Yesterday was a day I knew I wouldn't get out to fly. Lately it's been a prerequisite for me to even watch trains because I just don't want to railfan, I want to capture it. For most of my life I wasn't one of the railfans who brought the camera I just watched and admired. I can't even tell you all the different type of units. I could tell you lots about the operations though, because that is what I've always studied.

Something changed though when I got this drone. I wanted to document everything I did with it. It wasn't just about trains either, anything I did in a flight I wanted a story behind it. Luck wasn't on my side this whole day, as I missed some good shots, but then I had some of the best shots. I learned more about how to bring out the light in the night, and made some winter magic happen. I only seen 5 trains the whole day, and 4 of them I captured with the drone. Not everything went smooth, but in the end this was a perfect day.

I started out waking up early enough to watch the ATCS. I was up before it was chirping and began to awaken when suddenly the signals started to light up. I had some time to get ready, no rush, and I did just that. When I was ready my son was still sleeping so I did what I could to get his attention. Eventually his mom managed to wake him up and off we went to the station.

422 was on his way from Port Robinson and my goal today was to capture him at the station. I had plenty of time to get in the right position and though it wasn't as perfect as I would like it turned out to be a pretty good shot on what was a pretty short train. Since I had plenty of battery left I thought it would be good to head over to nearby Pelham Road overpass and take a run from the bridge to the trestle at Twelve Mile Creek. It was nice to have a morning where it was just below freezing and no wind so I could fly in the wall of the canopy from Pelham Road to the creek and back. Felt very winter like and very scenic with the tree branches instead of leaves collecting the snow of Christmas Day.

While playing around I noticed the signal was clear to stop, and then we seen a light approaching from the west. I was surprised that 421 was on his way so soon, but we immediately packed up and headed to Niagara Falls and the wye at Clifton to capture another scenic shot I've been trying to get.

Things didn't go as well for this shot. The compass was having a calibration error that was being a bit of a pain and kept failing for some reason. By the time I got the drone up in the air 421 was starting to crawl to the east of me so my first images were a side shot (not what I had planned or hoped). Still I made the most of it and managed to get some nice shots of the long train snaking through the wye and the curve to the south. I also for the first time decided to climb above the 122M mark. Now this is the recommended AGL level of drone traffic. However because I'm in Canada and it's a micro drone the normal rule is only a recommendation. Knowing the drone was right above me in plain sight I climbed up to 150M and got some nice shots of Niagara Falls as the end of the train passed curving through the city. I turned to the north and got good images of the reservoir as well as Niagara-On-The-Lake and Lake Ontario below the escarpment. It was worth the extra climb, and the shot made what started out rough turn out better than I expected.

But everything was uphill from that point forward. We decided to take a break, have lunch, and charge up the batteries. Emmett and I picked up The Long Dark on a Steam sale yesterday and we got a couple hours in. At about 3pm we noticed on ATCS that a CP train was heading from CN NB towards Welland. Our goal here was to either beat it out to the yard, or cut if off around Fenwick in time for a shot.

Now this didn't go perfect, but no harm no foul here. First to our surprise there was a SB heading out that we never captured. It was a fairly small manifest coming out of the yard at Welland. What really had our attention was an unexpected CP142 IM NB. Normally they run straight through so we were lucky to get him. But we went back to the plan of getting him at Fenwick. The problem with Fenwick was it was in a locked zone despite being technically in a cautionary zone the Mini was locked out. Too bad it was a nice curve. I grabbed the Mini and we hightailed it to CP Boyle. Just as the sun was starting to come down behind the clouds at sunset and losing light, we managed to get him crossing HWY20 looking to the east towards the wind turbines, and a rising full moon. After that I was curious what happened to CN as it was quiet. I knew something was bound to happen soon so we headed directly down 20 to Allanburg.

This was at least a 20 minute trip and into the twilight. I was hoping it would be enough to capture something but knew with the issue I had at CP Boyle (though visible) was likely to get much tougher if and only if a train was about to leave before I lost all light. I heard a bit of radio chatter as we approached Port Robinson. Passing the yard I could see a train that looked ready to go but no sign of leaving and the radio was quiet. I figured I was out of luck, but since I had some light I had some ideas for a scenic shot to empty the rest of the battery I used in Boyle and the quick CP train.

