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!