Hello all. I've decided to make a new thread for this project as I've been forced to restart, and there's a lot of now-outdated pictures in the old thread. You can still find them in the old thread ('abandoned' is the title) and they give a bit of an indication as to what you'll see here. I've decided to reign in my ambition, focusing initially on no more than Glasgow - Glasgow Airport. I'm going to leave the Paisley Canal Line (in particular) out of scenarios for the time being, to give myself a bit more freedom. I've elected not to clone the scenarios from GARL. I'll work, slowly, on a set of scenarios. Asset Requirements Subject to Change Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Base Route) Fife Circle Line Suburban Glasgow Northwest Scenario Requirements Subject to Change Glasgow Airport Rail Link - Class 380 Suburban Glasgow NW - Class 320, Class 158 Suburban Glasgow Airdrie - Class 67 + Sleeper Stock WCML South - Class 390, Class 66 The Route For anyone who doesn't know, Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a route depicting the proposed, and now cancelled, route connecting Glasgow to Glasgow Airport via Paisley. While parts of the project - the third track between Glasgow and Paisley, added platforms at Glasgow Central, and the Class 380 - were fulfilled, the important part; that being the rail link to the Airport, remains unbuilt. Created in Train Simulator by Thomson Interactive, GARL was originally made for driver training, but the cancellation of the project saw Thomson release it for Train Simulator. This is why the base GARL Route has very basic scenery - as it is only designed to show the driver's view. This project is aiming to change that, with a scenery overhaul, improvements to bring the route into the modern day and, hopefully, when that's done, maybe add something else to the route...
Starting as I mean to go on, tackling Glasgow City Centre first. I've entered the commuters' life and have been travelling through here for the last couple of weeks (and will, for at least four more years) so I figured I'd put my increasing familiarity with the city to good use - although all of these spots are areas I'm already quite familiar with. Firstly, Argyle Street. Looking East here from 'Four Corners' towards St. Enoch, you can see the density already. The bus stop has a few folk waiting to get on, too - probably more than you usually would get here. The glass building in the centre of the background is supposed to be the St. Enoch Centre's entrance. Unfortunately the pyramid roof of the Centre, which you can clearly see from a train pulling into Glasgow, isn't something I'll be able to add, but from this angle it's not a million miles off. You can see the resemblance. Anyway... Here's Buchanan Street, looking south toward St. Enoch Square. I'll admit, it looks nothing like Buchanan Street but that owes to the lack of 4/5 Storey, old-style Glasgow assets. But it'll do. Speaking of St. Enoch, here is is. The Underpasses are an approximation of the subway station. The square is complete - Trees and Benches are where appropriate and I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, despite the mythical slope. Looking North from the Clyde, you can some buildings from the St Enoch area. Distantly, Queen Street station and the Met Tower (you may recognise as the 'People Make Glasgow' building) dominate the skyline further back. Off to the left are the grand tenements of Blythswood Hill. The buildings at the centre/right-of-centre of the image are from the original route and are set to be removed. Similarly, as you look across from Central, the Met Tower dominates in the background. The building to the right of the foreground is another rare remnant of the original route - mainly because I can't remove it. A lot of work still to do, but a solid start.
Today's work so far: I've extended the City Union Line from the M74 over to where the landscape ends, around the High Street station area. This makes any freight scenarios a little bit more worthwhile and allows a bit more exploration of Glasgow. The section of the North Clyde/Argyle Lines is just there as scenery and to give me a little test track to play with. It won't be used. Most importantly, it crosses the Clyde not far from Central station, the bridge is quite clearly visible, and the potential to have a freight train in the distance is cool, if nothing else. Compare this to the fourth shot from Wednesday and the difference is clear. The Greenhouse has been put in place to represent the St. Enoch Shopping Centre and it does that job quite well. I've also done a bit of work to the west, bringing in scenery up to, and including the Kingston Bridge, which carries the M8 Motorway. On the topic of motorways, I've also rebuilt the M74 Flyover to be more accurate and have started work on the M8/M74/M77 Junctions. Back to the city and you can see it's beginning to come along. Currently my aim is to connect it up to Queen Street, out to the City Union Line and out to the Kingston Bridge.
