Welsh Highland Railway

[92212]

I'm going to build the Welsh Highland Railway. I need all the pics and info i can lay my hands on. Can someone point me in the right direction please? I've got the gradient profile.
Also, i've sucessfully used DEM data to build terrain but i'm struggling to get my head around the decals from google earth! I've got 4 images of Caernarfon area to make a start with but i really can't work out how to go about converting them for use in RS!.......Help!! If someone could make them for me that would be terrific!

Kind regards

Matt(92212)

[petestuart]

Hi there Mat. If your wanting pictures of the route, then look no further than the offical WHR Project Website (http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/changelog.htm) and theres more on the non-offical 'Stop Press' pages (http://www.isengard.co.uk/).

I work on the route from time to time, when i can get up there, and would love to see this built.. poss. with the ffestiniog too!

Good luck with it!!

Best Regards

Pete

[92212]

Hi Pete,

Some great links there. i'm after as many Caernarfon pics as possible to be able to make a start.
I need to sort these decals of the area out as well!!

Regards

Matt

[petestuart]

Hi there, have you tried a Google search on Caernarfon and then clicked the images button, there pages upon pages of photos there.. I wish you the greatest luck on it!

Regards

Pete

[92212]

Thanks! Is there any way to copy the pics from google earth to 'my pictures'? I want to print them for easy reference material. The pics on the website links you gave me are tiny. When i try and make them bigger the quality is really bad. Need better quality images from somewhere?! Tried making a start with Caernarfon but without the decals and decent reference pics i'm finding making a start really hard. Starting a new route is a bit like starting a new roll of toilet paper!! You keep trying but you just can't seem to get it started!

Also when i go to the correct longitude/latitude for caernarfon(having used dem data for the terrain) there's a huge mountain in the way! It doesn't position itself where the river mouth would be. Does the DEM data not match with google earths long/lat numbers? It does seem so. In that case it's almost impossible to find the correct starting point. Because the markers would be in the wrong place in relation to the terrain?! It has to be right or the line won't take the correct route through the mountains.

The aim is to release the route in stages like the 'real' welsh highland. I hope i can get past these little problems because i really want to build this route!

Regards

Matt(92212)

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Matt

DEM data is not that accurate but it would not be far enough out to put a mountain in the wrong place. I think you need to recheck your initial data and see if you can find any errors.

Building a route involves a great deal of patience and research and will take some time. Read through this forum for relevant topics, check out the UKTS library for tutorials, read the Rail Simulator development documents, look at the Rail Simulator videos and you will gradually get the feel of how it all works. Reference material from the internet is usually in low resolution so you need access to higher quality photos via links if you can.

I tried using Google Earth decals but found there was too much information. Always build your route in windowed mode so that you can close the window if you make a mistake and the errors will not be saved. Also in windowed mode you can have Google Earth loaded at the same time and you can flick between the two to compare your route and the Google Earth image. I find this a better way to build as laying assets onto a decal image can get very confusing.

You can take Google Earth pictures by pressing Alt+Print Screen (for a window shot) when viewing Google Earth and then opening up the image in something like paint.net (free). You can then save it to your My Pictures folder.

It is very rewarding to build a route in RS so I would encourage you to keep at it and the WHR in particular is an excellent subject with plenty of scope for creating the beautiful scenery that Rail Simulator can do so well.

You might like to check out the route I am currently building as I have illustrated progress right from the bare ground http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 16&t=89463

[92212]

A start has been made on modelling the area around Caernafon station. Below are a few pics of what's been done so far. I've prepared a mass of series markers today so tracklaying can really get going now as well as laying roads.


Does anyone know of any WHR or Ffestiniog Rly loco's being built?

Regards

Matt(92212)

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Matt

Kevin Martin is very keen on Narrow Gauge and seems to have a few in progress for RS.
This is interesting but I do not know what stage of completion it is at.

http://wwwnew.atomic-album.com/showPic. ... 4/Dave.jpg
http://wwwnew.atomic-album.com/showPic. ... ave_rs.jpg

Just keep a look out for them to appear on day.

[92212]

Wow! It great to have a double fairlie to drive when i get to Dinas and start running trains!

Thanks for the link.

Matt

[Rfairlie]

That model of the DLG seems to have a certain amount of artistic license going on, funny chimneys and salter safety valves.
For FR stock see here.

2ft Gauge loco Britomart V2 [4443899 bytes] - Britomart_V2 (2ft) Kngtrains.zip File ID: 19009 Date: 28 Feb 2013 - 3216 Downloads

and here

2ft Gauge Ffestiniog Coach no 38 [354206 bytes] - ffest coach 38.zip File ID: 19012 Date: 21 May 2008 - 1953 Downloads

That should just about cope with WHR passenger numbers .

Tim

[abirm873]

Hi Matt
How far are you planning to go. Are you planning to build the whole route to Porthmadog
That would be something hey.
Cheers Ashley

[92212]

I'm planning to take the route all the way to Porthmadog and then see........?!

I'm bit stuck at the moment with markers. I've tried making series markers but something's going wrong Can someone in the know help me out with a step by step with pics on how to create series markers and get them to show up in route editor? i would really appreciate it. And it'll help me push on the Dinas.

The prospect of RS2 wont stop me working on this and i hope that it doesn't stop others working on there fantasti routes - Spa Vally, WSR and Bluebell for example!

Regards

Matt(92212)

[petestuart]

Hi Matt,
good to see you are going to carry on with this fantastic route
With regards to making markers, Its fairly easy, once you have done it once or twice..
There is an excelant illustrated guide to 'Route Preparation' by Clockmaker (Norman Ross) [File ID: 19318] in UKTS under the tutorials section.. I followed this exactly and it worked first time! Once it is done and you want to put more markers on, you just have to repeat the last section.

Hope this helps

regards

pete

I'm planning to take the route all the way to Porthmadog and then see........?!

I'm bit stuck at the moment with markers. I've tried making series markers but something's going wrong Can someone in the know help me out with a step by step with pics on how to create series markers and get them to show up in route editor? i would really appreciate it. And it'll help me push on the Dinas.

The prospect of RS2 wont stop me working on this and i hope that it doesn't stop others working on there fantasti routes - Spa Vally, WSR and Bluebell for example!

Regards

Matt(92212)

[92212]

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that tutorial. It's been very useful. However the strangest thing happened...........................although i hadn't sorted out my route markers yet, i decided i could start modelling caernarfon making sure my long/lat starting point was exactly the same as the long/lat of my first placemark in google earth. Having now managed to get my first set of markers sorted they weren't showing?! I thought, funny! I went on a little explore and found them miles away!! Any ideas as to whats happened here? Anyway, i think the lesson learned here is......BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, GET YOUR MARKERS INTO THE ROUTE FIRST!!!
I'm pretty sure i can select all the work i've done(track, river, roads etc etc...) and move it all into the new position. I'll be having a go at that later.

Regards

Matt(92212)

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Matt

Earlier on in the thread you said that there was a mountain where it should not be. It seems that the terrain and markers are in the right place but you may not be!
Do the readings on the Compass window at the top of the screen for lat and long look right?