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Post by AlexTheMole on Nov 10, 2020 8:53:08 GMT
Fantastic!
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Post by Xavier on Jan 28, 2021 21:18:36 GMT
By request, here's a few pics. A couple from Victoria and some from St James's Park. I actually finished SJP before Christmas and have started on Westminster but due to having been given two long DTG contracts, one directly after the other, I haven't got very far with it because DTG has taken priority. If you follow Facebook you might also know that I'm working on an update to my North London Lines route as well. But nothing has been forgotten about, none of the work has stopped in essence but I will be back on station modelling after I've finished with my current DTG work (fingers crossed). R49 stock is still awaiting a cab before final scripting can commence. Richard recently retired and so has been sorting out things but will be going back to that when he can. But for now:
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Post by Mike on Jan 29, 2021 19:45:54 GMT
Hi Xavier, Great work from the team. Please extend best wishes to Richard on his retirement. He should be aware that when I retired I found myself working harder than ever! All the best to him. Mike
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Post by Eddie on Jan 30, 2021 16:12:50 GMT
Ha ha that is so true............. when you retire you wonder how you ever found the time to actually go to work.
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Post by Jimi on Jan 30, 2021 17:06:00 GMT
Concur. I retired 2 years ago and I've found there's never enough time to do all I want.
BTW, thanks for the kind thoughts and comments guys. As you see, we're still working away. And kudos to Xav - I feel minus the obviously missing crowds, many of those images could be mistaken for real.
And Ed & I have started creating some new scenarios...
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Post by AlexTheMole on Jan 31, 2021 21:39:41 GMT
It will be well worth the wait for sure!
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Post by Jimi on Mar 5, 2021 15:05:20 GMT
The station construction crew (Xavier) has just left Embankment heading east. That means we have 3 more superbly created bespoke stations to show you. St James's Park, Westminster, Embankment. I have a few tweaks to make to finalize signal positions, stop boards, monitor triggers, etc. then we'll upload some pix...
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Post by Jimi on Mar 7, 2021 18:17:42 GMT
More of the South Circle - new stations at St James's Park, Westminster and Embankment.
WARNING - IMAGE HEAVY !!
But first I'm going to show some detail of how the stop points have been consistently designed so you can anticipate the berthing point and know where to stop so the S-Stock monitors trigger. THE BERTHING POINT The above shows some things to look out for. As you approach you will first spot the platform end passenger barrier, which partly obscures the stop board until you get closer. You can also see the stop diamond on the sleeper. You want to berth with the front of train close to the center of the stop board and the diamond. You don't have to be perfectly in the center - there's some latitude and it seems if the cab front is within the chevron areas the monitors will trigger.
Here's a view of that from the front. Above shows front of train lined up with stop board and sleeper diamond.
If you turn to look out of the left side cab window, this is what you should see. The passenger barrier will be just behind your cab window. You should just see the left side chevrons of the stop board, so one way to judge the approach can be not to jump to the offside view, but rather to look left out of the side window and stop when you just see the edge of the board. A monitor (for use of other stocks without onboard monitors) should also be in view. Looking forwards through the front window you can clearly see the starter signal. In this case, it is located in the "six foot" (the cess between tracks), but it may be located on the nearside wall part way into the tunnel. Note the cab nearside monitor is active indicating we stopped correctly.
Another item to watch out for in the tunnels is speed limit signs. The tunnel speed signs are illuminated but are quite small. As you gain experience and route knowledge you will be aware of these, especially those that cause a reduction in speed. They do also appear on the F3 HUD to give you advanced warning.
We will now pick up Set 340, a Tower Hill bound S7 at Sth Ken, and head east. We will skip SLO and VIC and start the photography at the SJP home signal.
The following are a set of shots showing features of the new stations. It's impossible to capture all of the details, but the character of each station, and of the Lower Circle in general, comes though well. Kudos to Xavier!
ST JAMES'S PARK WESTMINSTER EMBANKMENT EMBANKMENT REVERSING ROAD Just east of EMB is a reversing road and related x-over. This enables EB trains to reverse out-of-service wrong-road via a shunt signal back into the WB platform. Rules prevent carrying passengers past a shunt signal. As shown above there is also a wrong-road color light starter on the east end of the WB platform, allowing a WB train to reverse in-service back to the east. The shot below shows the reversing area looking west. The WB color light signal on the left (EH2A) protects the x-over when a train runs wrong-road over it via the shunt as shown. Our train is on the EB track, about to move west wrong-road to the x-over.
That's it for now. More as we progress...
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Post by AlexTheMole on Mar 9, 2021 13:02:34 GMT
Marvellous work!
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Post by Xavier on May 5, 2021 21:32:16 GMT
After some time of painful concentration on a DTG project (and a tram model for the LL&CBER which you can find on Recreating Britain's Lost Routes), I'm back on the station models. Temple is now done and I'm working on Blackfriars. Eddie is also now infilling some scenery around the new stations already in place. Just to prove we're not dead, here's three pictures of a red R Stock outside of Richmond and at Kew Gardens. You might also notice the track change. I've been experimenting the last couple of days with the Vulcan Productions Track Packs, as I was particularly impressed by the conductor rail model.
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Post by trabantdave on May 10, 2021 14:16:28 GMT
Great work there! I'm especially looking forward to getting my hands on the R Stock - I'm currently building a set of CO/CP in 4mm scale
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Post by AlexTheMole on May 15, 2021 8:37:36 GMT
Ooooh now that is interesting news! I've been using the AP Track patch for the route so far which has been great, but am really pleased to see the VP track being looked at. Also glad to see the R Stock again. Exciting stuff!
