The Siskiyou Line

[BoostedFridge]

How much percentage of the route do you think is done?

Rather than work out the math, its easier to show a visual cue. The blue tiles have scenery assets in them, which for the most part means I have either roughed in, or completed scenery there. Below is the southern portion of the route, which I will release once complete.

Siskiyou Progress Jan 12, 2018.jpg

For those curious, this is the next portion of the route north. For the first year and change I split my time between different areas to try and test the asset and textures I had for the different environments along the line. In retrospect I wish I had focused all my time on the south. This part of the route is a LONG way away from any sort of release. The remaining 60 miles from Roseburg north to Eugene may never get done.

Siskiyou North Progress - Jan 2018.jpg

Part of the reason I'm holding firm on not releasing the route until complete to Medford is because without that yard and industrial area, the majority of the line is for through traffic. Not everybody enjoys just point to point running (especially the 25mph variety!) so by having Dunsmuir to Medford you can run all of the prototypical through trains, helper jobs, local roadswitchers, and switcher jobs. I hope that everyone can run the type of railroading that they enjoy most on the line.

The prototypical operations in the late 1970's-early 1990's were:

The 'Weed Local' runs from Dunsmuir to Weed, switching the mill there, and then on to Montague to exchange cars with the Yreka Western RR.
A switch crew works Medford yard, and the many industries in town.
A local ran west from Medford as far as Ashland (while the mill was there)
The 'White City Local' runs east from Medford to Tolo, and on to the White City branch.

Dunsmuir is the helper base, with most 'eastbound' trains requiring a push at least as far as Black Butte, or as far as Grass Lake.
All Siskiyou through trains required a helper for the entire run from Dunsmuir to Ashland, and back. Helpers were based out of Ashland, then later Dunsmuir.

The SLW/SLE trains (later the MERVY/RVMEY, MERVM/RVMEM) run from Medford through Dunsmuir, and on to Roseville.
The SOS (later MEOGM) ran from Ashland (later Medford) to Black Butte, then north to Klamath Falls, and via the Modoc line to Ogden.

The cascade mainline from Dunsmuir through Black Butte and beyond hosted many trains daily including piggyback, roadrailer, manifest, and Amtrak's Coast Starlight.

[PNWR1854]

Thanks!

[BoostedFridge]

I got a few hours work on the route last week and weekend, then spent a bit of time tonight running Mainelines' new 52' double-door boxcars on the line.


The 'west' side of Sawmill curve exits onto a long fill. Scenery is complete about halfway through the curve itself now. I'm still messing with blending the ground assets and terrain textures there to look convincing.

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This is about MP332, or 2/3 the way up Mott Siding. I just need to add 3d trees and some clutter objects, and this area will be complete.

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Slightly west of the location above, a Roseville bound MERVY train full of lumber drops down the grade. Having switched out its helpers at Black Butte, the engineer has to carefully balance his air and dynamic brakes to keep the train in check.

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With brakes squealing in protest of the long 2%+ descent, the MERVY takes the main at Small, passing an Oregon bound train of empties waiting to make the assault on the grade.

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Fast forward twenty five years, and we catch UP's Z-BRLA coasting through the Cantara loop on a hot summer afternoon.

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[JohnS]

beautiful scenes

[PNWR1854]

Im gonna be gettin' the lakeside route today or tomorrow so I can have all of the assets finally. I bought TS2014 so I got donner pass with it.

[BoostedFridge]

Another day, another few hundred yards of nature...

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[JohnTrainHead]

Beautiful work!

[PNWR1854]

Wonderful! I get more and more excited for this route every update...

[LandN]

Looks good.

[BoostedFridge]

I'm calling today's route building session 'Siding Sunday'. I've been placing the finishing 3d assets trackside along the 7250 foot long siding at Mott. The track is still climbing the last of the 2.2% grade out of the Sacramento River Canyon, but the terrain around it is more arid and level than the canyon below.

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The east end of the siding at Mott is overlapped by the west end of the siding at Azalea. I have smoothed terrain this far, and have been working on the terrain mesh to the east for the cuttings that most of Azalea sits in. The scenery front is about 450 yards west of here, and I hope to have final scenery complete here by next weekend.

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[minerman146]

Boosted,

I like to chime in every now and then to let you know I am watching. I post enough and don't want to hog your thread or the WIP page itself for that matter. So here I am again.

This guy right here download/file.php?id=47245 caught my eye a few days ago. We use the same Sherman Hill Assents and boy, do I know that embankment! I am going to stick to commenting on this one shot. So, you've got your terrain going on and you have this fill you got to do. You whip out the old SH embankment, adjust for grade and slide it under the track. Nice fit! Then you have to smooth that slope around the fill, paint it, pop your trees in, and continue to blend the scenery in this fill. You've got your grass all tilted nicely and your 3D trees in deep enough to blend in the with 2Ds behind.

I know what you do and its a marvel to behold from this here route builders vantage point. Quote me here: You make nature "elegant". You take the sweet, simple beauty of nature and transition it, gracefully, to the work of men.

[PNWR1854]

Excellent work, as usual.

[PNWR1854]

Happy 3rd birthday siskiyou line!

[BoostedFridge]

When I started the route, I sure would never have guessed that I would still be working on it 3+ years later!

As things stand, I've made more incremental scenery progress down the siding at Azalea, as well as a few miles ahead at Pioneer. I finished the track work on the small yard in Mt Shasta City, as well as a few miles of the McCloud River Railroad. I don't plan on doing much with the McCloud, but once the route is released, builders are more than encouraged to complete the line.

Below is the track layout at Mt. Shasta City, as well as some early views of the start of the townsite.

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[PNWR1854]

I drove down to medford from where I live in PDX to visit family this weekend. Many areas of the line are in pretty sad shape, and there's not many trains run on it.