Went over along the canal to the aqueduct with the Welland River. I was really hoping to get an outbound train but decided to just take a nice twilight scenic flight as I could see everything that was happening. I move the EV up to 0.7, locked the exposure in and it looked much brighter than St. Ann's. This started as an awesome scenic flight over the canal and the schools of Canada Geese in the Canal. the lights shined off the water very nicely and I swung over the aqueduct to head east along the river to the Stamford Sub bridge. I was happy to see some typical ATV's playing off to the side as night began to fall. I was also very happy to see the moon at the top of my screen reflecting in the water below. But I was about to get very excited.

As I got closer to the bridge I heard a rumble getting longer. I knew a train was coming so I backed off a bit to give the train time to pass in front of me. The lighting and exposure though obviously set higher lit up the crossing gates even brighter. In comparison the train was about as dark as the CP though I did get the nice light cone over the snow as he approached the crossing. The red lights shining in the snow at as the train passed and shined against the engine and gondolas at the head end. I even got to see my first really visible signal drop in the distance as he headed past Cambridge. The cherry on top was the of course the picture I added here of the cherry red EOT obviously overexposed but looking so cool as the train headed into the dark of the night towards the signals at Cambridge.

To finish up this shot after his head end knocked down Cambridge I headed back to the canal the way I came in. The Canada Geese were now stirring for cover from the unprotecting dark moving in. The lights were now showing very brightly but exposed nicely as I panned 180 degrees on both sides of the canal. A video I can't wait to share. Except I'm a week behind as it is already. Stay tuned I think it will be worth the wait.

The Art Of Processing Videos - December 28, 2020

Well it's just past 11pm in the east on another long weekend that has come and gone about as fast as this night has passed by. The scenic videos can be the most challenging because your not just recording a train passing by, but trying to fill up the time with something that is interesting to the viewer. The Mavic Mini can fly about 25 minutes on a good flight, but I often cut off my videos right around the 12 minute mark. The rest I spend getting into position and coming back.

So because these videos are so long as far as background music goes, selection becomes very important to me. What is also challenging is getting the views to warrant the effort. I know my audience and believe me I can't wait to get to the train videos from the last 2 weekends (this was from 10 days ago on a Friday). But I know how this video turned out and I couldn't resist on making it happen.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. If I'm going to spend the time to record a cool looking scene, it needs to have the music. This one took me a few hours to produce and will likely process overnight (hopefully ready to go full 1440 HD by morning).

At this point I really look to see the reactions I get from the video. Does it get the views, retention, likes. Of course I don't get paid for any of this, but I want to know what I'm doing is worth the effort. I love flying the drone, and doing this for me is a work of art. Partnering with great music providers is a win win for them for ad revenue, and myself to fill an otherwise nice looking scene, feel magical.

I always appreciate the comments, and feedback on these videos. Let me know what you think, what you want to see more of, or anything. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Is The Effort Worth The Results? - December 30, 2020

First off I need to be clear on this, I love flying my drone and I'm not going to stop. This is why I've been passionate enough to share my adventures, thoughts, and videos. Now I have no problem sharing my thoughts on a regular basis here. It's kind of like a public diary and I like to look back on what I'm thinking, and how I feel, perhaps even how I overcome.

But the videos they are a different story. I believe I know my audience, and I can see what trends are doing what. When something gets well publicize on other networks it seems to get plenty of attention. But the average of trains right now is in the 20's and anything else less than that.

Adding in the music is labor intensive. I need to find the right length, mood, etc. Sure I can just upload the videos as I may only get a few more views if that with the music.

For me I like to personally look back on what I've accomplished, and admire the screenshots. Otherwise I don't need the music in the background. As far as putting in the content I have plenty of that to share. Doesn't cost me much time to simply upload videos with a short description. So I may just do that and see if the trend remains the same or changes. If it remains the same I may stick with that approach.

