The Evenwood & Eastgate Light Railway

[sem34090]

Hi All,

Whilst I await further on my Guildford-Horsham project, I have built a very short light railway route depicting three standard gauge stations and a few narrow gauge ones using mostly freeware assets, Weardale & Teesdale Station assets and Falmouth Branch track. I think that's it, but I will post more shortly. I intend any scenarios to mostly use the Victory Works Terriers, Falmouth Branch, Weardale & Teesdale, or UKTS Freeware Pack stock to keep payware to a minimum. If you don't already have Weardale & Teesdale, then I recommend buying it as part of the TS2017 UK First Class edition, which is £20 for three great routes: Bristol to Cardiff, London to Gillingham, and Weardale & Teesdale. Falmouth Branch is a great route, and at the cheaper end of the scale too.

I will post more on this soon,

All the best,

sem34090/21C190

[Auscgu]

Sem21C190
I have not heard of this route so what the history or is it secret Southern stuff?
I agree that the Falmouth Branch is classic and still love going for a drive
The mainline and dock is a great combination
Don't forget about the update on UKTS
UKTS_25964_FalmouthGWR_Route adds a lot of character to the route
5 in the set plus other downloads and backdates the route
Can you add some pics

Cheers AuscGWR

[sem34090]

Hi AuscGWR (Gone Wrong Railway Runs away after donning a tin helmet to protect against the bits of copper being chucked by the GWR mob...)

The E&ELR is entirely fictional, but the Guildford - Horsham branch was opened by the LBSCR in 1865, and closed very, very soon before its 100th anniversary (Two weeks or two months if my memory serves me correctly) in 1965. There's a seperate topic for that, but I'm currently awaiting a gradient profile.

I have got Falmouth GWR, but have yet to try it... I'll have a look later tonight I think.

I have got some screenshots, and may do a video shortly showing bits of the route as they stand. It is my first proper attempt at route building, so please be kind! Though constructive criticism is always appreciated!

All the best,

21C190

[sem34090]

Here we go:

The Narrow Gauge Station at Westgate.


The narrow gauge and standard gauge at Westgate.


An ex-LSWR M7 0-4-4T comes off the goods branch over the viaduct at Westgate.


A hired-in Eastern Region 'Austerity' comes into Evenwood with the E&ELR train.


A through train from the Midland Region has the road onto the branch.


The Austerity and the railway's ex-LNWR set sits in the loop at Evenwood whilst a BR train departs from platform 2 over the scissors crossing.


The Austerity passes the permenant way gang, who are on the once-biannually carried out weedkilling... and that only happens in station limits...


The through train heads off down the branch.


And finally, one for the GWR fans, a hired-in 2251 heads off down the goods branch.

[Auscgu]

Sem21C190
Route looking good so far
I am just starting my first route as well so you have more completed than I have
Looking a bit flat in the great southland
Do you know about DEM which is avaliable from UKTS
UKTS_24981 to 24986 download and create the file path

RailWorks\Dem\SRTM

Place the unzipped files in the new SRTM folder and fire up railworks
In the route editor under the terrain tools there is a import terrain button
The Great South Land will have real terrain
You can also have Google earth overlay to help trace the original railway route
Check this video on youtube

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This will help you with the location and route
National Library of Scotland has OS survey maps at 1:2500 for the railway details for free
Just use the data as a visual guide with google earth pro

Code: Select all

http://maps.nls.uk

The best range of OS maps are at

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https://www.old-maps.co.uk

But paid subscription
This should get them hills into the great south land and the real location for your route
Thanks for the 22xx in your route, good to see some GWR quality locos
Help keep the trains running on time

Cheers Ausc

[sem34090]

Hi Ausc, (Refuses to mention the 'other railway's name... )

I have come across the DEM/SRTM data, but unfortunately it isn't quite a high enough resolution to include embankments and cuttings, etc, though it is incredibly useful for background scenery. Old OS maps are also helpful, as is the 'Middleton Press' book on the line (I assume you were referring to the other route, Guildford to Horsham with the DEM data?), but I really need an SR gradient profile for the route before I can lay the track. After that, it's easy!

With regards the E&ELR, I am working on adding hills, and non-railway scenery. I might do a bit more today, especially around Evenwood Town station on the Narrow gauge system, then look at extending the goods branch and turning it into another connection to the mainline.

I did have a play with Falmouth GWR last night, and it looked great. My only real criticism is that, due to me having to run at reduced settings (LOD 6) in order to maintain a decent framerate (And even this fails on some routes!) I had to go through the route in the editor to change the LOD level on most signal posts and a lot of bridges just to get them to appear. I understand some things need to disappear, but occasionally I wish route builders would think about which assets need to always be visible when they build a route.

