The Winding River Project

[mrbisonm]

While you're waiting for the next update, here's something to study. This is the Lakestead County that I finally finished after two years of play. This also represents the Capitol City of my Simland, some 150 miles (190 km's) west of the Winding River. There are several smaller towns and villages nearby and they can be seen well detailed on the two links below the pictures, which show the original size of them, but be warned, they're big and in png.

I included are a satelite and a transportation map for those who are interested in my road, rail  and highway layings. The original map for this region was downloaded from somewhere, can't remember from where, but this map here was heavily transformed by hand terraforming to my taste and also to be able to build a big city in it. It does not really ressemble the original map anymore (besides some of the mountains maybe). The terra forming took me two full days, including the *fine-tuning*.
In the upcoming months I will finish the Frampton and Beecherfalls map, which I also will show you once it's done.

An update is due this weekend, so be there.

Have fun

Fred






Big satelite Map:

http://www.imgnook.com/7FK

Big Transportation Map:

http://www.imgnook.com/gLF

[mightygoose]

looks awesome, so this is the capital of simland in 1966, ok, there seems to be an unfinished mountain pass but i am sure there is a reason for that! (lower left hand mountain)

interesting.

[jmyers2043]

Fred - what textures or props are you using to create the flat dirt area?



The stone areas blend in with the dirt and it's done very well. I guess years of MD'ing and CJ's are paying off? It's all very well done and I'm inspired by it






(for obvious reason I'm asking    )

[mrbisonm]

looks awesome, so this is the capital of simland in 1966, ok, there seems to be an unfinished mountain pass but i am sure there is a reason for that! (lower left hand mountain)

interesting.

The reason why I haven't finished the mountain pass yet is because there will be none, I just fogot to erase the one on that tile. I will do another mountain pass somewhere else in this region, a more logical one. Thanks

Fred - what textures or props are you using to create the flat dirt area?



The stone areas blend in with the dirt and it's done very well. I guess years of MD'ing and CJ's are paying off? It's all very well done and I'm inspired by it
(for obvious reason I'm asking    )

Hm, I was afraid that someone would ask this.....lol..... The gravel texture (in red) is a mayor mod texture which exists in three colours, lightgrey, medium sandy and dark earthly. This one is the medium version which blends in perfectly with the Maxis dirt texture and the stones I am using. (a little experience on how to blend them in also helps)
Now, the problem is that I don't know the name of that mod, nor do I remember where and when I downloaded it, but for now I can say that this is NOT a PEG mod, because I hardly use any PEG mods (only a few gravel and rock plops and loggers) because they always interfere with all the rest of the common downloads.

I wonder when it is a mayor mod, does it say the name when you open it in the game? I will try it later this weekend and let you know. I will also go through my 14 Gb Pluginsfolder, just in case I find it.

I have that problem all the time, finding something....first it's my memory that fails me when it comes to certain and unimportant things in life, then it is the mess and the quantity of Plugins that I have taht confuse me so often of where and when I downloaded things. I use several plugins for several regions and even different city tiles and my biggest plugins folder is like I mentioned...huge...huge of 14 gb's.

The 1x1 dirtlots are my own made with the simple Maxis dirt texture

The one in blue is from Peg's site, it is kinda of a round mayorplop, not making something very good looking , but well and sparely used it can be interesting. The bigger rocks are also from Peg, most of them outside the water. The ones inside the water are from GDV, if I remember right. (hard to tell when you got everything on the net in your pluginsfolder....lol)
Then finally the green one is the same as the first, but the light phase. I also used the dark phase in this area at some places (not on your pic) and just enough to blend in some rocks and show some humid soil or wet sand just turned over. (I do a lot of oil and aquarel paintings in my free time, maybe that's where the idea came from to blend in the colours liek this)

I'm gonna keep an eye open for this gravel mod and let you know when I find it. Drop by once in awhile. Thanks for coming and commenting.


