Minor Updates and my Stupidity!

Hi all,

Just done some minor updates at Gifford station. The bungalow that sits at the entrance to the station has been added (might get updated if I can get the 3D modeling software I need, as will the station building). The Goods platform has been reworked so that it no longer spawns passengers, still missing the crane though, again, if I can get a hold of the software, I'll make it.

Had a stupid incident with the old carriage that sits next to the station building at Gifford. A photograph of Gifford station after construction in 1901 showed that the station was very bland; no benches, no lamps, nothing other than the station building. A picture from 1910 shows the addition of benches, bins, bushes, lamps, and most notably, a 5-compartment carriage sitting next to the station building. To my surprise, I then found a picture of the station from 1952, 4 years after the station closed (due to a bridge near Humbie being destroyed because of floods), which shows a brick shelter (like the many already scattered around Gifford station) where the old carriage used to be.

So after removing the carriage and adding the brick shelter, I went back and looked at the 1910 photograph, thinking I was mistaken about the carriage only to find that I wasn't! And I had to add the carriage back in again.

Things that still need added at Gifford the goods crane, the water tank, and the platform bushes. When I can, I also hope add new building for the station bungalow and the station building, for upmost accuracy! Outside of Gifford, the Inglisfield level crossing still needs reworked to fit correctly, and Phase 2 still needs to be continued.

Phase 2 begins!

Right, That's me officially started phase 2 - between Gifford and Humbie!

Here's what I've done;
Update 5 (15/2/10) - still no release
Phase 1 (92%)
-Update
--Added mileposts
--Fixed issues with roads disappearing underground in several places
Phase 2 (50%)
[/] Decal Capturing and Laying
[/] Track Laying
[P] Elevation Mapping
[P] Roads and Rivers
[] Buildings and Landmarks
[] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
[P] Railway Infrastructure
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
- More fun with level crossings, this time, it wont fit (See images)!
[/] Industries
[] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[] Final Iterations

Image time:

And it all starts again!

More LC issues...

The almost finished Gifford terminus

Gifford-Waverley train in action - Leaving Gifford

Gifford-Waverley train in action - Looking back, towards Gifford


Remember to click on the images for clarity! Any feedback is appreciated.

Oh!

Oops, almost forgot,
In my latest update, I'm now finishing with phase 1 of the grand masterplan.

Update 4 (15/2/10) - still no release
Phase 1 (92%)
[/] Decal Capturing and Laying
[/] Track Laying
[/] Platforms
[/] Elevation Mapping
[/] Roads and Rivers
[/] Buildings and Landmarks
Need to find an appropriate 1 story white bungalow
[/] Station Scenery
Individual bushes for station platform
[/] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
[/] Railway Infrastructure
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
Fix level crossing issue
Found better water tank! Need supports.
[/] Industries
[-] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[-] Final Iterations

Im now laying the set for Phase 2! Anyone, wondering when a release will be available, I plan to release a beta once Phase 3 is complete! Also when there is an indented list such as;
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
Fix level crossing issue
Found better water tank! Need supports.
The list is a listing of all the errors with that section and if anyone thinks they can help out with an error, do feel free to comment or email me (dannymckean@hotmail.co.uk). Also, any feedback is welcomed at the same pages.

Cheers all!

Advertising

As you may have noticed, there are now advertisements on the right and at the bottom of the page as well as a donations button on the right. As so many other route developers have mentioned before, getting the resources in order to create an accurate route costs alot of money. I've now realised that I'm going to have to spend money on maps long before I thought I would.

In making my route, I use a book of small map extracts from the time, as well as Google Earth decals (Thank you sooo much RWDecal!) to crate my route. The only issue with that is that between Humbie and Pencaitland, the areal photography is replaced by satalite imagry, which is much lower quality. This is particularly unfortunate since that strech of railway is the most detailed, with the Humbie viaduct spanning one of the many valleys of the area.

My map extracts only show the stations, and when I was viewing records at the NLS, the 1912 OS Maps, dont show the whole length of the line from Smeaton outwards, despite the railway being in existence for around 20 years prior!

