Recently, a group of rather dedicated 3d modelers and model railroaders, recreated the famous Gorre & Daphetid layout using both blender, and an off the shelf model railroad simulation known as Rolling Line. (Rolling Line being a virtual reality/pc model railroad simulation for those curious.) Another user is actively working on recreating the Cat Mountain & Santa Fe, while others are recreating W. Allen McClelland’s VO Railroad. All with the goal of preserving these railroads utilizing virtual reality to allow people to explore the railroad, and maybe offer a way to revisit and experience it in a way other than just photos.
This brings me to my question. What are your thoughts on this new practice?
Well, this image is taken from the G&D, for example. Granted, the detail isn’t quite as good as real modeling would be, due to the various limitations, but it’s a general idea. As for the other two I mentioned, they’re in various stages of progress. With the Cat Mountain modeler, he’s currently working on getting the trackwork built, while I’m not sure what stage the VO modelling team have reached.
Second, it’s a great idea for those who are interested in doing this. In talking about this using virtual reality, how is it viewed? Can a person tour the layout using a computer screen? Is it something that could be viewed through a VR headset? Sounds neat.
Correct. While the game (that’s basically what it is, honestly) does work on PC, if played on VR, then it becomes fully immersive and allows you to walk around the layout and see it as it would look if you were standing in the room with it.
Now model operations on the railroad so we can watch from a VR viewpoint up close. I always wanted to watch a crew actually trying to switch with the dinosaur, or see kids ride the park railroad…
The guy developing the game has been including a kind of rudimentary AI. It’s not obvious from the photos I shared, but the various trains are moving through the scene. Let me see if I can find a video of it.
https://youtu.be/jA_0Teq36AY?si=O67UsUXhNK8JGs9s Here we go. This is a trailer the guys wrote. It gives you an idea, but yeah. I’m personally looking forward to see what happens with the Cat Mountain personally.
might be more interesting to simulate the movement of trains across a larger RR, monitored and controlled via a CTC graphics interface.
similar to an Air Traffic Controller game where planes arrived at random times and the controller provide speed and vector changes to guide them to the runway
I have somewhat mixed feelings about this project. I am in the same camp as JaBear and Pruitt. If you want to use VR to recreate famous layouts, then go for it.
I don’t know if I am in the majority or minority, but I would not know John Allen’s Gorre and Daphetid if you showed me photos of it. That is not to say that the G&D was not one of the greatest model railroad of all time. I’m sure it was. But problem with the virtual reality approach is that it just seems to be another rail simulator, cool but not the real deal. This would be asking a lot, a real lot, but I would rather see someone actually recreate John Allen’s famous layout and video it. Now, that would be something.
As a Rolling Line player, It’s pretty fun, The game’s about $20, and plays on a newer computer or Laptop(Granted I have a custom built gaming PC). There’s also the ability to create custom liveries and trains if you’re savvy enough, however if you’re on steam(Free to join) the workshop has many trains, scenery items, and layouts. Here’s the site. Rolling Line – Gaugepunk Games
Hmmm. I wonder who might be setting up a large relocated layout and might be interested in adding some ‘Gorre and Daphetid’ sections based on photo records and articles. Hmmmm…
I came across the following website which I find much more interesing than Virtual Reality.
The website features 61 layouts and anywhere from 7 to 18 videos per layout.
Among the 61 layouts are my two favorites - Gary Hoover’s Santa Fe Railroad and Lance Mindheim’s Monon Railroad.
While I have no issue with those who might want to be involve in this activity, and I appreciate the ability to do it, to me it’s just gaming. Sitting in front of a monitor isn’t my idea of a hobby. I’d much rather be sitting at my layout desk constructing something or standing around my layout actually running it for real.
