DISCLAIMER

The views and my thoughts expressed in this thread may or may not be the same as yours, some may strongly disagree with my views.

Should you decide to buy this game your experiances may/may not be different then mine. Because of other Graphics programs i run my computer is geared specifically for high quality graphics, i have read in the Trainz forums that computers that DO NOT have good graphics cards, and only video chips may severely struggle in the game when adding to many high polly textures, engines, cars, buildings, etc.
I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit, AMD Extreme Quad-Core processor, 6 Gigs RAM , NIVDA Gforce 9800 series Graphics card, Soundblaster 5.0 surround sound card(5 speakers, 1 subwoofer), and have a 24'' HD Monitor, THUS, the whole Trainz experiance for me is really...PHENOMENAL! :mrgreen:

PREFACE

Years back when Microsoft came out with "Train Simulator" i bought it, being a computer geek of sorts i thought it was neat :mrgreen: , the problem was it wasnt well supported at all, and not much UP content was ever made for it so after a year of running it i gave it up.
When attending Model RRer shows i always noticed the Trainz booth and would stop by often to check that game out, it was well supported and had a wide variety of content offered, the problem was at that time it wasnt Windows Vista 64 bit compatable, so i never was able to buy it.
When Dad and i met doctorwayne at the IRM just over a month ago, i happened to notice in the gift shop they had the NEW "Trainz 2009" out(TS2009) , I seen it was Vista 64 bit compatable and immediately bought it and have been hooked on it ever since :mrgreen: .

Trainz is not for everyone, lets face it, those of us that are here are Modelers, we do things with our hands, we like to feel/touch/build what we do and find great enjoyment in it. For me Trainz kinda is helping me through a frustrating time, my job is literally surviving month by month, so i dare not move like i would really like to so i can build a LARGE layout, sure switching layouts are Great, but i have been doing them for quite some time and after running on dads big layout, i am finding it hard for 8'x30'' of space to really satisfy me anymore.
NO, i have NOT gave up on modeling, i still do stuff for myself, and work on Dads layout often, but since i have taken the small switching layout down here at my house, Trainz has really helped keep me "On Track" with RRing .

TRAINZ 2009 (TS2009)

OK, lets get to it, right out of the box Trainz is pretty Awesome, it comes with Tons of engines, freight, passenger cars and ready made routes and sessions from all over the world. Want to run US routes, you got it, logging and narrow gauge, its there, British stuff, tons of it, you start out right off the bat with just about anything your into.

A real plus with this game is its probably as real as you could possibly get without really being an engineer . You can run in DCC mode or Cab mode, OR, i hop between both modes all the time to get the whole experience in. You have to switch switches, read signals, pick up loads, wow, is that ever totally cool!, and drop loads off. You drive engines, couple/uncouple cars, can do freight runs, passenger runs, switching scenarios, CRIPES, its really limitless, and thats right out of the box!

I cant possibly mention EVERYTHING about this game here, it would take much to long, but i will hit on some neat stuff, and even some things i really dont like about it.

Three Parts of Trainz

Surveyor- this is where you can make up consists, add to exsiting routes, buid your very own routes, make up scenarios and much more. surveyor is VERY hard at first, but so isnt everything were not used to, till you get used to it.

Railyard- this to me is pretty useless, it seems to be for checking if anything you have downloaded has made it into the game, personally i just do that in surveyor.

Driver- this is where you run trains, weather its ready made scenarios, or routes you have made.

Things i Like about Trainz

You can build your dream layout, you are almost limitless.

You can do ANY type of weather enviroment, RAIN, SNOW, OVERCAST, SUNNY, you name it! the clouds really move across the sky, so cool!

There is TONS of things you can download to make your game better suit your own likes, most of it is FREE, or perhaps you want some of the real stupendous stuff, you can buy good stuff pretty cheap $5.00-20.00, Many of the engines i have are bought because its hard to find Great quality UP items FOR FREE.
AGAIN, dont get me wrong though, MANY GREAT items are totally FREE!

