The Train Project

Greetings!

Last night, I had a very nice conversation with Catherine Cotton. We spoke about the Beauty of Slate, and how wonderful that Train is.

When Cat asked if the Train actually moved, I sadly had to say, "no".

But this got Cat and I to thinking. What if the Train did move? Now with the ugrapded ability to move, could it be possible to make the Train not just go chugging around Slate, instead, could we make it go chugging around the whole PG World?

So, after much talking and dreaming, I thought this Train might be a worth-while poject for the whole SL Community.

What can you do? Well, this project will require Scripters, builders, texture makers, and the most important of all, land owners.

I am proposing that this project be setout as a "FREE" ride for everyone. The Train would travel at a nice leisurely pace through the PG SIMS, stopping at attractions, and to pick-up or let off passengers. We will need land for which to run the rails on, and land to build multiple train stations on.

Depending on the interest in the Train, we might even have need of complex scripting to be able to have two trains in operation at all times.

We will need to cooperation of just about everyone in SL to pull off this type of project. I'm asking you, the players of SL, to come together, in a way never before tried, to donate land, time, and talents to this project.

I'm hoping that IF we can get the route laid out in Land, then we just might be able to have LL take the land over and not have the train count against the PRIM Limits of the users; before we can get to that point though, we will need to show LL that we are serious about this. That this project can be done, by everyone, and everyone supports it.

If you can help with this project, in either construction, scripting, or donating of land, please contact me.

I am looking to fill the following positions in this project:

Script Supervisor
Building Supervisor
Land Acquisition Supervisor
Public Relations Supervisor
Linden Labs Liason

I am asking that if you would like to be a part of the largest SL project ever, and you have the time to be a part of this project, that you please contact me through email at [email]bobs@leawood.org[/email].

Once these positions are filled, we will begin filling positions these Supervisors feel necessary to complete the task at hand.

I look forward to going forward on a project of this magnitude, and know that the whole community of SL is more then capable of making this happen!



Thanks!

Er, the train belongs to Athos Murphy, if i recall correctly. His plan for the railroad was to expand it eastward, when new Sims came up over there. He didn't expand it into Olive because it used to be the sandbox.

I imagine it's all up to him, as it is his project, though.

Lf

Not to rain on your parade there Lordfly, but the Project belongs to us all.

Yes, the Train was originally built by Athos, that I don't deny. I give him all the credit for making such a wonderful thing to look at.

I on the other hand, wish to take the TRAIN one step further. Instead of making it just something to look at, I want to make it something to be used by all. To be rode by all, to be enjoyed by all.

I have yet to hear from Athos as to if he'll even be able to keep the train going after the grace period, but instead of having a static train that only sits in one spot, I would like to have a train (or two) that actually tours the world of SL.

Therefore, this project, while it encompasses the Train idea started by Athos, is now being taken to a higher level by everyone wishing to work on it. IF you don't wish to work on this, I can understand that. But, since I doubt Athos will mind if someone steps in and tries to make this project happen, and happen world-wide, then I don't see where your objections are called for.

Can we see a map showing where the train will traverse? Perhaps more self-interest can be actuated by the thought that the train could bring travelers to their local areas - especially if one has a store on land the train could possibly travel through.

Sounds like a fun time.

I'm willing to let a train pass through any land I have. As long as I have the prim space for it, I would even be willing to raise a structure or create a tunnel/bridge through my space.

We have land in: Hawthorne, Chartreuse, Da Boom, Federal, Freelorn, Olive, and a preserve in Lusk (Dawson's Creek), which I really can't change at all.

Good luck Bob, and feel free to count me in as a possible contributor if needed.

Briana Dawson

Thanks Briana!

I guess you just brought up another position that needs to be filled.

Train Route Supervisor

Any chance you would like to fill this position?

With the way SL has been lagging lately, wouldn't this cause it to lag more?

Also, what about train tracks? how many prims will it take? If it goes through someone's land (allowed) will it cause problems if makes the prim total go over? Will you be able to go through the area because of the "area too full" message that pops up now?

Also will you make bridges for watery areas?

With resources seemingly very low, I think you may not have enough people willing to give up much for this project.

If people want to tour around, maybe have teleporter pads (for a fee) on your land and that way it could be a travel path but not take up many prims?

I agree that these are all very valid concerns.

But, until we at least attempt to do this, they will be un-answered concerns only.

I never said, nor hope I implied, that something of this magnitude would be easy. On the contrary, a project of this scope is going to be an enormous task, and an excercise in Global Community and cooperation.

That's one of the reasons I like this project. It covers everyone's land, and in order for it to get off the ground, everyone must be willing to work at it.

My hope would be that once we have the train built, that the Lindens would take it under control, and thereby eliminating any PRIM usage issues.

But, in order for this to take place, I feel we must (as a global community) show LL that we are serious about putting this together.

