More Rules

RULE 4

Do not use Double Sided Mesh.

I use to use them but I stopped due to the way Trainz renders them, the color dose not match with single sided. You can not use the same texture on a single and a double sided mesh. When you use a double sided mesh you double the number of vertexes.

RULE 5

Only use dependencies that are built-in or on the DLS.

This avoids the Emails and Post of  "Where can I find KUID: XYZ...." and a missing dependence can make your content unusable.

RULE 6

Use scripts carefully.

If you do not know how to program be very careful with scripts, a lot of them require you to edit them before you can use them. A new update to Trainz can make a script have an error that is very hard to fix.

Rules for making good running content

All the following rules are what I use not all are N3V but some are. Their to help make Trainz run better, badly made content can kill your FPS. Their also what I have found to work good for me over the last 14 or so years of making content.

When Trainz first came out we had very little data on how to make things and the error checking was set to skip lines it did not know in the config file and stop checking on an error. This lied to a lot of errors in old content and why the DLS is being cleaned up.

RULE 1

Don't make what you can't see.

You would thing this was obvious but I have seen it done by new people. This also goes for detail you can not see with the 4 Trainz cameras. I found this out when making a trackside sign that all the detail I had in it could not be seen in game going 1mph and looking for it.

RULE 2

Use as few materials as you can.

This is from N3V, and it is materials not textures, a material can have more than one texture, this is why you can have a normal map texture, it dose not count. On the Forums you will see the word "textures" used where the word "materials" should be.

RULE 3

Also from N3V, keep the number of vertexes to a minimum.

This is also known as "number of polys" witch is the wrong thing but what you see in the Forums, it is short for polygons but all video cards only use triangles and only the number of vertexes or points is what you have to watch as there is a lemit on the number you can have( it's in the millions).
This is also why I have RULE 1.

 

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

The bogey is now done and two have been uploaded to the DLS, two more will be done much later.

To make the LOD I have made the mesh using 8 layers.

L1

L2

L3

L4

L5

L6

L7

L8

 

 

L8 is the shadow, L7 is the less than 500 lowest LOD, L6+L1+l2 is my low LOD, L5+L4+L1+L2 is medium LOD, and L1+L2+L3+L4 is the highest LOD.

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

Most of the brake rigging is now done. What is left is mostly doing the LOD.

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

 

Here we have added the brake shoes and the journal boxes.

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

 

 

 

Here you can see the start of the journal box, the pedestal sleeves, and the equalizer bar.

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

Here you can see I have added some more to the frame, brackets for the brake cylinders and the motors. Note that the motors are hung from the axles at one end and a spring at the other end that you can not see, in fact most of the motors can not be seen making then a easier to model.

You can also see that the center wheels show through the bolster but you can not see that under the body.

Making a Alco A1A bogey cont.

The frame is almost done, I have not had a lot of time to work on this due to a flooded basement and other non-trainz things.

The frame is made up of 8 parts, two sides, two ends, two inside pedestals, and the two part bolster. It is made this way so I can make the LOD. There are still some side parts to make where the casting is reinforced.

Finding a photo of just the frame is a big help!

Making a Alco A1A bogey

Back at this, this time making a bogey.

This is an update of a bogey I made for TRS2004 so it will be all new but for the KUID witch will let the old ones be replaced by the new.

First step was in CM to make a new version, edit the config.txt and copy the folder as a work folder.
I also deleted all the old textures and replaced with new ones.

In Blender I made a copy of an bogey I was working on for an "E" unit witch only has the A1A in common with the Alco PA one.

Next I set up the plans in the background, made a box 15'6" long to adjust the size of the background.

I then move the two out side wheels (move the box that the wheels are linked to not the wheels) so I now have the spacings right but the wheels are 36" and I need 40" so next I make a box centered on one wheel and make the box 40x40 on X and Z. My wheels sets are made up of two wheels so I can change the size of each wheel separately, this allows me to move the wheel on the X axis back into gauge.

 

 

I then do a test in game of the animation.

Bearings and Journal Boxes

Bearings

Railroads use two types of bearings for bogeys, plain or solid bearings and roller bearings. 

Plain bearings are made of babbitt and where in use for about 150 years. The bearing had to have a lubricant, mostly oil, witch had to be applied by "waste or lube-pad", if it did not get it you got a "hot box" witch can cause a derailment. A good working lube-pad did not show up until the 1950's witch was to late, laws banning them showed up.

     

Roller bearings have 30% less friction witch is why the first railroad car with them was made in 1830 on the B&O, they did not work out. More were tried in the 1920's but cost to make were to high. By 1957 only 10% of new cars came with roller bearings, by 1960 it was 64% and now is 100%. Roller bearings could be retro fitted to older bogeys by replacing the journal box or by modifying it.

