May 7th, 2007

The last "blog" entry on this site was a year ago today. Guess I should visit my own site more often!

Not much has happened here regarding MSTS. Life has been getting in the way for quite a while now, and in some serious ways. This year it has been travel. I've been working out of state and haven't been home long enough to get serious about any projects. I have started a new version of the M1000 using a more realistic shape and high resolution textures.

I hope to develop a series from this model covering the M10000 series "City of" sets. I have a few new photos of the M10001 from "Modern Locomotives" (1935) that will provide quite a few details for that project. The book also includes some good photos of the GM&O "Rebel" (more commonly known as the Lil' Rebel) including a cab view. That's another project I would like to pursue.

Since Tim Muir and others are having success with 2048x2048 ACE files I thought I'd go that route too. I've experimented with the 2048s on one of the older CNJ Baldwins. It is much easier to work in the smaller details like rivets and such and still have them look like the real thing. Here's a shot taken on Jim Ward's Port Ogden & Northern...

The lead unit, A unit CNJ 78, has the new textures. The trailing unit, CNJ K (a B unit) still wears the older 1024 x 1024 skin. While I haven't made any changes other than the rivets, you can see they show up very well and are more defined than those usually seen. One of the reasons I skipped rivets on these units was the fact that I felt the poor quality of that detail detracted more than it added. On models like the M10000, however, rivets are an essential part of the character of the real thing. These hi-res textures will allow me to incorporate that kind of detail. From what I have heard from Tim and others the large textures do not effect the frame rates as badly as previously thought. I did have to go out and buy a better video card to run them, but the card that I use, a 256MB NVidia is probably not all that advanced by todays' standards.

In recent months I have not been uploading to train-sim or even to my own site. Some of the recently released models were just sent to folks who showed interest in them...like Milwaukee Road 14A, an ALCO DL109 painted in the early orange and gray livery.

Since its textures were based on the Chicago & North Western unit, it still bears that lettering and number mixed with the CMStP&P logo. There is also a "Hiawatha" version of this unit, but it is nowhere near as complete.

Another unit that went out "upon request" was the Union Pacific "centipede". A what-if version of the Baldwin demonstrator #6000, it's based on the fact that #6000 was originally ordered by UP and that order was cancelled.

Had the order gone through, these would have been the first 6000 HP diesel units on the UP roster, almost a decade or so before the U50 showed up.

There are also two NdeM versions of the big Baldwin, a 3000 HP version and the newer 3400 HP rebuild, but for some reason nobody has requested any. My favorite is the 1947 version in black. NdeM ordered a ton of these units, I think about the same number as the Pennsylvania, but nobody seems to remember.

Speaking of the Milwaukee Road, the "Quill" is still in the works. There are details I am stuck on in the drive train area. I did find an excellent drawing of the Quill drive that I can use for the wheels. The biggest issue are the beams that support the pilot trucks. These were heavily riveted on the earlier versions and I believe welded on in the rebuilt version because of their tendency to crack. I haven't got around to making those parts yet...

Since I did make textures for most of the EP-3 versions, I want to make sure I add that detail. I guess I can make it a freight-anim part so it can be changed to suit.

I've also fooled around a bit with some "vintage" equipment, specifically a B&O trainset circa 1860

Nothing serious, mind you, just a repaint of one of the Allegheny Eastern "camel" types.

I did recently purchase a beautiful print of a Davis Ten-Wheeler. It's also a "camel" type with some awesome details in the drawing. I hope to scan the thing and use it for textures.

I managed to get a copy of the September 1969 Railroad Model Craftsman which has drawings of New Haven's "Roger Williams" cab nosed RDC hybrid. I think it would make an interesting model.

Also found a photo pf the Delaware & Hudson's "L.F. Lorre", a four cylinder 4-8-0 with a high pressure water tube boiler. Although I have seen the engine before, I never noticed that it's a kind of duplex. The cylinders are opposed with two in the normal configuration and the rear cylinders are under the cab facing forward (ala Pennsy Q). It's not a true duplex because both pairs of cylinders drive the same wheel set. It also spaorts a six wheel booster truck on the rear of the tender. With its huge firebox and skyline bolier (the stack is barely visible)  it must have been a very serious machine. One other picture that inspires me to model the B&O/C&A/GM&O "Abraham Lincoln" is a beautiful set of shots of the train with the 4-4-4 "Lady Baltimore", aniother water tube boiler engine. I think it would be great to do a series on this train and include the boxcab diesel that took over for the "Lady".

Another book i just purchased "Lore of the Train" (1971) has lots of drawings showing side elevations of locomotives from around the world. Among the steamers included are a Russian 4-14-4 built in 1934, a Hayes 4-6-0 "camel" built about 1860, and James Milhollands "Pennsylvania" a 0-12-0 built for the Philadelphia & Reading in 1863. There are a ton of other illustrations, many of them in color, and includie designs by T.R. Crampton, George Stephenson, Forney, and Thomas Rogers. Deisels aare also represented, among them the ALCO PA (includes interior details), GE U25C, and the entire Swiss Trans-Europ-Express train (with floor plans). There are also a variety of electric locomotives, a few traction drawings, freight and passenger cars, and even a set of drawings for the French propeller driven Aerotrain.

Well I think that's about it for now...Thanks for listening.