(lol....Jim, I guess you want that for the highway challenge, right?....lol.... )

Fred

EDIT: There's also the grassy and gravely mod that I once downloded from a japanese site many years ago, which can be seen on the far left side (bottom) of the picture or better on picture 59.11 on the previous page (sawmill) This mod replaces the animal plops in the godmode menu.(never use animals anyways) There are two colours, quite nice too. Another thing I can't remember where they are from, but it is at least 4 to 5 years ago that I found them on a tiny site. I use it sparely on almost every citytile, because it looks good. It even covers roads and rails, giving it a dirty, or old, abandonned and overgrown appearence.

[metasmurf]

That's a nice looking region view you got there 

[mrbisonm]

Thanks metasmurf for leaving a comment.

Fred - what textures or props are you using to create the flat dirt area?



The stone areas blend in with the dirt and it's done very well. I guess years of MD'ing and CJ's are paying off? It's all very well done and I'm inspired by it

First of all, thanks for telling me that it's very well done, coming from you it is surely appreciated.

Now Jim, I found what you are looking for by playing and taking pictures of the mayor plop menu. These textures, first of all, seem to come in a set of sands (4) , several rocks and bolders (...and I though these were by PEG), some tropical mayortrees and several powerline towers (shown only one). They are from Heblem and available on the STEX. I didn't keep some of the mayor plops in that set because some needed another dependency-pack (of which I have enough now), and some of them I didn't like. Hope that helps......ready to continue your highway?.......lol

Fred








EDIT: Come to think about it, maybe there are some PEG rocks in that picture, I just saw that I indeed have some PEG and CP Mayor ploppable rocks in my Pluginsfolder. Which is which?....oh boy....I couldn't tell you, for you to find out.

Fred

[mrbisonm]

Update 61

Down the Roads/Streets...Chapter 1 - Mainstreet/Access Center

                                           
                                         Sunday, May 29th, 1966
                                                 today at this date... then:
                                                 -  1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies
                                                     under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture
                                                     Constantinople after a 53-day
                                                     siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
                                                 -  1914 – Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland
                                                     sinks in the Gulf of St.Lawrence with the loss
                                                     of 1,024 lives.
                                                 -  1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of
                                                     the United States was born
                                                 -  2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and
                                                     director died

This will be a new series, among the regular updates, about traveling down our regional roads and streets. We have done something like this before, remember the "Who lives Where" Series? Well, this time we will pick a random road or street and start from the beginning of it and follow it down to the very end while seeing pictures from every angle of the things worthwhile looking at or seeing. A couple of words beside that and it should become quite interesting to get to know certain neighborhoods in towns and villages and /or country roads and see the farmers and those folks that live out there in the middle of nowhere in the Winding River Region.

We start with a transportational map of the region, although not much has been opened up with roads yet. We will not include the rails. Only roads and streets and Highway 35 at the end of this series. Below are the roads and streets more or less in the country that we will visit. There's about a dozen of them that are worth visiting. Of course we will not go through all the roads/ streets, that would take up too much time. (warning: big png picture...2754x1238)

pic61.1
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4340/pic611transportmapwrp19.png

Now here is the town's part of roads and streets that we will travel on during the next month or so, all in between regular updates, not to stop the stories of the WRP. There are 12 streets and roads worthwhile visiting, especially in the town of Access (10), which has now close to 60,000 citizens and only 2 in Phlox. There will also be the restricted road of the army in West River and the road that goes from Phlox to Lakefield (route 263) going side by side of the highway 15.

pic61.2


Today we have a  look at the Main street in Access Center, which was the first named street in the region back in 1956. This street starts at the corner of the Access Road and heads west connecting with Western Plains road that connects with the Capitol City of Lakefield some 100 miles away (approx 160kms). Here are also the oldest buildings of the town, some still standing, most of them though have been torn down to make room to the modern appartments, commercials and offices. Only one building has been officially considered as a historical site, the little church.
We start off with the Access Rd and Mainstreet corner. Here's a partial view of the downtown Mainstreet.