You will never have to make bearings as they are inside the journal box but the journal boxes due look defendant, even the ones modified for roller bearings have a look.

Journal Boxes   

Plain bearing journal boxes have to have room for an oil supply, wast, a bearing, and the axle end all in a dust free box that can be opened a lot. So a journal box has a dust shield where the axle comes in and a spring loaded door cover.

I like to make this type as 3 parts, the round bottom part, the top part, and the door lid. The door lid can be dropped in LOD. the bottom part I make starting with a sphere and cutting off the top and back.

Roller bearing journal boxes can be "open" or "closed", the older ones are of the "closed" kind and come in a variety of shapes.

The "open" kind is what you see today and the center is part of the axle and should be animated.

  

Springs

Bogeys use semi-elliptic, elliptic, coil, Volute, and snubber spring.

Semi-elliptic springs are made of flat bar steel bent into ether a very flat "V" or "C" and then stacked up smaller on the bottom and a strap holding them in the center. This gives a spring that only "springs" one way but can be made very strong. Mostly used on Locomotives.

Elliptic springs are two semi-elliptic spring joined at the ends one on top of the other, this gives "spring" both ways and a much better ride. Used on passenger cars, locomotives, caboose, and some fright.

  

Making them is simple, make one bar and duplicate it making each one longer. Do make a simpler one as a triangle for LOD.

Coil springs are the most used but give a so so ride. Making them can take some time to get one that looks good but after you have one good one you can copy and re-size it for all other coil springs, I have only had to make one in 6 years.

Volute springs (roll up a piece of paper and pull the center out and you have one) is made of flat steel rolled up so that the sides rube on each other and the center is higher than the outside, this gives a damping effect and a better ride. Can be made by just a cylinder.

Snubber springs are not really a spring but a damper made of robber.

What is being damped is a harmonic oscillation that well develop in coil springs.

Fright car bogeys can have a lot of configuration, you can have one coil spring inside a another, you can replace a coil with an elliptic or Volute spring or a snubber.

      

Freight car Bolsters

The Bolster on a 4 wheel freight car holds the side frames together. It also supports the top of the springs, the center plate, and two side bearings. First made of wood then fabricated of steel then cast steel witch is by fare the most used from 1900 to now.

Most of the Bolster can not be seen very well in Trainz due to the cameras so you only need to get the ends right, the rest just needs the general shape, this saves a lot as the cast steel ones have holes all over.

The side bearings are at 2'1" from the center of the bolster and are rollers or sliders that run on a steel plate on the bottom of the car body. They do not touch unless the car is moving on a curve. I have made them by just a box with slanting sides, you can not see them most of the time.

There is also a spring plate used on the bottom of the Bolster but can not be seen, it holds the springs in place.

 

Making a Freight Car Bogey

Note: I use Blender so some names maybe defendant for other 3D programs.

I start out with a 32 segment cylinder the size of the Journal box, extrude the top half up to the top of the frame, delete 3 sets of vertices, and move some as shown in Fig1.  

Fig1

Next I extrude the 4 vertices on the right side of Fig1 to that in Fig2, I have also added a set of vertices to the bottom so that all the hole is covered. This is then separated and a face is added so that this is now a solid object. This is going to have a Boolean hole cut into it and the Boolean tool works on volume so the simpler the object the better. 

Fig2

Next up is the hole witch is made also from a 32 segment cylinder. In this case 3 of the 4 curves are the same size so I move them into place and make the object wider than the one just made. It looks like Fig3.

Fig3

The Boolean should look like Fig.4

Fig4

After the hole is cut out I add some more vertices to the bottom and extrude the 4 vertices on the right side and do the same as above but with a square hole, Fig5.

Fig5

I then select the black part of Fig5 and duplicate it, mirror it, move it , and do a flip normals on it. Last is to join all the parts into one, remove extra faces, and smooth the round parts(not done for this yet) giving you Fig6.

Fig6

  

Bogey Frame - Freight

The first railroad cars were all 4 wheel with pedestals, this worked and was used for coal cars and on caboose cars and were in use up to 1900 or so. The 4 wheel bogey or 8 wheel car soon appeared in the US but know one knows when, who made it, what it looked like, or what railroad it was used on. What came common was a 4 wheel bogey with 4 pedestals and a hard wood frame but by around 1850 the wood needed was getting hard to find and the wood frames would get "out of square".

Wood bogeys are not hard to make in Trainz, only the pedestals, springs, and journal boxes are.

The next improvement was the Arch-bar bogey, this was a big change in how the springs worked to keep the wheels on the rail. The springs were moved to the center of the bogey with the tops on the bolster and the bottom on the frame, this allowed the axle ends to move up and down but the journal boxes were now fixed to the frame. The frame was made from flat iron or steel bars, normally 3 bars per side held in by 6 bolts. This type is still in use today in some places. In the US some lasted up to the 1960's.

