Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway (56k warning)

[NSL Fan]

Well spotted Otto. At this time, I wanted to see if something with normal electric car physics could make it up that hill. Seeing as the North Shore car is the BR101 in disguise, the Blackpool car was option I chose. If this could make it up, anything could.

All the more reason for some appropriate stock...

Zach

[OTTODAD]

All the more reason for some appropriate stock...

Re-skin the Blackpool Balloon ?

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Yeah...Chicago to Milwaukee is 90 miles. That may take a while to traverse in a 25mph Balloon. However, Milwaukee had some streetcar service until 1951. If you squint hard enough it still doesn't look like a Balloon. :P

http://www.davesrailpix.com/cnsm/htm/cnsm135.htm

I'm content flying along in my 2BIL's and 5BEL's...for now.

EDIT:

A Milwaukee Limited begins its trek down 5th St after stopping at Harrison St.



I think I have the formula for the street running segment figured out. 1 block down...20 to go.

Zach

[NSL Fan]

Now available on Railworks America is a beta version of the route as it currently stands. Link is below.

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/download-library/route-collection?view=document&id=981:chicago-north-shore-and-milwaukee-railway-beta-1&catid=20:route-collection

I noticed that I forgot a credit in the readme as well. Timothy Gutowski has done the scenery at Lake Bluff, and will be doing much more soon. Sorry Tim!

Zach

[nryans34express]

Hi; I have all of the required assets per the readme. I ran the route about 15 mins, and I Do Not see any of the building's that I added that was part of the Railworks Community Asset Project V1.12.24.12. Or any building for that matter. Just Asking.

Thanks
David

[NSL Fan]

Yeah...The route is still a beta. Very little scenery exists, as I point out in the readme. The 2 areas of scenery are Lake Bluff (near the route origin point), and up in Milwaukee at Harrison St. Rest assured it is progressing.

Zach

[NSL Fan]

This ain't dead yet!

I got an RWP tonight from Tim, my scenery person. This is Knollwood.

[NSL Fan]

A Chicago-Bound Local crosses the EJ&E at Rondout.



Further East at the CNS&M end of the interchange with the EJ&E.



Pausing at Knollwood.



The farm country of Northern Illinois.



Turning toward Chicago at South Upton Tower.

[NSL Fan]

With the release of Train Simulator 2014 today, I had no idea what to expect with respect to this route. Would it work? Or would it crash and burn? It loaded with no issue. The one feature of TS2014 that intrigued me the most was Google Maps integration. After "blindly" laying track and roads with markers that I placed before I started, this I feel is going to ease the job of placing rail and road. Especially in dense urban locations like, say, Chicago. I did a quick flyover of the route with the Google Maps overlay, and happily, (ok, ecstatically) saw that for the most part, the railroad is where it should be. (For those wondering how I can accurately lay a railroad that has been absent for 50 years, it's actually pretty evident on the satellite where it was. Having studied the line for many years was no obstacle to this.)

As an example, here are the Skokie Shops of the CTA. First without the map:


And with the map laid over:


Let the building continue!

Zach

[NSL Fan]

Something new appears.



I recently acquired a large amount of plans and diagrams for North Shore-specific structures. I decided to start with something simple, a tower. In addition, I have acquired track diagrams with gradients, and have relaid about 1/2 of the railroad to accurate elevation. Watch this space for more progress on both fronts


Zach

[NSL Fan]

Tracklaying progress continues. In the past 2 months, the whole line has been relayed to the grade profile diagrams. Now I'm working on adding sidings, and easing gradients, first on the 7 mile Mundelein Branch. Here's Libertyville looking east:



In addition, some competition had to be added. Here is Rondout, where the Milwaukee Road still crosses the Elgin Joliet and Eastern.



The map is beginning to look a bit more fleshed out.



Finally, the previously mentioned 3d modeling has not quite worked out. I have the plans if anyone wishes to try, (Please do!)

Zach

[Mountin Man]

Very ambitious! What's your estimated date of completion?

[NSL Fan]

None at this time. I work on it from time on the side of school, (which in itself is quite busy). Rest assured though, the route will be complete and released...eventually.

Zach

[NSL Fan]

A Southbound Chicago Limited crosses the Root River, north of Racine, WI.

[delamate]

Beautiful!

John DeLamater