The Future of BNSF's Hinckley Subdivision (2024)

[ZachBell4400]

Greetings from central Minnesota! July 30th marks seven years since I joined Trainsim.com. I am grateful to be part of the celebration! Also, I want to extend my gratitude towards my friends here on the forums, as well as the Train Sim Community Discord for welcoming me with open arms! I've learned a lot from Open Rails route building and engine/rolling stock revamps! Although the pandemic was a tough one for me, I've learned it was best to progress forward and reflect on my projects.

Speaking of projects! My BNSF Hinckley Sub route from 2020 needed some changes. Basically, I've been using Scenic assets plus some of the assets available here. Last year I was working on a version of the route that extended from Hinckley to Cambridge, MN. I've decided it was best to scrap the old project, keeping the KML and GPX files for the route, and start afresh for 2024 and beyond! This time, the route will be the Superior, Wis.-Coon Creek Jct. main line, with double-tracked main for a majority of the route!

Needless to say (and it's bound to happen), Minnesota's DOT is working on implementing the Northern Lights Express (NLX) commuter train from Minneapolis to Duluth, via the BNSF's ex-GN line. Six station stops, plus a maintenance facility in Sandstone, are planned!

The stations are as follows (south to north):

Minneapolis (Target Field)
Coon Rapids (Foley Boulevard Station)
Cambridge, MN (Highway 95)
Hinckley, MN (next to the High School)
Superior, WI (Belknap Street)
Duluth, MN (at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum & Depot)

Now, back to this project I was talking about. You see, I grew up on the SCXY (St. Croix Valley Railroad), which sees little to no traffic except in the case of storage moves. A chemical processor, flour elevator (now closed), a propane dealer, and a frac sand transloader/processor were the main customers on this line, which might be modeled as well as a bonus! Although this is a screenshot thread, subsequent posts will feature historical and simulator screenshots of the line at the time of transition (2024). So relax, grab a coffee, and enjoy this awesome thread!!!

Cheers!

Zach Bell
A Midwestern Train-Sim Phenomenon

[ZachBell4400]

(1) Train ID: H-NTWSUP (Northtown Yard, MN-Superior, WI Manifest)
Locale: Mission Creek Township, MN near MP 76.3 (Fox Road)
Head-End Power: BNSF ET44ACH #3650, BNSF AC44C4M #616, BNSF ES44ACH #3306, CEFX AC44CW #1055, BNSF SD70ACe #8517
DPU(s): None


(2) Train ID: E-SUDANM (Superior, WI-Antelope Mine, WY Coal MT)
Locale: MP 74.1 (South Hinckley)
Head-End Power: BNSF SD70ACe's #8525, #8517
DPU(s): BNSF GE AC44EV #5718, BNSF AC44C4M #616

[wwhall]

Zach, I ,and I am certain that a lot of other simmers, have been salivating for someone to produce models of the GE rebuilds that are flooding the prototype railroads these days--and to make them using the from things other than the old "Fred Flintsone wheel" models from going on 20 year-old shape files. These models in your screenshots are really wonderful. The age-old question: any chance that they could be released, either as payware or freeware? Thanks.

[geepster775]

Is the new version DEM'ed?

[ZachBell4400]

At this time, there are mostly flat land on this portion of the BNSF. Trains are permitted 50 MPH, unless it's NLX, then they're 90 mph. I may or may not DEM this route. I have the necessary KML and GPX files. Nice to know though.

[PerryPlatypus]

Zach,

Hopefully it goes without saying, but if you haven't already DEM'd the route, then every bit of work you do on the route pushes you further away from being able to do so. Even in relatively "flat" terrain, your area of Minnesota is close to 1,000 feet above sea level, which means you'd have to somehow lift everything (tracks, scenery, etc.) up by about that much - and not in exactly equal amount. And if the track is anything besides table flat 0%, you'll have a ton of re-work. Interactives like signals, etc. would probably have to be completely re-done. Keep in mind, terrain that visually appears "flat" may be far from it, especially in terms of railroad grades. A quick look at my track chart for the Hinckley Sub shows a gentle roller coaster of up-and-down 0.4% grades across much of the subdivision, and several miles of 0.7% to 0.8% on the climb out of Boylston. The highest elevation portions of the sub are around 1,200 feet above sea level, while Boylston is around 700 feet ASL - a 500 foot difference. Superior is another 100 feet lower than Boylston. You get my point.

