Crouch Valley

[Merlin75]

Nice Job Jim and thanks to all involved with assets and everything.

[England345]

Hi all what a great freeware route cant wait for V3, only trouble i have with the 317 is Shenfield to Southend controls fine, Southminster to Shenfield as some others keyboard or using the mouse doesnt move the train.

[jimessex]

Hi all, thanks to the people that have downloaded the route and I hope you are enjoying it.

I notice on those two scenarios that the 317 responds better on shenfield to Southminster then the other one but i don't think this is anything wrong with the unit. I think its just a difference between the original 317 and the updated 317.

Hopefully someone may release some scenarios for the route and this won't be an issue.

The good news is version 3 is aleady 80% done but will still be some time away due to having to replace garl assets and also finishing off certain sections.
Hopefully will be out by end of the year.

Thanks again to the people that say thank you and make it worth while.

Kind regards

Jamie

[alanch]

Just had a little drive from Shenfield to Southend, and the route looks very good, so thank you.

I curious about the gradients though - as steep as 1:32 with others in the 1:50s and 1:60s. Are these correct based on the real route?

[jimessex]

The gradients are approximate and based on the DEM data. In places I have cut through the land and in others I have gone over it. I know some of them are a little steep but to me, they don't appear disproportnate. The gradient between Shenfield and Brentwood is known for being quite steep.

[alanch]

The gradients are approximate and based on the DEM data. In places I have cut through the land and in others I have gone over it. I know some of them are a little steep but to me, they don't appear disproportnate. The gradient between Shenfield and Brentwood is known for being quite steep.

From memory, 1;32 is steeper than the Lickey Incline, and anything steeper than 1:100 would have been a challenge in steam days. I suspect the prototype has many more embankments and cuttings to ease the gradients.

[gypbrc]

Yeah, the Lickey averages 1/37.75.

I only have the mainline profile, but Brentwood bank climbs at 1/103 from Harold Wood up to Brentwood and then at 1/85 and 1/156 to the summit (the highest on the GEML) before falling at 1/136 down to Shenfield. It's the third steepest section on the GEML behind the decline at Trowse into Norwich (1/84) and Bethnal Green bank out of Liverpool Street (1/70).

If I hadn't have looked at the gradient profiles though I can't say as I would have known the difference.

[alanch]

I've been searching on line for a gradient profile, without much success, though one can be ordered from the Essex Archives Online here http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_detai ... cID=826336 .

I found this quote 'The Shenfield-Southend line is undulating with ruling gradients of 1 in 100; there are some sharp curves, the minimum radius being 23 chains.' on page 14 of a 1962 Ministry of Transport document here http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docume ... es1962.pdf . This suggests that nowhere on the line were gradients steeper than 1 in 100.

[jimessex]

From wikipedia re the class 76

The first section of the Manchester to Sheffield "Woodhead" route, that between Dunford Bridge and Wath, was not electrified until 4 February 1952. The lines between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield had already been electrified in September 1949 using the same 1500 V DC system, and on 27 October 1950, the first two locomotives to be completed, nos. 26001/2, were sent to Ilford depot in Essex for trials; these were joined in early 1951 by 26003–10. The trials involved a variety of trains, passenger and freight, and included tests of the regenerative braking system on Brentwood bank, which has a gradient of 1:103 (0.97%). In June 1951, the ten locomotives were sent north to Wath, where the overhead lines had recently been energised, for further trials

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_76

[malkymackay]

The Shenfield - Southend section is included in the BR Mainline Gradient Profiles book, and it does indeed show no gradient steeper than 1 in 100.

[kennyb]

Very surprised to find that V2 had appeared and what a surprise. A fantastic route.
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Noticed a few having problems with driving the 317s. Ran the freeroam out of Southminster and went up the siding ( forgot to check routing) and coudn`t get back into the station - ??? was it because I`d ran out of wires !!!!, also having restarted the freeroam, on arrival at Wickford, couldn`t wait to go to Southend, so changed cabs and set off, problem arose, "lost the lot", then realised that the set in the freeroad seems to have a simple cab at one end and the realistic cab (complete with Vigilant Device and altered Keypad input) at the other end.
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A quick check with the Reame that came with the original 317 release and is also provided in the Readme lists with Crouch Valley sorted that problem out.
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Hope that provides help.
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Ken

[valiant222]

Fantastic route; up to payware standard. Drove the 317 Shenfield_Southend scenario using my Raildriver without a hitch followed by steaming up the pier, last night. This morning, tried the Southminster Shenfield scenario but no joy. Raildriver controls did not work, strange sounds coming from the speakers; gremlins in computer overnight?
Abandoned the line for China Clay with a Western (grr I'm a GER man) and Raildriver worked fine so I think I will have to swap out the 317 Southminster for the 317 Southend one unless anyone knows better. Does the later 317 have different input mappers?

Anyway the route is fantastic. Well done James.

Side note; the ident screen shows the airport on the wrong side of the line and methinks the goods shed at Rochford has gone AWOL.

[LocoPower]

Downloaded the new version and it is indeed a very nice route. After playing with the provided scenarios, I threw some Mk1 BGs from the 67 pack into the Royal Mail depot at Southend to create an express mail train. The amount of hand-placed, close up vegetation, shrubs and weeds is excellent, and conveys a superb sense of speed even though you're only doing 80mph at most.

Some of the gradients come as a little surprise (1:32? Really?) and there are some speed limit problems in some sections, but hopefully such things will be refined in future versions. I also found a section of track where all units switch to metric/European when you drive on it - presumably due to a different track rule being used?

Overall, thank you for an excellent route, I'm not familiar with the area but it feels authentic and atmospheric. I can see myself using this quite a bit.

[oldgreyowl]

I tried to load this route, but RWTools tells me that I should have the GARL for some of the scenery items. This is the first time I have come across this route using Garl stuff.

keith

[Kariban]

Is there anything from GARL that can't be swapped ( RW_Tools, not route editing :p ) for WCML items? I don't have GARL, so this is not going to work for me...