CA&E Update

[CGW409]

Hi all
Finaly got something to show.
Pic 1 WB caboose hop/w 3000 series motor leaving Forest Park.
Pic 2 Looking west at Desplaines river bridge
Pic 3 Looking east at 1st Av. in Maywood
Pic 4 Looking west at 1st Av

[CGW409]

Whoopsies
got pics 3& 4 transposed

[tryagin]

Hey Gary,

Looking good. A coupla questions:
Did you ever have the sticking brake trouble on the hack again? It looks good along with the 62-tonner! Do you think it's ready for Uploading?
Are you using DEM or are you a sculpter? I'm using the old-fashioned hand sculpting method on my "Rose City Traction", it's slow going and tedious. But it gets easier as you go.

Hope to see more progress on your route. It looks good so far. I'm taking a break from building cars and making some overhead structures for the RCT, i.e. variations in linepoles, spanpoles, equalizing feeders with cut-out switches, high-tension towers, and if I can get decent info - substation paraphenalia.

Great job so far, good luck!

Tim

[Motorman]

Lookin Good !!

What a worthy project!! Hate to nitpick but maybe you could use thr Raise/Lower pantograph technology to lower thr trolley pole in third rail territory. Doing third rail like CA&E was has got to be a major challenge what with gapping for highway crossings switches and the like. I remember riding CA&E when I was a kid and watching the interior lights switching to battery power at each road crossing as lighting power wasn't bussed between cars. Great job so far ... good luck.

:7

[CGW409]

Hi guys
I'll respond to both postings here.
Tim
No probs on the sticking brake so far,as near as I can tell let her rip.
maybe with a larger pool of people out there if there are any problems
2 heads are better than 1 but a couple hundred has got to be better than 2.
Motorman
Unfortunatly my skills at tweaking such things is rather limited,though if anyone can tweak these cars to run in "third rail"
mode with the poles down I would sure appreciate it.
As for actual third rail I've been unsuccesful in finding anything in the file library so I've had to cheat by telling the route it's overhead power with a line height of half a meter
I know it's not quite perfect but in light of equipment/game/personal skill limitations I'm satisfied so far but I'm sure I'll be twidling with it for a while yet.

[CGW409]

Tim
Checked back and noticed I missed your other question(thats what I get for biting off to big a chunk) actualy it's a dem'd area(red line indicating C&NW's west line several miles north)but because as far as the DEM is concerned there is no track here I'm sculpting the terain by hand(just that one brige has almost had ready to fling the computer through a wall)but I'm working little cheats to get around stuff like that.
good luck on the other items those can all be useful to traction modelers and I know the older style tension towers will be a big help to everyone.
One more suggustion for scenery items.
Most interurban pics I've come across, when you see a siding they've either got the big Ramapo switchstand(the big windup key looking target with a diagnal pointed on each end) or disk targets even if done as nonanimated scenery or clutter items they'd be better than the default lever at track side.
Again thanks for the hack, good job, and I'll keep everyone updated.

[dchagar]

I got rid of that lever sticking up up from the switches on the Mesaba by modifying the file to refer to the non-manual switch shape instead of the manual shape. Voila! No lever. Now the only bug is that Okrasa's 30 degree tram switches have a little box that sticks up through the pavement.
Dave

[dvdhoven]

Hi,

Oh that's the trick Dave. I noticed that on the Mesaba. Well the little box is not bothering very much. I like the Mesaba route, it's a great route.

Dick van den Hoven
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c3739ad2f412aac.gif

[Stooopid_person]

I think the catenary wires are too low.

[tryagin]

Gary,
I'll certainly put the switchstands on that list of "to do" things, it's around here somewhere. But there are some working switchstands by Hank Sundemeyer, somewhere in the library.

Here's a pic of the 1905-era transmission towers. They are modelled after the ones from the Faraday (Cazadero) to Portland, OR,power line on the old Oregon Water Power & Railway right-of-way, and they're still there.
Soon to be uploaded along with the other stuff.

Tim

[CGW409]

Tim
The tower looks real sharp.
As for the working switch stands, they are the low level type(I plan to use them in the Wheaton yard) no rush but even a non working main line stand is needed.
can't wait to get the towers

BTW Of course after I post no probs on the hack I got the locked brakes. I think it may have somthing to do with braking while attempting to kick the car, when I recoupled I dumped the air and the brake released normaly
Gary

[tryagin]

Gary,

I dunno, maybe it's haunted. One email suggested raising the Emergency Brake reservoir max pressure to 110 - which I tried, and seemed to work - for awhile, then it happens again. I have found a workaround, which doesn't require uncoupling and recoupling. Just dump you air once or twice and watch the pressure rise to about 109 or more on re-charge. Then it frees up and off ya go.
It's real fickle, this MSTS, isn't it? Some days all seems to run ace, then the next day, it's all in the toilet! Like a steam loco! ;-)

Cheers!

