Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Annie]

I finally got around to doing the vented version of the GNoS van.  The difference between a vented and a non-vented van is fairly minor with the vented van having a simple louver vent in each end and being otherwise exactly the same as a non-vented van.  At risk of catching finescale disease I actually counted the louvers on the drawing and made sure I used the same number on my model.

 

 

It's our Summer at the moment and temperatures are hitting 30 degrees + most days which is badly affecting my ability to stay awake.  At the moment I seem to be sleeping most of the day and it takes me ages to arrive back in the Real World once I start to wake up.  I'm like some creature of the night at the moment who shuns the sunlight.  I hate Summer and always look forward to the grey skies and cooler temperatures of Autumn.

So not a lot is being done with digital modelling at the moment since my brain is being less willing to co-operate over anything requiring complex thought.  I'm not going to abandon doing anything entirely for the duration of the reign of the yellow tyrant in the sky, - it just means that things are going to take a lot longer to do. 

[Martin S-C]

Gollum has the same issue - hates the sunlight. Maybe you should avoid wearing any clothes made by elves as well, in case your skin burns.

 

Still loving the GNS van, the 3D effect of the textures is really effective. Because train sims are presented at you on a 2D screen and your viewpoint cannot pass round the edges of the viewed object you can get away with all kinds of trompe l'oeil trickery that wouldn't work on a 3D model. Its a nice media to work in.

[Annie]

Well if elves made my clothes, - boy do they ever need sewing lessons...........

 

I enjoy doing the mock 3D effects with the digital models I make Martin.  I can't make 3D models, but I can make 2D 'litho' type models look reasonably presentable.  I've just passed the 100 models mark with the goods wagons and vans I've uploaded to the DLS and from the comments I've received Trainz folk seem to like them.  There were big gaps in what was available for the pre-grouping era before I started pushing pixels around and while there's still a lot of gaps at least the situation is slowly improving as other makers start to create more wagons.

[Annie]

Just a bit of mucking around herding pixels.  I've needed some ventilated vans for the Hopewood Tramway since farm produce is one of the important traffics on the line so I messed around with various bits of my goods van artwork until I ended up with what I think is a nice serviceable van for the job.

 

[Annie]

This is not a GER C53/LNER J70 tram engine.  Perhaps I should explain.  This is one of several J70 Tram Engines I purchased from Paulz Trainz a while ago and like many of Paul's older models it has issues.  It's slightly too long for a C53/J70, the 'shed' isn't quite wide enough and the roofline is too low.  The 'cowcatcher' isn't really correct either and don't look underneath as all there is to see are 6 wheels attached to 3 axles.  The interior does have a properly modelled coal bunker, but the boiler barrel between the smokebox and the firebox is missing.  But it does have redeeming features such as Paul's very clever 'drive from the cab interior' system, fully interactive water and coal loading and a comprehensive code lamp mounting system for the front and rear. 

As terrible as it might sound the missing boiler isn't so much of an issue as all I would need is a cylindrical mesh object of the right size and I can position it with scripting should I want a little puzzle to amuse myself with for 20 minutes or so.

 

Now it's true enough that a GER C53 would never be found on the Hopewood Tramway.  They were all fully occupied on the W&U Tramway with none going spare.  BUT what if the Hopewood Tramway had purchased an old small 0-6-0 tank engine of dubious parentage second hand and with the aid of the sawmill at Elgar Wood's maintenance workshop and joinery/furniture factory put together an almost look-a-like C53 copy.  Not really beyond the bounds of possibility to my mind and very much in the spirit of freelance railway modelling.  A plausible 'what-if' that could have happened.

 

 

I actually own several C53/J70 tram engines by Darlington Works, but I don't really like them that much despite their dimensional accuracy and correct detailing.  Their textures are very dark, the interior of the 'shed' is like a black hole and can't be seen and they can't be driven from the footplate.  They don't have code lamps or interactive coaling and watering either.

I changed Paul's strange driver and fireman figures for a pair of workman figures by Bob Sanders, choosing a chap with a bowler hat and a pipe for the driver and a workman wearing a 'flat 'at' and wielding a short handled shovel for the fireman. A little scripting was necessary to get them standing in the right places, but I think they are a big improvement.

 

 

The best view in the house.  The view from the other end is just as good and it's very easy to move between them. 

