Midhants Railway / Watercressline Route

[/quote]
Sorry Andy, Have trawled through my early slides and only have shots of Alresford with trains in them. and taken from the platforms.
Nice to see that your namesake  has received an £895,000 HLF grant and is likely to be steamed in 2018.
Cheers
Andy
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply Andy..... I feel I am going to have to return there soon at some point to take some photos and see some of my ole buddies..... I so want to fire again.... But it looks like I will have to start again as a newbie..... Hopefully, like riding a bike I will swing that shovel once more with no issues sometime soon.....

But the Wife has now got me an allotment plot!

With regards to 35005 (My baby) yes I know.... I thought I posted something on her?

Cheers

Andy

Well seeing as pace has picked up a bit... And if you can call it a break from Route Building I have been dealing with a plot on an allotment! (Photos of progress to come later!)
I thought I would do some work today on the route with some help from Clive in getting my latest issue sorted which was the spur not connecting correctly into the platform at Alresford!

But anyway I have had a day of tinkering and not managing to find a platform head-on view of Alresford Station Building I believe; or hope I am making head-way with my Texture....

Here it is so far after in my own texture work.... I still think some work and touching up is needed around the windows to make them more head on and try and keep them recessed!





Lots of work to do! But at least the route is still going ahead!

Any criticism or feedback will always be appreciated in order for this route to go on.... It will anyway!

Cheers

(A tired and knackered 35005 - Canadian Pacific) Andy

Looking good!

Hi Andy
Alresford platform side looks authentic to me, I would be pleased with it!
I have searched through books and magazines, there appear to be plenty of photos of Ropley and Medstead but not Alresford without there being a train
included in the shot. very strange.
Cheers
Andy

Thanks Alec and Andy. Much appreciated.

More major work has been done on Alresford Station Building today.

Here are the shots of it close to completion!!







Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy.
Yes that looks perfect to me. Well done!
Cheers
Andy

My only criticism would be the roof texture on the single-storey building looks a bit stretched.

Otherwise, gets the thumbs-up from me.

Thanks Niall. I've just had a look from the top and a screenshot as well to show you. Looks okay to me......

- ditto -

Thanks Niall and Alec. Lots of work still to do and currently playing with some Long TSOL's for my Hastings DEMU sets with a new front layout (as a works set) and doing some texture work to finish off the Station building at Alresford and the Ropley Watertower!

Hi everyone,

There hasn't been an update from me for over a week!

This is where I am currently. Alresford Station building s almost finished as is Ropley Water Tower!

Track is down near to Alton. I am just trying to find out where the double track starts on the Decline from M4M's to Alton? If anyone can advise or give me a reminder. Then that will be much appreciated.

But at least Medstead & Four Marks signal Box is finshed as of today. A lot of texture work has been involved in doing this box!

Here is a screenshot;



Cheers

Andy

Looking good!

35005CP wrote:

Track is down near to Alton. I am just trying to find out where the double track starts on the Decline from M4M's to Alton? If anyone can advise or give me a reminder. Then that will be much appreciated.

Hi Andy.
Tricky one to answer, It was Butts junction were the Meon valley line joined but ran parallel  with the MHR to just outside of Alton station in the BR days
There is or was as the area has now been redeveloped for housing, the brick locking room of the old signalbox that was abolished in the early 1930's after the
line to Basingstoke was closed .
Todays MHR of course does have a loop line which extends to the first overbridge outside of Alton.
Like your Medstead Box Andy.
Cheers Andy (M)

Well only 4 days since my last update! But instead of getting bored I've made a start on a few of the other buildings!

First one is Ropley shed;



Secondly is the start if the Ex Kings Cross Footbridge at Ropley;



So as a recap to myself if anything else;

1) Carry on detailing Alresford Station Building with clock and signs and much more.....
2) Medstead Signal Box complete
3) Alresford Signal Box complete
4) Alresford Footbridge complete
5) Find more textures for the Ex Kings Crross Footbridge and detailed photos
6) As with no.5 on my list do the same with Ropley Shed/s

Oh and testing for Ged.