pic61.3


This is the first detailed picture of the Mainstreet in Access Center, the east side. As we have seen before and also talked about, the Gabber park was somewhat abandonned last year when the new soccerterrain was opened in the south. Today it is being cleaned up and prepared for something else, which we haven't been informed about yet. But rumours are that a community hall or a sportshall of some kind will be build next year. Across the street is the Police office with 18 fulltime police officers and the chief of Police, Kyle Roberts, originally from Beecherfalls. Its district is from Grasslake through Access Center and to Phlox for the moment, but when the federal Police moves in, which is supposed to happen within the next two years, Access Police will only cover the town and county of Access and Valmore, nothing more. It will simply become a townpolice
Beside the Police is our Mayor's house, he's been there since last year after he discovered that rats have moved into his former home on Baker's St. Further west, there is a Foto and Painting store, here Sims buy their pictures from artists all over Simland and take pictures of their family and themselves for souvenirs, passports etc. Some deadend street head north into a medium rich residential area, where most commercial store owners live, a quiet neighborhood, which is quite well surveyed and protected by the nearby Police.

pic61.4


Further west, we meet the townhall which is still quite new, built only two years ago. Here the Mayor and the counselors decide what is and what is not good for their citizens. This part of Mainstreet, where it meets the Access Rd and the Sandom Rd, was and still is the center of Access Center. It is here where they had that big party when the Access Rd met Highway 35, remember?
Behind the townhall is Access's first monthly newspaper, which is now a daily paper. The old building is be renewd very soon, or maybe a new Printing shop will be build near the north of the Valmore part of Access close to the Museum, and the office only will stay here, still not decided yet. Right across the street is Kohler's Buslines, which has now busses that go to Sandom, Bluebay, Lakestead and even Beecherfalls, and Tom Kohler is already thinking of enlargen his busline into Frampton and all the smaller towns around the coastline of Siomland. He has to buy himself 14 new busses, which takes either a big loan or..... These last months Kohler has been often to Beecherfalls, he seems to have met a young beautiful woman named Jessica Parker. We don't know yet if this is serious, but I can tell you that he is not as often taking care of his busline anymore. Lucky for him that he has a trustworthy Manager since last year taht takes care of his business.

Beside Kohler's Garage and station is an old streetcar that they moved in from Beecherfalls to become a small Cantina. The car came by the rails and was simply tossed over to its location today.
Once you cross the mainstreet center, there used to be the old Olsen Pub, you probably remember the blue tavern which was one of the first buildings in Access Center. Today it is replaced by two big Office towers, which is occupied by lawyers, notaries, Insurance agencies, a small library in the basement and many other different offices. These two buildings were built less than 2 years ago.

pic61.5


Here's one more view of those two towers, the tallest in Access for the moment. As we go further up the road towards west, we have Barby's Biergarten at the bottom, the place where some of our characters often meet on friday's afternoon. Here they talk about the week's events while enjoying a cold beer and maybe a snack before they all go home. Sometimes they plan all kinds of stupidities also. Just beside Barby's on the bottom is the Wellington Building, another office building in Access. This was the first office building in town. Owned by Nethaniel Wellington, it serves him as a supplementary revenu and also to host his own office of his Foodstorechain.
While we talk about Nethaniel Wellington, he also has a smaller appartment house on Mainstreet, just beside his first Bake n'Sale store. Only a few weeks ago he became the owner of the old theater and the abandonned postoffice. He bought these two probably for the terrain. I have no idea what he has up his sleeves again, but surely this "hotspot" on Main St will serve him for a specific use and a good profit, now that these downlots have reached orbital prices.

The old theater closed its doors last year when the new theater down the street opened and the post-office was also abandonned about the same time. The new Poat -Office is on Welder St today Wellington has one full year to tear down or rebuild/ renovate these two old buildings, the town council decided.