A train is trivial to script, bob and you dont really need to buy land for it, just get your Train Route Supervisor to recruit some interested parties that will allow the train safe passage throughout the sims.

Do I hear you saying that you would like to be a Train Route Supervisor eggy?

I have land in aqua that you can use. Most of it is water.
As long as you do not block ship movement their would not be a problem. I could meet with a route sup and move the house if need be.

Nah, I thought Briana would be the Train Route Supervisor. You need someone more calm and social than I. I would just go up to people and say We are the Train Builders. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
I'll gladly lend a hand with scripting however.

This sounds like a really fun project! Thanks Bob and Cat for bringing it to us!

I will gladly donate land, time and money for this project - I have been in search for something fun to do. Havent talked to Cai yet but since she is a true English rose (Dont kill me Cai!) We have land in Mauve on the corner of Aqua, Blue and Green.

I had contacted Athos pre 1.2 about this train project, we were going to work on it after 1.2. As far as I know, this is *his* project. Bob, have you had any contact with him before posting this regarding you taking it over?

If so, I'd be more than happy to help!

the train can traverse fate park in olive. i'll lay the track and eat the prims. it will need to be ramped up through slate to be elevated enough to get into olive.

Yeah, check out the map that's inside the train station there in Slate. This was Athos' first big project idea in SL (before we sucked him into building an airfield, heheh). I assume he'd still like to complete this, as he signs his posts SL Railways Proprietor. So let's get in touch with him!

Cant more than one person have a train project?

PS: Can I design a couple train's ?

I love the support this idea is getting already! When ppl get together on a project that is larger than their singular component amazing things can happen and often do in SL. This will not only bring a new age to SL but consider what new ppl with think upon the first time they hear they can take a train route threw SL. "Amazing". I personaly envision traveling threw great builds that I miss when I take flight and sore past. Imagine living next to the train tracks and everyone seeing how hard you have worked on your project. This is the dawning of a new day folks and the only thing that will hold us back from completion of the "Train" is ourselves.

God Speed

Cat Cotton

Nice idea

As Matina said, we have some empty ground in Mauve, just waiting for something like this.. lots of great waterways to build bridges over too!

You bet I would Bob! There are definetly some concerns that need to be addressed that havent been mentioned. One of my initial concerns is the respect of waterways - so the use of boat friendly track risers would be nice (but more prims :/ those devilish things).

I'll also print the map and divide it into sections. This project is huge - like elephant size huge - so the best and only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

OooOOoo I'm going to need one of those groovy Train driver caps with black & white thin stripes.

Briana Dawson - Chuga Chuga Choo Choo

Goodness, I don't watch the forums for a few days and zim!

Anyway ... I've kinda figured that if the Great Second Life Railway (GSLR) ever extended more than about 200 meters, it'd have to be a group project. Long ago I saw a map of the 'new northern sims' and did a little sketch (visible in the Slate station) of the line to the east. However, land there is gonna be pricey, I expect.

Prim costs for track are relatively low. Over level ground, it's 1 prim per 10 meters. Bridges are 2-4 prims per 10 meters. Curves are a chore ... I'd like to stick with a 32 meter minimum radius, which is gigantic in SL, but ridiculously small in RL. 12-25 meters are the typical mimium curve radiii for street trams and trolleys; full size locos want more like 100 meter *minimum* radius in RL. Take a look at the curved trestle leading towards Magenta.

Speaking of trolleys -- a nice interurban electric car, as used on the old Pacific Electric or Key System lines -- would be a nice alternative to a 'train' of linked cars.

Sloping the western end of the track 'up' closer to the general Olive level would of course be possible; but then there's the matter of going back down somewhere. Long ago, I surveyed Mocha on the far side of Olive for a possible extension; I think much of that land is now taken up.

I'm always happy to find other railway enthusiasts, and to help with modelling, research, textures, etc. Scripting is of course the Important Background piece of such a project. Here is the (slightly modified for v1.2) Proposal sheet I created a few months ago, for potential scripters:

GSLR SCRIPTING GOALS

**Existing Objects and Scripts**

There is over 100 m of straight track, leading east from a dummy tunnel entrance, past Slate Station to a curved bridge. A locomotive, tender (coal + water car), and carriage are standing on the track, as separate objects. A semaphore (moving arm + light) signal is standing beside the track, near Slate Station.

The only scripts existing are smoke from the locomotive, and a ‘door script’ to make the signal change aspect when clicked on.

**Broad Goals and Concepts**

The major goals are smooth movement along straight and 90 degree curved track by a complete train of four segments (locomotive + tender + 2 carriages), starting and stopping at various points along the track. Sloped track may or may not be avoided, depending on the future terrain of the unseen sims.

