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!
Showing posts with label smeaton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smeaton. Show all posts
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sunday, 7 February 2010
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!
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