pic61.6


A little bit further and we cross the Racsan Street which leads right to the airport and the hydrodam. We will visit this street in a later update. At the corner of Main and Racsan is the old little church that has been standing there since the beginning of Access. Now it is protected by the town as one of the very few old historical buildings left in town and one of the Westwood twins is taken care of it, I heart. On the corner of Racsan and Valmore St lies the big appartment block that is owned by the Baker family from Bluebay, containing a lot of appartments and stores on the first floor. The Baker family is one of those giant family owned companies that builds appartment buildings all over Simland, owning some 40+ buildings by now. Right on the opposite is the United Access Bank, the first bank in town, which used to be near the shopping mall behind the Biergarten.
Usually this is a busy corner with the Main street and Valmore going from east to west and the Racsan street heading directly to the former Access Airport. Of his three Bake n' Sale stores Wellington owns in the region, this one is the busiest one and most favourable of Nethaniel, where he himself still serves his customers on Thursdays and Fridays afternoons. At his lunch and break hours, we can find him relaxing with a coffee at the little "Cozy Café", just accross the street, which is a part of the Biergarten and of course owned by Miss Barby.

pic 61.7


And a little further and we see all kinds of Appartment blocks that have appeared a couple of years ago. In one of them, on Valmore street, James Gallagher opened a second McDonald's in town, after he relized that folks in Access crave for the famous hamburger.
On Mainstreet beside all these appartment buildings, only the health clinic is of interest to us. This is still the only place in Access, besides a few private Doctors here and there, where you can get medical help when you're sick or in an emergency, otherwise you will have to travel to Sandom for the closest Hospital, about 30 miles from here (approx 40 km). The new hospital in Access is about to see the daylight though, they say it will be finished by fall next year.

pic61.8


Almost at the end of Downtown Access, we have that new theater that is responsable for the closing of the old one that we saw earlier, owned by Wellington now. Here new films that just came out, like "Born Free" and "Fantastic Voyage" are playing at the moment and both are late summer hits. This theater holds  double as many spectators as the old one and has separate washrooms for men and women, quite modern!
Here also our friend Johnny B.Bad hangs around at night (see little red spot) and delivers the merchandises that earns his living. The police doesn't know his new location yet, so..... not to get into trouble, I recommend to mind one's own business and not report this while keeping it to you, ok? Those who do, live longer, they say.........

pic61.9


These below are the last buildings of Main Steet downtown. A few years ago this was still all farmland, pastures with grazing cows. One of the old farmhouses still suvived and is still habited by the former owner of the fields. The old Lady Mrs Grumstoom, now in her late 60's is not willing to give up her home yet. Everything around has been converted into ultra modern appartment homes. The coloured ones only were built last year.

pic61.10


Again this is where only fields were before, appartments and houses are dominent in this part of town, which is almost at the end of town. Not too far from the dowtown, this area is already a lot quieter and cleaner.

pic61.11


And finally the last houses of the town itself. Here is still a barn standing , a reminder of the farmland that once roamed the area. Today the barn is transformed into a local fleamarket, that is open on Saturdays and Sundays.

pic61.12


The Mainstreet becomes the Western Plains Road here, just beside the new Racsan's Raceway. Although many farms are still around in this area, more and more residential buildings and homes are about to invade the grounds near the Highway 35. Only about 1 km (3-quarter mile) away is the only exit and entry to highway 35 that was built to contour the town some years ago. At that time, homes and buildings from Access were far away, but today, civilization is about to cross the highway and one day will conquer the last fields of Access..

pic61.13


That was it, our first visit of the "Down The Roads/ Streets" series. Hope you like the new series as we will drive down the Racsan Street the next time, starting in downtown and leading to the Hydrodam. If you liked it, please let me know, if not .....welll....too bad, you can still say something. I will be back later this week with another *down the road/street* update.

Have a nice weekend

Fred

[mightygoose]

it is a great way of giving us some geographical infil.

[bat]

Your city looks really great!
Some nice looking pictures there!

[Battlecat]

Great stuff as always!  The farm lot as a flea market is a neat touch!

[CabraBuitre]

Great to see even more details!   

[nedalezz]

LOVED it! I love getting to know the cities and people behind the MD, and you have done that perfectly. It really got me in touch with Access, and I feel it is alive to me.

[mrbisonm]

Thanks mightygoose, bat, Battlecat, CabraBuitre and nedalezz for commenting. Nice to see you here.