If you have ANY PROBLEMS, the Trainz forums are the BEST PLACE to get answers, great group of folks there. (HUGE THANKS!, to Rusty over at Trainz, without Rusty i would still be completely lost :oops: )

Trainz is as close as you can get to really being an engineer.

THINGS i dislike about Trainz...

The manual that comes with the game is totally worthless, thank goodness for the Trainz forums.

To know and understand ALL ASPECTS surveyor has to offer you is really quite frustrating at times, you better have the patience of a saint.

Not much is currently available for TS2009 at this time, its so new, thank goodness SOME TS2004 items work with TS2009, and MOST TS2006 items work well with TS2009.

There is literally TONS of foreign country items that are in my Trainz library that i wish i could take out, not to offend anyone but i couldnt give two hoots about foreign stuff, to me its just a total waste of hard drive space, and a huge waste of time scrolling through it to find my UP stuff. sadly you cant take them out because they are all CDP files(kuids) , and you cant identify them out of the game.

When you have switches right on top of each other is almost impossible to throw them the way you need them to go.

Scripting a session seems way to complex, should be an easier way to do it.

The in game camera you use to take screen shots produces way to low quality jpg's, and you cant adjust it. i know they do this to save you hard drive space, but i hate it. On my computer the game looks literally 1000X better then the screen shots i am posting in this thread, PLEASE, DONT go by the pics i put in here to judge the quality of the looks of the game, playing it looks 1000x better.

For just as much good stuff thats available for the game, there is double that in crappy stuff.

Deano's TIPS

Have the patience of a saint.

Be choosy on what you download, go for the better stuff, you'll thank yourself later for it.

Buy the "First class ticket" at the download station at Auran, you'll thank yourself for it, better download speeds and the ability to download more then 100 megs of stuff a day is what you'll get.

Questions on ANYTHING?, for cripes sakes DONT ask me, head over to the Trainz forums!

If you download something and it doesnt work, dont worry about it, it happens, just move on.

Looking for that certain engine, or what ever that you cant find in the road name you want, once you get to know people you"ll find some creators will be happy to make what you want for a small price. (HUGE THANKS TO JOE RAMOS! he has created some SLAP STUPENDOUSLY AWESOME UP stuff for me, and is currently making a UP SD40T-2 snoot nose for me! :mrgreen: ) .

WHERE TO GET THE "GOOD STUFF"

Trainz Download station- anything

West coast Trains- modern engines

RRMods, models for Trainz- modern engines/ freight cars

OBO'S Trainz locomotive catalog- you just HAVE TO go here!

**for Steam engine fans, i cant remember the name of his place but the guy's name is "cowboy" , he hangs out at the Trainz forums in the "Payware section" , anyways, he does the MOST SPECTACULAR REAL LIFE LOOKING steam engines you could EVER imagine , Sadly he ONLY uses Paypal, so i am unable to buy(dont ask) his SLAP STUPENDOUS WORK :cry: , if your into SERIOUSLY REAL looking steam though and have a Paypal account, Cowboy is the man to see. (NO. i dont know the guy, but i have seen TONS of his work)

AND NOW...SCREENSHOTS!

Please keep in mind the in game camera takes low quality shots :cry: .

These are just a tiny amount of the engines i have collected, if you folks wish i can add more pics to this thread over time.

ALL these shots were taken from a low polly route, i did this to highlight the engines, not the scenery, i can post tons of high polly scenery AND engine shots if anyone so wishes.

In the game you can toggle the tool bars on and off, lets start out with the tool bars ON, then i'll post shots without them. when running the game you will ALWAYS want the tool bars on, it would be impossible to do some things without them, for screen shots WITHOUT the tool bars on just hit the F5 button, take your screen shots and hit the Esc button to put tool bars back on.







Lets ride in the cab of an SD50


One for doctorwayne and nutbar!


Just an example of freight


For the Steam guys!