My only alternative is to purchase the Bound plans and sections c1900 for the railway, but since the document is over 100 years old, it'll cost around £50 to obtain a copy. The benefits are twofold, firstly, there will be increased accuracy as it mas the whole route in detail, and secondly, it also has a highly detailed gradient profile for the railway, which is important since the gradiant is one of the major characteristics of the line.

It should be noted that I am planning to release the route as freeware (May change that once the route expands) and there is no obligation to give a donation once a release is available. I only have the ads and donations in order to help me along with the route as I'm currently unemployed and at university (not a fun mix). The donations will only be used for supplementing the route and not for any other purpose. I will try to keep you all updated on the balance as I get on.

Anyway, pointless mumble, back to route building!
P.S. sorry for the quality of the ads, not exactly on-topic material!

Back!

Been about a week since the last post. Not done all too much with the route since then, uni work bogging me down as usual! been trying to learn to make things work in RW but my skills leave much to be desired in RW and cant get anything to work quite yet. As such, I'm wrapping up phase 1 of my scheme and continuing the journey down the line towards Humbie!

Hope to get that up and running before the middle of next week so at least theres something to look forward to!

Getting on...

Hi again,

Update 3 (8/2/10) - still no release
[/] Decal Capturing and Laying
[/] Track Laying
[/] Platforms
[/] Elevation Mapping
[/] Roads and Rivers
[/] Buildings and Landmarks
- Need to find an appropriate 1 story white bungalow
[/] Station Scenery
- individual bushes for station platform
[/] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
[/] Railway Infrastructure
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
- Fix level crossing issue
- Found better water tank! Need supports.
[/] Industries
[] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[] Final Iterations

Day 3 of route building here and Phase 1 is almost out the way! I've had to completely reroute the "Speedy Burn" because I got it all wrong. I've also extended the scenery around the railway to give a more accurate feel of the area. Looked at the map and forgot exactly how much still needs done on the other sections! Anyway, take a look at the updates;

Gifford c.1907

Farming at Gifford

View from the rails from Gifford to the West

"Speedy Burn" with the Gifford line on the right

Looking towards Gifford

New station scenery at Gifford station

The updated station building

North view from Gifford platform (See why I need support for the water tank?)

North view from Gifford goods platform

Gifford at night.

Once again, I hope you all enjoy. This phase is pretty much done now so I'll be moving down the line towards Humbie soon. I want to try and iron out the issue with the level crossings before I move on, since there's quite a few of them on the way! As such, I might be a while with the next update. Anyone up to helping?

See you's soon!

Grumble.....Sleep.....

So, stayed up for a bit and got one last update for the route in before bed, heres some of the updates;

Update 2 (8/2/10) - No release
[/] Decal Capturing and Laying
[/] Track Laying
[/] Platforms
[/] Elevation Mapping
[/] Roads and Rivers
[P] Buildings and Landmarks
- Need to add Gifford Village and surrounding farms
[P] Station Scenery
- Benches, car park and lights
[P] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
- Farms and hedges
[/] Railway Infrastructure
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
- Fix level crossing issue
- Find better water tank
[/] Industries
[] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[] Final Iterations

The Photos;

The new fencing and height mapping at Gifford Station

New improved roads and fences at the start of the station

Fencing at the back of the station

New height mapping outside of Gifford

Same again...

Railway cutting through the forest

Phase 1 Progres

Hello again,

Update 1 (7/2/10) - No release
[/] Decal Capturing and Laying
[/] Track Laying
[/] Platforms
[] Elevation Mapping
[P] Roads and Rivers
[P] Buildings and Landmarks
[P] Station Scenery
[P] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
[/] Railway Infrastructure
[X] Lineside Infrastructure
[/] Industries
[] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[] Final Iterations

Finally to the good stuff; the pretty pictures!

In-Game Gifford from the sky: 1900 station with 2000 Decals!

"Speedy Burn" with Gifford Station in the background

Gifford Station from the road

Water filling and the infinite abyss

The view from Gifford platform

Gifford Station with the goods platform on the left (shouldn't be people there) and the passenger platform on the right

Top-Down view of Gifford station

Road bridge over the "Speedy Burn"

View from the railway looking South, away from Gifford

View looking towards Gifford station from the railway

A Level-Crossing on the approach to Gifford.