Update 62


Down the Roads/Streets...Chapter 2 - Racsan and Gibson St/Access Center

                 Thursday, June 2nd, 1966
                          Today at this date... then:
                             -  455 – Sack of Rome: The Vandals enter Rome, and
                                 plunder the city for two weeks.
                             -  1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who was
                                 crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,
                                 New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head
                                 of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to
                                 be televised.
                             -  1941-Birth – Stacy Keach, American actor.



Last week we visited Access' Mainstreet while we drove down it all the way, today we will take two sidestreets of Main St. Racsan St, which starts in downtown near Wellington's Bake n' Sale on Main St , goes by the former airport and ends right in the yards of the Hydropower Company near the dam on Fingerlake. Then the Gibson St, which starts behind the shopping mall on Racsan St and ends near the construction site of the new Access Hospital. These will help us understand the way the town is built and growing out of its boundaries. Both streets are more or less paralel to Mainstreet leading from east to west.

pic.62.1



First we will take the Racsan St, right at the corner of Main just about where that small church that Patrick Westwood was chosen to take care of. This is the first church in Access and was built in 1955. Today considered as a local landmark, Patrick is slowly renovating the inside of it for it to become to place for tourists.
Racsan Street starts here, on Main Street and heads south through the middle of town towards the former airport of Access Center. Slowly winding through the older buildings, it comes by Patrick's appartment, which is quite close to his church. Then hitting a trafficlight near the shopping mall and contouring the big building.

pic62.2



While doing this we can see Access's former waterhole being filled and making room for some commercial buildings. No one yet found out what these new buildings will be like. The preparation of the terrain is almost finished. The hole was drained with permanent piping which leads into the regular sewage system and will keep the place dry to be build on. Big rocks at the bottom make sure that the site is stable for heavier buildings. Some construction material has already arrived as we can see , and I guess the construction itself won't be very long.

pic62.3



Just barely passing the construction site we pass the Gibson Street, which we will see later on in this update. At the corner is still the little foodstore that exists here since the beginning of the town. Just behind it is the JB Weller appartment block that a fellow in Lakestead owns. This highly modern appartment building was built only last fall and mostly richer Sims from the area have moved in sofar.
Another appartment block that was only built last year and offers highwealth services is the Greek State, owned by a rich Greek businessman from Beecherfalls, these high wealth modern appartments can be seen in several towns and cities, two in Access Center already.
On the upper right of the picture we can see where one of the town's counselors live. This is the home of Howard Higgins, the *right hand* of Mayor Bartlett and also the owner of several smaller hardware stores in Sandom, Access and Phlox.

pic62.4



As we go down the street further south, it turns again just in front of the tractor sales buildings, where you can buy almost everything you need if you own some bigger terrain to take care of. Here once was the industrial park, now turning into a light commercial and residential neighborhood. To the top of the picture we can see Peter Moos's home, he is the owner of a big trucking company in Sandom. When our fist Mayor Paul Hubert died last year, Moos bought out the Trucking company that Hubert started after his mayorship. His wife didn't know what to do with it anyways and since the family did not have any kids to take over the buissness, it was the best she could do. Moos only thought that it was a wise decision to do so and get somehow involved in this region also, while he moved here only 3 years ago.
Below him is the Kruger Paint shop, which has been abandonned when James Kruger declared bankruptcy. Now standing empty for a buyer to take posession, which shouldn't be long.

pic62.5



From the last picture on to this below, are only a few little fields of agriculture that still belong to a farmer near the former airport, but slowly and surely it is being swallowed up by the industries having found a new territory to build on legally. Racsan' Motor and jet-engin manufactures are just a part off to the left (on the picture), a couple of hundred feet on the industrial boulevard, we cannot see because they aren't on Racsan Street. When you come to the intersection where Racsan St turns right and follows the former airport terrains, you'll find the hardwood flooring company on the left, which is a kind of a filiate of TS Slye's Sawmill. I think Ts owns a part of it or at least had some investments in it. Further down the street, you have more industrials of all kinds and even some farm buildings stand nearby. These are the mainbuildings that belond to the surrounding farmlots of all kinds.