Oh and the long TSOL's for the Hastings DEMU's have now been resolved with Justins help as well as hopefully the wrap around texture with the 444 Desiro...... Still some front work to on the 444 Desir's cab front. But I think or more hope I am getting there with it!!

2 shots showing the Long DEMU TSOL and the 444 Desiro;





So no chance of me getting bored!!

Cheers

Andy

I'm impressed that you can manage several tasks at the same time. When I've tried that my LNWR coaches ended up with SR textures and vice versa!
That's why I now work on one at a time.
However the screenshots show some good quality work.

Thanks for the lovely feedback Alec.... Always spurs me on!

Been very busy with testing etc over the past week with work and testing for Ged in-between as well as working hard up at the allotment.... Plus home life etc.... But have had a couple of hours here and there to spend on the ex-Kings Cross Footbridge and this is where I am with it currently;



Cheers

Andy

That footbridge is developing quite nicely; looking forward to the final model.

And as if pretty much on queue I am nearly finished with the Kings Cross Bridge..... It's as close as I can get it to the real thing, so I hope everyone likes it?



Cheers

Andy

I certainly do.

Nice.

Thanks for the feedback guys! Well, Alresford Station is nearly finished! I've spent some of the day on my death bed not feeling at all great and thought I would put my mind on something constructive in putting on some detail for the building! All that is left to do is a door on one of the texture files and then this is also complete!
I won't be doing anything over the weekend, but as of Monday this should be finished and then on to laying the rest of the track to Alton and finishing the Water Tower hopefully and one of the sheds for Ropley. Then I will beable to get on with the station signs for the 4 stations....
Then the fun part will be in creating the 2 platforms from scratch for Ropley which is on a bend! But in the meantime here is a screenshot thus far for Alresford;



And from the other side;



Cheers

Andy

Hi all,

Well nearly 2 weeks since my last update on the route and I have spent the day re-jigging the layout at Alresford end and noticed that I got the platform and track dimensions wrong on how many coaches the platform could take! I wasn't happy with what I had done before!!
I have taken out the old straight platforms and in the meantime I have also made a start on the platform pieces. These will obviously have to be tested alongside the track and adjusted accordingly.

Here is a shot of the revised layout at Alresford with the station building & Signal box (floating) in situ, awaiting the platform pieces at a later date;



And here is the start of the platform pieces - Without textures currently;



Cheers

Andy

Looking good, Andy!
It's amazing the difference a few trees make

Cheers,
Ged

Well done Andy, it's all coming along nicely.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

I have been working on the platform over the last few days and I think I may have fixed/found a way to get the texture to flow right!

Here is a screenshot of it. I need to just tidy up the edges and corners and then will try it out on the route;



Cheers

Andy

And as a comparison I have taken a screenshot of both images above and put them in situ! I don't think I am too far out; except for shortening one end and expanding the other and then adjusting the curve to match;



Not sure if this will work as I plan it to or not, but it might help others who are looking into the realms of Route Building!?

Cheers

Andy

Hi all,

You're all going to be sick of me!! But as an afterthought.... But, who would like me to upload all the files to UKTS for the platform; including the .dst file for Train Sim Modeler?

If I get enough response I will do so. But all I ask is I get the credit for my work. I hope more peeps go down this route! It could cut the time off route building and help others get a good start!

Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy,

Although I'm not a route builder and don't intend to be, I say upload it and anything else you think will be useful to others. We still need new items of all types to improve our trainsimming enjoyment.

Keep up the good work,

Stephen

StephenRWells wrote:Hi Andy,

Although I'm not a route builder and don't intend to be, I say upload it and anything else you think will be useful to others. We still need new items of all types to improve our trainsimming enjoyment.

Keep up the good work,

Stephen

Thanks for the Thumbs up Stephen. But I am not sure if others share your thoughts and enthusiasm.....