All the best,

sem34090

[sem34090]

Hi Ausc, (Refuses to mention the 'other railway's name... )

I have come across the DEM/SRTM data, but unfortunately it isn't quite a high enough resolution to include embankments and cuttings, etc, though it is incredibly useful for background scenery. Old OS maps are also helpful, as is the 'Middleton Press' book on the line (I assume you were referring to the other route, Guildford to Horsham with the DEM data?), but I really need an SR gradient profile for the route before I can lay the track. After that, it's easy!

With regards the E&ELR, I am working on adding hills, and non-railway scenery. I might do a bit more today, especially around Evenwood Town station on the Narrow gauge system, then look at extending the goods branch and turning it into another connection to the mainline.

I did have a play with Falmouth GWR last night, and it looked great. My only real criticism is that, due to me having to run at reduced settings (LOD 6) in order to maintain a decent framerate (And even this fails on some routes!) I had to go through the route in the editor to change the LOD level on most signal posts and a lot of bridges just to get them to appear. I understand some things need to disappear, but occasionally I wish route builders would think about which assets need to always be visible when they build a route.

All the best,

sem34090

[Auscgu]

Sem21C190
I had a look on google earth and you can still follow the line so should be easy to trace
The cuttings and embankments will come from the OS survey maps
There is a cycle path gpx and mmo files that follow the railway as well
I am sure you will not be to far off if you use google earth and the survey maps
The dem files on UKTS and you form the cuttings and embankments as you go
Have a play you will be surprised
You know the level at Guildford and also Christ's Hospital
I have found the DEM data very good
Google earth is great and easy to use with Train Sim
If you lay track at each station you can work out the grad by height and distance
Cheers Ausc

[sem34090]

To be honest, most of the Guildford - Horsham stuff is fairly easy to do, but a gradient profile is helpful where, occasionally, the DEM data isn't detailed enough. What would be nice would be a plugin or similar for TS to enable LIDAR data to be imported, in colour, to basically remove the need for ultra-detailed distant scenery to be modelled 'manually'.

With regards the topic of this thread, the E&ELR has now become the EB&ER: Evenwood, Broomielaw and Eastgate Railway, as a new extension to the goods branch has been made to the fictional county town of Broomielaw, also a main line junction. The narrow gauge has also been extended to Evenwood Town station, which is now scenic. At some point I may attempt to reskin the coaches that come with the Victory Works terrier into EB&ER livery.

All the best,

sem34090

[Auscgu]

Sem21C190
Sem, good to hear there has been some progress on the light railway
I noticed you are using the Falmouth track for the mainline
I have spent some time playing with the same track and created my own track rules
I would suggest you have a look at track rules before you go to far and resolve and issues now

The track spacing is an issue with track rule and by default the spacing is 3.14 meters
When you see the Vee crossing not forming and the running rail has no break the track spacing is the issue
When you use curved Vee crossing and single and double slips you need to increase track spacing to a min of 4.5m and keep the crossing angles shallow
I have tried both 7 & 8 degs and 8 degs just works at 4.5m
The Vee crossing push the track away from the crossing and if there is not enough distance the Vee crossing don't form correctly

The track rule has no super elevation set
Track Line Unevenness is 0 so super smooth
Track speed is slow for a mainline 70/40 (you set this anyway to suit)
Track sleepers spacing is wide (good for branch but not mainline)
Track radius and speed set to 60 mph and 30m min radius for all rules

I like the track ballast and general look of the track and have used the same
I would like to adjust the buffers to a better type as well
I now use 4.1m and adjust to 4.5m when required
Have a play with the track you will see what I am talking about

Cheers Ausc

[sem34090]

Hi Ausc,

I know exactly what you're talking about! Quick question though: how would I substitute your track rule (Is it available at the moment?) for the original RSC one? I've never tried it before, but I guess it involves cranking out RWtools...

All the best,

Sem21C190

[Auscgu]

Sem21C190
Not sure where your at with setting up a developers folder
Under Assets you create your folder Assets\Sem\EBER\------- (Suggestion Only)
This is where you put all the custom assets for your route

The track Falmouth Track rule lives under
Assets\RSC\FalmouthBranch\RailNetwork\TrackRules and Track
You copy them to a working folder and open the .bin file with RWTools and save as a .xml file
Save the .xml files to your name
Then Edit the properties you want to change
Drop the saved .xml file on serz.exe in Railworks and it will return the new .bin file
The new .bin file goes in the same location as the Falmouth track rules and track
Your good to go

You only need a track rule and a single track .bin file for your rule
I have edited the sleeper spacing hence a complete set
As long as you back up your railworks you can't go to far wrong
If you break it put it back to the same as before and all should be good

In Railworks select your new track rule and work with that
The rule will appear when you add Falmouth Branch to the Asset selection (Blue box with orange arrow)
If you issue your route then the rule needs to go with it

Cheers Ausc