Other “railway experience” effects – sound, smoke, interior lighting, rotating wheels, signaling, scheduled travel – should be replicated eventually.

Passengers will be able to enter the carriage through the side doors (scripts for doors on moving vehicles have been done elsewhere in SL), and may be required to possess a “ticket” prim attached to their avatar (mostly if needed for passengers to be recognized by movement scripts).

If / when adjacent sims open up, the GSLR would like to be ready to expand there. Other areas in SL may also be useful for railway building, sooner, but unconnected with the current trackage. A “western” railway in Oak Grove, for example.

**Specific Ideas**

The train should be able to start and stop at specific points – “station” – with a smooth acceleration and deceleration. High speed is not required … 6 meters per second is a good speed, 4 is too slow. The curves will hopefully be all of 90 degrees, with a radius along the track center of 32 meters. Train segments passing along the curve should individually rotate 90 degrees while traversing the curve, of course.

Some basic sound effects, recorded on British steam locomotives of the period, are available … starting, stopping, running. These are mostly from the “carriage” perspective .. there may be a more “mechanical” sound for the locomotive itself. The running sound loops well .. I have to work on the starting and stopping sounds to make them blend with the running sound.

While running, the locomotives drive wheel textures might at least rotate, hopefully at a rate to match the speed of the train … other wheel textures might rotate also, if the effect looks worth doing.

A ticket dispenser in the station might take a nominal amount of money (say L$1) from Residents and entitle the passengers to ride the train. The actual “permission” may actually be information passed from the station to the train, and not involving a ticket item in the passenger’s possession.

A nice effect, but possibly impossible, would be to allow the passengers in the train segments (including the locomotive and tender) to walk around – and on top of! – the train while it is in motion, without being swept backwards by the train’s movement.

The locomotive and tender will have to somehow be rotated 180 degrees and moved to the other end of the train during the wait between scheduled runs, at the ends of the line. Not sure if there is enough space to do this beside the stone viaduct in front of the tunnel mouth .. but probably. A turntable and passing track would look nice somewhere, but probably take up too much space.

The train segments are mostly over 30 prims, so this will have to be a non-physical script. This will presumably also deal with the effects of track blockage .. the train will run on through other non-physical objects, and bash physical ones out of the way. What happens to avatars in a non-physical box passing through another non-physical object?

I think having a train traveling throughout SL is a great idea, visually. Occasionally seeing the guided-tours balloon pass by and now boats with passengers lends an unexpected and pleasant element to the game. There is a narrow strip of Linden land behind my property in Teal ...imagine having a train chugging along while boats pass by below...very cool!

<<< the train will run on through other non-physical objects, and bash physical ones out of the way. >>>

Does this mean we could see some attempted suicides on the tracks?? Will there always be a light at the end of a tunnel??

ceej
________

Teal 30, 120

I can answer a couple of the 'None Physical' questions here. some of you may remember my Tour Coach in Blue Sim.

The train would pass though anything in it's path, be they primes or Avatars.

The Tour Coach started it's life as a train. I found it impossible to get the carraiges to follow in sync, Joint's only work with physical objects so I tried scripting each carraige. It did not work well.

Another problem is the size of the route. I was almost a newbie when I wrote that script and it was all in just one script. I would think the route could be on a notecard and then main script could read from that as to how long each straight was and when to turn or where the stops were. It would keep down the size of the main script.

I still have the scripts along with a None Physical player driven script if that helps.

Woot Woot! Chuga Chugga Athos!



Cat Cotton

This Project needs help!

I don't want to be the only person that has agreed to work on this project. I really do appreciate everyone who has contacted me privately and in-game and told me they support the project and they will dontate land to it, but what we need first, is a group of people that are willing to tackle this project.

I already have enough to do in Slate, then to take on a WorldWide Project. IF you are interested in seeing this project go forward, and interested in being involved in a project that isn't about one SIM, or one person, or one group, then this project is for you. THIS is truly a world-wide project and for it to happen, we will need a good core group of people that will make sure this project is seen through to completion.

IF you have the drive, the determination, the desire, the will, and the ability, and want to be a part of something larger then yourself, contact me in-game or though email (bobs@leawood.org) or PRIVATE Message here.



Thanks!

It'd be interesting to see if the vehicle functions could be adapted to follow the track with some sort of automatic waypoint beacons installed in each section. There are several people around who have come up with some smooth moving constructions like this, most notably Jack Didgeredoo's new chairlift on "Mt. Eggy".

Bob, I know Athos is interested in design and building more things, but not in haggling over land rights to do it. I can volunteer the use of a "Ring Rezzer" autobuilding tool that THE Xylor Baysklef came up with. This would be great for laying out uniformly curved tracks, in whatever radius you might want, and I'd be glad to help lay out the track, and build bridges and such. Again, I'm not into negotiating land access or organizing the group - I do too much of that already.