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Narrow gauge (30") 0-4-0 Porter

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:15 pm
by Pencil
Introducing a new 0-4-0 Porter locomotive! This locomotive runs on 30" track, and is a modification of Peter Pardoe-Matthew's (Narrowgauge) Merced Porter.

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This model is based on Eureka Mill RR No. 1; a 2 1/2 foot gauge (30 inches) 0-4-0 porter locomotive. Built in 1887 for the Eureka Mill outside of Carson City, Nevada, she still exists today, on display in a park in Northern California.
This locomotive features an operating water hatch, and an animated wood fuel load. It's set up to use the engineer 'Willie the Gimp', who is included as a dependancy.

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Because there isn't much 30" narrow guage stuff on the DLS, I've also created a couple of cars to go with this locomotive.
The ore car uses random textures to give a less-than-uniform appearance. Both it and the flat car are industry interactive.

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In addition, there's a small enginehouse, with animated doors that open when a locomotive approaches.

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What good are trains if you don't have track to run them on? So, I made a set of track in two ballast colors - brown and yellow. The standard track is chunky mesh for better performance. There is also track with a fill attached, and track with a retaiing wall on one side, as well as end pieces to close the gap, should you decide to attach them to a bridge.
Speaking of bridges, there is also a set of trestles - one story, two story, and three story, as well as some scenery parts to use as footings. The trestles are built as type 'track' so they can be connected to each oter easilly. For example, you could use the single story trestle for shallow parts, then connect directly to the three story trestle for deep areas. The trestles also have two levels of detail to help with frame rates.

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All dependancies (except for the wood locomotive fuel) are available on the DLS. Wood locomotive fuel is available from SUBPAR PRODUCTIONS download area as part of the golden spike set.
All assets work properly in TRS '04 and '06. TC compatibility is unknown, but I plan to verify it early next year, and make any required changes.

Special thanks to Peter for the chance to modify his Porter model, to Linda (Shortline2) for the fill and retaining wall end peices, and Rick (thegrindre) for testing!

Everything except the locomotive is now available on the DLS, and the locomotive should be available tonight.

I hope you all enjoy this, and have a Merry Christmas!!

Curtis

This Stuff is Gorgeous !!!!!

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:23 pm
by Col Hogan
Curtis, you are becoming an icon in the Trainz World, especially as far as I'm concerned. It would be worthwhile to create a route with a mine just for these assets you have created. Many of us wouild believe you are the third next best thing to sliced bread (and a PC).

I will have a go at DLS and D/L these babies pronto. Many more folks will follow suit and I am glad we get to use these because of your talents.

Thanks, more than you know !!!

Ken

PS & BTW - I have a few items that will be released very soon that were approved by Narrowgauge as well.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:17 pm
by Trainzsam
Those look niiiiicccce Pencil, I love those trestles and the eniginehouse! I think Col Hogan said it best, you are becoming an icon in the trainz world! :D

Sam

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:07 am
by thegrindre
I believe that Curtis and I have just learned that 760mm is equal to 30" gauge. (Dumb yanks :lol: :lol: :lol: )
I've just searched the DLS with a 760 quarry and have found lots of content. It, of course, is all 'foreign' but never the less, there is a lot.
The 760mm track fits right up nicely to the above track, btw.
Enjoy,

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:11 am
by Pencil
Yes, the 760mm was a nice surprise!

I was thinking of doing the prototypical route this locomotive ran over. I'll put it in transdem, and see how big it comes out. I'm thinking on the order of 2x3 baseboards, but we'll see. Need to finish re-installing my OS, then see how many of these nice utilities run under Vista :)

The route will likely take a while, though, as I'll probably end up doing much of the content from scratch....

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:25 am
by thegrindre
Sounds cool. Looking forward to the results. Hope it pans out.

VISTA!!! OMG, good luck. I bought this rig a month or so ago after my fire and specified NO Vista. LOL

Here's a shot of 'their' 760 mm 2 m track connected to yours on the left there, Curtis. I've started a small route and am now going to incorporate your 30" stuff. Been working on it all night.

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Have fun,

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:04 pm
by Dreadnought1
Guys,
If you're looking for 30" stuff, check out any assets listed as "PBR" or "Puffing Billy". We had 4 (5 if you count one which used horse locomotion) 2'6" lines here in Victoria and one still operates as the Puffing Billy tourist Railway (hence, "PBR").

While run as government railways, the narrow gauge lines had a total of 19 locomotives. The first two were 2-6-2T locos built by Baldwin with 15 more built locally. The last two were 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratts built in the 1920s. All were outside framed.

From memory, there are a few assets on the DLS including bridges - and Trainzone may have some too (I'm not at home so I can't check just now).

Cheers,
Dreadnought1

Porter cab mode compatible?

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:34 am
by nwhitney
Curtis, will your Porter run in cab mode, or is my copy screwy? I still haven't figured out the difference that makes narrowgauge's Merced run in cab mode, albeit similar to a diesel with 8 notches and true cab mode with throttle and cutoff settings. I was trying out abarten's Lincolnpin layout and just can't get used to DCC mode. Thanks for any help.
Norm

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:56 pm
by Pencil
No, it probably doesn't run in cab mode - I hope to update it for TC3 with proper cab mode, though. I need to learn how to use cab mode, first ;)

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:32 pm
by nwhitney
Okay, darn! Guess I'll have to study. Thanks again.
Norm

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:05 pm
by Pencil
The Christmas porter is now on the DLS. There are a couple of minor changes from the version I had on my site - it now has a different name and number from the original porter; and I've done some work to hide the wood fuel a little better when the loco is empty or close to it.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:01 am
by thegrindre
Found a little bug in this baby. When the wood runs out it drops below the floorboards and hangs out in suspended animation.

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Don't know how to fix it nor what to do about it. :?

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:14 am
by Pencil
That should be fixed on the Christmas Porter - if that's a decent fix, I'll apply it to that one, also.
I do have cab mode working now (no animation; keyboard control only); I just need to adjust the engine spec. Hopefully that will be ready Soon (tm).

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:04 pm
by nwhitney
COOL!
Norm

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:44 pm
by Pencil
OK, try this:
http://www.carsoncarshops.com/files/porter_cab_test.cdp
Cab mode now works (or seems to) using the keyboard controls. I also added the same fix for the wood as is on the Christmas porter, and added a built-in driver (thank you, Ben!) so it doesn't look odd if you accidentally put the wrong driver in there....
Comments / criticisms / tuning suggestions more than welcome :)