I am still going ahead with the Route. But have been a tad busy working the past few days.... Had a big job for a high-City Flyer today fixing his Printer. He was very pleased with what I did and is most certainly going to spread the word about what I do.

He even asked for one of my Business cards. So that must be good news. Plus I am still Sub-Contracting on the side.

Unfortunately, this means I haven't been able to do much.

Got a job on tomorrow and Friday, but should be fairly straight forward and then onto Invoicing and then I will come back to the realms of the Midhants Railway in MSTS form!

Cheers

Andy

Hi all,

I haven't had any updates for sometime. But today I have had a day to be able to get on with some of the route. Here is Alresford Platforms pretty much done. Just a couple of tweaks to do tomorrow and then to set the height of the footbridge a bit. Here is a screenshot of everything in situ;



Cheers

Andy

Looks really good Andy

Excellent work and very impressive.

Hi All,

Apologies for the lack of updates for a while...... But since my Laptop's screen backlight went dead and containing all my MSTS related models and things I tried doing some things via Remote access from my other laptop and gave up the will because of how slow it was!
I then decided on stripping the old laptop down Completely and cleaning and re-seating all the connections after a bit IPA as well on the connections and as of today as a test the screen has come back to life and no sign of the backlight going! I am hoping that this means it will be good for the next few days as I might get the track laid completely down to Alton and get it signalled as well........

Oh and both LAptops are both now on Windows 10 and apart from some Administrator and tweaking issues, both are working with MSTS and OR thus far.....

Cheers

Andy

Well Andy your route is certainly taking shape. This route and Danny's will add more Southern Routes for MSTS and I am really looking forward to using them, when finished.
It seems that a lot of people have now given up with the old sim, but I am always looking in to see what is going on. I am spending more time running routes these days, rather than working on them. Anyway, it's nice to see your progress and I wish you luck with getting it finished.

steamnut44 wrote:Well Andy your route is certainly taking shape. This route and Danny's will add more Southern Routes for MSTS and I am really looking forward to using them, when finished.
It seems that a lot of people have now given up with the old sim, but I am always looking in to see what is going on. I am spending more time running routes these days, rather than working on them. Anyway, it's nice to see your progress and I wish you luck with getting it finished.

Hi Geoff,

Many Thanks for the kind reply.

I feel it could be sometime until my route is complete. But, I have had a few days to work on some of the building side for Medstead & Four Marks. I think it would help a lot more if there were more people involved on a route.

But here is a screenshot of what I have done at M4M's so far. I hope work dependant to get the whole of Medstead station buildings done in the next few weeks and then get some of the signs done after that and then get the line finished down to which will eventually be Alton??.....



Best Wishes

Andy

I find that all aspects of model/route building are classic "tortoise and hare" analogies, as my own current coach building programme has proved. I would like to think that the actual process of researching and developing your excellent route is giving you as much pleasure and satisfaction as driving your favourite locomotives on the finished article.

I certainly enjoy reading and seeing the development of your route, just as I have done for other routes.

I look forward to the next posting with much anticipation.

As the hare said to the tortoise. "You'll get there in the end!" Keep up the good work.

Hi all,

No update for a while as I have been busy copying data across to my other Laptop and still in the process of doing so...! And, as such I can't test for Ged currently!.....

It's frustrating to only having the one laptop in which I do all my work on to go wrong! But this is life I guess... Just wish I had a backup working Laptop?.... I do have a spare in the garage which is my Inlaws water damaged one and although it boots up it switches off after going into Windows 7... I have stripped and cleaned every part of it and plan on getting the said part of the Motherboard by-passed to get it working again so this can be used once more....

Unfortunately, all my modelling work that I have done for the route and any stock has had to take a back-burner until I have finished dealing with the above!!

Wish I could find room for a shuttle PC in this place in which to store and work on MSTS models.... But this is IT and this is what I do for a living..... I will overcome this obstacle and will be back to modelling work soon....