Happy New Year, Happy Flying - January 1, 2021

2021 Channel Update Posted - January 3, 2021

Was doing some analytics on my channel, and I'm noticing many view the update message on the top of my channel. Thought it would be a good time to update it and give people a better idea of what I'm up to right now. I'll also write a similar update here figuring I wasn't sure what to blog about today. The weather is just clearing and we are likely heading back to catch some action around the Burlington area. An EB is just coming out of London now so the timing should be good if we are leaving shortly.

As the channel has shown the bulk of everything I'm doing right now is drone flights. However I wanted this particular video to highlight that it's not all about shooting trains (though indeed they are highlights as a railfan). Simply getting the drone to fly relatively low without hitting tree branches is a huge tool for me as well.

The reason why this goes back to the toolbox is I'm slowly gathering information about Niagara and what it really looks like. Yes I'm heading to Hamilton today because Niagara unfortunately this time of year is pretty dead at this time of day. As the days get longer I'll start to focus both on Niagara as well as outside it more equally. These kind of flights help me see what Google Earth and Street View can not, and that is important in figuring out the contours of the land as well as scenery from the train's perspectives.

I have not forgot about Trainz 2019. I'll admit I'm not as excited as I once was because building a route takes lots of work. The big thing that I need more than anything is figuring out what the actual heights of the rails are in relation to the land around it. This photo here shows something you don't see in Google and that is the land cut. Google like other data such as DEM's can only get so many precision points to use. 10M and 15M data are the norms in this area so take that into consideration. Getting a 5M grid in Trainz helps but if the data your working with only pinpoints a height every 10 to 15M you are going to be missing valuable data.

This is where the drone comes into play. All thought in this weather I can't really land in the snow, once it becomes dryer pending the surface of the tracks I may be able to land at various points along the route. The altimeter of course is only as good as the GPS is but it will give me the opportunity to figure out the actual grade in relation to where I'm standing on the bridge. I can then get a more precise picture of how to shape the land and finally settle on what it actually is and make adjustments. Only at that point can I really begin to make sure the track is in place, and run trains again. Until that time I need to be patient, and simply enjoy what data I do have and the flights I continue to take on days like today when I have the opportunity.

So apparently I have the itch again but it's a different kind of itch. It's not Run8 which I refer to as the best train simulator on the planet. After countless relaunches and failures or RTS for Run8 I finally understood the common denominator, stop relying on Run8 to solve my problems. That doesn't mean my time with Run8 was wasted because it certainly was not. For a good seven years I tried to bring car forwarding software concepts in the form of the RTS Best software into what Run8 was already good at and that is physics, operations, and pleasing sights. I was so dedicated to it that even once I tried to let go I didn't know what was next. It was like an addiction because it was such a huge part of my life.

I did manage to move on to Trainz and that introduced me to the concept of route creation which was pleasing, but always felt overwhelming and a list of forever just to make it look good on it's first run. Sure I could run on flat surfaces but that wasn't the Niagara I knew. Once I added TransDem it made things more realistic in some ways, but only complicated things further. Trainz is a great piece of software just like Run8 but I didn't want to spend years at something unsure of what the return on that investment would be when I finally got to operate.

Again this prepared me for everything that I am today in regards of knowing what I want in a simulator, and the gaps I knew I was capable of filling with my own talent. This is why RTS has never died in my heart. I slowly drifted away from Trainz and embraced my drone flights. Oddly enough the drone was originally planned to be used to help me develop scenes and operations in Trainz.

To this day my drone and the impact on both my son and I has never died. Sure it's still young but there is plenty of places to explore. But in one of the earlier drone flights my son commented on how he loved the one image we captured off a flight near the flight locks in Thorold. There is no train there just track. But he loved the detail that the drone showed as we directly looked down. You have to be careful flying a drone looking straight down because you MUST be sure the drone has cleared all the obstacles and land from the ground including trees, power lines, bridges etc.

Finally my time with FYM before this is not forgotten. FYM is what I call the best railroad simulator on the planet. I've always wanted to combine what Run8 and FYM does. But running a train doesn't necessarily need all the out of the cab views. Some of the nice views I've seen are those overhead shots as well as views from 45 degree angles in the air looking down at the train. But FYM was great as just looking above as simple graphic trains on the background of Google Earth images plotted into maps.