 

 

The driver didn't say very much.  Plainly he's the silent contemplative type.

 

 

A comparison with a G15 tram engine.  The G15's roof height is correct and is the same as a C53/J70.  Yes a G15 is shorter, but it's the same width as a C53/J70.  I did check details against one of Darlington Works J70's, but I didn't take any snaps of that.

 

 

 

So overall I'm happy with the new 'not-a-C53/J70'.  I'm going to use it for shunting at the sawmill and for freight trip working.  The ancient behemoth 0-6-0 I trialled there was Ok, but I'm afraid its missing outside cranks were a step too far for me to accept and the 'not-a-C53/J70' is more useful since it can be used on the roadside sections of the line.

[Regularity]

Your “not-a-C53” also lacks the turn-under at the bottom of the skirts.

[Annie]

As I said Simon the digital model has a lot of faults which is why I decided to make it a homebrewed copy of a C53 rather than having it on the tramway as the genuine article.

 

As a further update I found a mesh for a suitable length of drainage pipe, textured it the same colour as the smokebox and firebox and scripted it into position to become the missing boiler.  Now things look much better when glancing through the side windows. 

[Regularity]

As I said Simon the digital model has a lot of faults which is why I decided to make it a homebrewed copy of a C53 rather than having it on the tramway as the genuine article.

 

Just adding to the list, Annie!

[Martin S-C]

The lamps on the front are nicely textured. View forward out of the cab is nicer for it.

[Annie]

Just adding to the list, Annie!

Not a problem at all Simon.  It is quite a long list and the more I look getting longer, - which is why I decided to dub the digital model a homebrewed tram engine rather than banishing its files to the archives where it would most probably never be seen again.

 

 

The lamps on the front are nicely textured. View forward out of the cab is nicer for it.

Yes they were a surprise Martin.  I've used those lamps on a number of engines over the past few months, but never got such a close up look at one of them before.  I like digital model engines that can be successfully driven from the cab and I was very pleased to discover that the 'not-a-C53' had such great views of the way ahead as well as an equally good rear view. 

The Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0's on the line are very well set up with their cab view as well and can be driven from the cab for all tasks including shunting.  I'm still working on the G15's as their cab view is terrible, but I haven't been able to figure out the scripting that's involved with setting it up yet.

The ancient 2-4-0 saddle tank No.3 doesn't have a cab view position since it's very old Trainz model now, but with it having an open cab it's possible to fudge it by winding the camera position in close while driving.

[Annie]

Still not especially lively today so confined myself to doing some simple scenic modelling jobs around one of the farms on the layout.  I did take some snaps though and I thought I'd share them with you.

 

The Wood Distillation Works at Downes Farm.  An incredible confection of buildings and odds and ends slotted together in ways that their makers didn't intend.  Overall though I think it creates the right impression.

 

 

The Twee and Rural Cliche Society phoned and said I had to have a windmill.  Seriously though at the time period of the layout windmills were still very much at work in some Uk counties and since I'm going to scenic some of the surrounding fields so they have grain crops a windmill in the local area is a necessary item.

 

 

Hopewood on Sea, - the main street of the town.  Actually it's the only street in the town.  It must be early morning and nobody is out of bed yet.  This view can't be seen from either the GCR mainline or the Hopewood Tramway so I haven't made putting any townsfolk out and about along the street a priority.  I'll get around to it in time though.

 

 

Another area in need of more people.  This is the beach at Hopewood on Sea and I have yet to start work on placing the Summertime 

visitors that should be present in some numbers on the beach.

 

 

And that's all for now.

[Annie]

 

Lots of shunting the sawmill yard with the 'not-a-C53' tram engine has been carried out and so far it's proving itself to be very capable.  Shunting the sawmill yard is a fairly demanding task as bolster wagons loaded with logs are heavy and take a bit to get them moving.  The tight curves in the yard don't help either so it's no lightweight job.  

With the combination of engine spec files and steam and engine sound files that I used 'No.7' has a very basso kind of voice with grumpy overtones as if irritated that it was taken out of its comfortable shed to do....... this!  I'm quite pleased that it sounds quite different to the G15 tram engines (though it does have a GER whistle) as it makes the backstory that it was built from an unknown old second hand 0-6-0 locomotive just that bit more believable.  I like my engines to have good low speed controllability, - especially if their main job is shunting, - and No.7 is proving to be a very good shunting engine indeed.

