Route design tools

[flarrfan]

My pre-ordered MSTS is probably a week or so away, but amid the discussions of Route Editor shortcomings, I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good source for track profile and curvature charts? Obviously ETT's are a prime source of route info, but my CSX ETT's don't contain profiles. There are RR-iana shows where ETT's are sold (and at my last train-watching adventure, a friendly crew threw one down to us), but I don't remember seeing profile charts there. By the way, if anyone is interested in a CSX route and needs an ETT, check this great site: http://www.trainweb.org/csxtimetables/
Are there any other websites like this for other RR's?

[Fitz]

You can try the NMRA site (National Model Railroad Ass.) at www.mcs.net/~weyland/nmra. Scroll down to World Wide RAil Sites. and then Prototype RAilroads. Tons of info there. Links will take you to all the Major Railroads, Shortlines and Historical Societies of all the "fallen flags". They are the best for researching the "Golden Years".

Fitz

[jwaldron]

I'm doing it the hard way. A set of 7.5 topos, a scale, and lots of sweat. However, I've been hitting my lat and long checks close, so it seems to work.

[wewain]

Tips on Latitude & Longitude, Markers, and Dynamic Track.

I initially used MapBlast at: http://www.mapblast.com/ to find my latitude and longitude.
I zoomed in to the smallest scale they had, and they had the rail line I was interested in on the map. By placing one of their markers at a location of interest, the Lat. and Lon. are displayed in the border at the top right of the map. Copy them down, print a screen copy or do a screen capture, and you have your info for that point. Repeat this for intervals along the route, especially at the start and end of curves.

But, however you get the values, use them to place MSTS Markers on your route at each point, (see "How to Create Marker Files" in the Techdocs folder of the MSTS CD#1).

When laying my first track-section, I moved the camera close to the ground and placed the cursor right under the pole of the marker. I then rotated the track-section until it was as close as I could get it to being lined up toward the next marker.

After that, straight sections that are snapped on, will automatically be in the same direction. As you get down the route, if you are a little off, you can use a section of dynamic track and adjust its curve so it gets closer to the next marker.

After you placed one dynamic section, use the following steps to adjust it:
1. Open the Dynamic Track Section property box, if it's not already open.
2. Click the Select button, if it's not already selected.
3. Select the section by left-clicking on the green block at the start of the section.
4. Before you change any properties, move the camera near to the end of the section.
5. Enter values for any of the properties, and watch the dynamic section change as you enter the values.
6. If you need to move the camera for a better view, click someplace in the view, to lock in those settings.
7. Repeat Steps 3-6 as many times as necessarey, until you have it the way you want it.

I found that setting the length of the third straight part to 200 meters, (the max allowed) I was able to better determine if the section was heading toward my next marker. After you get it the way you want it, you can shorten that part to whatever you need. Since that part is straight, this won't affect the curvature.