NP Stampede Pass Project - .KML assistance sought

[StampedePass]

Hello all,

As a long time rail fan and developer, I just cannot help myself. I have started research and planning to model Northern Pacific's Stampede Pass route in the Washington Cascade Mountains.
Anyone interested in contributing to such a moderate project? Please contact me.

For now, I am gathering information, data, photos and etc. I have imported some elevation data and laid some track for warm up. However, I Want to build a good track plan first and could use a hand. I am skilled at modeling (3D)/texturing, cartography and coding. I have lived in the area a long time and know the route well. As a teenager, I rode an F7 over that route, and a GP-9 back (Auburn <-> Lester).

I would like to find some assistance with .KML and planning and potentially more. Anyone game?

Thanks,
Randy

[thecanadianrail]

Welcome to RWA! I'm shure there are a few people here that are willing to help you with this project. A good tool to use would be RWDecal which lays a decal from Google earth on the terrain in the world editor. now since you are doing this in NP, the decals wouldn't be accurate to the timeframe but it would be useful for placing important landmarks and figuring out where the roadbed goes even though its changed since the NP days. There's not much else I can help with other than in game editor advice on how to do things as I specialise in the in game editor details for route building. I will try and find any important information and pictures to help you out with this if you like.

[imnew]

Just had to chime in here and say that your choice of route is awesome ! I`m sorry i cant be of any assistanse ( building route ), but like cnr said, Im sure there are others here that can help.

Good luck on your project and welcome to RWA

[thecanadianrail]

quick little video I found of what it looks like today.

[dejoh]

Great video, thanks for sharing. Now thats how I want to hear RW when I run it.
Not the whisper sounds as it goes by.

[NDORFN]

I can see ALOT of scenery in that video that can be easily achieved in RW. Those rock formations toward the end for ecample, bang on the default formations in RW.

[StampedePass]

Hello all, and thank you for the warm welcome.

I am in the process of learning the editor. I have been a computer game developer for years, and a model railroad hobbyist for even longer. This project is special to me as it incorporates all aspects of my skills and interests.

Here are some things I have talent with:

3D Level/Map/Scenery design within AAA Title game environments with multiple game engines (Flight Sim, Unreal, Half Life, Far Cry, Quake, Doom, Tribes to name a few)
3D Modeling (3DS, Blender, etc..)
Textures, painting and graphic art
Some coding (C, C#, Unreal Script, BASIC, HTML, PHP, JAVA)

A little history. I grew up in Auburn Washington. Anyone that knows some about the Northern Pacific will realize what that means. Trains were my passion as a kid. Auburn was a large yard. It is located approx. half way between Seattle and Tacoma. The mainline. At Auburn there is a Wye that begins the route over the cascades from the west side. As a kid, I stood on the turntable in Auburn yard. As it was operated. Trains were common on that route. I could walk just a block from my home to East Auburn station where the famous trains of the route stopped. I spent a lot of time at that station, meeting the crews and such as they stopped there each day. The Empire Builder (Amtrak) used that route in later days. When I was approx. 14 years old, my mom got me a ride on a freight with a friend of hers. His name was Fred. One of my most fond memories was climbing the ladder of the old F7 and riding it all the way over and back! Going over we had 7 power units and a insane number of consists. I filmed it all with an 8mm camera. It was winter, and man was it beautiful. Nearing the top I recall looking out across the valley and saying "Hey Fred, there is another train over there on the hill." Fred says "Naaaa, that's not another train, that's us." I was blown away. At the top of the grade, just at the tunnel, we had to take a siding and wait. We had lunch and I learned a lot. About 40 minutes a west bound popped out of the tunnel. A short train. After he cleared we powered up and went into the hole. It was a long, spooky hole. The tunnel is 2.5 miles long, and the summit of the pass is about dead center in the tunnel. That was incredible. We cleared the tunnel and coasted into Lester. There we dropped everything and moved to one GP9 and a Conductor Shed, and high-balled all the way back to Auburn. A day this kid..er, man will never forget.

The goal is model the route as reasonable as possible and with any project, a good end result comes with ground work. And that is where I am now. I am referencing maps, documents, etc. I plan to visit a local museum in coming days and I am seeking photos of anything along the line. I know the area very well. I do not expect this to 100% accurate. I just want to capture the history, heritage, and the beauty that this wonderful place has to offer.

So there ya it, a bit about me. I will be posting here with some technical data for some review. Appreciate it guys.

Randy

[arizonachris]

Nice to meet you, Randy! Seems you have quite a lot of software experience. I can build a PC or fix it, maybe reinstall QNX or Windows, that's about it. No modeling experience, sorry. Someone else will step in here, I'm sure.

That cab ride sounds like a great time, too. I've only been on the San Diegan a few times (LA Union Station to San Diego and back) and the Chief (LA Union station to Phoenix and back, several times) but as a passenger only. Would have loved to get in the cab of an F7 Chief. San Diegan was modern Amtrak power. That was about 10 of us, just a day trip to Sea World. We did "lunch with Shamoo" at the park.

Every time I drive to Arizona to see my mom, I try and find a good place to rail fan along the pass. I usually forget a camera, tho But I love seeing all those huge intermodals and tank car consists with 5 on the point and two helpers trying to make it up Cajon. Ain't nothing like the sound of a bunch of Dash 8's, in notch 8. But that's several years past, I fly to Phoenix now.

Like I said, nice to meet you (so to speak) and Happy New Year. I look forward to any route you put out, too.

[StampedePass]

Hi Chris, I am a computer whack by trade. Long time Admin/Tech/IT/Web Weaver etc.

Stay tuned for test runs.

[StampedePass]

I have done all the historic research and ran the line in Google Earth. Now, since I am new to the editor and RW in general, what I need to understand before groundbreaking is this process of using a .KML and markers. Can anyone point me to information regarding this? I have the elevation data, and have some of it imported to editor (experimental phase)

The trackage near the summit should be pretty straight forward, I think. I understand that I need to use Blueprint, Easements, etc. And that is where I am now, learning that.

Some visual Data for anyone curious.

West end of the run along the Seattle/Tacoma mainline. This is looking SE and shows the Auburn Yard and Wye.
This yard is nothing today as it was years ago. You can see a lot of scars where track and structure once was.



The old Roundhouse. Amazing that after all these years you can see where it was stood.
This pic shows part of the Wye as it turns east (pic facing south)



The summit switchback and short tunnel. Looking eastward. Two views.



And a view looking west.



West end of the Stampede Tunnel



East end of the Stampede Tunnel



Easton, the planned east end of the route area. Again, this yard is pretty much gone these days.


Approximate Route (Mileage yet calculated, guess is 70-85)

[harryadkins]

Awesome!