Southern Pacific Shasta Route - Development Thread

[solarnet]

Thank you all

Austin - The goal is definitely to meet or exceed Mullan's scenery quality. I am trying to focus on aspects that I personally feel were weaknesses in Mullan and improve on those this time around.

Richard - No expected release timeline for now. There are still dozens of miles with no scenery yet. May not even be in 2021 if my day job keeps being crazy busy as it has been lately. I've learned my lesson before about being too ambitious with claiming when my routes will get done lol.

Gerry - I've also spent a lot of time hiking up in this country, such a great area to explore and go camping away from the "yahoos" further south in California

Understand completely, I definitely am looking forward to this route. Take your time. I know how life can get in the way. My only wish is that I could be half as talented as many of the great route builders like yourself.

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[csantucci]

Great job here!

[tlowe]

Hi Guys,
This is such a beautiful route. I am really impressed at the work you did to create this. There is certainly a lot of stuff going on between Black Butte and Ashland let alone all the way to Eugene. Good job. I remember many trips between Black Butte and Ashland on a 5 unit SD9 helper back in the day 70s and 80s before UP took over. Keep up the good work. I have been following he development of this route since you started it a few years back.
Tim L

[Kist]

Beautiful work Sean, looking forward for this new route from you, may I ask a photo next time with blue sunny skies ? It's always seens to be ash sky. And a question, are you also working on the project ''UP La Grande Subdivision (Blue Mountains)'' from TrainSimulations ? Good day

[PerryPlatypus]

Thanks again all!

Tim - Very cool, glad to hear someone who has worked the territory is impressed with the route thus far! Just in case it isn't clear - my route covers Dunsmuir to Black Butte to Klamath Falls. It does not include any of the Siskiyou line from Black Butte to Ashland (except for the first mile or so from the junction at Black Butte).

Kist - Thanks, I really do wish Open Rails had better cloud options - like the ability to change from a drop down list what type of cloud cover you want rather than having to overwrite the sky files in order to change clouds.

Chris Nelson is the one doing the work on the La Grande Sub route. I am merely acting as his "advisor" in a way, providing him with lots of reference material, tree species info, etc. since I am familiar with that area (I live about a 4 hour drive away). The La Grande Sub is still very early in development, so we don't have any kind of timeline for completion.

[jbtower]

Couldn't pick a better team between you and Chris Nelson, I look forward to more progress information from both routes!

[R. Steele]

...

Kist - Thanks, I really do wish Open Rails had better cloud options - like the ability to change from a drop down list what type of cloud cover you want rather than having to overwrite the sky files in order to change clouds.

Most definite agreement, OR environmental issues need to be addressed. I know from reading that some other issues are on hold until after the official move over to monogame is completed --- perhaps then the environment will be tackled --- if a coder is found to take on the task. Submit a Trello card with your ideas.

[trainmanaustin]

For the life of me, I can not find where the UP La Grande sub runs to and from.

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[PerryPlatypus]

For the life of me, I can not find where the UP La Grande sub runs to and from.

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Austin,

Hinkle, Oregon to La Grande, Oregon, over the Blue Mountains (northeastern corner of the state). 2.2% grade on east side, 2% on west side. Chris' route will be set circa 1989, which will allow for some nice motive power choices and manned helper operations.

[trainmanaustin]

Austin,

Hinkle, Oregon to La Grande, Oregon, over the Blue Mountains. 2.2% grade on east side, 2% on west side. Chris' route will be set circa 1989, which will allow for some nice motive power choices and manned helper operations.

Nice! Now all we need is a circa 1989 Mullan revamp. Hint hint hint lol.

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[Kist]

Austin,

Hinkle, Oregon to La Grande, Oregon, over the Blue Mountains (northeastern corner of the state). 2.2% grade on east side, 2% on west side. Chris' route will be set circa 1989, which will allow for some nice motive power choices and manned helper operations.

So the Route won't comprehend it the 3 different summits (Kamela, Encina and Telocaset) Otherwise it should have go all the way down to Huntington

[jiggywatt]

Nice looking route... saving my shekels

[mikeebb]

Thanks again all!

Tim - Very cool, glad to hear someone who has worked the territory is impressed with the route thus far! Just in case it isn't clear - my route covers Dunsmuir to Black Butte to Klamath Falls. It does not include any of the Siskiyou line from Black Butte to Ashland (except for the first mile or so from the junction at Black Butte).