I've always enjoyed the network and scope of Run8 where it connects so much across a long distance. Sure I wanted a smaller region I could handle but having plenty of people running a railroad network is an awesome feeling. Unfortunately I can't live those feelings in Run8 any longer because it's spread too thinly for my liking. They have a great AI system, but they need an even more powerful system to keep everything a well oiled machine.

All of this is what is creating the vision of RTS 2021. RTS 2021 is going to be similar to FYM, except it's not going to be limited to yards it will be the entire network. My plant is to run a test project at Southern Yard with my drone in the next week or two as soon as we have a weather opening. I will be attempting to capture imagery around the 30m and 40m flight levels above ground to try and decide what is the optimal best detail I want in RTS 2021. 30m is ideal to cover most tree lines, where as 40m is ideal to cover most high transmission wires. There are always exceptions and I will come to those on a case by case basis.

Once I have the initial images I will begin to construct a 2D map with height markings to represent grade (though I believe it's flat in this area if I recall). Once the initial map is constructed I will work on the UI and physic engines. As time permits I will continue expanding out to the mainlines and eventually covering major locations such as nearby Welland Pipe, Port Robinson Yard, Oxy Vinyls, Fort Erie and other industry and interchanges off the Stamford Sub.

The medium term goals are to have working AI dispatching/signals along with AI switching/yardmasters. Long term goals will include multi-player and facilities to allow other routes and regions to be build. This is going to be payware ad a modest price. I understand people are tight on funds these days and this will be priced at a discount compared to other 3d simulators. The images will be better quality than anything a map search engine can provide and that will be the RTS standard. In some no fly zones I will have to resort to graphics, but anywhere an image can be taken I intend to take it.

Future expansion will include the CN Grimsby Sub, CP Hamilton Sub, Port Colborne Harbor (Trillium) short line. Long term expansion projects will include City of Hamilton harbor industrial area, CN Oakville Sub, CN Dundas Sub, CN Halton Sub, CN Toronto Mac Yard, CN York Subdivision, CN Bala Subdivision, and all points beyond. Others will take into account 3rd party development as I can bring into the fold.

Further information will be available at this site and my official YouTube Channel.

It's 4am Saturday Morning & I Can't Sleep - February 6, 2021

So here I am at my computer getting all that so called blue light. For a good 30 minutes or so my mind was so active trying to come up to solutions. I faced yet another road block, and my my mind is totally awake. I want to do a live stream to share with as many people I can my journey. Like some kid I've spent way too much rent free in my brain saying why do you need websites? The truth is that kid has about as much life experience as so many his age. The education system isn't doing them any favors either, trust me I know first hand from my son and many other sources. And no this isn't about the kid, this is about distraction and how you must constantly go out live, grow, and find the detours. Trust me when I say this, I wasn't even thinking about that before I sat down. No I wasn't losing sleep over it either, I've got other challenges on my mind and that is what this is all about.

2020 for many was a very tough year. For me it started with a huge challenge but only got better in a matter of months while the pandemic came on. In fact it was the pandemic that got me to move on and find ways in myself to cope. I suffer from what I like to call sleep anxiety. Now the cool thing is I'm not worried like I used to about getting up and missing out on sleep. In fact if this was a weeknight I probably would have gone back to bed and focused on this. But lately what used to be weekends full of sleeping in suddenly is plenty of time, and my mind begins to open up. Especially when I don't have plans for the next day to focus on.

On New Years 2020 I had what I could only describe as panic attacks. I was never diagnosed with it, in fact I wasn't diagnosed with anything and just told to go home to these sleeping pills and you'll be fine. My physical body was changing a bit as it does with age. I've always had more of an issue of getting back to sleep in the middle of the night. But this time it was different as now that I hit the pillow I worried about getting enough sleep or having issues from the night before. I never worried about these things in the middle of the day. I wasn't worried about my job either but it played a roll in the cycle.

I was on a nice extended holiday break from work. My time to be creative was about to end. So here I was focused on realizing I had to go back to the normal now. I believe that started a cycle in my mind that I couldn't break on my own. I remember going 48 hours with only a couple hours of sleep and it freaked me out so much that I went to emergency (yeah the place where they gave me sleeping pills). In fact nobody really dealt with the psychological side, I had to deal with that on my own. Thankfully my issues on my mind were minor. Eventually the pandemic came and despite being able to get better sleep I was still having relapses of sleep anxiety. I can tell you right now this is not sleep anxiety as I type this. This is a different thing, and I think it's pretty cool to be honest.

