Powder River Basin

[Tomcat]

Not real familiar with the PRB. Does anyone have an “operations” guide.....
We are going to need a lot of coal gondola repaints for this. Based on what I’m seeing on utube, a lot of these unit trains are “customer owned”.....
...can’t wait....

Here is a link to some information I put together that may or may not be useful. Included is a 2013 timetable and a couple of interesting operating guides for train crews on mine property among others.

*REMOVED*

Note: This is not the link for the route, just some scattered information.

[BNSFdude]

I'll have to pull up a timetable next time I go to work. They don't let us in the portal from home anymore because of "security"

[gtrtroger]

Thanks, I have a 2006 Timetable.....

[Tomcat]

Here it is!

The first of many stages in the ongoing construction of the Powder River Basin.

*REMOVED*
666MB download containing the following 3 files;

PRBroute.rwp
PRBassets.rwp
PRB_ReadMe.txt

Again the dependencies are;

Payware
Tehachapi Pass
Soldier Summit
Sherman Hill
Steven's Pass

and

Freeware
RCAP

The most important payware route is Tehachapi Pass available from 3DTrains - at least 70% of the route has been built using it.

Many thanks to the freeware creators; EMDSD90MAC, SMMDigital, John Lippai and Great Northener - and the payware providers; 3DTrains (Marc Nelson), G-TraX and DTG.

[cnbalasub]

Got mine download and now up running on the program of Train Simulator 2018 with no problem. Want to say a big thank you to Tom for this beautiful route.

John

[imnew]

One word, wow! I just had a quick look at the Orin sub and I must say you captured it so perfectly. I railfanned the Orin sub last year in May and you nailed the area perfectly Tim Install went without issues and everything shows up. Thank you for releasing the work you have done so far Tim, you are an awesome route builder!

[gtrtroger]

This was the piece I was looking for.....

BNSF Mine Special Instructions
Gillette Area Coal Mines
Campbell and Orin Subdivisions

Thanks Tim....

[hobo1960]

Wonderful and Thank you.

One quick (and probably stupid question): What is "Freeware RCAP" please?

KevinB

[gtrtroger]

Wonderful and Thank you.

One quick (and probably stupid question): What is "Freeware RCAP" please?

KevinB

Here...

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/d ... =22:models

[hobo1960]

Thank you

[Tomcat]

Thanks guys!

@gtrtroger You're welcome. Glad I had some relevant stuff.


Some random notes which I should put in the readme for the next stage;

Speed warning signs are placed 1.5 miles before a change in mainline speed. I tried placing them at a proper distance (I think) of 2 miles before a change, but the visibility of the sign seems to hinge on how far away the link is from the sign itself and 2 miles renders the sign invisible so I compromised on 1.5 miles.

Most of the crossovers have a speed restriction of 35 mph where the mains are 50mph so I placed buried speed signs facing either way in each crossover to give you warning on the HUD. The links for the buried signs are in the middle of the crossover but the speed does change right at the points which may be several dozen meters before the warning on the HUD.


Powder River Basin available here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3540b8z595defb5/PRB.7z (Stage 1)

[JohnS]

[Tomcat]

What's next for stage 2?

Black Hills Subdivision - Fill in scenery between Moorcroft and Upton.
- Extend track to Newcastle.

Orin Subdivision - Extend track to Reno Junction.
- Fill in scenery as the mood strikes.

Campbell Subdivision - Extend track to cover at least one more mine loop, maybe two.

General - Adjust/change some speed limits, complete signage and continue adding track markers. Increase terrain extraction.


In the meantime here are a few screenshots of continuing scenery work at the East end of Upton.


Powder River Basin available here: *REMOVED*

Screenshot_Powder River Basin_44.06128--104.56098_07-43-24.jpg

Screenshot_Powder River Basin_44.07573--104.58877_07-46-19.jpg

Screenshot_Powder River Basin_44.08504--104.60957_07-49-44.jpg

[Tomcat]

Fooling around with terrain extraction and generating distant terrain. Furthest point I've been able to put a name to is indicated in the screenshot below. That would be Inyan Kara Mountain at a distance of about 31 miles from the camera position hovering over Moorcroft. If I retreat, even just a few hundred yards, the mountain begins to shimmer and break up. This gives me a benchmark of how far to extract terrain in the direction of any other interesting, and high enough, mountains - in this case it works out roughly to about 50 tiles distant.

From Google Earth:

"Inyan Kara Mountain is a mountain associated with the Black Hills of Crook County, Wyoming that is considered sacred by the Lakota people, particularly for mothers in childbirth. The name in Lakota means "rock gatherer."
Inyan Kara stands apart from the main body of the Black Hills, with an altitude of 6,368 feet. The mountain was stated to rumble on quiet days by the local Native Americans and by early explorers. No mention of the noises are found after 1833; the noise has been attributed to gas escaping from burning coal seams.
The peak was visited by George Armstrong Custer during Custer's 1874 Black Hills Expedition, reaching the summit on July 23.
The peak was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973."

InyanKara.jpg

[chrisreb]

Downloaded and had a drive. Looking very nice and texturing is outstanding. Thank you