In real life i have modeled MANY patched units , why should it be any different in my Trainz game .




Milwaukee Road FM Erie Built


The rest is just a small bit of the large UP empire i have amassed :mrgreen:






























DOH! cant forget WSOR!


**Thanks for checking this thread out :mrgreen: , till next time...Stay on Track!

I believe I read somewhere here that someone had gotten dimensions off a Google map. How is this done..??

I traced down the "footprint" (that's all that's left....) of the roundhouse I'll be building, and would like to get the dimensions as close to the original as possible. It's located in Lometa, TX....

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This is not an advertisement as I have nothing to gain by touting this. I do think that it is well worth the time and money.

"What is Tom's 1938 Register?
It is a collection of information, historical in nature, intended for model railroaders who wish to know more about the origins of products and goods available in sizable quantities as of 1938. It includes information such as:
* Company Name
* City and State
* Products made
* Nearest Railroad(s)
* Any other information deemed worth passing on, including products used, company size, advertising slogans, shipping information, and what not.

The 250-page book is organized into categories in a manner similar to the yellow classified section of a telephone book,

The CD-ROM has an enhanced version of the database used to produce the book, six text files containing pre-sorted database information, and five text files of related information from the book, all in several file formats.

What else does this collection contain?
In addition to the Company Listings, it contains information to assist a model railroader in planning the delivery of shipments or designing a 1930s layout, including:
* U.S. Maps, including two blank ones for making notes.
* Suggestions for modeling the 1930s.
* A glossary of information about things mentioned in the listings.
* A table of weights and measures to help assess the bulk of a load.
* Railroad name information.
* A bibliography to help readers who wish to undertake additional research.
* "Filler" material to convey additional information about various industries."

The URL is http://www.thomasgloger.com/t38r.htm

I have a copy of this book although I am in the 60s and 70s and have found it to be most useful in my modeling.

Why are there no albums in the gallery. I'm trying to view photos, but it say's there are no albums, and clicking each picture takes forever. Is this curable, or am I a total idiot and not doing something right. Every time I visit I get frustratred and quit.
Charlie

Lately I've been in a kind of a RR'ing funk....But a couple of weeks back, I got off my duff and decided I needed to upgrade some of the electrical work I'd done originally when building the layout. In the rush to get trains running I didn't follow "standard practices" for good electrical performance...Trains were slowing down where they shouldn't (I didn't notice this 'till my brother asked if there was a grade in a certain section where trains were slowing down....)
And I had done a real "butcher" job in bridging the gap where a lift out section is located...So I spent all last weekend banging my head under the layout, dropping leads to the main buss, and finally bridging the gap at the lift out with something a little more "professional".

Here's how I had bridged the gap.....These are some old "Molex" (??) connectors salvaged from my previous layout....


This is the new "me"....


And this is the connector I had used to feed power to the lift-out section...


Now comes the good part....I had often thought that when that lift-out section is scenicked, I wasn't going to be able to reach under the scenery to disconnect that connector....So how to do it....??? I thought & thought, thinking of many possible solutions to "automatically" feed power when the lift-out was put in its place. From "powered" bolt heads, to relay switches, to bayonet plugs....to THIS...!!!!



It dawned on me that the latches that hold the lift-out in place were metal...! And that the connection was good enough to conduct the juice....So I quickly ran to the layout...got my wire cutters and did the old connector in....Wired up the latches...and PERFECT...works like a dream...!!!

Funny how the mind works...It kind'a leads you down a rocky path 'till it says.."Hey dummy...remember this..??"

Kurt --

That is some magical modeling, and yet the photos and text were wonderfully instructive and clear that I was extremely tempted to find some excuse (any excuse) to include a turntable on my layout and try to follow your tutorial.

I don't know if you are a fan of Edmund Blackadder, but that photo tutorial called for a line from "Blackadder goes forth": "permission to cheer boisterously, Sir ?"