Weekends used to be the time where I wasn't worried about being my best at work. I like my job, and I want to be my best. So disturbances in my sleep pattern happened more in the week during on weekends. In fact weekends have always been a time where I simply slept better and that is the same for many people. I have so many things to get off my mind right now, and to be honest i would of done a live stream on it had I wasn't worried about waking up Emmett and his mom upstairs (I did tell you about my weird living arrangements right?) No I wanted to get as much off my mind and on the record right now, so I knew by morning I wouldn't forget. That is why I'm typing these words as I can tell my brain is saying get back to sleep.

I'm a believer that the brain recovers quicker in sleep for some who are less stressed about every day life. It works the other way too for those that are stressed. They wake up in the middle of the night because they get through the part where they need the mental rest, and then the mind becomes active. I think this is why so many highly successful people get very little sleep. Now am I that successful know, but I consider myself lucky. I had a great year in 2020, and I want 2021 to be just as great. But I tend to take more naps lately and then I realized I probably in naps last night and total sleep easily had 5 to 6 hours already. So I talked about a road block and what is it.

Well yesterday I had a stressful day at work. Just a bunch of SHTF. Nobody was mad at me, I just had too much to deal with and too little time. The thing is though I managed to get through it because I always put extra stress on myself. I couldn't wait to get home and relax and just enjoy the weekend. Trust me I'm enjoying my weekend and anti depressants that I take now at night (very light dose) does enough to calm me down at night so I can rest. But it also gives me time to not worry about if I don't have a perfect night's sleep.

I'm a believer that those with less stress in their life and more happiness tend to require less sleep. Well I gave myself a big challenge a week ago and I came up to that 1st road block last night. Trust me I didn't want to face it or even come to it which leads to procrastination (which is another weakness of mine). But my son who is gifted and full of life experience thanks to his family giving him the opportunity to experience life at an early age tried to keep me on track for my goals. He didn't know the day I had, and it wasn't on my mind nor is it this weekend now. I just wanted to relax and have fun, but he wanted to program. We have crappy weather right now and plenty of time, so I tried to say why not do this tomorrow (or today now) but he insisted so I gave in. Of course I knew the road block was coming, I just didn't know in what form. Thankfully my problem solving brain wants solution. The problem with that is it starts coming with ideas at just past 3am.

To be honest I don't know all the ideas that went through my mind, but it was enough to keep my mind thinking of different ways. I love to problem solve and since mentally I had plenty of sleep though physically my head is saying get back to bed. I had one fear as I tried to get back to sleep, and that is my memory. What if I forget everything by morning just like many weird or cool dreams? So that is why It's now approaching 5am and I'm typing away. Fact is I probably rambled on so much (where live stream would of been quicker that I would have been back to bed by now).

But none of that really matters. Even that road block that I faced last night. In fact it doesn't matter if I fail, or give up (trust me I'm a long way from that). Life experience does more than the memory can do for you. Life experience comes when you realize how to solve problems. The quicker you face those problems and solve them the faster you will learn. So yes I'm going to put this computer down now and get back to sleep. I just wanted to share that in case I forgot. But I'll leave this for those that want to read it including myself, my son, or nobody and get back to bed. Tomorrow is another day to face these issues head on. It's nice to have fun issues to solve. For those that have tougher issues, all I can say is this. Don't put those issues off because it's tougher. Sometimes you have to take the medicine or deal with the pain to feel better. If I can do it, you can too.

More Information On RTS 2021 - February 6, 2021

Coding should start either tonight or tomorrow depending on how fast image processing takes place. The initial flight with my drone at 1.8m/s 40m above the ground went fairly well. Moderate winds made it a bit more challenging to stay in line (which simply means more work for rotating and lining up the images).

