Track Modelling

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Kicking the Tyres

In order to learn SCARM, I thought I do my own adaption on Pinkenba and the software works as expected. 

Pinkenba Version 1

The two things I found tripped me up was the Points selector, always seemed to choose the wrong turn out type and the Flex Track positioning, I think it was mainly because I was using the trackpad on the laptop instead of mouse, later on this became a little more intuitive, practice makes perfect.

The free version of SCARM does not provide a map layer capability, however does allow you to use an image as a base layer which I thought was very generous. Using a simple screen shot was not going to be effective as the quality of the image would be lost as I stretched the image to scale. 

There is a little hack in web browsers where you can take higher quality screenshots to get a better base quality image which I managed to obtain a 4K resolution of Pinkenba. Interestingly once I inserted the image and set it to the size of precinct inside SCARM and added my first point to the layout it sat perfectly on the image, I knew I was on a winner. If you want to use your browser like I have, someone has kindly documented the instructions here How to Take Ultra High Resolution Screenshots in Chrome (4K, 8K, …) - David Augustat

We have a space problem

Now that I had a base layer of Pinkenba, I thought I would try and model the whole precinct. I started out modelling away in the software, remember I mentioned the free version of SCARM at the time has a 100 track limit, well I found it and therefore was not able to model the whole area.

It's also here where I learnt I also had a space problem where I lived. In order to model from Farrer St to Pinkenba Wharf I would need about 11 meters and that ain't going to happen in the house. I attempted an adaption to try and get down to 8 meters and things just did not look right as I was cutting up Pinkenba as you will see below.

Pinkenba Version 2

We have a shunting problem

Mrs Shunter decided we needed a weekend away and insisted I needed some down time away from work commitments. A stay up the Sunshine Coast was booked, as the date approached a weather event popped up. The whole time we were going to be away it was going to rain, so we agreed we'd pack up and take our hobbies with us hoping the weather people were wrong and we would be down the beach most of the time. Well, you guessed right, it rained and I think even the onsite manager felt sorry for us as she was trying to come up with ideas for us as the beach had also been destroyed by the cyclone earlier in the year. 

In amongst the periods of getting out while the rain abated, I pulled out my laptop and stared at the screen trying to figure out what I was going to do about my space problem. Had I chosen the wrong site, should I do a smaller location or just model a station.

The rain stopped just before lunch, we decided to go and grab a meat pie which was delicious, then the rain started again. I booted up the laptop again and stared at the screen and decided to model from Farrer St to Pinkenba Wharf.

Pinkenba Version 3

I turned to my wife, 'I have a shunting problem' which she replied, 'that's no-good babe.' As you will see from the image above, there was not going to be enough head shunt in order for a locomotive to move onto another line, let alone access some lines. I saved my SCARM project, shut down and packed my laptop up and went the fridge and made myself a Rum, it was time to rethink what I was going to do.

Until next time.

Little Shunter


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