My 500th favorite photo

Q393, Berea, OH, a photo by CAZamostny on Flickr.

A little preview of my 500th favorite photo which resulted to be this...
A CSXT Q393 rolling through Berea, OH on November 17 with a beautiful colorful lashup leading.

The Star of this Evening's Festivities!

The Star of this Evening's Festivities!, a photo by Embee 2110 on Flickr.

Honoring the Veterans thanks to this beauty...

145, Cleveland, OH

145, Cleveland, OH, a photo by Rick W Dickinson on Flickr.

Seeing the NKP Heritage rolling through Cleveland. A photo to admire...

Trying something new...

Thought I would borrow a camera from my teacher and do some tests with it. I never used a really professional camera before, but this would be my first test with it. The shots came out pretty good, but I kind of messed up on the last one since the details didn't come out all that sharp. More testing is underway...

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Sunset

Sunset, a photo by Jamie 17 on Flickr.

UPDATE*** on the CEMEX Industryz

Just a little update around the CEMEX Industryz in the "Lake Worth" area. Really not a lot of work, since I was in a group meeting most of the time. But here is what was done so far:

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

FEC Switcher SW1500 worth interesting...

Not to long ago as I departed last Saturday on my way to WPB, one of the most interesting things that was recognized was seeing an FEC SW1500 in the locomotive storage tracks. Kind of makes you wonder what it would be doing there, but it would be interesting to see it working or have a nice shot at it. But one of the biggest possibilities is to do some maintenance before it heads up north or who knows where. After all, the FEC is not that far...

My 202th Favorite Video, Coincidence...

FEC 202 taken by Rudy in Halloween. Read the description

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

CEMEX Industryz in the making...

Ever since working on the "Lake Worth" area, I decided to become more involved with the area, especially the cement industry to begin with. Now it is obvious that this industry has a completely different color scheme than its original color scheme that is seen in the real Lake Worth CEMEX.

The process...
To start off with the texturing, I noticed that the silos have a very different type of material that is not just the original concrete wall texture that the Cement Industry placed in the route has.

Silos being the main focus

So a little bit of editing and playing with different materials can make somewhat of a look alike. To begin, I first changed the color of the concrete yellowish wall to a light yellowish close to white colored layer, with a dirty concrete texture from Google Images (I will change the concrete texture when I get a real photo of one)

 

Closest matches to CEMEX wall...

The two textures were a closer match to the walls, except the one on the left would have to be clone-stamped fro left to right (since the lines are on the left), while on the right, the lines make up the ones that are on the real image. 

So choosing the right wall for the work,a little bit of Photoshop work would be used on this 128x128 wall. To begin off, a duplicate of the Background layer would be added and the original off. Next, using the blending options, the color of the yellow-ish texture would be given a solid grey color to change it.

Next, the texture comes into play...

Since the texture is a 1024x1024, it is  minimized to 128x128 to make it fit. Then I would apply the Normal beland with an opacity around 70% to make the solid grey color pop out a bit (even though they are both the same color, a little lighter than the other). Once that is done, I merged them together.

Knowing that the 1024x1024 concrete wall is diminished, the image would look blurry. So a little sharpening tool called Smart Sharpen would be used to make the image looking more sharper and more like how it was to make it stand out. The amount used to sharpen would be its defaults.

Default values:

Amount: 100%

Radius: 1.0

Remove: Gaussian blur

Once that is done, time to merge the unseen Background layer with our new texture.

512x512 Zoom

I decided to blur it out a little bit since it looked a little too sharp...

The result...

After changing the roof of the silos with the same texture and the roofs of the other parts of the industry with a corrugated metal roof texture and a little bit of Photoshop work...

The industry is ready to be shown...

Even though it looks alike, the dimensions of the wall texture might have to be more increased in order to show more of the grid in a smaller, but bigger scale. This will be tried as they are more things that still need to be changed along with CEMEX sign that will be another topic...

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Bringing a Rock Plant back to life in Trainz...

While doing Trainz today, I decided to leave my "Okeechobee" area today (no name yet) and work on a different area that would be known as a CYDX Rock industry. Just looking at one of the industries that used to be one of the busiest rock industries in rail transportation in WPB was this Cemex plant.

View Larger Map - CEMEX Lake Worth

Now known for its truck transportation, this Cemex in Lake Worth used to carry around 10-12 CYDX Hoppers on a daily basis before it was abandoned. So I decided to make a sort of a similar industry like it.

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The beginning...

Taking a look at the main entrance of the CEMEX plant in Google Maps, it is obviously a gated entrance, but has no type of concrete wall that goes by the main line. Instead it has a fence that goes right by with some shrubs and foliage.

View Larger Map - Main area of focus

Since the Cement industry is not exactly like the one in real life, I used a similar cement plant that is similar to the way the silos and the loading area look like. Even though they may have a different color scheme, looking at it from the ground view looks almost alike in the way in which the industry track goes off the line and into the plant. A lot of grass was used and shrubs to cover up some of the grass that may look the same to make it more of a dense shrub area.

Since the cement industry consists of different types of commodities, a little bit of ballast hills would be added to give a similar type of ballast piles that are seen in the cement plant. I also noticed that there was a CAT unloader, so that would be added as well to give it a more realistic perspective as seen in the street view image. 

