WIP "El Caballo de Hierro"

[Padsterdood]

Ideas and Inspiration

Here are the first pics of my latest RS project which I hope to post regular updates on. It all began with John Grisham's book 'The Testament' in which a lawyer has to find the heir to a fortune who happens to be working as a missionary in the Pantanal region of Brazil. The description of the region in the book was so vivid, with a multitude of rivers and streams running into each other, that I decided to check the area out on Google Earth. This gave me the idea to build an approximation of the scenery in Rail Simulator, and of course, I had to shoehorn a railway in there somewhere!

Mindful of the rainy seasons which make water levels rise in such areas, I originally intended to build an elevated railway on concrete stanchions over the forest canopy, but when I realised how time-consuming and unrealistic it would be, I created a mountain and ran the railway on a shelf alongside it instead. This now gives splendid views of the rivers and flood plains while keeping the locomotives' wheels dry! I started out at the summit of the line, at a place that came to be called 'Paso de Montana', and the track will now venture downhill in both directions. Here are the pics:

A general view from the railway:


Paso de Montana station. The scenery is still pretty basic here with more work to do:


Overlooking Paso de Montana. The building in the foreground is a cantina which sustains weary travellers on the mountain road and will get passing trade from the railway when the line opens:


Walking up the mountain track from the station:



And finally, a view from the rainforest. The railway runs along the top of the treeline on the left of the picture:


Hope you like the pics. Next time, a bit of background and history.
Best wishes,
Padster

[stephenholmes]

Hello Padster
Keep up the good work
Kind regards Stephen

[buckbeak]

Looking good! Looking out for updates
Danny

[Padsterdood]

Day 5

Since the project commenced last Monday, progress on the line has been slow for several reasons. On Tuesday, the workers downed tools complaining of poor living conditions (they are having to live under canvas for the duration because of the remoteness of the location). Also, the chief engineer has not been able to visit the site as often as he would like due to other commitments (aka 'real life'!). Anyway, things have been sorted out for now, and some work was undertaken today (Friday) when the personnel carrier was delivered to the line.

A lot of the work has involved blasting tunnels and cuttings through hard, unyielding rock, a tough and dangerous job. We can now take a trip on the carrier to view preparations for the next round of tunnel blasting.

The personnel carrier prepares to leave the main site:


Running downgrade through a stone archway:


Approaching the workmen at the blast site:


The workmen discuss the best place to insert the dynamite. Judging by the heated debates, consensus has not yet been reached:


Meanwhile, back at the main site, the men prepare wooden sleepers for the line. First, they cut down a tree....


.....and haul it uphill with a tractor to be cut into logs.....


Which in turn are made into sleepers which are then craned onto trollies for transportation to wherever they are required on the line:




That's all for now.
Best wishes,
Padster

[Trainguy76]

Very nice!

[buckbeak]

Loving the route and loving the story line Well done!
Danny

[Padsterdood]

Day 12

Today we are going to take a walk along the line down to Dalt Vila. With the line between Paso de Montana and Dalt Vila now completed, the workmen have been given the day off to do as they please, and no doubt some will partake of the falling down water. As there will be no work trains today, we are having to use shanks's pony. The line hopes to acquire some locomotives and stock shortly, though how we are going to get them up to Dalt Vila is quite another matter!

Leaving Paso de Montana, with the new raised platform in evidence:


Heading towards the rock cutting south of Paso de Montana:


Approaching the north portal of tunnel no.2. This was the tunnel that the workmen were preparing to blast on day 5:


On leaving tunnel no.2, the line passes over a viaduct.....


...and we get our first view of Dalt Vila:


Heading towards tunnel no.1.....


.... we emerge to catch another sight of Dalt Vila:


Approaching the outskirts of Dalt Vila. This town has more room to grow yet:


The railway and road converge to squeeze through the town's streets:



The railway diverges after a short while to follow its own path down to the station:



However, the road and railway meet once last time as the latter crosses the former. Since leaving Paso de Montana, the line has been on a continuous downward grade, as can be seen by looking at the hill in the distance: the railway follows the bottom of the treeline on top of the hill.


Arriving at Dalt Vila station:


End of the line. As you can see, the railway is still at quite a high altitude. There are no plans to continue the railway to the valley floor due to the rainy season which floods most of the land along the river.


The railway intends to stable some stock at Dalt Vila, so a tunnel has been cut into the rock to take some sidings:



That's all for now.
Best wishes,
Padster

[buckbeak]

And once again...your route building genius has astounded and amazed me once again Well done!
Danny

[Padsterdood]

Thanks Danny.

Best wishes,
Padster

[TransportSteve]

Nice storyline Mr.Padster Sir, looks a great little layout, well done....

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[Padsterdood]

Thanks Steve for your kind comments.

Here is a sneak preview of the gradient profile covering the first two miles. Despite what I said in an earlier post I have now extended the line down to river level from Dalt Vila!:


Best wishes,
Padster