Holiday

I'm off to the USA for a couple of weeks (ash clouds this end and tornados that end, permitting), but before I go a picture of one of the bogie open goods wagons I managed to complete in time.

56041

The combination Guards/Goods van was obviously very successful, because the L&B later built their own version of the concept at Pilton Yard, #23, later#56041. Based on the same pattern, it had the addition of side duckets to improve the guards visibiltiy.

Brake Van

The next piece of rolling stock is one of the early brake vans. Originally open ended they had been glazed in by the 1930's, the period in which we are constructing the route.

Here's the van awaiting duty in Pilton Yard.

As the couplings on the L&B were asymmetrical, with the "chopper" at the "Down" end of the vehicle, it's necessary to ensure the wagons face the right way. I had some doubt as to which direction the brake vans were oriented but this photo from Yeoman's book shows the van with the glazing at the "down" end and the guard standing on the step.

So, I fitted the van out the same way.

A couple more bogie wagons to do then on with the passenger stock.

More Goods Vehicles

Continuing the build of bogie goods vehicles, I have now completed the 8 ton Bogie Goods Van.

Thought I'd celebrate with a little run over the Chelfham Viaduct.

Bogie Wagon

I completed my first wagon with the new freight bogies some hours ago, but I have only just got it into the game.

Tried and tried to load it into the game but no success. Changed all sorts of things but no joy, then eventually realised I had made the ultimate newbie mistake.....I'd missed a "-" sign off one of the bogie axle values. Doh!

Anyway here's the new platform wagon for the L&B.

The photo below was sent to me, not to show the crash, but to illustrate the presence of coal rails on the 4 ton open wagons.

Consequently, I have amended my model accordingly.

Bogie Woes

Moving on to the bogie goods vehicles, I found Chris had made a really nice freight bogie, which I thought need a couple of small additions to complete it. Don't know what went wrong but when I rendered the finished item the normals were a total mess and I decided it was easier to start afresh than try to fix the model.

Consequently, I began modelling a new bogie using the same blueprints that Chris had used, but struggled to get the model to look right.

It took me best part of a day before I realised that both endviews were upside down! Hardly surprising I couldn't make sense of it all. So, as a result of my own foul up, my re-build meant I actually ended up with a more accurate model.

Here's the completed bogie ready for me to start on the bodywork.

Goods Van

Due to the fact they share a chassis the open wagon quickly re-modelled into the 4 ton Goods Van.

I think the S and R need to be faded a little to match the ones on the wagon plus one or two other minor texture tweaks, then it should be finished.

Coupling

Having sorted out the stencil shadow and auto-numbering on the 4ton open goods wagon, I completed the wagon blueprint and placed the model in game using the NG couplings currently available. I didn't, however, like the look of the couplings as they were much shorter than those used on the L&B, so decided to make my own.

Thanks to the help of Captain Bazza I quickly put together a new coupling which, I felt, more closely represented the L&B version. I decided to also include the vacuum pipe, as part of the coupling model, so I could animate the linking together of the pipes when wagons couple up.

This has not been a total success as RW has hardcoded elasticity into the couplings, which means the pipes move apart when the consist is under load, as can be seen in the in game screenshot below. Not sure what to do about this issue, do I just accept it as a consequence of the game engine design, revert to a non-coupling vacuum pipe, or wait for inspiration as to how to get round the problem?

Anyway, here's an in game screenshot showing 2 wagons behind Kevin Martin's model of Lyn. The gap between the pipes is disappointing but, otherwise, I am quite pleased with the results.

W.I.P

Have commenced work on the L&B rolling stock and the first model is taking shape, its the 4ton open goods wagon.

Having the usual fun with the TrainBumpSpecEnvMask shaders, hope somebody will write a tutorial on these bump map shaders sometime, but, in the end, I think I got the look I was after(getting the S and R to extend over the metalwork was interesting). Still to add the Stencil Shadow and the auto-numbering, then need to get the wagon in game and working.

All comments welcome.