GN Tracks - A Thank You (And A Route WIP Announcement)

[BigVern]

It may be old news, but I'd just like to pass on my appreciation of the replacement track texture set for Railworks by Michael Stephan and his associates. These are about 400% better than the rather vanilla default textures and I particularly like the weedy and rusty variant - ideal for lightly used or semi abandoned rail.

As I mentioned in another thread, the idea of tackling the McCloud River Railroad came after visiting the Auran forum where one of the kiddies was asking (more like demanding, actually) that someone byuilt it. A quick visit to the online resources and a survey of Google Maps left me with a feeling of sadness I always get when seeing an abandoned or run down railway (many of my MSTS routes were inspired by such examples). Anyhow work is underway and I'm hoping this will not turn into vapourware that some of my recent route building attempts have done.

Initial plan is to build from McCloud into Shasta then extend out towards Burney and Lookout Junction. The route will almost certainly require you to have Rich's R&C installed as that's the only example of a lumber mill I've found and, from what I've read, logging and timber were pretty much a staple of the lines traffic (though I'm not going to rule out a "Wonderland" moment of a Class 37 making a guest appearance with some Mark One coaches!).

Anyhow enthusiasm for this one is high and I'll try and keep the group posted as to progess.

[kin3]

More routes, yea!

Hurry up.

[Hawk]

Where can you get the track texture?

[BigVern]

It's hosted at Trainsim.com, under Railworks >> Scenery Items (sorry can't access filename as I'm posting this from work ). However it's not just one reskin but about 12 or 13 in total, all of which dramatically improve on the default.

[Trainguy76]

Have you seen the new freeware ScaleRail Vern?

http://www.3dtrains.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17128

Many different types available.

[BigVern]

No unfortunately I missed that, probably because it doesn't appear to be referenced on Marc's main site - just the MSTS ScaleRail and the RW Scenery just lists ScaleRoads and the foliage pack. Now I know it's there I'll download and take a look but I've already done a fair bit of tracklaying so wouldn't really want to redo all that work.