I know that palm trees would have been added, but didn't think about it at the moment since I thought that it would not be compatible with the foliage. Some Chinese fan palm trees and the Tree Palm 2 trees would have given a more realistic look to the area, so they will be added.

At first, I thought a corrugated wall would fit with the industry, but that would not show much of the industry when seen from this street...

Industries soon to be opened...

Even thought it does not match with the way the real image looks, I can play with it and make it look exactly like the real area by changing the topography of the area and giving it a double track instead of the single track that is currently in its place. But as for these industries, these will be soon open as it is still a WIP since the cement plant is the big focus.

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The result...

After giving it more shrubs, foliage, and other assets, the result of this industry turned out to be a look-alike. A lot of shrubs would be attached in between the grass and consist would be placed for the replacement of CYDX hoppers. Even though these hoppers are used for pellets, these contain commodities of cement and sand, which matches with the commodities that are seen in this industry.

I would really like to see some CYDX Hoppers in this industry as these CITX hoppers are taking their place. The industry does need some scheming to do and its commodities.


Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Local switcher CSX O717 arrives at Deerfield Beach

Local switcher CSX O717 arrives at Deerfield Beach, a photo by Alcanman1 on Flickr.

Loving the details given credit by a great Modeler...

Looking back to the SCL era... 1986 - IM and East Rail

Hello everyone, I thought I might share something with you guys that Lance sent me. Taking a look at East Rail is like a paradise. But wondering about how it was back then makes it a little more inspiring... Taking a look at this historic map website (http://www.historicaerials.com/), it has inspired me to look back at how this great East Rail and IM site was...

East Rail Section - 54st and below - 1986
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=8E-06&lat=25.8283108180418&lon=-80.2569176016374&year=1986

This type of images can really provide some great examples of the activities (even though there might have been some times that were quiet) that were based on the industries that were active.

(Taking a look back to 1980 gives a bigger example of this)

East Rail Section - 54st and below - 1980
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=25.8283108180418&lon=-80.2569176016374&year=1980

They provide in a way how much activity existed during the SCL era down in the great East Rail and Spurs. A lot has changed 30 years from now, but some of these industries just keep growing at a constant rate.

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Intermodal - 1986 era
During the 1980s, the SCL would become one of the most important railroads to have IM terminals in the south. Its capacity wasn't the biggest like Jax due to the size of the yard. In 1980, as you may see the connector (NW 37 Ave) was not even close to being constructed until the beginning of 1986. And the IM yard was at its biggest since they were no other businesses taking over.

Seaboard Coast Line Intermodal facility - 1980
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=25.8771177976092&lon=-80.262902375779&year=1980


But by the early through mid-1986, one business was starting to take a section of the grand IM facility (known today as UPS). Even with one business taking over, it would still go strong but with much less freight.

Seaboard Coast Line Intermodal Facility - 1986
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=25.8771177976092&lon=-80.262902375779&year=1986

In between 1980 and 1986, it would become an strong IM terminal until 1987. Really have no idea why they would abandon this portion of land (even though it is still intact (see main IM area)). The IM facility might have had a capacity to take a train like the CFL IMs of today.

Recent aerial imagery of the IM terminal
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-05&lat=25.87768118115&lon=-80.2625323757792&year=2007


Hopefully this grand portion of land that had an importance in the trucking logistics will wake up once again to be the IM terminal that it was as its sidings are still in place...


Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Trainz 12 - "Performance" Bandicam Testing featuring ATLS Crossings

Hello everyone, it has been a while since the last Bandicam testing. Just thought I might try to do a second testing with Bandicam, but with something new... ATLS Crossings... Really not much to show, except with additional scenery and foliage along the line. Performance turned out to lag a bit, but might need to make more tests to prove that it "lags". Meanwhile the Grade Signal was changed to an interlocking signal and an industry was added to the line (more on that to come).

Meanwhile hope you enjoy this CSX Local carrying some IM on the line...

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

SFRM JAX Blitz - August 4

SFRM JAX Blitz - August 4, a set on Flickr.

Hello everyone, hope you guys enjoy this great collection of pictures that were taken on the SFRM Jax Blitz on August 4th. If you have the chance, please take a look, you will love them.


Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Trainz 12 - Bandicam Testing

Hello everyone, thought I might show my first video with the Bandicam in Trainz 12 in my computer. The main focus is the BN Intermodal hotshot with a shoving boxcar going by a Grade Signal. A little bit of foliage and trackside items were placed to test its performance while recording.




Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

HD: She is a Beautiful Thing! UP DRGW Heritage SD70ACe 1989 West- West Chicago, IL - by METX611

Today I thought I would see something that was noticed, a beautiful DRGW Heritage Unit. But it is not just the stylish DRGW Heritage Unit, but one of the biggest foamers that you would love to see. Maybe you might see him on Tosh.0 one day, and you might remember saying: "I know that guy..."



- Video courtesy goes to METX611

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

JAX BLITZ N032 meets Q038 - by Rudy (rufec12)

My friend Rudy (rufec12) caught this amazing meet along with me and the rest of the SFRM Gang on the Jax Blitz on the the 4th. Thought I might share with everyone that would like to see it...




Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Two Heritage Units?!!!

Just a little heads-up from HQ...

With Amtrak P091-11 having #184 leading on its way south, Amtrak P097-11 is having #156 as a trailing unit as they are both making their way south. I feel myself in luck today.

From the lodge cam...

Anthony Reyes (Train Hunters)

Currently in HQ...