pic62.6



Going further up the road it now leads into a more country like decor. Here we see the endline of the former airport and some more farmfields belonging again to the same farm as before. Going through a little forest we come closer to Access' suburbs, which of course can be easier reached by going through Mainstreet and then taking Park street south. Just here and partially on Park St, we see the tight and untouched forest of Miss Moarsen. Her husband bought that terrain 12 years ago and she only sold a lot here and there since to live a better life ever since her husband died a few years back. This standing dense forest never was touched before, and it is the only untouched terrain near the Access town left this way. It reaches down almost to the Gibson ST (which we will see a little later) and upwards (south) it touches the highway 35. Moarsen became rich when they sold the terrain to Racsan's father for the airport, which belonged to them and by selling many terrains to the town and for residential uses. Miss Moarsen today lives almost in downtown Access in one of those fancier appartments. Many deer and other animals can still be observed once in awhile in these forests, but as more and more people buy surrounding lots, the animals do not feel safe anymore and usually move out to the south right into the hills of the Fingerlake.

pic62.7



From here on, the street continues partially through Access' suburbs and with a sharp turn southward it winds into the tunnel that goes right under Highway 35 to the Fingerlake, just over the little hill. It is actually here that the Racsan Street officially ends. This part of Access is the fastest growing part, concerning the residential part of town. A new house almost sprouts up every week in the last months here. Soon even the last farmfields nearby will give up to houses that people from all over Simland desire so much. At the time when the highway was contoured to this area instead of going right through downtown, the surroundings were all forest and farmlands. That was only 9 years ago.

pic62.8



As we enter the tunnel, we get the feeling to enter a moist canal into the mountain, that's how wet the inside is and almost for 400 feet (approx 120 meters). Probably because of the near presence of the Fingerlake or the many surface springs in this area. The lake is in a mountain valley, completely surrounded by hills of medium heights. The air is a little colder and humid as we come out of the tunnel with an intersection. Surprisingly there are no traffic signs here. In reality, Racsan Street stops at the entrance of the tunnel, but this part is still called Racsan St  even by most of the authorities. To the right it goes uphill where some terrain filling is being done at the moment, probably for futur construction of something and to the left it leads to the hydrodam and then to the waterpumps that supply the town and surroundings with the cold mountainlake water. Let's have a look to the left.

pic62.9



Not really far from the tunnel lies the waterdam which is supplying the electricity down to Phlox and up to Grasslake. An excellent revenue for the town since 8 years now. Lately the waterlevel went down a little, kind of normal for this year although a little more than usual. This year the rockcap below waterlevel showed up. the buildings we see here belong mostly to the hydro Company, which is in the town's posession. Taking the route over and around the dam we get to the near end of the street.

pic62.10



Here's another view from a different angle to see the hydrodam. Something some folks lately noticed is that the water below the dam looks dirtier compared to the upper part. Maybe most of the people of Access don't realize that it is here below the dam where the mainpipe of all the used waters from town arrive and throws itself into the small river. Adrien McCoy from Access Center has been bringing this subject up in the mayor's office several times and has been complaining, while showing pictures of the situation, about the negligence of the council to never have done anything about this to become a future problem. McCoy also has complained many times about the garbage disposal site near the same small river a little further north, as we probably remember. The little river flows down to the Valmore lake. The town is studying the situation, they say everytime the subject is brought up, but no results yet since 4 years of complaints. Once Mayor Bartlett lost his patience in a monthly meeting and answered with a harsh voice, that there are far more important things to take care of first.     Well, this is 1966.....what else can we add to this to explain the situation.

pic 62.11



This is the end of line. Here, on the left are the town's watertowers and waterpumps and filtration station. This is where the clean cold water comes from when you open a tab anywhere in town. This area is open to the public and you can park your car nearby and take a walk up the hill to see the whole town from up there, or walk around the lake which has a small trail by now made by local fishermen with the years of usage. A lot of folks from town come here during the nicer days on weekdays. Because this is a very cold springlake, no bathing is done, except for some younger folks and kids who enjoy this cold water. No restriction anywhere about this has been advertized.