Grin,
Stein

I'm not really sure where to post this. Mods, please move this thread if it would be better served in another forum. My local Wal-Mart was having a clearance sale on many of their Martha Stewart scrapbooking products. What does this have to do with model railroading?

A large folding cutting mat w/ ruler grid, rulers, cutting wheels (which are great for styrene), and several other items were more than 50% off. If you're a scratch builder, you can find a use for a lot of the things I saw.

Personally,I picked up a clipboard w/ a ruler edge, which locks the piece to be cut in place. There is a track for a cutting wheel (which I also bought), for that perfectly straight cut...every time. I paid $14 for these items, normally $30. I also got the folding cutting mat for $10, normally $17.

If you don't mind the Martha Stewart logo, or the girly seafoam green color, these are some great scratch building items for CHEAP!

Please tell me how this looks. It is an experiment in creating a partially rusted out panel on a 1/64 car for the junk yard. This is a hot wheels duece roadster, the rear inner fender panel was taken out with a dremel & an aluminum panel put in. The panel is made of a disposable aluminum baking tin, I pierced it in several spots with a needle , then dripped ferric chloride( Archer brand circut board etchant ) on it. The overall body rust was achieved with Floquil rust that had a mix of baking soda & powered brown chalk sprinkled on it while still wet.
I am thinking that this might be useful on some of my junkyard cars----- provided it does look real according to some of you guys-- after all , some of you are the best modelers around.

I had intended to make a partially built hot rod out of this duece roadster-- built in the WORST example of a hot rod ever made -- botched up frame , a completely UNSPRUNG front axle, probably a flathead straight eight motor , really a POS deathtraop, that somebody gave up on halfway done & probably that saved their life . I can't do that because the Hot Wheels duece is WAY smaller than 1/64th & just won't look right in the yard. It is just a bit bigger than HO to tell the truth!! RATS!!!!

   

   

   

As many of you know, my layout is what is commonly referred to as a "proto-lance". That is, I have a prototype that is the basis for my railroad, but my towns and railroad are fictional. This gives me the inspiration to make a believable railroad, without having to spend too much effort on specifics. I chose this route because I felt that I would not be able to model my prototype (the Morenci Southern Railroad) to my satisfaction. My worry was that I would be constantly bugged by details that I didn't get "right". I also chose a timeframe - summer 1919, when the mining business was beginning to slow after WWI, but before the underground copper mines gave way to huge open pits.

While my railroad is fictional, I still read about railroads of the region in order to decide what is "believable". That is the basis for proto-lancing. This research tells me what kind of freight and passenger cars rolled at the time, what types of commodities they carried, and how many trains they ran per day. I have learned that my "prototype" had a plush business car, used reefers on the 18-mile line, and typical train lengths and schedules. But, that is not the only information available...

If I wanted to strictly model a prototype, I could choose a specific month, or a specific day. Having nailed down a specific date, I could look up what the weather was on that day, and perhaps I would learn there was a large storm the day prior washing out a bridge or that the area had been suffering through months of drought and the scenery was brown. Maybe I would learn there was a cold snap, forcing people to get out their jackets and coats for a few days. That information is readily available by researching local newspaper archives or photographs.

Let's not stop there - I could learn perhaps there was a carnival or parade in town that week - something to model with hundreds of LPBs. Or perhaps there was a traveling automobile club through town at that time, or a hotly-contested local election. That information is available. Research on my "prototype" reveals pictures of funeral trains and workers' strikes. There are also pictures of "deportation" trains where hundreds of Mexican decedents were rounded up and transported back to Mexico. These are all bits of information available to those who want to strictly adhere to their prototype.

I chose not to be a prototype modeler for fear of rivet counting myself to insanity and non-productivity. Taking it a step further, we have the ability to "rivet count" our historical culture, our climate, and our history. I plan to incorporate some of the cultural elements into my "proto-lanced" layout as a means of creating a believable southern Arizona mining town. Perhaps I will have a carnival, or the annual Cinco De Mayo celebration. For the prototype modelers, how far can you take it, or how far would you take it?