I should take the time to thank Karma99 for his work on the automated level crossings, and to Mully for his kind offer to let me use his site for hosting the route, and also to the guys at RWDecal without whom this route would be very innacurate, so cheers all!

Hope you enjoyed the pics, do feel free to comment!

The way I roll

Hi all,

Its been about 5 mins since the last post but alright. Forgot to say that if this route goes well, I plan on extending the line from Ormiston to Macmerry then back to Smeaton. And if still going strong I plan to cover the whole Midlothian, East Lothing and Edinburgh area railways! At least noone can fault me for ambition!

The route is going to be split into phases and stages, if you'll forgive me sounding like I'm planning a housing scheme. The phases are as follows;

Phase 1 - Gifford area
Phase 2 - Gifford to Humbie
Phase 3 - Humbie area
Phase 4 - Humbie to Saltoun
Phase 5 - Saltoun area
Phase 6 - Saltoun to Pencaitland
Phase 7 - Pencaitland area
Phase 8 - Pencaitland to Ormiston
Phase 9 - Ormiston area

Each phase will be split into several stages;

[] Decal Capturing and Laying
[] Track Laying
[] Platforms
[] Elevation Mapping
[] Roads and Rivers
[] Buildings and Landmarks
[] Station Scenery
[] Trees, Foliage and Miscellaneous
[] Railway Infrastructure
[] Lineside Infrastructure
[] Industries
[] Decal Removal and Landscape Texturing
[] Final Iterations

Naturally, there will be reiteration all the time on all sections of the route.

You're probably wondering why I'm keeping this so detailed. The reasons are twofold; firstly so people know what still needs done when I come to releasing the route and secondly is for my own benefit, So I know what still needs done. A Key;
[] Nothing Done
[-] On Hold (Back Burner)
[/] Done
[P] In Progrss
[X] Errors or problems discovered
[N] Work planned for next update
[U] Updated in this update

Anyway, first update is going to be up soon!

Introduction to me and the route!

Hi All!,

I'm an Astrophysics student at Edinburgh University but when I'm not at uni, I design computer programs and games as well add-on content for games.

I'm not well known with the Railworks community, most people will know me as the guy who updates the fact page for Mully's Northern Lights route (http://mullys.webs.com/), but none the less, the blog will follow my first decent attempt to make route in Railworks.

The route concerns the state of affairs of the railways circa 1900 in the Mid and East Lothian areas of Scotland. The Gifford and Garvald Light railway is the branch line from Ormiston to Gifford. Even most die-hard railway fans will be scratching their heads here, so to give some ideas of just how remote it is, the line is the branch line of a branch line of a branch line! From Edinburgh Waverley to Gifford was a little over 21 miles. At its starting point, the Smeaton (Smeaton-Shaw Farm) branch branched off of the ECML at Monktonhall Junction and continued to Smeaton station. The route then branched off again, one line joining the Edinburgh and Dalkeith railway at Hardengreen, the other as the Ormiston branch line, which passed by Crossgatehalt (The village of Carberry) then passed several collieries and other works before stopping at Ormiston Station. The line then branched again, one to Macmerry, via Wintorn, then on to several collieries. The other branch line was the Gifford and Garvald Light Railway, which called at Pencaitland, Saltoun, Humbie, then Gifford. The line was supposed to go as far as Garvald (Hence the name) but the funds were unavailable.

The line was slow. Its designation as a Light railway meant that trains could go no faster than 25 miles per hour and there was a limit of 14 tons per pair of wheels. The many levels crossings along the route were always closed to the railway, so at each crossing, the train had to come to a complete halt and the fireman had to get off and open the gate, wait for the train to move by, then close them again. Thankfully this isn't represented in my Railworks route. But don't be fooled by the slow nature of the route! Despite a speed limit of 25 MPH, you'll still be running under full power most of the time as the extreme gradient changes provide a massive challenge to driving the route.

Looking back I'm glad I didn't say a "brief" introduction to the route! But that's the basics of the route, and practically everything about me! Hope you enjoyed it and I'll soon be posting updates about the route.