pic62.12



Now let's take the Gibson Street which starts of on Racsan Street and is more or less paralell to the Racsan St and leads down into the same direction , except that it ends on the highway side. Here again we see the construction site that is filling up the *old waterhole* of Access and the two Greek State appartments and the JB Weller appartments which we talked about earlier. Gibson Street passes right by the Primary school of Access. The school now has over 800 kids and 26 teachers.

pic62.13



Just passed the school and the baseballfield, Gibson St continues west surrounded by appartment buildings of all sizes. Not far is the Church of Access and the appartment where the other twin of the  Westwoods lives. George is taking care of the bigger church and his brother Patrick who is renovating the smaller and first church of Access on Main Street. George wants to become a Pastor like his father later and he wants this church to become his one day, he always says to his brother. Pat is more the freeliving spirit and likes to preserve traditions and local historical landmarks.

pic62.14



It doesn't take long on Gibson Street and we enter the suburbs. Here still some streets are on gravel, but which are slowly eliminated almost month by month. In this area also the construction of homes is well started, homes and small appartments are build wherever you turn your head.
A rare site these days in this part of the world, a gigantic vulture (encircled in yellow) was seen sailing the winds over the suburbs the other day. Less and less have been reported. Once there was a time when hundreds of them were hovering in the skies when the first settlers arrived. Where have they gone to?

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Racsan Street further up makes a tight turn southward only to turn back westward a few hundred feet away. Here we once again see the forest of Ms Moarsen which is its northern limit. People like to live in this area, the green, the smell and the sound of birds adds smiles to the residents. Unfortunetly appartment buildings are slowly invading the streets and this site will be lost forever when time has come. The kids from the Primary school a little back on the street once had the project to make a small description of the town and what it would be in 20 years, and a little fellow wrote that the town will have roads above the ground and small trains will travel on them to bring the peopel to wherever they want to go. The trees will be in glassdomes only and no one will be able to touch them anymore. Only through the glass will they see how beautiful they are.
Well, the future is promissing I guess.

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Not far from where it takes a sharp turn, the Gibson Street stops almost at a field near the highway. Here is the big construction site of the futur hospital of Access. This hospital is supposed to serve the whole region for at least the next twenty five years they hope. Some of the building material has already arrived and the construction will soon start. Another project that is supposed to be finished in the next two years.

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And now a last picture of the area where we can see the ends of both streets that we visited today, Racsan and Gibson Street. We see that the garbage site is close to the discharge river from the dam, probably soaking the ground with all kinds of pollution. Although not very easily seen, the garbage dump delivers a smell to the air which travels with the wind, and sometimes can be slightly recognized in the residential zones east of it. Close to the dumpsite is a round field irrigated automatically, the first in Simland, something which is very new and revolutionary to Simland. Maybe a new way to cultivate.

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To end todays update some news from the Gabber Park near the townhall. The construction of the new Sportshall has started and the building will be named after John Gabber, who donated the lots to the town in the earlier years of its existance. It will be called the *Gabber Park Center*. It will be a sportshall, a place to present shows or other gathering events. It also holds a small inside pool, tenniscourt and arena. There will be a large parking where the two houses were torn down, enough to park the many vehicules once a reunion or show takes place.
Another news that was heard is that Kohler Buslines seeks a new terrain to park his busses, and so he can enlargen his business and supply the growing town with better transportantional services. Tom Kohler also thinks about a busline or shuttle between downtown and the airport, something that the Mayor asked him to manage and figure out how to organize. The airport should be ready by the end of the next year.

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That was it again, sorry for being a little late with my update, but I found my former CJ *Nexis of Genesis* on Simtropolis after a long time and started reading it all over again.....oh, that nostalgy.....lol. I hopefully be back during the next weekend or shortly after with some different news from all over the region, including an update of the army and some of our characters and hey, I heard that........that Johnny B Bad moved into a luxurious appartment downtown Access....Hm....how did he achieve this? And what about Alex Puto, he hardly is home anymore, what is taken him away?
Thanks in advance to those who comment and those who lurk, they add a lot of views to my thread...