The initial platform will be Just Basic which will likely morph into Liberty Basic as I'll eventually need more advanced features not available in the free program. Considering that I do have a business model in mind, supporting Liberty Basic is important to me (though not required apparently) once I've decided to release out of beta testing hopefully by December 2021. The reason why I'm shooting for that date is to give my self plenty of opportunity at getting winter images of the entire Stamford Sub. I may even go so far as rebranding it for RTS 2022 but I'll do my best to get as much video as I can this winter. It's just too dam cold to fly. If it's ready I'll release sooner and go with simple summer scenery. For now the winter scenery that I have is great for alpha testing.

Speaking of features and the business plan, I'm targeting for a price target of $20CAD with future packages ranging from $10 to $30 CAD (I think $20CAN is about $16USD but you can look that up as well as other currencies. I have no immediate plan for an editor, however I'm encouraging 3rd party development. I will announce when the program is green lit for this process (actually going through with production and worthy of distribution). The current requirements of a 3rd party developer would be as follows subject to change:

Drone or other applicable aircraft (fully responsible for own requirements in the country territory of filming)

Minimum 2.7K imaging camera (this is the DJI Mavic Mini's max setting, and the Mavic Mini 2 can come in at 4K)

Worldwide support of any scale, region, type of stock, etc.

No minimum imagine requirements for local rolling stock, number of camera angles, etc.

Commission of 10% of sales (payware add on), or minimum set-up costs (freeware) TBD and negotiable.

All sales will be processed by my system, with support of sales system

The 3rd party will be responsible for support of their own territory related to the route (I'll support the RTS2021 end).

The features planned will be as follows and subject to change:

Base program RTS 2021 with the CN Stamford Subdivision (approximately 30 miles of mainline, 5 miles of industrial spurs).

Realistic physics to be overlooked by former and current railroad employee(s) invited to beta team.

Realistic railroad logistics and car forwarding fully editable by player or route developer can be included, edited, or added on.

Free updates and full support of all features of RTS 2021

Routes again will be capable of supporting any railroad type and region worldwide.

AI dispatching and communication system, player can take over at any time.

AI yardmasters, player can take over at any time, or add instructions.

AI trains, fully capable of complex switching tasks, dynamic track selection, etc.

Future consideration of Raildriver and other device support pending popularity of software, level of interest, etc.

Future consideration of free update in MP pending popularity of software, level of interest, etc.

Future consideration of free update in hump yards pending popularity of software, level of interest, etc.

Future add on planned:

CN Grimsby Subdivision

CP Hamilton Subdivision

Port Colborne Harbor

Hamilton Area (portions of CN Oakville Subdivision along with full Hamilton Belt Line (Hamilton Harbor)

CN Dundas Subdivision

CN Halton Subdivision (including Brampton Intermodal Terminal & Toronto Macmillan Yard)

If I'm still alive and happy I'll keep expanding further out. Hopefully by then others will as well.

I did a live stream earlier today where I outlined where I've overcome my 1st hurdle, and I'm sure I'll have many more to go. But I'm fully committed at making this happen. At this point I don't see why it won't work and will seek advice from the community including the Just Basic community for support if I get stuck.

For those of you wondering what my inspiration it's simple. MSTS, Open Rails, and even Trainz though great programs is not what is inspiring me here. My inspiration comes from what I personally consider to be the following:

Best railroad simulator on the planet - Freight Yard Manager & Best train simulator on the planet - Run8.

What I look to improve on each or not include of each I'll go over here. FYM I was first introduced to about 10 years ago and hasn't really changed much that I can tell perhaps more territories. This is freeware, and to be honest looking at it now I can understand why that is with all due respect. Again nobody does a railroad simulator like it, as it has a huge network. What it lacks is better imagery and better AI. I've always hoped it would be more of a 24/7 type program but it's more of a batch processing program. You download a bunch of trains and simply run them. Also this is not pay to play, but it is time to play as in the following. You must have plenty of time and work your way up the ranks to get the busy yards. You must have plenty of time to handle the demand. Otherwise your left with smaller less meaningful operations. I was fortunate enough to be a YM in Mac Yard and Oakwood in MI one time and it was a blast as I have fond memories. This is the kind of thing that inspires me but built first in a single player environment with considering MP down the road as things hopefully grow.

