News Regarding the CSX Tampa Terminal Route

The route I usually like to do in the winter-spring seasons is the CSX Tampa Terminal area from Tampa-Lakeland-Auburndale-Vitis and etc, pretty much CSX operations in the western half of Florida. Since we're getting back to that time of the year I've started to concentrate on it.

One of my conflicting issues with the route, however, is the ever-changing trackwork. Already areas that were modeled between 2011-2012 have changed drastically. Originally, I was going to ignore the changes, but due to the fact that the changes reflect more trains, and it will improve operational realism to do so, I am adding the new changes into the new year.

Key changes include:

• Siding between Lakeland Junction and 10th Street near Kathleen
• Siding in Knights
• Super Siding between Lumberton (1 mile south of Vitis Junction) and Ellerslie (ex. Distant to Dade City)
• Big improvements to Winter Haven including the new intermodal ramp set to open next year

Expect screens to show up over the Holiday break.

Tampa Terminal Back in Business after SP1 Snafu

I am glad to say for the most part all the missing dependencies in the CSX Tampa Terminal route (aka "CSX Tampa-Winston-BV") have been since resolved. Since I moved to a pooched TS12 SP1 installation, I lost some files when trying to back up my content, and when I reinstalled the game to the correctly installed SP1 they showed up missing. A couple of obsolete signals of mine and dispensable assets from others show faulty but I think with those being removed or replaced, (and with a new signal system slowly in the works from yours truly), the route is back on track to be released in the future.

The missing dependencies were mainly textures that aid strongly in speeding up the routebuilding. The color textures form an atlas roadmap of the area which allows roads and infrastructure to be pinpointed easily.

Plant City

Back after a little break in Trainz. Plant City is now continuing to grow in Trainz, with me building outwards of the diamond. Much of this has been inspired by my recent trip to Plant City a couple of weeks ago.

84 Lumber is shaping up at Park and US 92. This is a steady customer along the A-Line. You can even see the beam cars from the intersection.

At best it could be said that I improvised this high school. The property was recently detailed last week.

The NW corner of the "Improvement League" per Google Earth has also been textured.

Areas like Oaklawn (above) and Calhoun (below) are also beginning to shape up. I caught a few trains at Calhoun St in particular so I was quite motivated to detail the crossing.

There remains a whole lot of work to do. Much of the balance of it is to get Plant City to Auburndale completely finished. Also, before I graduate I hope to have quite a bit of S-line trackage towards Zephyrhills textured.

"I Learned From My Mistakes, Honey"

One of the biggest mistakes I made, which horribly affected the Auburndale area, was neglecting to save the game before exiting. I accidentally shut down without saving and lost the one hours' work. Not to say it didn't affect my trainzing for a solid week.... I didn't even bother to work on anything with the route until today, where I was less disenchanted by this loss.

When Auburndale gets its premier expect it to look a little different..... ;)

And not to forget; the big lesson and moral for the day, and especially on Windows 7 when the "Pin to Taskbar" is in use;  check if your Trainz Application is open before shutting down and Save FREQUENTLY.

My big problem is that the save takes 5 minutes each time, and I only save once, or when I am not to use the computer for a while, incognito to the fact that I lose time when I save. Autosave on my PC however does NOT work! It freezes for a minute to prompt you to save again when exiting.