, 10:20 PM, (19) RE: Kettle Valley Railway screen shots, High Iron, Nov-10-04, 11:49 PM, (20)

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Nice job so far,i'm building my own route its called: City's Edge Route. It's mainly a street running route.Check out my Website http://www.freewebs.com/marias-pass/

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Nice start to your route! Good to see another Canadian route being built and one of my favorites at that! I actually ended up flipping a coin to see if I was going to to the E&N or the KVR when I started this route building thing. The E&N won. Oh well, I might still do the Boundary Sub from Nelson To Midway in the future. The red GP9 on the point of your freight was one of my first repaints. I have a new one that will be uploaded in the near future after a little more work to it. Mr. Cowen has supplied us CP Rail fans with one of his excellent GP9s, modifed to look like a 8500 series GP9. He will be doing a couple others (8600 series and 8800 series) for us as time permits for him. I am sure all you CP fans will apreciate the hard work that he has put into these units as much as I have. These units should look right at home on the KVR just as they do on the E&N.Keep us up to date on your route!ENR3005

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Nice job on the vegetetion. Nice and dense, the way it should be. That poor little GP9 is the only one made for CP, that I can find. Will be nice to see up to date models come out. A really nice cab would be really great too. The one I'm using is good and functional, but I'm thinking like the ones in MLT products. I do hope more Canadian routes will inspire more Canadian loco content of this era. Steam variations are greatly lacking, as are the old Pullman coaches. BTW I noticed your unit number is different, did you change this yourself, or are there more GP9's for download? They do look sexy (I can say this, I am a woman), on the KVR and more with different unit numbers would be awesome. Just like when the line was in business. Thanks for the comments, and best of luck to your route as well. BTW is that the rusty track that is available for download from Train-sim.com?Cheers, Leslie

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I can't wait for the KVR MSTS route! Just curious, will the route be just the Princeton Sub, or the entire KVR?

Tyler W.
Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway
1884-2005

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The Princeton Sub will be first. The whole KVR in its entirety will be completed. About 350 miles of track. Just like the real railroad, when it was first constructed by Andrew McCulloch the starting point will be Penticton BC. It was fun to blast the horn again for the first time in over 20 years in the Okanagan Valley again
In time trains will rumble through once more. Work going east on Carmi Sub will also be started as I move up toward the Osprey Lakes area. Anyway, gotta fly outa here this morning. Won't be back for awhile, but I'll try to keep an eye on the forum from time to time as I run around North America. So please be patient as I try to answer questions. It may take several days for me to respond.Cheers, Leslie

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Yes its in the FL: rusttrak.zip
StevenStandardized \global\tsection.dat file now at build #26.

LMRR - Lower Mainland Railways (of BC)
Track: 1080.12 km
Roads: 1228.27 km

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Hey Leslie - Very nice start !!! Judging from the detail you put into that bridge - your route should be awesome...ENR - Is that your own custom vegitation - or is that available somewhere... If you built it - how do you start making something like that... I am guessing a you need to build a flat shape in TSM or equivelent - then texturing with real photographs - and - using Alpha to get rid of what you don't want... Am I on the right track ??? Anyway - all the shots look great....Regards,
Scott

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E&N? Dang, I'm drooling all over my keyboard (I grew up in Qualicum)!

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Very good start to your route. Looks like you are using distant mountains. Makes a big difference to the look of the route. Just curious if you had any problems with terrain between Faulder and Thirsk. There is a UTM zone change from zone 11 to 10. I think in some routes these zone changes have caused the white void problem (correct me if I'm wrong). If you didn't have any problems, I would like to know if you did anything special with the DEM to generate the terrain.

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I did a DEM creation right from east of Penticton right to about Brodie. That's why you see that flat mountain to the east in the screen shots. The quad tree hasn't been developed that far. I did not have any problems with the UTM zone change from zone 11 to 10. Transition was perfect between Faulder Canyon and Thirsk Lake. I am using DEMEX registered version, and I can't off hand recall the settings I was using but it did solve any problems crossing UTM boundaries. At first I did have the white void problem but a couple of clicks and a tile regeneration solved the problem. I have however had an occassional nightmare with different UTM's from different eras causing problems with marker files. I use a program to overlay 25,000 scale topographical maps onto the terrain and follow the rail line by placing markers for accuracy. In one case because of the UTM boundary change it was placing markers way out in the Pacific Ocean. However I found a work-around for this and solved it. But if your using DEM's get DEMEX from Digital Rails, it's well worth the money, and will save what hair you have left.Cheers, Leslie

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The bridge is awesome. How did you do all the rivets?Frank MusickMoving America into the 19th Century!

www.kelticsylk.com

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By the look of it, you're off to a good start. Thanks for doing the Kettle Valley. It will be a great addition to B.C. train-simming. The bridges and trestles will be particularly nice to see after the fires. Thanks for your good work. cheers,
Ernie

