3dtrains scalerail route upgrades?

[Unoriginal]

Any chance these can be found anywhere? They had freeware upgrades for the NS Pocahontas division route (which is the one I'm after), the NS clinch valley route, ATSF raton pass 2, and one of the whitefish routes. I don't think these were ever uploaded to the library so that's why I'm asking.

[rt35ge]

Something ScaleRail is/was in the library. Getting the original is kind of hard to answer now. Person who runs the site announced on here they are back, but didn't disclose the future of 3DTrains unless I missed a thread about that.

[Jdark34]

scailrail does work on whitefish 4 hawk route

[R. Steele]

You had to be a registered member of the 3DTrains Forum to get these conversions to scalerail.

I have a couple of them and looking at the docs here's what I found:

DISTRIBUTION

All files, images, and documentation for this conversion is the property of 3DTrains. None of the included files may be distributed without the express written permission of 3DTrains.

See END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT section below for additional details and comments.

So it looks like you will have to wait and see if in the future these files will be in distribution again, it may be possible.

Snapshots were taken by the Internet Archive of the forum pages for these conversions, if you want to take a look at them.

[Unoriginal]

I did have an account on there, that's where I originally got scalerail from. There's just no way to download from the forum now.

[eric]

You can always try to PM Melanie (user bananarama) and ask about those "members only" upgrades.

She's been open to making other free items available as long as users were able to supply source files to the library.

[CSRX]

Any chance these can be found anywhere? They had freeware upgrades for the NS Pocahontas division route (which is the one I'm after), the NS clinch valley route, ATSF raton pass 2, and one of the whitefish routes. I don't think these were ever uploaded to the library so that's why I'm asking.

I recall I did a few of these upgrades, but I don't think I ever got far with them. Only one I did get finished and released, or two rather, was the Florida Funnel and the Tallahassee Sub.

[CSXT Q-317]

Any chance these can be found anywhere? They had freeware upgrades for the NS Pocahontas division route (which is the one I'm after), the NS Clinch Valley route, ATSF raton pass 2, and one of the whitefish routes. I don't think these were ever uploaded to the library so that's why I'm asking.

Converting is rather easy. In fact, I believe there is still a scale rail conversion tutorial here in the F/L.

File name srcontut.zip.

I have actually converted my copy to DB tracks.

[Unoriginal]

Converting is rather easy. In fact, I believe there is still a scale rail conversion tutorial here in the F/L.File name srcontut.zip. I have actually converted my copy to DB tracks.

Thanks for that heads up, need to give it a go someday.

I recall I did a few of these upgrades, but I don't think I ever got far with them. Only one I did get finished and released, or two rather, was the Florida Funnel and the Tallahassee Sub.

I only recall ever seeing a Florida funnel one (unless both were merged). I've always enjoyed your Tallahassee upgrade though!

[eric]

I wouldn't say easy comes to mind on a Xtracks to Scalerail conversion, but they can be done. The sticky wicket is if the route makes heavy use of the pieces in Xtracks that don't have matching Scalerail pieces....

[R. Steele]

Converting is rather easy. In fact, I believe there is still a scale rail conversion tutorial here in the F/L.

File name srcontut.zip.

I have actually converted my copy to DB tracks.

srcontut.zip as a tool document is a zero....calls for a program that is no longer available >>> BK ReplaceEm may be downloaded at http://orbit.org/replace and the ScaleRail Conversion Tutorial.doc is not easily opened --- it's a office 93 doc that is possibly damaged.

[eric]

Yeah, BKR is long gone. I do have a replacement script for XTracks to Scalerail included with World File Hacker -- it's a shape replacement only and leaves the TDB untouched.

But, as I cautioned, it won't replace what doesn't have a 1:1 replacement.

[slipperman]

Hi,
I, too, have been able to open the ScaleRail Conversion Tutorial file without any problem.
It could be because I use SoftMaker TextMaker 2021. SoftMaker is a well-established payware (but much cheaper!) alternative to MS Office.

Cheers,
Ged

[R. Steele]

Using Open Office, which will usually open most anything...there is a repair/restore routine however I wasn't interested in spending any more time on it.

[Shawmut]

I wouldn't say easy comes to mind on a Xtracks to Scalerail conversion, but they can be done. The sticky wicket is if the route makes heavy use of the pieces in Xtracks that don't have matching Scalerail pieces....

Easy? No, but not that difficult if you follow the tutorial's directions. My first conversions were to ScaleRail as it was the only finescale alternative to Kuju track at the time. And my first conversion was to one of Renzo Grassi's Italian routes - Porrettana Firenze-Bologna 1900 - not exactly an "out-of-the-box route," and it worked just fine.

When DB tracks came out I found a system that was easier to implement and had the advantage of having a more class 1 feel to the roadbed. Several of those conversions are in the f/l here as drop in upgrades.

But the fly in the ointment, as Eric points out, is that if you choose a route, the author of which has used the full library of Xtracks, then your conversion will end up being a mish-mash of of oversize tinplate-type track and scale-sized track. And this is true no matter which system you choose to use for your route conversion.

One of the files I uploaded here was an ACleanTrack ace file that helped to disguise the grossness of the Kuju track sections for which there was no scale-sized equivalent, but that ruse only goes so far. Eventually I found that it so destroyed the illusion that I was just pushing pixels on a screen instead of being Casey Jones that I restricted my conversions to routes that only used the basic set of Kuju tracks that came with MSTS and didn't use much in the way of Xtracks.

As a side note, the author of the ScaleRail conversion tutorial, Joe Realmuto, also made a nice set of scale-sized tracks that he made by re-scaling the default Kuju sections and which he called "MSTS Scale Rail Track Shape Fix." They are here in the library along with some other files by Dick Cowen that improved the points (switches) and, IMO, look the best if you are trying to represent either turn of the last century routes (with the exception of the Pennsy) or run-down shortlines.