Any Interest in Building an RWA Community Route?!?

[TDHenderson]

Michael,

Take a few minutes an look over this map. ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BP ... parail.pdf

Two good candidates, considering we have the P&LE and the upcoming Montour routes already in that area, is the NS/Amtrack line east from Pittsburgh towards Johnstown, making a virtual "link" to the new Horseshoe route, or the NS line to the northeast, by New Kensington , Freeport, and southeast towards Blairsville.



Trevor

[Hawk]

Remember, the R&WA is a fictional route, as is the rollingstock.

[SMMDigital]

Just a thought... Borrow a city or terminal from someone's freeware route to use as a starting point and build from there. The AND runs out of Chattanooga, but there are four other routes out of the city - Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, and Atlanta (CSX). Build the route as prototype, or mod the starting point as a fictional place and do a fictional one.

[Chacal]

Good idea, because this would allow one to write scenarios on both routes that would tie the two together.

Scenario 1 on Route 1: gather freight cars from local industries and deliver to staging yard
Scenario 2 on Route 1: assemble consist in yard
Scenario 3 on Route 2: deliver consist to other yard or induftries.

[glenn68]

A suggestion;
Build two routes
1. in the northern part of the US (Yankee lines)
2. in the southern part of the US (Red Neck lines)


Glenn

[Rich_S]

Remember, the R&WA is a fictional route, as is the rollingstock.

Well, let me throw this idea into the ring Even though the R&WA is fictional road, what if the ROW from a fallen flag like the Rock Island or the Chicago Great Western was used? Maybe even combine sections of both roads into a modern day regional known as the R&WA? Food for thought?

Regards,
Rich S.

[thecanadianrail]

the theme of your section is entirely up to you, i myself am going to have connections to a well known fictional coal hauling railroad on my piece.

[SAR704]

The concept of this sounds vaguely similar to the Seaview route, where there'd be islands all containing different themes. In one release, there was an island modelled to resemble central Australia.

It'd be interesting if there was an American portion containing a small city near one end, with a section tacked onto it that represents a marginal farming area. The area could vaguely resemble a desolate prairie area in the US, with eucalyptus trees borrowed from either California, or Australia depending on the way you interpret it. In addition, the "Australian" portion could be that containing the terminus with a yard consisting of a mainline, a goods siding, wheat stacks, and maybe a stub to a mill or something, with a half a dozen houses. It would be an interesting terminus for a unique route.

Just my suggestion, for what it's worth. I have some eucalyptus trees already in the sim, and I've got some photos that can be used to make new ones if necessary.

[Toripony]

Please trust that I am speaking with no bias toward my own Appalachia, Alleghany or WV or Pennsylvania, I just want to bring up a couple of thoughts about terrain DEMs for purely technical and aesthetic reasons:
If you want to create a fictional or restore a fallen-flag route in an Appalachian setting, I suggest taking a look at the 1/9 a/s terrain DEM available on the Seamless Server. Very little of the country has been scanned at that detail, but all of WV is available. Looking at the 1/9 a/s terrain in the C&O Alleghany vs. the 1/3 terrain of most other U.S. routes, the difference in terrain detail is evident. The slopes, peaks, gorges, etc of the 1/9 terrain looks much more realistic than the "averaged or smoothed mounding" shapes of 1/3 terrain. If you don't want high mountaineous terrain then go over to the Ohio side of the state and pick out a nice chunk of rolling land or look for an old abandoned mining line or some such place.

If you want to do a prototypical route with good-looking terrain that is easy for everyone to sculpt and work with, then stick to gentle rolling hills or flatland like the lowlands of PA or further away from the Appalachians (and Rockies) in any direction. When grading the roadbeds on the less mountaineous terrain, it's much easier to avoid those nasty "points" in the spline grid that can take hours to smooth out or hide.

On a similar note of just-another-trainsimmers-opinion... suddenly it seems we already have several northeastern U.S. and/or Appalachian routes available and in-progress (I am counting the upcoming PA route from RSC and the NEC route in my commentary here). I saw mention of using a "starting point".... what about using the Chicago Yard from RSC as a starting point? I don't think we have a midwest "cornbelt" route yet, do we? (really, do we? I'm very forgetful, lol). It would be the easiest and fastest terrain for everyone of any skill level to build on.

Just food for thought. In any case, I'll be anxiously watching to see the outcome of this project!

p.s. Or ask Trevor about the Kearney sub start he's sitting on

[Trainguy76]

A route I would suggest is extending the default Barstow - San Bernardino route to Los Angeles, via Fullerton and via the Union Pacific lines. I obviously am biased as I live in the area, but I think it has a unique feel, going through such a large urban area. It has scope for Passenger and Freight trains.

[bsrrco]

Going through some old posts, hawk himself may have given us something

Well actually, if you notice, the moniker isn't RWA. It's R&WA, which could stand for Richburgh & Western Alleghanies.
That sounds a little better than RailWorks America RR.

And since the line runs along Badger Creek and navigates around Hawk Mountain, the local residents (that are very dependent on the RR) nicknamed it the Hawk & Badger RR. Hence the Hawk & Badger logo on some of the rollingstock.

OK! You have to use your imagination here a little.

[Rich_S]

I was thinking along the lines of "Rochester & Western Arkansas" As in Rochester MN. But the problem we run into is the railroads nickname of Hawk & Badger. We all know that the Badger state is Wisconsin and since Wisconsin and Minnesota are neighboring states, this could indicate future plans But currently the Hawk is not the state bird of any state I vote that Arkansas adopts the Hawk as their state bird

Regards,
Rich S.

[Hawk]

We all know that the Badger state is Wisconsin

Is there a Badger Creek in Wisconsin, or a Hawk Mountain?

I vote that Arkansas adopts the Hawk as their state bird

Arkansas? But I live in Georgia.

[bsrrco]

I appreciate the Arkansas gesture guys, but what about Colorado http://www.canyoncountrywilderness.org/badgercreek.htm

[Hawk]

OK! So there's a Badger Creek in Colorado, but I live in Georgia.

BTW! To the best of my knowledge, there is no Badger Creek in Georgia.