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Post by Xavier on May 17, 2021 11:02:15 GMT
I've passed on Temple, Blackfriars and Mansion House to the rest of the team. In the meantime, I've done some further experimentation with Reshade trying to find something that looks kind of old/moody based on a few photos I've seen, using the silver R Stock. The NeoBloom shader is especially good for bringing out the glare of light sources and there's an SSAO shader on as well to enhance shadows. Might do some more once we have the cab/scripting complete on the train (the rear marker lights being on is something we need to sort out as part of that). But right now once I get the all clear from Eddie and Jimi I can think about working through to Tower Hill for the next stage of station building. Sloane Square Westminster Temple Blackfriars Mansion House
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Post by Eddie on May 17, 2021 11:43:46 GMT
That looks exceptionally good Xavier. Atmosphere in spades. When I was at school a number of us planned a trip to London, the school being in Tilehurst, Reading. We got onto the tube at Embankment and decided to do a full round trip on the Circle Line. They had these big old Silver trains that made marvellous noises. I get a prickle down the back of my neck looking at these screengrabs..............I'm a schoolboy once again. What a marvellous time machine this sim is.
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Post by Mike on May 17, 2021 12:46:16 GMT
Excellent work all round!
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Post by trabantdave on May 17, 2021 14:08:59 GMT
Simply stunning!
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Post by Jimi on May 18, 2021 23:26:00 GMT
Something new at Mansion House, as part of my work following Xavier's station building. Although the object was created by Richard over 10 years ago, this is its first use. It will also be used at Tower Hill for the same reasons... We now have a stop point specifically for C69, which is actually shown on the track/signal diagrams. At MAN it's 16m short of where the S7 stops. You can see the difference here: The result is the other end of both S7 and C69 trains (WB end) ends up in the same place - which I have also marked. The S Stock can self-dispatch via its onboard monitors, and the C69 T/Op can see the platform monitor so can also self-dispatch. I also added a little lighting to highlight the stop point boards on the sleepers, similar to how we've highlighted the SS boards in dark areas.
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Post by Peter C on Jun 10, 2021 8:22:18 GMT
Just been reading through this thread after spending a long time away from the forums and the work you've done is looking brilliant! Being able to drive along this Lower Circle section of the line is one of the things I've wanted to do ever since I first heard of the VDL so I'm quite excited -Peter
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Post by markhazeldine on Jul 10, 2021 8:01:37 GMT
This is looking absolutely stunning! I used to commute daily from Richmond to Mansion House, so I'd be happy to have this v3 now as it is! haha. I know you want to keep going to Whitechapel though so I'll guess I'll have to be patient!
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Post by Jimi on Jul 12, 2021 13:24:44 GMT
It won't be forever. Xavier is almost finished the Tower Hill station, leaving Aldgate East and Whitechapel. We're "borrowing" JT's rendition of Aldgate and extending the Circle track just enough just so we have a workable stub to spawn and lose Circle AI traffic. A player could start a Circle Outer Rail service from there too, or end an Inner. Ed & I are at work on scenarios, as we can build/test those before the stations are complete.
We're excited about this too. Between the very accurate trackwork/gradients, realistic tunnels and signals, and Xavier's capturing the feel of the Lower Circle stations we think this will please you all. And with the various reversing points and bay roads there's lots of scope for scenarios.
More pix as we progress...
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Post by markhazeldine on Jul 14, 2021 12:56:31 GMT
Very exciting Jimi!
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Post by Xavier on Jul 14, 2021 13:15:22 GMT
Just to add that Tower Hill is now done and Jimi has put his signalling-based extra touches on it, and I'm now thinking about going on to Aldgate East.
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Post by Jimi on Jul 15, 2021 19:39:06 GMT
More of the South Circle - new stations at Mansion House, Cannon St, Monument and Tower Hill. These were grabbed while testing a C69 Circle Outer Rail service from ALD. As usual, these can't begin to show all the details but should give you an idea of the stations as simulated. Kudos to Xavier for the atmospheric modeling!
MANSION HOUSE (historical depiction with Bay platform in place) CANNON STREET MONUMENT TOWER HILL
Interesting detail in the Tower Hill bay road - there are 3 inbound stop points. An S7 will stop at its "SS" board, a D78 stops at the diamond on the sleeper, and a C69 stops at its "C" diamond. End result is the other (west-facing) end of all 3 trains is stopped in the same place. The S7 dispatches via its internal monitors, and the D78/C69 can dispatch using the adjacent platform monitor.
This is, of course, a little poetic license so we can run different era scenarios. The Mansion House bay road is retained for the same reason.
Only 2 stations to go... Aldgate East and Whitechapel.
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Post by Eddie on Jul 16, 2021 17:07:33 GMT
This is all looking rather excellent indeed and Xavier is well into his stride as an LU station creator. Richard Scott has bowed to him for carrying the mantle so well. All the stations on this combine seem to have their own DNA and atmosphere, but also an undeniable LU "feel".
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Post by Richard on Jul 22, 2021 20:57:16 GMT
Just to add to that praise. The atmosphere of these shots is superb. The lighting level looks just right. 'Down under' in London is neither glaringly bright, nor gloomy. These pics show it as it is.
Richard
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