The big problem was the holes in the bars made a week point witch is why they were banded.

Arch-bar bogeys are also ease to make for Trainz.

In 1888 the first press-steel bogey was made by Fox and others fouled up to 1903 when Bettendorf came out, a cast steel side fram witch is still in use today. Known as a "Self-Aligning Spring-Plankless Double-Truss Truck". There are a lot of variation on this, some with cast in journal boxes some without. You could get them in 40, 50, and 70 ton sizes.

    

Above is a 70 ton

The Pedestal

From the 1941 Car Builder's Cyclopedia:

"Pedestal - In old designs of built-up trucks(bogeys)*, a casting of somewhat the form of an inverted letter 'U', bolted to the wheel piece of a truck(bogeys)* frame to hold the journal box in place horizontally, but permitting a vertical movement. The two projections of a pedestal are called pedestal legs, and the space between them a jaw, which is closed at the bottom by a pedestal tie bar. In Great Britain pedestals are called axle guards on cars and horn plates on locomotives. In modern trucks(bogeys)* the pedestals are cast integral with the truck(bogeys)* frame."

* added by me

In the US you find these on 4 wheel cars and wood passenger cars. Below is the old and a photo of a cast modern one.

 

Center Plate

This is the bearing plate between the car body and the Bogey, it is two plates, a male plate on the car body and the female ether on or part of the  bogey bolster. This allows the bogey to turn with the track and transfer the forces to or from the powered wheels.

Making it is just a cylinder the diameter of the bolster and should go from the bogey bolster up past the body bolster so you can have a "fudge factor".

This is the first non-animated part I usually make. Remember all parts that are not animated must be "linked" to the b.r.base or b.r.main.    

Axles

Axles are of two types, powered and un-powered. Below is the standard U.S. axle, the "D" is the most used.

To make you can use just 24 segments as you can not see axles that good. The only thing you need is "K" and "I" and "A+B" for the baring.

Powered axles are not tapered and for most Diesels you can not see the axle at all due to the motors and gearbox.

How I make Wheels for Trainz

I like to re-use the same wheel so I made a new wheel in 2009 and have been modifying a copy ever sens. I use the "spin" method with 32 segments, if you use less the wheel will not look round. The "spin" method is just making the cross section of the wheel and spin is 32 times. Below is what I used whit Y being around 4", there is some of the image not showing where the center line is in the axle hole, I photoshoped it into a full wheel so that D was 33", I do not remember where I got this other than a website selling railroad wheel in 2009.

 I detach the tread and flange then do the texturing as they have a shiny look. Then test in game, I do this a lot. Next I make a clone and flip it for the other wheel, note I do not make the two wheels into one object.
If you need an axle add it now, this can be 24 segments and will be covered later.
Next is to do the animation and test that it fits the track and that the animation is working right, this can be a nightmare.

After you have one set of two wheels working you can dup to make a 4 or 6 wheel bogey, just keep the names right.

Wheels

General

Wheels are of 3 types, plate, spoke, and plate with holes.

U.S. wheel part names for a plate wheel:

Hub - the center part of the wheel where the axle hole is.

Plate - the part between the Hub and the Rim, where the spokes are on a spoke wheel.

Rim - the part that has the wheel Tread and Flange.

Tread - the part that is on the rail head.

Flange - the part that keeps the wheel from going off the track.

U.S. wheel part names for spoke and plate with holes wheel:

Same as for plate wheels but can have counterweights.

Wheels are made of ether iron or steel and are made to standards witch have changed over the years but for use in Trainz most of the changes are so small that you can not see them. An example the wheel Tread use to have a tapper of 1 in 6 and now 1 in 20, know one can see that!

If you make one good plate type wheel you can them modify it into the other two kinds witch is what I do and I do not have to do the animation part over unless it has side rods.

I use textures to show ether iron or steel wheels, iron wheels have ribs on the inside Plate. There was also a time when paper wheels where in use for passenger cars to give a better ride. The paper was compressed and had metal Rims and a flat metal plate on each side and a ring of bolts holding it on, witch is how you can spot them. I have not made this type yet but a texture should work.    

BOGEYS

Bogeys can be one of the hardest things to make due to having animation and a lack of good planes. There are a lot of tutorials on animation out there so I well be doing how real bogeys work part by part.

I well brake bogeys into freight, passenger, and powered. Trainz bogeys can also be things without wheels.

Real bogeys have to support the body and load weight, hold the wheels to the rail, and hold the brakes in place. A simple 4 wheel bogey can have over 20 parts all from deferent makers.