No.7 is setup for coal and water loading and all that works fine.  The engine spec files seem to be setup very nicely for realistic coal and water usage rates and that's another thing that I like to have on my working engines that get seriously used on my layouts.  There's still some odd detailing things to do on No.7 and I did remember that tram engines aren't supposed to have red buffer beams, but apparently red buffers were permitted.  All in all I'm very pleased with how this older less than best digital model has been made to be useful instead of being banished to my archive hard drive never to be seen again.

 

 

A GER Y14 has been on trial on the tramway for a few weeks now.  Nobody is certain what it did wrong to end up on trial, but it has been making itself useful.  It isn't allowed to run on the roadside sections of the line, but since it's the section past Downes Farm where all the heavy shifting happens that isn't really a problem.  Somebody decided at a bean counter level that working the Hudswell Clarkes double headed to handle normal traffic loads wasn't economic especially when they could be better used doing tasks more in keeping with their size.  So hence the arrival of the Y14.  The GER crew are beginning to get a handle on how things are done on the tramway and seem to be fitting in Ok.

[Martin S-C]

I couldn't help but notice that the underside of the 'not-a-C53' could use more shadow. Seeing its wheels like that doesn't seem right. Can anything be done about that?

[Victorian Lad]

Currently working on a LNWR Coal tank for TS2019. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Bahamas Locomotive Society for the upkeep of No. 1054. Ive put so much detail and work into this, it will easily be my best model so far.

Victorian Lad

[Annie]

Martin, I'm going to see if I can use the same trick as I did with the boiler that wasn't there and find a suitable shaped mesh that I can attach under the tram engine to give some representation of the missing frames.  I haven't found anything suitable just yet, but once I do the tram engine will look a lot better.  The G15's are just as bare underneath, but it's a lot harder to see past their cowcatcher with its more closely spaced bars.

[Annie]

Currently working on a LNWR Coal tank for TS2019. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Bahamas Locomotive Society for the upkeep of No. 1054. Ive put so much detail and work into this, it will easily be my best model so far.

Victorian Lad

(picture snipped)

Now that is a thing of beauty.  I've always liked the Coal Tanks.  Unfortunately I don't run Trains Simulator only Trainz so all I can do is stare at that picture and sigh.

[Martin S-C]

Superb coal tank. The textures are very subtle. Just curious - are you Kris? He just posted the same image on the LNWR Soc FB group I follow.

Yes, Annie, that was what I was thinking. I also thought you might be able to use a darker texture on the wheels so they are less visible and use a mesh behind the cow catcher but don't make it 100% opaque - maybe just 50% opaque if you can so it has the effect of tinted glass or something like that.

[sem34090]

Kris is VictorianLad, yes.

[Edwardian]

Some lovely scenery there, Annie.

 

I think the stretched C53 an entirely plausible addition.  Regarding your statement "... a GER C53 would never be found on the Hopewood Tramway.  They were all fully occupied on the W&U Tramway ...." I would add "save those sent from new to work goods traffic on the Bishop's Lynn Tramway" (in addition to general mineral, livestock and goods traffic, Baltic timber and seasonal fruit and the odd oddity, such as "fish oil" and guano, and shale oil). 

[Annie]

Martin,  I found an model of an iron coal bunker such as was used by the GWR with their firedevil stoves to stop water columns from freezing up.  It was just the right size to fit between the wheels so I made a copy and re-textured it, then used scripting to position two of them between the frames.

Unfortunately I couldn't figure out the needed scripting to turn the rear one though 180 degrees so the effect isn't quite so convincing, but at least the bare axles can't be seen anymore.  While generally poking around and closely inspecting the digital model I was surprised to discover that the 0-6-0 wheelset is complete with outside cylinders, coupling and connecting rods, - all of which can't be seen underneath the tramway skirts.  Well to tell the truth the outside cylinders could be partially seen, but not at all clearly up amongst the gloom underneath the tram engine.

 

 

Some lovely scenery there, Annie.

