CN/Conrail/NS Detroit to Toledo

[amtrakmattburb]

Thanks for your helpful tips. Around 277 MB, so it is large, but here's the first public alpha release:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18J7PW73eh1yekVLgjXwCCe2kyr0JAjS6/view?usp=sharing

1. This is a public alpha. Tons of tweaks still need to be done, which is why I'm releasing it for testing...
2. A small fraction of scenery is done, so there's empty fields where buildings and trees should be...
3. Feel free to modify this route as you wish (details are in the readme file in the "Docs" folder in the route directory
4. Credits are in the "Docs" folder

Advance thanks for your collaboration to help this route grow.

[amtrakmattburb]

Oh, please do extend it to Buffalo, or better yet, Rochester. Relatively simple double track main with mostly trees, but I'm working on a P32AC-DM that currently has no home, and the Empire Corridor between Buffalo and Penn Station is primarily where it runs - so even a small segment would be a great place for it. Progress looks great!

Anything beyond Buffalo is best more suited for someone local to that area. XD

But I am at least anticipating for when you get around to do a P42DC!

However, there was at least one recent instance when a P32AC stayed on a Lake Shore Limited consist all the way to Chicago, so the full mega-route would possibly be perfect for simulating that.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Oh, please do extend it to Buffalo, or better yet, Rochester. Relatively simple double track main with mostly trees, but I'm working on a P32AC-DM that currently has no home, and the Empire Corridor between Buffalo and Penn Station is primarily where it runs - so even a small segment would be a great place for it. Progress looks great!

[amtrakmattburb]

Here's a few updates regarding the route.

First, I have begun creating custom objects in Sketchup, starting with this building located in between the Conrail Detroit Line and CN Flat Rock Sub in Wyandotte:


Next, after about two weeks, River Rouge Yard is 100% completed track-wise.


And a couple other important notes:

I have started considering releasing an alpha of the route, since it had gone untouched for too long and I didn't want to waste it further just only having me have it. Should this alpha be a closed one (sent only to selected people) or should I let everyone have at it? I also want to allow others to freely add on to the route (including further tracks) and send their additions to me, as I have a busy life.

Also, once the route is completed and released, I'm thinking of expanding it into a larger mega-route as a collaboration with people willing to work on it. What I'm considering is to have as much of southern Michigan's railroad network as possible, including the entire lengths of all three of the Michigan Services routes (so as to finally allow a route perfect for running TT's Amtrak Midwest Chargers), along with the possibility of extending west to Chicago and east to maybe both Cleveland (to allow plenty of room to run the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited) and to London, Ontario (to allow for a connection to the Niagara Corridor route).

If anyone wants, I may possibly extend it further east to Buffalo, New York and Oshawa, Ontario (that way I may include the entire GO Transit train system). If anyone also wants, I could try to merge it into the Chicago-Minnesota mega-route that's being worked on by others on this forum.

[bobwdude]

Looks great so far! I'd leave the bridge in -- it's such a recent occurence, and I'm sure most people wouldn't even be able to say which bridge it is in the route.

[cn bala]

Nice route that you are working on this and keep up good work till the release of your route when you are ready to release in the near future.

John

[amtrakmattburb]

Some screenshots from a scenery go-around at the Ecorse/Wyandotte border. Test train used is out-of-place for this route but could be a look at this route's distant future...

CP Mill


Crossing the Ecorse River


Wyandotte residential neighborhood-one street, Riverbank Street, once crossed all four tracks at grade, but that crossing was closed in the 1980's

[ebnertra000]

Only the users who know that area will know the bridge fell, unless you tell the rest of us. Besides, it's not really backdating if it just happened. In one of my projects, I have a power plant spur. I went to the real-World location of that spur last fall and discovered that it was removed recently. It remains in the route, as it was there very recently

[amtrakmattburb]

I'm myself torn between backdating and nostalgia. Majority wins in this poll. Poll closes on the day that I upload this route.

Since I can't edit that post, the correct paragraph is :I'm myself torn between backdating and accuracy. Majority wins in this poll. Poll closes on the day that I upload this route.

[amtrakmattburb]

OK guys, I have reached the part where you have a say so in this route. My route will be set in modern days, so I want it to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, the Maumee Avenue bridge in Toledo just west of MLK Station on the simulated portion of the NS Chicago Line collapsed a few days back.

https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Maumee-Ave-bridge-collapses-508064691.html

http://www.wtol.com/2019/04/03/maumee-avenue-bridge-collapses-city-crews-scene/

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/transportation/2019/04/03/Maumee-Avenue-bridge-in-South-Toledo-collapses/stories/20190403154

I want to hear everyone's opinion as to whether or not I should keep this overpass in my route or remove it (in case it never gets rebuilt again). I'm myself torn between backdating and nostalgia. Majority wins in this poll. Poll closes on the day that I upload this route.

[bobwdude]

It's great to see you're still around. You can't rush excellence. I look forward to seeing future progress.

[amtrakmattburb]

Hello guys, I was so busy that I never even bothered to work on this route between October 2017 and March 2019! I finally decided to go back to working on it, it isn't much so far however.

Route map as of today:


Nearly half of River Rouge Yard has been completed so far. This is one of the bigger yards on this route.

[michelouim]

Hi, just by curiosity and since i am a CN fan, will you make that beautiful route available here?

Michel

[delamate]

This is coming along beautifully. Keep up the good work!

John DeLamater

[amtrakmattburb]

Finished the entire Detroit Line and added in parts of the Chicago Line from Airline Junction to the Martin Luther King Depot area. Believe it or not, the MLK Depot is available in this file library and has been for ten years, but for some reason the platform textures are white in OR but show up correctly in TSRE.

Ending an 80-minute run from Detroit, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio on a rainy October 1994 afternoon.