Ahhh, the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Leslie,Thanks for your kind comments on my work. That old GP9 is the only one available for download at this time. In the coming weeks I will upload the new one in the images that I posted which is a completely new model by Dick Cowen. My images are somewhat distorted that I uploaded last night so they do not show the detail on the unit very clearly. There will be two other type of GP9s in the near future as they are completed by Mr. Cowen and painted by myself.
That rusty rail texture is available in the library as Steven pointed out, just do a search for track textures and you should be able to find it. The ballast itself is custom and was made from several different photos and textures to get the right "pit run ballast" look that a lot of CP secondary lines had. I can send you the textures if you want, just send me a private message. Scott,All my scenery objects are custom, I have used non of the default shapes. The shapes are all made in TSM. I have used various textures from the internet that I have found, personal photos and artwork to texture the trees, shrubs and weeds. Making these objects is pretty simple in TSM. All you need is 3 double sided polys at 60 degree intervals with textures applied. You then use alpha to get rid of the stuff you don't want in the texture. I have created several more complex tree objects such as weed and tree gantries which we have discussed in previous threads. This a technique that few route builders have used but I have used for tons of things on my route. Regards,Chris

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Thanks Chris, for the opportunity to use some of your textures. I will send you a private e-mail when I get back home again. Look forward to the dicussion.Cheers, Leslie

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What are the chances of you making those Trees and Weeds Availible to those of us less able to create the wonders you have???Pretty Please!!!
Robert C. Mapplebeck
rmapplebeck@visi.com
Minneapolis / St Paul

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I am using PhotoShop 7.0 for all texturing. It has a feature called "Emboss" which creates the rivit effect. The trick is to get the lighting right. The neat part is the texture is no larger than if it did not have the rivets, but you can see the 3 dimentional effect it has. BTW the rivet count is also correct. I didn't just throw a bunch of rivet textures on it. There are some errors on the trestle of course, but you would have to know the thing like the back side of your hand to see them. Of course I know where they ALL are.Thanks for your positive comments
Cheers, Leslie

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LAST EDITED ON Sep-29-04 AT 05:12 PM (EDT)

FYI, If you're looking for track diagrams there's an excellent book put out by Joe Smuin last year called "Kettle Valley Railway Mileboards: A Historical Field Guide to the KVR" It has mile by mile descriptions of the Coquihalla, Princeton, Merritt, Carmi, Osoyoos, and Copper Mountain Subdivisions including track diagrams for all sidings and yards on the KVR. If you don't yet have it, I highly recommend it.
I can't wait to see trains running out of Penticton again and I look forward to running those trains .

Tyler W.
Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway
1884-2005

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Hi ENR3870, yes I do have that book, in fact you would be hard pressed to find a book on it that I do not have. That book is very helpful when used in conjuntion with others I have. Thanks for the help!
Cheers, Leslie

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Hi!
Good to see someone doing the KVR! Would dearly love to get a copy when it's complete. The new CPHS add on would look great running on those rails. Hope you make some facilities for us steam lovers! Will the route through Penticton have the branch to the lake for rail barge traffic and stern wheeler passengers or will it be set in later years? Those two things should be good for activities. Are you going to include the lines from Spences Bridges through to Merritt and from Penticton down to Oysoyoos?
After the disappointment of the rails being torn up many years ago and last year's tragic destruction of the trestles south of Kelowna, it will be a real treat to see the KVR alive, well and running again.
Thanks!

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I too am glad to see someone working on the KVR. I myself have been dabbling with this amazing railroad and have DEMs and have generated a good portion of the landscape for the line. But to keep it workable I'm concentrating on generating the line from just west of Hope to Brookmere and just past Brodie to the north to get in the Brodie Wye. As a beginner I'm having problems getting markers to display reliably so I haven't started putting down track. Also I'm trying to figure out how to realistically represent the Othello tunnels. I'm not sure I can sculpt the landscape fine enough to do them justice. I'm thinking I may just have to model the rock as 3D models (using TSM or GMax whichever I can figure out). The era would be approximately the end of WWII until the tracks were lifted in 1959-60 era. Time will tell if I can master the Activity Editor first or a better platform arrives.
BTW, there is a good looking set of GP9s in the MLTDownloads file library. They're Tuscan and Gray repaints of the MLT high nose GP9s. Also authentic to the KVR were MLW and CLC carbodies (ALCo FAs and Fairbanks-Morse C-Liners)and Freightmasters built by CLC in Kingston. A lot of these rather rare birds finished their careers on the KVR and there are several models in early CPR livery in the Train-Sim library.Bill Alder

Resurrecting the KVR one pixel at a time.

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Hi folks, sorry for not getting back for a while. Been running around all over North America for the last 6 weeks. The route will include all Subs, and yes even the connection from Merritt to Spences Bridge will also be included. As for the slip barges, I intend on creating the route with both in place for those who wish to operate in the earlier era of the railway, while still accomodating those wishing to run in the later years. All water towers and stations will be present as they were on the line as well, and yes, there will be full provisions made for steam operations. Lines to Copper Mountain as well as the Phoenix Sub, will also be completed. Branch lines down to Osoyoos will also be created. As for the Othello tunnels, I believe the only way to create these is as a textured model to do these any real justice. Due to once again heading out of town for work, as well as the up and coming holiday season, work is for the most part on hold until the new year, where once again more construction will commence.Cheers, Leslie

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