Kist - Thanks, I really do wish Open Rails had better cloud options - like the ability to change from a drop down list what type of cloud cover you want rather than having to overwrite the sky files in order to change clouds.

Chris Nelson is the one doing the work on the La Grande Sub route. I am merely acting as his "advisor" in a way, providing him with lots of reference material, tree species info, etc. since I am familiar with that area (I live about a 4 hour drive away). The La Grande Sub is still very early in development, so we don't have any kind of timeline for completion.

My only nitpick is that, in the pics, Shasta looks just too big. That could be an artifact of the cropping (telephoto effect). And the mountain *is* imposing. But actual photos I've seen (and having been out there), in my memory (take that for what it's worth in an olde farte), place it a little more in the middle ground than in the direct foreground. Still, that looks like a route I might part with a little cash for!

Next question, of course, will be how to merge your route and Siskiyou. But I wouldn't bother. Just have an activity that drags a train from Dunsmuir to the interchange and leave it there, then start from that point in Siskiyou. It would be different crews for each segment anyway (has anybody modeled a Ratzenberger van yet?).

[PerryPlatypus]

So the Route won't comprehend it the 3 different summits (Kamela, Encina and Telocaset) Otherwise it should have go all the way down to Huntington

The route is called the La Grande Subdivision for a reason, not the "La-Grande-plus-half-of-the-Huntington-Sub". Hinkle to La Grande covers one full crew district (terminal to terminal). East of La Grande is a different subdivision and crew district. If we were to extend it to Huntington, it would probably take an extra few years of work, but maybe then we could charge well over $50 per copy. Don't get me wrong, La Grande to Huntington is nice scenery, but you're talking about almost doubling the size of the route (or an entirely separate route), and we do have to consider that not all customers want to keep seeing routes from the Pacific Northwest.

My only nitpick is that, in the pics, Shasta looks just too big. That could be an artifact of the cropping (telephoto effect). And the mountain *is* imposing. But actual photos I've seen (and having been out there), in my memory (take that for what it's worth in an olde farte), place it a little more in the middle ground than in the direct foreground. Still, that looks like a route I might part with a little cash for!

Next question, of course, will be how to merge your route and Siskiyou. But I wouldn't bother. Just have an activity that drags a train from Dunsmuir to the interchange and leave it there, then start from that point in Siskiyou. It would be different crews for each segment anyway (has anybody modeled a Ratzenberger van yet?).

As for the size of Mount Shasta - it should be spot-on in location, size, and height. I did not make the mountain just by eyeballing it; the mountain and the entire route has been created using GPS-coordinated terrain contours and geolocated aerial imagery so that everything is positioned correctly. I have spent several weeks of my life hiking and camping in this territory, taking photographs, and in the area around Andesite and Hotlum the mountain really is right in your face. A few of the screenshots do have a slight "telephoto lens" zoom.

Link to two photos of mine near Andesite:
https://railpictures.net/photo/537469/
https://railpictures.net/photo/542427/

The main issue of course with a merge is the payware vs. freeware, but someone could I suppose try to merge the two routes on their own computer. Back in SP days, Siskiyou Line crews normally ran through Ashland to Dunsmuir, not changing crews at the junction at Black Butte. In the CORP era, the CORP locomotives would get completely cut off from the train, and an SP (or later UP) manifest would pick up/drop off cars from the interchange.

The era of my route (1995-1996) places it during the period where CORP had just taken over the Siskiyou Line, and had reopened the tracks over Siskiyou Summit in July 1995 (which SP had closed a few years prior).

Couldn't find a "Ratzenberger" van by a Google search, so I'm curious what those look like, if they were a common SP crew van?

[wwhall]

The proper name for the crew transport was 'Renzenberger." They ran predominantly white 4WD Chevrolet Suburbans/Tahoes and 2WD Chevrolet vans, though they used Fords, as well. Renzenberger was based out Lenexa, Kansas, so many of their vehicles had Kansas license plates, no matter where the vehicle itself was based. Do an image search of "Renzenberger van" on your search engine and you should find some images. Here's a link to one (not my image): http://hallconunion.org/wp-content/u...3.01.06-PM.png . SP (and later UP) used Renzenberger extensively. They also used Armadillo out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, among other companies. A few years ago, Renzenberger was acquired by CoachAmerica.