Tim

[CGW409]

Tim
It almost seems as if the brakes are still reacting to the last command recived before the the coupling link is broken.
I'd still upload to the library with maybe a note on this problem in the read me, as I said earlier I was beating on it and putting it through paces that most won't encounter in normal activities
TTFN
Gary

[tryagin]

Will do then, Gary, and thanks for your input. Now, let's see if I can get in the library......

Tim

[davidbeach]

Tim,

Please send me an email at davidbeach at spiretech.com, I would like to offer doing a DEM based terrain set for you. I just can't imagine your route without the use of Distant Mountains. How could it be Portland without Mt. Hood off to the east southeast, the west hills to the west, and maybe a glimpse of Mt. St. Helens. Only problem with St. Helens is that the likelyhood of pre 1980 DEM data is pretty slim, so it would have to have the post 1980 profile.

David Beach.

[tryagin]

Okay, Dave, you've got mail. And Thanks! It's nice to see the old values still here! :-)

All the Best,

Tim

[gatecityca]

Looks great! You're definitely making progress. Des Plaines bridge, Forest Park huh? Well, that's definitely my old stomping grounds! I don't remember if you had mentioned whether you yourself live in the Chicago area, but I lived in Forest Park until 1987. The bridge on Des Plaines was only a few blocks from where I lived on Madison Ave. My brother went to Proviso East High School in Maywood. I'm sure I have plenty of pictures taken in that area while we lived there, if that could be of any help to you. Although since you've already put a lot of work into the line, it seems you've already done your research. And of course anything I would have would be modern...early and mid 1980s. But I would think that a lot of areas in Forest Park and Maywood probably haven't changed much in decades. I know that Ferdinand Street is a throwback at least to the 1920s...the houses on that street are ancient. And our old apartment (7508 West Madison if anyone is near that area and wants to see it!) well, who knows how old that is! When we lived there, it still used an oil-burning furnace for heat! A truck would have to come a couple of times during the winter to fill up the tank at a corner behind the building. And this was as late as 1987! Well, keep up the good work on your route! You're coming along

[CGW409]

Gate
Thanks for the compliment,unfortunatly everything save the rolling stock is now gone as I screwed up and didn't know about not putting in signals and such until track work is done and the whole thing crashed.
As bad as that sounds it was a blessing in disguise as my only reference for the area was an old video I purchased 10 years ago that covered CTA and the Insull lines with the CA&E being primarly focused around 1st Ave. Maywood, since then I was able to obtain Sunday River's CAE video and my wife found several books at the local library
and so I have rebuilt the line to now past where I was at the posting of this update and am now appoachin Bellwood Ave.
To ansewer your question I do live in the Chicago area,Palatine to be exact

[gatecityca]

Oh, that's terrible! But I guess you're right that sometimes when you do have to start over like that, you end up with a finished product even better than before. I screwed up my route a couple of times. One time, I'm not sure exactly what happened, but while I was working in the route editor and tried to save it after placing scenery, it crashed and I got that "Microsoft Train Simulator has encountered a problem and must shut down" error message. When I tried to reload the route, everything except the database lines was gone! It was weird...the road and track database lines were still there, but there were no tracks or roads visible and all the buildings, trees, etc were gone! Needless to say, I had to completely start over. Then another time, after I wasn't really happy with the mountains and the way I had laid the track, I started over again. This time, I found out how to place the track so it would look more like streetcar tracks. As a whole, the route looks much better than my earlier attempts. I learned a couple of things to watch out for in the Route Editor too, and in fact I'll probably post another message just regarding that. I'm not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but if you notice that after you place a scenery object, and it has a funny colored border around its base, (or sometimes a strange looking colored 'X' might show above a tree) delete that object, then immediately save the route and exit the RE! Also, if you notice that as you open and close the windows in the RE, if the screen seems to darken or flicker, also save and exit! I'm not sure exactly what causes this, and it might just be some unique problem with my computer or MSTS, but it is probably due to memory running out. In any case, it means big trouble and that the RE is about to crash and probably ruin your route in the process!

Chris