Slow Progress

Well, its been some time since my last update. The last couple of years have taken me in different directions, but all the while, this project has been in the back of my mind.  I know I have (or had) a lot of people watching, and by now some of them may have given up, and I dont blame them, but the wheel has turned and I've found myself back here again.


For many years I've wanted to build a model railway, but never had the space for it. It occurred to me recently that these days, with the various rail simulators available, younger people would probably just build a virtual railway than use up an entire room for their hobby. Virtual railways have a big advantage when it comes to space. you can easily create a layout that is much bigger than anything you could build in a room, and a lot more interactive. I still plan on filling a room with trains one day, but recently I've started building my own virtual railway in Traiinz TS2009.

There are a couple of existing routes that I like. They're big. They're Australian, specifically New South Wales. They're full of NSWGR and SRA content, and they look and feel quite good, but they all have similar problems.  I considered updating one of them with better content, replacing thousands of signals with the NSW ones available on the DLS, replacing all the stations with better ones, etc, etc. About the only thing I didnt have to change was the scenery.

Add to that the problem of older content not working properly, or failing to load entirely, I came to the conclusion that I would have to build much of it myself, from scratch, right down to the 3D models, since a lot of the classic NSW content are progressive meshes which are no longer supported.

So I've decided to make this a long term project, like a physical model railway, that I work on when I have the time. Anything I produce will be available in some form or other, and I may even consider making them available for other rail simulators as well.

The first thing I need to do is fix my own content. The buffers have always flickered, and I have a new version without any flicker that I am putting some final touches on. I changed it a little and now attach the lamp to the buffer, and then the corona to the lamp, but Im having a little trouble getting the corona to attach to the right point. I'm not even sure at this stage that its possible. I'll figure it out eventually.


The Train Stop will be next. I only just realised that stopped working, and even worse, causes other signals on the route to fail.  Its a scripting problem, and I'll have that sorted out, and updated on the DLS as soon as I can.


Then its back to the Tangara and the 86 Class.  I really miss the real 86 Class and finishing off the model will at least let me see it running again.  I have another side project as well, but I cant talk about that. Im updating someone elses content, and will have to waiit until its done and I contact them again before I can announce it. Its not a big job, just a little time consuming.


Finally theres my route. That will be put together over time. Since the 86 Class were built for hauling coal and container trains through the mountains, naturally it features mountains. At the highest point the rail is 600m above sea level, and I plan to have a port at sea level too, so it's going to be big, with lots of gradients, and will have a city area for the Tangara and other commuter trains.

It sounds like Im taking a lot on, when its already taken me a long time to produce what I've already started, but I'm hoping that by combining it all together, and adding a route that I'll have the full package and that will motivate me to work on some part of it or other. One of the problems of just working on the 3D models is that when I get stuck, or need a break from modelling, I just stop. This way I'll have other things, like the route to go on with.

So thats the plan.  As soon as I have the buffer and Train Stops fixed, I'll add an update on my progress here. I also have some Tangara and 86 Class updates to write as well.

Reorganisation

Someone once said: Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans

You will have read below that after 7 months I needed to get away from 3D modelling for a while - which I did. I started to get back into it, but a lot has been hapenning in my life recently, and on top of that, once I stopped modelling for a while, I started noticing all those other things that I had been ignoring for 7 months.

I desperately want to finish the Tangara and other Trainz related stuff that I am working on, but right now my life seems too cluttered to really get much of anything done, so I have decided to clear away the clutter by restructuring all of the various projects that I am working on - Trainz and non-Trainz related. This will make things a bit simpler for me.

Im currently reorganising my blogs so that I can move some content out of one into another, and use the first one for its original purpose. The new one can continue to accumulate all the stuff thats been going into the original one recently. This wont affect this blog, or you guys - its just something else that I have on the side. Once the blogs are reorganised, I will post links to them here, for those that may be interested.

I also run my own web server, and have around 6 computers here which are always online. A couple of them need their software updated to more recent versions, and I have been doing that over the last couple of weeks. These machines support everything that I do online in one way or another, so its important to keep them working. This is one of those things I had been ignoring.

Once that is done, I plan to set up my own Redfern Workshopz web site, as well as a couple more for other projects. Once all that is done, things should be set up a bit better, and up to date, so it wont need so much attention in the future. I really need to get those web sites online for my own sanity, as they are the key to a lot of the recent turbulence in my life.

I think about the Tangara every day - really!, and will try to get it moving again as soon as I can - I just have a lot of other things on my todo list at the moment.

I'll keep you posted.

Well, its about time!

I spent yesterday on Sydney Harbour, celebrating Australia Day. I even got a bit of a tan. Last week, I attended a friends wedding, and entertained some other friends that my wife invited over for dinner. It would have been rude of me to sit at the computer and ignore them. I have also been working late at my real job to catch up on some things that are a bit behind, and will still need to work late from time to time over the next couple of months, but hopefully the weddings and national holidays are over, for a while anyway.