Long story short - if you don't use DEM to create the terrain from the very very start of a route, you may as well forget about ever doing so.

[ebnertra000]

At this time, there are mostly flat land on this portion of the BNSF. Trains are permitted 50 MPH, unless it's NLX, then they're 90 mph. I may or may not DEM this route. I have the necessary KML and GPX files. Nice to know though.

I have marker sets and elevation data for the line. I think I even have an old version of the line that I built laying around somewhere. If I was to make a blank route from scratch, I would use the TSREProjection feature to all but eliminate world projection skew (all my more recent projects do this so I can interchange parts as needed)

[Fish4890]

Question is will we have a Public Release?

[CSRX]

I'm not going to bombard you with gimmie questions. However, I am glad to see more route building being done for the community, whether it's for a public release or not.
I've been watching the development of this route over the years, and it's looking better than ever this time around!

[ZachBell4400]

Zach,

Hopefully it goes without saying, but if you haven't already DEM'd the route, then every bit of work you do on the route pushes you further away from being able to do so. Even in relatively "flat" terrain, your area of Minnesota is close to 1,000 feet above sea level, which means you'd have to somehow lift everything (tracks, scenery, etc.) up by about that much - and not in exactly equal amount. And if the track is anything besides table flat 0%, you'll have a ton of re-work. Interactives like signals, etc. would probably have to be completely re-done. Keep in mind, terrain that visually appears "flat" may be far from it, especially in terms of railroad grades. A quick look at my track chart for the Hinckley Sub shows a gentle roller coaster of up-and-down 0.4% grades across much of the subdivision, and several miles of 0.7% to 0.8% on the climb out of Boylston. The highest elevation portions of the sub are around 1,200 feet above sea level, while Boylston is around 700 feet ASL - a 500 foot difference. Superior is another 100 feet lower than Boylston. You get my point.

Long story short - if you don't use DEM to create the terrain from the very very start of a route, you may as well forget about ever doing so.

Sean, I understand that I'm an intermediate route builder and have equipped the necessary knowledge and tools, but it's something worth pondering! And Brandon, how many times are you going to ask for a release. I'm not even 10% complete with trackwork and scenery. Give it about a year or two before you ask again.

[ZachBell4400]

Question is will we have a Public Release?

Like I'm saying, I've been working slowly at it and will update people here as necessary. Thanks

[ZachBell4400]

Train ID: AMTK NLX1
Locale: MP 74.1 (South Hinckley)
Power: AMTK P42's #58 and #206

[geepster775]

but it's something worth pondering!

It's not really a pondering point. At 23 years in to the train simulator experience, by now all routes under construction should be DEM'ed as a matter of standard practice, especially any that try to represent prototype lines and are not pure fantasy or fiction like SeaView. And if anyone doesn't own the tools, someone else may be willing to do that part of the process for you.

[eric]

The tools to build DEM are already built into TSRE, so there's little excuse not to have rudimentary terrain in any real-world route.

Admittedly, having to redo every piece of track can be a daunting task. For me, having to do that with my favorite route it was an opportunity to fix lots of rookie mistakes I'd done along the way.

Forest objects will adjust automatically. Regular scenery, just select each object individually and use "h" to have it adjust to the terrain level for that X/Y coordinate. Track pieces not in the database can do the same thing, so you might consider using the Hacks function. Removing vectors is self contained to where you're working, but there's a more nuclear option to remove nodes from the tree. Do that only as you commence, and there's not a lot of control as to what gets removed.

[ZachBell4400]

Some action just south of Beroun on the ol' Skally Line.

Crossing Blueberry Island Rd.