 

I think the stretched C53 an entirely plausible addition.  Regarding your statement "... a GER C53 would never be found on the Hopewood Tramway.  They were all fully occupied on the W&U Tramway ...." I would add "save those sent from new to work goods traffic on the Bishop's Lynn Tramway" (in addition to general mineral, livestock and goods traffic, Baltic timber and seasonal fruit and the odd oddity, such as "fish oil" and guano, and shale oil). 

Thanks James.  Sometimes when I'm not feeling so well I'll just go and work on an area of scenery.  It's not too demanding and it occupies my mind with the added bonus that little by little the Hopewood Tramway is becoming much nicer to look at.

 

Your list of goods traffic on the Bishop's Lynn Tramway looks to be much the same as the list for the Hopewood Tramway, - though it hasn't carried guano and shale oil yet, - and fish oil is being considered.

 

I had a lot of fun putting together the homegrown C53 copy, but I don't think there will be a second one as I seem to have just the right amount of locomotive power to call on now.  The arrival of the Y14 has very much rounded things off nicely and the local inhabitants of Elgar Wood will no longer have to worry about their crockery ratting off their kitchen shelves since the two Hudswell Clarkes are no longer having to work double headed to keep traffic moving on their section of the line.

[Annie]

Just for fun I had a running session on the GCR mainline on Valleyfields. (The Hopewood Tramway lives on part of my Valleyfields layout)  It had been a while since I last let my GCR engines stretch their legs and while I could have brought out some much more amazing GCR engines from my digital trainset box I confined myself to a pair of engines that were officially assigned to one of the two GCR MPD's on Valleyfields.

Some of the scenery in the snaps is still WIP, but is gradually getting there.

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

Valleyfields is a GCR-GER based layout with the GCR section being double track and the GER section being single track and there are three junction points on Valleyfields where the two railway companies' lines have a connection.  The GCR and GER were historically on friendly terms so at various places on the layout there are running powers in operation.  Throw into this an odd little rural tramway that the GER has a controlling financial interest in and things become interesting.

It is possible for trains from the Hopewood Tramway to reach the GER lines by crossing a section of the GCR and for a short while the two Hudswell Clarkes have been making this trip to bring logs to the sawmill at Elgar Wood from a forestry camp in GER territory.  The only problem is the GCR has now said no, it doesn't want H.T.Co. engines working trains across its tracks to get to the GER lines.

 

So the Y14 now has the task of making the weekly trip to bring logs back to the sawmill.  (Logs can be obtained from other places too, by the way, but at present this is where the sawmill is buying its logs from).

 

A brief chat to the H.T.Co. signalman before crossing onto GCR metals.

 

 

Crossing over to the GER line.

 

 

 

 

At the forestry sidings and about to make the return journey.  The sidings here were a bit of a restricted shunting puzzle, but it wasn't too much of an issue before since the two Hudswell Clarkes would tag team shunt the sidings between them which made things fairly easy.  In order to use the Y14 for this run I had to extend the forestry siding's headshunt or else it all would have been a painful exercise and more of a shunting puzzle that I would want in order to get the train of wagons organised for the return journey.

 

 

 

And heading back at last.

 

 

The Y14 managed the load just fine, but was definitely working hard.  (I still need to finish getting all the yellow distant signals backdated)

 

 

 

And that's all the snaps i took.  Dealing with the log train back at Elgar Wood is quite an involved process with much shunting before the logs are offloaded at the sawmill.  I was getting sleepy so I've saved the session so I can come back to it.

[Annie]

I'm always interested in additional potential traffic sources on the Hopewood Tramway and when James mentioned fish oil in his post above I decided to have a go at establishing such an industry.

The 'East Anglia Hygienic Fish Oil Co.'  is not a throbbing hub of industry by any means.  Its production is small and sporadic, but worth a tank wagon or two a week for the H.T.Co. to pick up from their siding and take to wherever fish oil goes (The East Anglia Squeaky Fish Hospital?) and that's all that counts really.  Oh and the H.T.Co. delivers a wagon's worth of coal for the factory boiler from time to time too.

 

[Martin S-C]

That's a very nicely textured building, it oozes character. I like the fencing too.

[Annie]

The larger part of the building is from the DLS and it started out with low resolution textures and a different roof.  I've enhanced the wall texturing and did some refining work on the windows removing some modern extractor fan fittings along the way and now it looks much better than it did before.  I then changed the blurry low resolution roof  to use the same roof texture as the boiler house next door which tied the whole thing together nicely.