TransDEM Forum

I'm wanting to make a route in Trainz of a section of the Frisco that has been abandoned for about 40 years. I'm guessing it's going to be hard to find any vector data on the route. For the most part you can identify the old route in Google earth and MS virtual earth.

I'm still trying to get my arms around the basic TransDEM concepts and I'm not sure how to proceed with this route. I have the DEM's downloaded and merged in TransDEM but now what? Can I somehow get images in Trainz surveyor without the vector data? How do I create any maps without any vector data?

TransDEM comes with a basic line editor, called "Simple Route Editor". As shown in the WMS and Map Tile tutorials, you can trace (the remains of) the route using geo-referenced maps or ortho-images as the master. If you have access to "historic" topographic maps and these maps have the UTM/NAD27 coordinate system, you could also use those.

In any case have a closer look at the MS Research Maps WMS. The USGS maps there are relatively old and show an amazing density of now abandoned rail lines.

G'day drickets,

It has been my experience that 95% of ALL abandoned lines throughout the Continental United States are clearly marked as dashed lines in the MSR maps (formerly Terraserver), usually marked as "Old Railroad Grade". I use these constantly when working on abandoned routes, both to know where to place the 'simple route' polyline as mentioned by geophil above and also as excellent general purpose topographic maps. They have the additional advantage of offering a WMS, which makes them easy to download...

...occasionally, it does become necessary to resort to the 'historic' maps also mentioned above but it must be kept in mind that not everywhere is covered by these maps...

Jerker {:)}

If you can see the route, in Google Earth, trace the route using the Add Path tool, then "Save Place As" to create a KMZ file. In Transdem, open your DEM first, then open the route (which you saved as a KMZ file). Then get the images from a map tile server (there is an option in Transdem to follow the route). Next, export the DEM to Trainz. Finally export the images to Trainz as UTM objects (use a rectangular mask to avoid the 25 tile-at-a-time limitation). You may need to import the new content in Trainz Content Manager before you can view it in Surveyor. Make sense?

Check the internet for 'historical' raster maps. USGS raster maps, or topos, using the NAD27 datum, (that's 1927) can easily be incorporated as map overlays in TransDEM. These maps will show all rail lines and yards. I recommend 7.5 min. maps, if you can find them. A lot of detail there!
Maps can be found in public library, university, college and private collections.
Mr. Google can be a friend when making these searches!
regards

These guys have quite a range of old USGS maps:

http://libremap.org/

Most of these show abandoned trackage, e.g. even the Yellowstone Railroad (though sadly I've never got round to building it - yet!).

Thanks for the site reference. I checked it out and added it to my 'favorites' list.
regards

G'day Big Vern & steamboateng,

That site is definitely worth adding to one's 'favourite list' if only because of the quality of the maps that one can get from them, which certainly leaves the standard ones available from the USGS website "for dead". Unforunately, in order to use them, they must be manually georeferenced, which, even though this can be made into a semi-automatic process with TransDEM, does make the project take a bit longer to create and involves a little more work on part of the user...

...aside from that, because they are otherwise identical to the standard maps, my comment earlier, regarding their content (..." ...It has been my experience that 95% of ALL abandoned lines throughout the Continental United States are clearly marked as dashed lines in the MSR maps (formerly Terraserver), usually marked as "Old Railroad Grade"... "...), still stands...

Jerker {:)}

The WSR maps are fine, no dispute there.
But often you will find, epecially in urban areas, that the roadbed no longer exists. The old yards and maintenance facilities have long ago been turned into 'industrial 'parks' or shopping centers or housing developements. The 'historic' raster maps, will show all these afforementioned yards and facilities as well as long gone industrial sidings and pierside trackage.
Agreed, that georeferencing these maps is slower. I recently had to reassemble a series of i940's quadrangle maps, into their whole, because thy were available only in 4 pieces per quadrangle , from the internet. That took time, and required a graphic editor (Paint Shop Pro), but the effort was worth it as I wanted to reproduce a route from that era.

Regards

G'day steamboateng,

You're quite right, most of the USGS maps that are available from their website won't show the former locations of the abandoned right of way where it has been built over (by suburbs, et c.) or where it has been utilised for newer roadways or just simply destroyed, as you would expect (and get) from the 'historical' maps. It's in that situation where one's ability to wear a "Railway Surveyor's Cap" comes in handy to try to fill in the gaps. The important point I was trying to point out to Big Vern was that the maps on the Libremap site were, AS FAR AS I COULD TELL, only reproductions of the current (or slightly older) USGS topographic maps. As such, there is no great difference between the actual contents of the maps.

I fully understand your pain in having to manually 'join' the four quadrangles together, having had to do so myself on numerous occasions but the maps that I obtained for this purpose were genuine 'historical' maps from another website, which, unfortunately do not cover the entire United States. If anyone does know of a site that has ALL the historical maps that are available (those that cover the entire country), it's URL would be much appreciated...

Jerker {:)}