View of the NE corner.
View of the SE corner.
View of the SW corner.
This project was born in July 2001, and began in earnest at the start of 2002. It took the spring of 2002 to learn how MSTS works, followed by a few weeks of getting the terrain imported from USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data and corrected for errors, gaps, etc. In particular, the area around Kyler's and Three Springs bridges had a bad floor, as did the intersection of Fairview Rd and SR 655, and there was a considerable gash in the west slope of Jack's Mountain above Saltillo (because of a UTM boundary issue, not a gannister quarry gone nuts). Track laying began on the same stretch that was first accepted from the early surveys in real life, the climb down from Sidling Hill tunnel to Saltillo. Track laying progressed on the main and all branches using Okrasa Ghia's "XTracks" package for narrow gauge track, and stopped dead at the outskirts of Mount Union. At this point, the matter of dual gauge had to be tackled. It was several months before a solution was devised, implemented, tested, and debugged. In the end, I had built my own set of dual gauge tracks, and a few other needed narrow and standard sections. Mount Union yard was then laid, a bit longer than the real one, but there are certain constraints to sectional track when so many switches are involved. Finally, the relocated (1907) Pennsylvania RR mainline was laid on its fill (which is well represented in the DEM terrain), and the spur into downtown laid out to and tied into the Pennsy main. Water was then enabled and adjusted for height along the railroad, starting at the Juniata River and working upstream. The land around the tracks and streams was manually tweaked for the entire line, with considerable work needed in the real-life stream relocation areas at Saltillo and Cooks. Water is nearly continuous all the way from Mount Union to Saltillo, where the railroad leaves the valley to climb up Sideling Hill, and out to the headwaters of Shade Creek at the Stanton rock spur.
All models are built to prototype measurements, using textures from their specific prototypes as much as possible, with some editing, adjusting, and grafting as needed.
All track ever operated by the EBT has been laid, with the following exceptions. If there are conflicting arrangements over time (such as in yards), then in general the last (or best documented) arrangement has been used. In Rockhill Furnace, the iron furnaces will be included instead of the current Rockhill Trolley Museum. The creosote plant in Mount Union has not had plant trackage laid yet for lack of sufficient prototype information, and the track serving the Juniata Oak Extract plant in Allenton, while laid, is probably in need of work.
The line from Rockhill Furnace to Colgate Grove is the initial focus of modeling. It has bridges and fills in place and structures are going up. A representative fleet of steel cars has been made. In some screenshots, either of two steam engines are visible. These are NOT real EBT engines, but are stand-ins until I have a proper engine built (I finally have suitable plans for building some Mikados). The standard gauge engine is a Gorre&Daphetid engine made by Okrasa Ghia. The narrow gauge engine lettered as EBT #19 is really White Pass & Yukon #69 by Jon Davis.
Looking at it from the east.
Looking at it from the west.
Look sharp when you walk past the boss!
An overview of the yard so far. The central shop complex mockup is still in place.
Looking at the familiar east side.
Looking north from across Jordan Creek.
Pigeon's eye view of the roof.
Working to be ready to open the simulated line for passengers from Rockhill
Furnace to Colgate Grove by the Fall, the shops have built some steel flatcars.
A conversion option for excursion sevice with benches and railings is also
complete.
The first few bridges are complete with detail dictated by location in order to not bog down framerates. They are textured from the prototypes and extend an extra 2 meters below ground to help with terraforming around them when placed.
Traffic can resume on Runk Rd, now that the EBT has this neat bridge,
replacing the older wooden trestle. It follows the real EBT's deck
replacement work, and so sports smart new woodwork.
The EBT's trains can cross the Blacklog in comfort on this modern steel
girder bridge. The deck texture is borrowed from the real Runk Rd
bridge.
The model of hopper 1000 has been completed, as seen in the third photo below.
Although hopper 1000 really is a low side car, the photo shows a high side
variant pending renumbering. Revisions since the intermediate model include
3-D truck bolster/springs, better fitting truck sideframes, corrections to
body part alignment, revised textures all around, smooth shaded axles,
new brake gear, optional high sides and loads, and several modifications to
reduce the amount of perforation at the seams.
The basic model of the Rockhill Furnace has been built, and given an interim texture and placement, both to be refined later.
Such additions and variants will be some time off if ever attempted.
West side of the foundry.
East side of the foundry.
The hoist opening and floor.
As would be seen from the coach track.
Looking at it from the sand house.
View from the long shed.
Looking at it from the south.
looking into one of the bays.
View from the interior.
Looking at the northeast corner.
Looking at the northwest corner.
Looking at the south end.
