Hi Everybody, Nick Hudson and I started work on this project several years ago now, we originally set out to regress the Liverpool to Manchester Route to the BR Blue period ( 1980 - ish ) - Nick handled all of the track and signalling infrastructure and I handled the scenery....once this was completed we decided to add more sections covering South Lancs. and North Cheshire ( hence the route-rename ) and added the sections to Manchester Victoria and Chester before including Frodsham to Widnes ( including Weston Point ). We then too a break to regress the North Wales Coast and Conwy Valley lines to BR Blue before picking up South Lancs again and adding the section between Warrington and Preston. Nick had always wanted to model Crewe so we then started on the section between Runcorn, and Warrington, to Crewe - Nick was always way ahead of me with the track and infrastructure so would create the base infrastructure leaving me to complete all of the scenery while he worked on other projects.....we kept in touch almost daily as I would sometimes come across infrastructure issues which needed his attention or just to bounce ideas off each other. Nick sadly passed away very suddenly before we had been able to complete and publish the section to Crewe.....after some soul-searching I decided to complete the scenery to Crewe, as Nick had already completed the infrastructure, and dedicated it to Nick. Once this was completed I realised that Nick had completed a lot more of the track and infrastructure on the Atherton Line ( Manchester Victoria to Wigan ) than I had thought......so along with Steve ( who had been working with Nick on other projects and had created some scenarios for South Lancs. ) I am now working on completing this section.......Steve is handling track and infrastructure while I am working on the scenery. I have been updating progress on UKTS and my Railworks Forum but with UKTS in the process of winding down I will now provide updates here instead. Latest Update - We are working from Manchester Victoria towards Wigan, all scenery is completed from Manchester Victoria through Pendlebury and Swinton as far as the M60.....scenery to the South of the line is also completed as far as Walkden and I am currently working on the North side.....a few screenshots of the current work attached. There is a Flickr site which also has some screenshots showing progress on this section so far ( including Agecroft Power Station ) https://www.flickr.com/photos/143036581@N05/sets/72157718139143613/ although I have realised that it needs a bit of cleaning up as the date order does not seem to be correct. Andy
I've got all the required dependencies listed but still have a few missing bridges, checking in TSTools seems to bring up quite a few missing dependencies too, has anyone done a treasure hunt to find out what's missing?
Hi - when I first released the current Phase of the route there were a couple of reports of missing bridges, I released a couple of updates to include the missing assets so please ensure that you have downloaded all additional updates/fixes from one of the host sites. Nick took care of the assets so when he passed away I had to try to figure out exactly what to include in the route package, it turned out that I missed a few. Andy
I love this route, and I have the latest version and all dependencies, so I look forward to the next instalment.
Thanks very much - I'm currently working on some of the housing estates around Walkden - not much open countryside between Manchester and Wigan so progress is a bit slow. Andy
Just to let folks know that Richard found that one of his scenarios, which we provided with the route, no longer works as we renamed a marker at some stage, a replacement scenario can be found at either host of the host sites ( https://www.wotawallysbits.net/slnc.html or https://backdatedtrainsim.weebly.com/andy--nick-routes.html )....Richard also made a change to the closing stages of the scenario. Andy
All scenery now completed between the M60 and Walkden Station - some screenshots can be seen on the last page of the Flickr site - flic.kr/s/aHsmU4sBon . Quite a few changes in this area since the early 80s when this route is set, the factories to the North of Walkden Station have gone and been replaced by housing. Andy
Just to try to bring you up to speed with developments over the past few weeks, thanks to a couple of people who reported issues it became very clear that anybody wanting to run South Lancs. but did not have the original DTG North Wales Coast Route ( and had downloaded the current DTG NWC route version ) would have considerable track and scenery corruption around Crewe. We have therefore been trying to create a version of the route which will be compatible with both versions of NWC ( the NWC dependency was created when we used the Chester to Crewe tiles from our North Wales Coast - BR Blue route which has a dependency on the DTG NWC route ). Colin ( Wotawally ) undertook a massive task of editing hundreds of files, and creating a batch file, which would enable the route to be compatible with the current DTG NWC route....huge thanks to Colin - as is common with something as complex as this there have been several unexpected side effects that we have been grappling with ( eg. missing assets, lofts and track ) but we are slowly getting there.....we have a short length of track to resolve at Crewe, the most worrying issue that we currently face is that some lofts have disappeared in a couple of locations that we know of, but these are not being picked up as missing ( milk bottles ) so we cannot track these, they can only be noticed visually as being missing if you see what I mean. So, as we cannot inspect every single nook and cranny of the route to spot those that are missing we could end up publishing the route with lofts missing and would need to rely on reports of missing lofts for us to fix them.....or, if the issue looks to be too messy to try to resolve we may have to accept that we will have to stick to the current route version with no compatability with current DTG NWC route. Just to be clear - if you have the original DTG NWC Route and are running South Lancs. with no issues you will not be impacted at all if we have to scrap plans to move to the revised route version.....but I'm pretty sure that we will eventually figure this out. On the bright side I have now resumed work on the scenery at Walkden and will progress on to Wigan - the tiles that I am working on can be used on whichever route version we proceed with so the current work that Steve is doing around Crewe will not hold us up. Andy
Walkden area finally completed - as usual during the Summer months I have less time for route creation, and with starting to volunteer on the Chinnor Railway this year I have had even less time....having said that I have made some slow progress around Walkden since the extended "NWC compatibility" break and it is now complete.....as this area has lots of housing this also adds to the time it takes to correctly locate and place the individual houses. I have added some new photos to the Flickr site http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71...&subId=6755311&u=https://flic.kr/s/aHsmU4sBon. The eagle-eyed amongst you might spot some missing bridge deck lofts.....these mysteriously disappeared during the "NWC compatibility" exercise, as Steve had added these when tidying up Nick's previous work he will look at this at some point. Andy
Aww darn. I feel your pain, I know very well how annoying it can be if you create something based on a product that is no longer available or that has been very thoroughly updated by the developper.
Now that the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway operating season has ended, before Santa Specials start on November 25th, I have been able to spend some time on Slancs during the past few weeks, I have now completed all scenery up to a point approx. 1/2 mile from Walkden - I have posted a load of screenshots from the Editor on the Flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/143036581@N05/sets/72157718139143613/, latest screenshots are on page 3 dated 12/11. I whizz through the open countryside sections but the built up areas take a long time as I place each building where it should be, I only use pre-cast blocks some distance away from the line. Andy
All scenery is now completed between Walkden and Atherton, not including Atherton Station itself. I have added some more screenshots to the Flickr site ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/143036581@N05/albums/72157718139143613/page4 ) - the brownish hills are actually the remains of the Cutacre slag heap which was the largest slag heap in Europe in the 1980s - it has since been removed and landscaped. Andy
All scenery is now complete between Walkden through Atherton and Hag Fold ( the station was not there in 1980 ) as far as North Road - masses of housing estates to add here so has taken a while, this area has changed almost beyond recognition......if you compare my screenshots to googlemaps view today you can see that a housing estate now covers the area where Laburnam Mill used to be ( immediately to the NorthWest of Atherton Station ) and stores and car parks obscure the goods yard, which was derelict and overgrown in 1980. Steve is going to change the signal post near to the Atherton Goods Yard Signal Box to the type that was actually in place at the time. I have posted several screenshots on the Flickr page - flic.kr/s/aHsmU4sBon Andy
Great work Andy, the level of detail is so great that every image is recognisable to it's real world location though I fear my PC might spontaneously combust when the time comes to run it
All scenery completed between Daisy Hill and Dobb Brow, some screenshots from the Editor posted on Flickr - redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6755311&u=https%3A//flic.kr/s/aHsmU4sBon It should not be long before I start to see the distant scenery from the last phase of the route. Andy
I have now reached Crow Nest Junction which is where the line from Bolton meets the Atherton Line just a few miles from Wigan, more screenshots from the Editor on Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/143036581@N05/sets/72157718139143613/ Andy
