Gooische Stoomtram Route in progress

[fadedGlory]

Well, it had to happen and I've started on the route

Here's a few screenshots:

Through the Linnaeusstraat in Amsterdam:



Past the Gooische Stoomtram head offices and sheds on the Middenweg (Amsterdam Watergraafsmeer):



Out of the Watergraafsmeer polder, entering into Diemerbrug:



With many. many thanks to Ricsi van Beek (http://www.geocities.com/haarlemmertrains/index.html) for his fantastic range of Dutch buildings!
And not to forget our own Paul Gausden and Saddletank for the brick walls and fences

I'm off on a bit of holidays now, perhaps there will be more in September

fG

PS and no, sorry, this was well before the age of 'coffeeshops' and ladies-sitting-in-shopwindows, so don't go looking for any of that

[saddletank]

Wow fG, that is fantastic. Great buildings, reminds me exactly of weekends spent in Delft. I must pay Ricsi's site a visit. Good luck with the route.

[ianm42]

This is one route I must get. It looks superb. Please take lots of backups, I don't want this disappearing into a puff of Microsoft smoke like so many routes before it.

[fadedGlory]

Thanks guys, for your kind words & encouragements!

So far, RE has behaved itself, I zip up the route to a second HDD once a day. My first couple of tiles cover parts of Amsterdam, and I am getting a bit concerned about the number of objects I need to place. One tile is getting close to 600, and I am still nowhere near finished.

Before you all get too enthusiastic, the real route was about 25 miles long, right now I have maybe covered 2 or 3 of those!

The challenges are different from most railway routes I've seen. I need to embed my track in the road surface, follow canals through the polders, squeeze through little towns and villages, and all that in a completely flat landscape where you can see for miles! Apart from Ricsi's wonderful buildings there isn't much around yet with that original Dutch character, so I will have to build my own (windmill, anyone?). I look forward to the passage through Naarden, a 16th Century fortified town where the tram enters through one of the city gates!

Here's a map of the route (from an old brochure) to give you an idea:



Amsterdam is in the upper left corner, the route follows the red line to Naarden in the middle, and then continues on to Laren and Hilversum at the bottom of the picture. A separate branch goes from Laren North to Huizen, loops back and crosses the first line just outside Naarden and goes into Bussum where it ends at the railway station.

So far, I've completed track laying into Diemerbrug - that is the first village outside Amsterdam, still very much in the top left of the picture where the route takes a sharp left curve.

I guess all I want to say is that this is going to take a mighty long time - but I'll keep you posted on progress.

fG

[saddletank]

For giving an impression of a city without too many objects used, try the backdrop scenery on this site. You may need to make your own with more Dutch looking buildings but you will get the idea. You can also hide a multitude of sins with the treeline shapes. It may be worth curving the land up a bit just to create a false nearer horizon, unless you want to do it properly!

[duckweed]

All the buildings look superb, but the one on the corner catching the sunlight is outstanding. I'm really into British stuff, but that route is on my list now.

Regards,

~Terry~

[spitfiresrbest]

Its looking very good. The buildings are beautiful