Have a nice week

Fred

Bonus:

Mayor Steven Bartlett left for the Capitol City, Lakefield, this morning to assit the funeral of the former Governor J.D. Lord, the man who made it possible for the highway 35 to connect Bluebay and Beecherfalls and open the doors for the settling of the Winding River Region. Mr Lord died at the age of 81 years at his home in Bremford, close to Lakfield.

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Bartlett is also the first mayor from the Winding River Region to be invited for an official Region Meeting after the funeral, which is held every 8 years or so. Discussions of evolution, contacts between the regions and little to big ideas of regional improvements are held during one full day, bringing all nine regions together. Proud to be part of this as the first of his region, he surely showed it on his face when he came back, telling Charles M.Johnson, the journalist of the Access Center Tribune,who was doing the interview,  that he had tremendous news to announce next week in the monthly town meeting. Nothing more was said.

««" What does he mean by *tremendous news*, you think, Charles?", the owner of the Tribune Joe Bean asked.
" I have no idea but he also said that his news will change the town for the next five years at least and that he was able to achieve something big for the municipality," slightly jerking his shoulders Charles answered.
"I know, no....." a brief moment in Charles speech," I heard that the council was about to ask for big funds from the federal Government to help the town meet its needs in public services before it ruins itself, but that's only rumours so far. Maybe they asked. It is Misses Bernstein from the Post-office who told me that. Let's not forget that she is councelor's Higgins sister, so there might be some truth in it. As we know, Higgins is Bartlett's right hand", looking at Bean as if he asking him for his comment.
"You know that could be." Joe lifted his right hand and stroke through his thin hair that still was left on his head,"I'm almost sure that Bartlett got it, if he is happy like this and said that his news will be *tremendous*, then this must be it.- Ok Charles, I want you to be on this as much as you can, I want to know before he makes the announcements, ya hear, Be all E A R S, you got that?", and he left the room to join the printing group in the backroom.
Now it was Charles turn to go through his hair and figuring out how he is going to do this, and then he got this idea. "Ha, Ristead MacGormain, the father of Billy Gabber's best friend Diarmuid, is a good friend of Bartlett, he must know something for sure", he said to himself while putting on his hat, taking his coat and leaving to 813 Mainstreet W, where the MacGormains live.»»

see ya soon........

[Cyclone1001]

Wow, very nice update!

[nedalezz]

I second that! It took me a while to read through the update, and I must admit I got totally lost in the world of Access. It was great seeing all the detail you put in each street.

[Battlecat]

Very interesting update!  Quite a fascinating insight into the layout of this city!  You put a huge amount of thought and detail into your towns.

[scott1964]

Nice update. I want this, this, this,......,and this in my cities. 

[CabraBuitre]

Another great update!  What I love best about this is the details... but it's more than just the details, it's how your cities change with the years... and how you show the changes!  I love the original, then the construction (and the suspense about what will show up there!) then the outcome! 

I can't wait to see what the hospital and park and everything else turns out!

[MattyFo]

Cool updates Fred! It's nice to get a close look at Access and see what the major streets look like.

[mrbisonm]

Hey guys, thanks so much for the comments. This is quite appreciated and also helps me "thinking out" what to come up with next.

Cyclone1001, Steve Gibson will be in the next update, talking with Gabber and Allheimer again about the armybase. Also the airport commity has asked for him. Hm?

nedalezz, Johnny B.Badd is about to change his lifestyle and has changed his appartment. A lot going with him, he's never been busy like this before.

Battlecat, Thanks, details are important for me and it makes the difference, I think.

scott1964, ok, let's hear it........what do you want in your cities, maybe I can help.

CabraBuitre, hope you liked the way it's going with the Westwood twins.


MattyFo, glad you liked the visit of the major streets in Access. Harry Wormwood is about to change places, he needs more room and I heard he is a acquaintance of Johnny B.Badd now. Hm.....where did they meet and how?

All that and much more coming up in the next update.
I have started BATting again and some of the older BATs, some of them already seen, are about to be ready to upload. I will show those BATs in this thread soon, between the updates. I need some advice and opinion before I upload them and in my BAT-thread I get very few or no responses. I suppose with all the visits I get in this CJ, I might be able to get the needed info also.


See you soon

Fred