Crash Trash & Abused

[sniper297]

Old nickname for the Chicago Transit Authority.

Recently seen in the South Austin shops on the Chicago Metro;

[NSL Fan]

Hey, that looks great Jim! I see you got the poles to work. Do they raise and lower at your command?

All this Chicago work is making trainz look very appealing...

Keep up the good work!
Zach

[sniper297]

Yeah, that was actually simple compared to getting the blasted spark scripts to work. I ended up making two versions, one for player and one for AI trains due to one of the quirky Trainz limitations - the player can run with either or both poles up or poles down, but any AI train will insist on having at least one pole up at all times. Got around that by adding a "fake" pole in the down position as an attachment on the front, with the real pole down inside the body and invisible. So when going from overhead wire to third rail instead of giving the AI the command to lower the rear pole (he complies for a half second then raises it back up) I give him the command to raise the front pole - which lowers the back pole, and since the real front pole is in the raised position that makes him happy, the real front pole being invisible it appears to be running on third rail power with both poles stowed so we both get what we want. No sense fighting the programming if you can outsmart it.

[sniper297]

New version of the route uploaded, first CTA 4000 reskin uploaded, next step is TS12 multiplayer version for the transit fans. Meanwhile back in the Three Blind Mice (" ♫ see how they run, see how they run ♫" too bad they can't paint as well as they run) paint shop;



First attempt at skinning an NYCTA R36 into a CTA 6000, needs a lot more work.

[sniper297]

Halfway there;



Only got one motorman cab so I had to make a special reversed version with the poles and sparkers swapped. I'll designate those A and C, when making up a train alternate A-C-A-C reversing all the C models and it runs like the real thing.

[philskene]

Hey Jim -

Gotta love those sparks.

For the information of others, the spark effect is also scripted to be dependent upon the current being drawn from the overhead. When accelerating there are more sparks; when coasting very few.

[sniper297]

Yeah, got a thread going over at the Auran forum trying to figure out which side - or both - to add sparks to the third rail pickup shoes when the poles are down and the simplest way to activate it. Suggestions for triggers to swap back and forth depending which side the third rail is on just wouldn't be practical to me, and of course what we really need is more track with overhead wires or third rail attachments so we don't have to keep fooling around with these splines.

Couple more pics from the techy thread;





Almost RFI, player versions should be up in a day or two then I gotta start on the AI versions. This one will come in A and C models, since the control cab is only on one end you alternate A-C-A-C-A-C when making up the train so all the poles face the same way when you jump to the other end cab to reverse direction.

[sniper297]

All the cream and mint green skins are uploaded, next up is the later forest green/alpine white paint scheme;



Eventually I WILL get around to skinning these for Chicago Metro, I'm just reliving my childhood here.

[sniper297]

Never saw this on the Lake Street line, we had nothing but 4000s until 1965 then started getting the new 2000s.



But I do remember seeing mixed bags like this on the Ravenswood, Englewood, and Jackson Park lines.

[sniper297]

On the DLS now, latest versions with active dual sparks and multiple effects stolen from Phil (I filed off the serial numbers, he'll never know. Oh Hiya Phil! )

Spark CTA 4000 D,<kuid:522774:100772>
Spark CTA 4000 D AI only,<kuid:522774:100773>
Spark CTA 6000A AI only new,<kuid:522774:100787>
Spark CTA 6000A AI only old,<kuid:522774:100779>
Spark CTA 6000A new 1,<kuid:522774:100788>
Spark CTA 6000A old 1,<kuid:522774:100780>
Spark CTA 6000C AI only new,<kuid:522774:100789>
Spark CTA 6000C AI only old,<kuid:522774:100802>
Spark CTA 6000C new 1,<kuid:522774:100793>
Spark CTA 6000C old 1,<kuid:522774:100782>

Snap crackle pop video;