BR Set 0.3 - somewhere between 0%-100% done

[ChrisCF]

It had to be reposted. I could not sit and let it get forgotten (mainly because I'd be stupid enough to forget anyway).

The current reference data is sitting at http://www.xpns.co.uk/tycoon/br-set.html though I still have to add some things to it. I have lost the PM which told me how to convert a figure for tractive effort for steam locos into a guesstimated power rating. A reply here would do just nicely

I have some lovely spec sheets that would look lovely as PDFs (only Visio can't spew PDFs yet), though I can't get to an online machine with Zip drive ATM, so I'll post them later.

[krtaylor]

Can you add to that list, what sort of an engine it is (electric, diesel, steam)?

Don't forget, this set is just BEGGING for matching carriages, and also redrawn freight-cars to match British practice.

[ChrisCF]

Er, it's always been there, even from the first version of the list.

There's now some lovely piccies online in the http://www.xpns.co.uk/tycoon/ directory. Most of them are TS screenshots that will be used as a basis for creating the livery concepts, though there are a few in there (and will be many more) with a suffix -F that represent the actual livery concepts.

Moving on, I also have a sample of the datasheets that may be used for something at some point. http://www.xpns.co.uk/tycoon/370.png (these will eventually become HTML format docs) - due to not having a copy of the specs to hand (read: no Net connection for a while), that part is missing. There will eventually be a key to this info, but on the livery concepts, the off-black colour represents black, the off-white represents white, and magic pink represents the player colour. Note that those diagrams are concept images only. I'll probably need a little help with the final graphics.

[Hyronymus]

Redesigning cargo wagons, that most come down to shortening the carg wagons to fit the weird british traditon + track profile huh? If so, perhaps mp3pro can help a little, didn't he try to develo shorter wagons for his sub-tropical set?

[ChrisCF]

I think we can just about get away with standard-size freight cars

[krtaylor]

You wouldn't want to shorten the freight cars, they tried that for the Tropicset and couldn't make it work. Anyway, the TTD cars are already much shorter than they really would be, leave the length alone. Really I'm referring to the bogie configuration and appearance, they seem to like the canvas-covered cars rather than real solid boxcars, at least they used to. Also they use short-sided gondolas a lot, and the tank cars looked different. Not different functionally I don't suppose, just different in appearance - so nice eye candy.

[ChrisCF]

As a thought, coal trucks will probably be remodelled to look like the stuff that EWS uses. They have a profile a bit like this, but with steeper sides:

Code: Select all

  /----\
 /      \
/________\

I shall have to pay Corus a visit to check, but I think the steel trucks that turn up at Port Talbot look a bit like this:

Code: Select all

     _      _
    | |    | |
+-----------------+
|                 |
+_________________+

With two things in which to store rolls of steel vertically.

[krtaylor]

I'm still a little confused, I can't see on the list where exactly you state the type, unless it is the abbreviations. Are they Diesel-Electric, Diesel (what's the difference? hydraulic drive?) Electric, etc.? If so, what's RS stand for? I suppose S would be Steam but there aren't any of those yet.

[Oracle]

As you said, the type of locomotive is indicated by the abbreviation in the 'Type' column, I think.
And RS stands for Rolling Stock, if my best guess is correct.

[ChrisCF]

S = Steam (I might add further modifiers, though T for tender and T for tank may be confusing )
D = Diesel hydraulic or mechanical
DE = Diesel electric
E = Electric
ED = Electro-diesel (dual-power)
MU = Multiple unit
RS = Rolling stock

General classification
70-99 Electric
100-199 DMU
200-299 DEMU
300-399 Overhead AC EMU

I probably won't be modelling any 4xx or 5xx EMUs, since the graphics use catenary, 4xx are third-rail DC, and 5xx are 3rd rail AC

[ChrisCF]

the first spec sheets are in HTML version. From the full reference sheet, anything which has a link on the class number (170 and 370 for now, the rest to come) will take you to them.

[ChrisCF]

I've had a good look at some of the sprites that are there already, and I'll probably go a concept repaint of some of those to begin with, e.g. the 43 ("SH 125") into black and white with pc (player colour) stripe. I might also see about repainting the liveries on the 86 and 87 ("SH 30" and "SH 40") to match the same InterCity colours. I could also do with a little help over palette translation - not WIN-DOS, but more like TTD -> Common Sense - looking at the DB set, I'm seeing colours that don't make sense - e.g. the occasional splash of Magic Pink (#FF00FF - which I assume must represent black from the positions I see it). Then there's the clean-up of my sprites to look more natural, and less artificially constant.

Full story at 10

[krtaylor]

Can't wait...

[Tijgertjuh]

Can't wait...

Me either

[Prof. Frink]

If it's anything like as comprehensive as the DB set it will be good.

I'd like to see some more futuristic trains though, maybe a cargo maglev...

[Tijgertjuh]

Yes maglev

Sorry , i'm a maglev fan , maby its possible to make the maglev from china?
I mean the one from sjanhai to airport ( 30 km in 8 minutes )

[krtaylor]

Months ago I tried to start a project to cover the trains of East Asia (China and Japan). That would logically have included both Chinese and Japanese maglevs. But the project didn't really get off the ground that well. Someday we may try again.

[Arathorn]

That's the Transrapid 8. The DB set has the Transrapid 9.

[Raichase]

Keep up the good work, I have always been a fan of British Trains - can't wait to see the results

[ChrisCF]

I have adjusted the livery on some of the existing locos, and played with some of the graphics to come up with some concepts. So far, many of them only have the aspect you see here. The 45-degree views are a little tricky.