Run8 hands down has the best physics of anything else out there. Nobody has been able to beat it and honestly I have my hands full just to match those physics. I do want to try my best but it's not my only objective. I also want to improve on things I found weak in Run8. This obviously at this point will not be a 3D simulator and likely will never be. I may get into 3d objects at some point, but for now this is looking straight down. What I look to improve is the AI system. I basically want the player if getting ready for work in the morning, or relaxing having a meal for the entire railroad to run on it's own. In other words do everything including dispatching, switching, etc. Then the player can take over what he wants, and hopefully in the future MP can do even more.

Anyways always open for comments and suggestions. Keep you eye on my YouTube and website for more information.

Railroad Transportation Simulator Project Update - April 10th, 2021

The video above explains the new direction of RTS, the game engine I'm using, and some design changes that I believe will make things much more likely to see something very soon. I carefully considered the comments from friends of RTS, YouTube, and TrainSim.com to name a few. Things like focus of Niagara not being of much interest and I tend to agree. Especially when I remember FYM less active regions being boring to run. I was originally going to focus on just 1 or 2 subdivisions for CN but now I believe it's all on the table. What I didn't think about is there is a good chance I've already done most of the image work

Originally the plan was to do a FYM style photo realistic map at I believe 40M AGL and it would be uniform everywhere. The issue with this is I couldn't fly in all locations due to airport restrictions, no fly zones around the City Of Niagara Falls etc. This is especially true as I started to flirt with the 120M height (which is good for capturing more of a yard on a 1080HD screen).

The other thing I was stumped on was joining all these huge images and having a scrolling background. That I can tell you is no longer the plan. I'm still starting in Niagara and today took detailed images of Port Robinson and Fort Erie at both 120M as well as other heights.

The simulator is now going to be in the form of a 3D object on 2D surface in Unity which can be done. The benefits of this approach is less time worrying about scenery. Photo realistic imagery shot from my drone (or other creators in the community). The trains themselves will be full 3D objects. The images will be placed on real world coordinate planes. The camera locations for each scene will be represented by a still camera related to the location of the chosen background screenshots. Scenes will be both strategic and scenic depending on the location. This will also be taken at different angles where appropriate.

90 degrees at 120M looing straight down at a yard to get maximum screen coverage.

Other varying heights and angles for non yard sections, flight restriction zones, approaches to signals, and railway crossings, etc.

Signal and crossing assets with lights will be added in actual positions where they appear in 3D.

24 Hour lighting will vary the brightness of the scene below (because of the lack of 3d objects there will be NO dynamic shadows).

Night time lighting will illuminate the planes prototypically along with signals and lights on the engines in 3D.

I'm going to test out some of these new concepts tomorrow with my son as it's supposed to rain here. Hopefully if it works out I'll have something to finally share later this week. The scope will not be limited to Niagara and once set up will easily be adaptable to included custom routes from anywhere around the world. I will personally be covering Southern and Central Ontario. Day trips have taken me as far west as London, ON east on the Dundas to include Hamilton, Halton Sub to Toronto, Mac Yard, York Sub, Bala Sub, Kingston Sub to Belleville. I will also be working on CP lines from Niagara through to Windsor west as well as Toronto and both CN and CP north from Toronto to Sudbury. My vacation destination is planned to be Sudbury this year where extensive drone footage is planned. I doubt I'll get the entire CP Parry Sound, and Mactier Subs, or CN Bala Sub to Sudbury done.

But here is the real good thing about all of this. The lines will be 1:1 complete networks that has not been done even in FYM. The entire Southern Ontario mainline structure from Winsor to Kingston including Toronto and Niagara will be down. As well as all tracks north to Sudbury. So regardless if I have images of every bit and piece of the system, the trains will be monitored as they travel through the networks, with or without AI, and images can be called up to as needed.

Physics as much as I would love to be perfect will likely be simplified. This is NOT a train simulator, it is a railroad transportation simulator. It's about the logistics network and enough cool scenes, yards, industries, and fun sections of mainlines.

Emmett wasn't sure about it at first but he loves the idea now and so do I. I don't see why this won't work even if the engines and cars are made of cubes until I can get Emmett to get me some models done (or he doesn't get his allowance haha - just kidding).

Thanks

Sean