The Heartland - Random Images

[thundercrack83]

As always, your pictures are absolutely amazing, my friend! So realistic looking and colorful! It's always a pleasure to see an update here!

[kimcar]

Thanks for the explanation about the Gizmo`s mod . As for the pics you just show, they are gorgious. 

[meinhosen]

Part 1 of a 2-part update: mixing the real-world with the sim-world.

bat - Thank you for the kind comment, and you've got excellent timing... I think this is the second or third update you've had the first reply too. 

Robin/rooker - Using the seasonal trees isn't very taxing on my computer... and I should know best, since it's very slow.  Actually seasonal props don't seem to make any noticable difference in game slowdowns- those only come on large city tiles or when a lot of stuff develops at one time.

Pat - Thanks Pat!  Heard on the news that N. Wisconsin had a rough weekend with that shooting. 
I'm sure the Packers loss to the Bears didn't improve moods much, either.

Liv - Thanks for the comments!  And no, I've never queried a U-Driveit.  I usually turn those off shortly after starting a new city... come to think of it, I've never used that part of the game.  Check out the LEX for CP Mega Props Volume 1.  It has all the upgraded tree props, and should be one of his newest contributions to the exchange.

thundercrack - Thanks!  I'm trying a new experiment with realism by attempting to model something after a picture I snapped this afternoon... we'll see how it works out later in the week.

kimcar - Thanks for the comments.  I'm always happy to explain mods I use... especially the new ones that not a lot of folks use.



Here's a bit of the real-life inspiration I use.  If anyone is curious, the photo was taken in La Fox, IL- very close to where I grew up.  If you can't tell that the rail-fascination extends past Sim City, I hope this is evidence enough for you 



I'm hoping to re-create this scene in Sim City, so we'll all find out together how well it works out.  I'm planning on having it ready to go soon (this weekend), but work and other commitments will most likely be the final factor on how quickly I can actually do this.     This also ought to give me excuse enough to do some straight eye-candy work, without such trivial distractions as: "does this city actually function?" or, "why are the stinking farms not growing anymore!?!" or, "stupid sugarcane farm, you don't grow in temperate climates!"   

[Pat]

meinhosen thank you for your thoughts.... its very scary to think that Crandon is in my backyard about only 15 miles from me.... Naw im happy Da Bears won but yea for the packer fans that didnt help any....  That pic should prove a good challenge for you to recreate and you know what i have faith and confidence that you will do it justice....

[thundercrack83]

Hello, meinhosen! Beautiful picture of the train, my friend! I'm definitely interested in seeing how you capture this scene in-game. If it's anything like the rest of your work, I'm sure it will be amazing! I'll be looking forward to it!

[bat]

Yes, Nice picture of that train! Also looking forward to the recration.

[sebes]

woooohaaa   a picture of a train and an announcement of an update replicating the picture....

I am exicted looking forward to that ..

[royal]

Ist it a Dash 9 ? I think that`s the only locomotive I know from U.S.A. 

I like german locomotives, or their freight waggons

[Nardo69]

Years ago the TCDD important some machines that looked almost the same - the class DE21.5. I don't know if they are still in service.

The standard Diesel is the DE24, if their power isn't enough, there is the DE33, too. I saw a lot of them when I did a weekend - railway trip to Western Anatolia in August. As you can see in this http://www.trainsofturkey.com/ Turkish Diesel are quite similar to Americans.

Nice pic anyway. I would love to here their sound - only the sound of a heavy freight steam engine beats the sound of a great Diesel engines ....

Take care

Bernhard 

[BigSlark]

Royal, Nardo, and anyone else who isn't an American Railfan,

I believe those are EMD-built SD40-2T's. The "SD" stands for Special Duty which equates to six axle trucks, its in the 40 model series (which doesn't mean its the 40th SD locomotive model that EMD produced), the "-2" refers to the updated electrical system, and the "T" stands for Tunnel Motor. The Southern Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western both had numerous tunnels on their routes and therefore the standard high air intakes would pull in hot, dirty air from the top of the tunnels, reducing the power output of the locomotive. As a result, EMD designed Tunnel Motors that have lower air intakes. The locomotives they built were the SD40-2T (3000 hp) and the SD45-2T (3600 hp). The Southern Pacific and Rio Grande purchased SD40-2T's and only the Southern Pacific purchased SD45-2T's. In the 1990's the D&RGW and SP merged and in 1996 the SP was bought by the Union Pacific, which is why these locomotives wear Armour Yellow today.

Cheers,
Kevin

[thundercrack83]

Hello, meinhosen!

It's with great pleasure that I can inform you that, with this post, I'll be moving your MD to the Classics section! Congratulations, my friend! You've definitely earned it!

[threestooges]

Now that is a well deserved category for this MD. Congratulations meinhosen, you've earned it.

[Eddie]

A classic at last. 

[urban]

The region view is amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing how you bring the picture into simcity

[Nardo69]

Royal, Nardo, and anyone else who isn't an American Railfan,

I believe those are EMD-built SD40-2T's. The "SD" stands for Special Duty which equates to six axle trucks, its in the 40 model series (which doesn't mean its the 40th SD locomotive model that EMD produced), the "-2" refers to the updated electrical system, and the "T" stands for Tunnel Motor. The Southern Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western both had numerous tunnels on their routes and therefore the standard high air intakes would pull in hot, dirty air from the top of the tunnels, reducing the power output of the locomotive. As a result, EMD designed Tunnel Motors that have lower air intakes. The locomotives they built were the SD40-2T (3000 hp) and the SD45-2T (3600 hp). The Southern Pacific and Rio Grande purchased SD40-2T's and only the Southern Pacific purchased SD45-2T's. In the 1990's the D&RGW and SP merged and in 1996 the SP was bought by the Union Pacific, which is why these locomotives wear Armour Yellow today.

Cheers,
Kevin

Thanks for the explanation to a railwayfan outside the US who mainly knew American Diesel machines because of RRT2 (never was a big fan of RRT3)
Actually the TCDD (Turkish Railways) uses a lot of American style machines (made under license in Europe AFAIK) and especially the DE33 (which means Diesel - Electric machine wit 3300 hp)  looks rather similiar to the SD40

Bernhard 

PS:

Railwayfans of the world - Unite Unite! 

[sebes]

Indeed a true classic.... I am glad with you that Heartland made it here!  The region view is indeed excellent 

[Godzillaman]

Double Engines in sc4? I got that. I used the train generators.

[Pat]

Sweeeeeeeet Congrats going classic on us meinhosen and i cant see that pic you posted at all siiiiiiigh, the one for your inspriation....

[Nardo69]

I just recogniced - it's your birthday ...



Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday
dear Meinhosen,
Happy Birthday to You



Bernhard 

[Giligone]

Hey, amazing stuff! I haven't been around sc4devotion the past little while. I see I missed lots of your great work. Hope your next tour of Iraq goes well. My cousin (in the Marines) is going back soon too. January I think maybe... hmmm. Godspeed.