Cheers

Andy

Hi all,

Sorry there hasn't been any updates for a while. But I had to Install MSTS and transfer all the data to my other Laptop and then test it to make sure everything worked correctly. I managed to do all of this at the weekend and now I have finally finished laying all the track at Alton, just to show that I haven't given up on the Route! Here is a screenshot to show the laid track. Now to get it all signalled and then onto the modelling work!



Cheers

Andy

Hi Everyone,

I know it has been a very long time since I posted anything and as you may or may not know it was 2 weeks since my faithful young friend parted from me.....  

With that and nursing a stinking cold!

Anyway, there have been a few things as and when I have had nothing else to do going on in the background. The good news is I am back doing some work on the Route and the latest things that have been done is all the trackwork has been laid to Alton and has been signalled.

Also, I have made a start on the Supermarket at Alton today. So here has what has been done so far.... Still trying to work out how I can replicate the Car Park? If anyone knows a way around this, I would be very pleased to hear?



I hope it's like the real thing as I have studied it as close as possible and although there is still some work to do on it, I don't think its a bad go!?

Cheers

Andy

Very pleased to see you once again putting your toe into the water of MSTS route building, and it would appear that your work continues to be of a very high standard. Looking forward to seeing the development of the route via your screenshots.

Hi everyone,

I hope someone is able to help and point me in the right direction to what the problem may be. I am doing the Midhants Route for MSTS and I am doing a Waitrose Supermarket based on the one at Alton.

I am doing the Car Park and for what ever reason in TSM the highlighted texture is not displaying correctly on the model.

Here are a couple of screenshots;





Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy, Make sure the texture is in .bmp format.....I had something similar recently and that was my problem. Also you could try exporting the part to see if it's OK on the model but just playing up in TSM.

Hi Everyone,

I've done some more work on the Waitrose model at Alton and I have decided that I will start models now from Alton end. More work to do on the model and I am thinking of the possibility of doing the whole street in 1 model if MSTS & TSM allows it? (Possibly someone else will know) - This will include all buildings and the roads etc..... I hope everyone agree's that this is a good representation of the Supermarket?

Here is the model thus far;



I am using google Maps to view all the buildings and roads etc... Here is the link; https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1525389,-0.9676399,3a,75y,20.82h,74.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9ag1UhOiwrEo_KxT_-4Uyw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy

Not sure about TSM, but MSTS will definitely allow for whole neighbourhoods being placed as one model, I have an old payware route called Scenic railways, even the city centre consisting of roads, bridges, parks, and whole blocks of skyscrapers are all placed as one huge shape.

As long as you can build it in TSM, there shouldn't be a problem, in fact doing that would solve the problem of an overloaded tile as all the bits would be placed as one shape rather than hundreds of bits.

This is one single shape file viewed in shape viewer, showing that huge areas of complex scenery can be made into a single placement object...................................................................





Part of the same shape seen in game...............................

Hi Andy.

I have just tried the scenic railway route in OR.

OR has no problem with those huge shapes either, everything loaded as expected.

Hi all,

Firstly, Apologies for no updates for a very long time..... I have been doing bits to the Route as and when time has allowed me to.... Work has been mad since after Christmas and I haven't really had a day to myself!

But anyway, As of today I have started adding more items around Waitrose at Alton, so it is starting to get busy and built up...

Here is a screenshot;



There is of course still much more building work to do, so if anyone is able to help me in my little project as peeps have helped in other routes, it would be much appreciated.... Still lots more buildings to be done and textures for....

Also if anyone is able to help out especially with the laying of the Roads using New Roads etc, then that would be much appreciated, as I am at a loss with how this works....

Thanks for your time all and for looking!

All the best

Andy

Hi all,

Is anyone able to help with a little modelling issue that I have stumbled upon in TSM? How do you go about creating this little garden area?



Thanks in advance.

Andy