Over the last couple of weeks, besides all of the other things that have distracted me, I have been doing a bit of research, and finishing up the Train Stop. I uploaded it to the DLS last night, but am just waiting on some last minute formalities before I release it from the preview area so that you can download it. I was so excited that I uploaded it before I had checked it properly, and ended up having to upload it again after removing some debugging code that I had left in the script.

I also realised that I should probably ask permission to modify one of Natvander's scripts. I had not thought about it since there was nothing in the license or in the script itself that said I couldn't, so I just presumed that it was ok. Then, after had I uploaded the Train Stop, my better judgement convinced me that I should at least ask, out of courtesy. I will be delaying the release. until I get this cleared up.

Last week, I also had an idea for a really quick and small model... the NSW Track Flag. It took me just a few hours to knock it out, and script it (ok... it took about 8 hours - but that included 4 hours of tearing out my hair trying to figure out TrainzScript :) The flag was uploaded a few days ago, but I currently have an update awaiting Auran approval, so if you havnt downloaded it already, you should probably wait until mid next week. If you have, download it again once the update is available.

Recently I signed up with HET (Historic Electric Traction) - probably the first of many organisations I will be supporting. They are a group of volunteers who contract their services to Railcorp, to restore and maintain Railcorp's historic fleet of electric passenger trains. They work out of the old Redfern Workshops, which is just a few blocks from here, and I hope to go down there occasionally and help them maintain the red rattlers and other historic trains that they have there. I have a bit of an alterior motive as well - I hope to get some photographs of the buildings and particularly Traverser No 1, and model them for Trainz.

A couple of other Trainz projects have shown up on the horizon. Im very interested in the Cityrail project (recreating the Sydney Cityrail network in Trainz) and have offered to help build any models that the guys might need to support that. Naturally the Tangara is going to be a part of it, but I have my eye on a few stations and buildings around the place as well.

Next week, I plan to work on the Tangara some more. I havnt done much over the last 2 weeks, and hope to make that up next week. I spotted a few glitches that will need looking at, but nothing major. I should have the gangway finished very soon, and will probably then work on the glitches. Now that the Train Stop is out of the way, I hope to finish the buffer, and start on the catenary splines and related static bits and pieces.

Oh, and my other task for this weekend, is to set up a website for Redfern Workshopz to allow me to add a few features that cant be done on this blog. More on that, as it progresses.

Redfern Workshopz

I put a banner together to use in the forums. Its true, Im new to Trainz, and I havn't uploaded any content yet, but as they say good things are worth the wait. Im a geek, and I pick up new stuff fast. Ive only been using Gmax a few weeks, and Im progressing well. Ive read the Content Creation Guide and it makes sense and I understand the key concepts, and know what I need to do to build models that will work, and work as I have promised below.

Trainz is a great program, and if we all get together and fill it with some good content, we all win. Im concentrating on my corner of the world, and I plan to see it through, over time. The banner is to show that Im serious about that.

There is (or was) a huge group of people who were inspired enough to start building almost the whole Sydney Cityrail network. Alas one by one they seem to have found other interests, many of them (according to forum posts) frustrated by the lack of suitable Sydney or NSW content, which they needed to model our rail network. The guys from Cardiff Workshops have been a tremendous help, giving us some high quality local content, but more can be done. Hopefully as more NSW based assets are created, some of the Cityrail route creators may return and complete what they have started.

About the name
Sydney's electric suburban passenger network began in the early 1900's. As the railway grew, a large workshop sprang up at Eveleigh, in the inner city, and the existing Redfern platorm (it wasnt even a station at that stage) was relocated from where the Eveleigh workshops are now, to its present location. The original electric passenger trains, affectionately known later in life as "Red Rattlers" were built during the 20's and 30's in the Redfern Suburban Carriage Workshops, a part of the Eveleigh Workshops, located on the other side of the line, near the present Redfern Station.

Sadly the Redfern workshops were closed many years ago, and are now just derelict buildings. There are plans to redevelop the site and we may lose the heritage value of the buildings. The Eveleigh workshops across the line are still operating, though at a greatly reduced capacity. They are currently used to house and prepare the Milenium Train, and Endevour Explorers. A small section at Eveleigh houses 3801, the most well known heritage steam locomotive in NSW, which is still running tour trains from time to time (See the photo in the archive). Eveleigh is a shadow of its former self, and large sections have already been redeveloped. With the rise in price of inner city land, its only a matter of time until it is closed forever. That may happen sooner than we think as Railcorp have indicated that they will not be renewing the operators lease of 3801, when it expires next year. The future of the locomotive, and the facilities to maintain it at Eveleigh are in doubt.

All of this is just down the road from me, so when I was thinking of a name to tag my Trainz content creations with, living in Redfern, it was only natural to call it Redfern Workshopz.

Blah. I type too much, and I still didnt say half of what I was going to.