Mexico's Copper Canyon RR

[Gwizz]

I just watched a DVD from the library on the Copper Canyon. 

 

Bigger than the US Grand Canyon, longer, wider and deeper.

 

Few roads or Electric power.  The Railroad serves the farm land and mining in the area. 

 

It Might be a good area for an RT2 map.

 

[MaglevForever]

I am not very familiar with this area, but any areas that are still served by rail-only are of interest to me. I did a quick search and learned that the route took over 60 years to build! I don't know all the details, but right away that sounds like it was a monumental task. Capturing the scope and difficultly of the task in a map would make an engaging scenario. Unfortunately I don't have the time to make one myself, but I would definitely play it.

[Gwizz]

I think I will do more research and work out a theme and some history for the RR. 

 

Maybe Produce, coal, iron & aluminum going out

and a small amount of passengers going both ways mostly to mines or railhead.  

Maybe some cattle and sheep could be added at some point, going out. 

 

Going into the canyon could be steel rails, wood ties and misc. goods And food for the mines and/or railhead.

I believe the native villages along the route are very small and mostly self sufficient.

 

I might be wrong on this point, but believe the line was built as a short cut:

This rail line was used as so for a number of years, until too many trains were robbed.

[MaglevForever]

As an interesting side note, someone made a map of this area for Sid Meier's Railroads. Apparently it took him 3 years to make with lots of custom stuff. I am not currently playing SMR, but when I do I will check it out.

 

I tend to like the RTII maps with fewer cities. Limiting the number of possibilities especially for passenger routes is good. To me this gives a map a more authentic feel, other than just using it as a canvas to paint almost any picture you want. This area should fit the bill. I liked your Alaskan Mines map. It has a definite storyline allowing a comparison of most of the players options and therefore gives me the ability to strategize a lot while playing. Good luck making the map!

[CrownVic95]

As an interesting side note, someone made a map of this area for Sid Meier's Railroads. Apparently it took him 3 years to make with lots of custom stuff. I am not currently playing SMR, but when I do I will check it out.

 

I tend to like the RTII maps with fewer cities. Limiting the number of possibilities especially for passenger routes is good. To me this gives a map a more authentic feel, other than just using it as a canvas to paint almost any picture you want. This area should fit the bill. I liked your Alaskan Mines map. It has a definite storyline allowing a comparison of most of the players options and therefore gives me the ability to strategize a lot while playing. Good luck making the map!

That is interesting. Where can one find that map? I looked on smrsimple's list and didn't see it.

 

I'm back to playing SMRR a little bit after a few years away from it. I love RRT II, but for me all of the fun in it is in the first few years. Mature RRs get unacceptably tedious to manage, so after a while I start looking again at the alternatives. Installed RT3 a couple of weeks ago for the first time in easily 5 years and it got uninstalled (again) within days. Never have and never will understand how that game maintains even a small following. 

 

SMRR is simple, but graphically neat and can hold interest for a good while with a good map.

[Gwizz]

After not finding a good topo map or an industry list for the RR, I loaded a google map and followed some of the track.

It was interesting.  After the Copper canyon RR. crossed the border into the El Paso Texas, there is a roughly 10 track yard on the US side almost totally unused.  

at the far end of the yard it looked like the two main tracks were cut by removing a section of track in a number of places. 

Past the cut rails the two tracks were full of cars and continued on through El Paso Texas. 

 

I moved to Los Mochis Mexcio on the pacific Ocean side and followed the track until I got lost.  I was counting sidings and spur tracks.

Apparently I went down a long spur that dead ended in Torreon Mexico.  This spur also had missing rail but the main line was all in place.

There was a few cars mostly tank cars parked in spurs along the way. 

 

When I get another chance, I will restart at Cuauhtemoc Mexico, The place where I think I turned South on the map instead of left toward the US.

 

While I could see individal RR cars, trackors and autos, I couldn't tell what crops were planted. They were using semi trucks to take products to market.

I didn't find any mines.  Except where there was construction equipment, ( Sand & Gravel) I was in the farming areas.

 

This has been the hardest railroad I have ever researched.   The Hawthorn RR was hard but I found it.  It didn't have 18 inch track.  It was a 3 foot gauge logging line.

[MaglevForever]

That is interesting. Where can one find that map? I looked on smrsimple's list and didn't see it.

The map is over at http://www.sidmeiersrailroads.net/. This site is rather difficult to navigate and has very strict sign up policies. You can't download anything without signing up. I haven't bothered to try yet. But, it seems that some of the more serious players hang out over there. The address where you can read about this map (it's called Central Mexico): http://www.sidmeiersrailroads.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=637. I think there are links to the file from there.

 

I agree with you that RT II is tedious to manage later on. Long maps are quite difficult for me to finish. I prefer the most difficult ones where careful management is required for the goals. This makes it more worth while. Cascadia and KVR spring to mind. I don't mind RT3 myself. I was introduced to the series with it, so I guess that makes it a bit different. If you can bear with the graphics some of the user made scenarios make much better use of the game engine than PopTop did with the maps it released. As for SMRR, again the custom maps are the ones that make it worth playing. There was one based in Central Eastern Africa that I enjoyed very much. Track laying and signals can be confusing though, so it is a matter of caution to lay track very carefully and hope to avoid jams.

 

After not finding a good topo map or an industry list for the RR, I loaded a google map and followed some of the track.

I have done this type of armchair exploring before. It is interesting what you can find. If you click on the little yellow man near the zoom control it is possible to view some pictures which have been tagged with GPS coordinates via Panoramio. These can sometimes give an even better view of a particular area. Some places don't have any pictures though. Good luck.

[CrownVic95]

The map is over at http://www.sidmeiersrailroads.net/. This site is rather difficult to navigate and has very strict sign up policies. You can't download anything without signing up. I haven't bothered to try yet. But, it seems that some of the more serious players hang out over there. The address where you can read about this map (it's called Central Mexico): http://www.sidmeiersrailroads.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=637. I think there are links to the file from there.

 

I agree with you that RT II is tedious to manage later on. Long maps are quite difficult for me to finish. I prefer the most difficult ones where careful management is required for the goals. This makes it more worth while. Cascadia and KVR spring to mind. I don't mind RT3 myself. I was introduced to the series with it, so I guess that makes it a bit different. If you can bear with the graphics some of the user made scenarios make much better use of the game engine than PopTop did with the maps it released. As for SMRR, again the custom maps are the ones that make it worth playing. There was one based in Central Eastern Africa that I enjoyed very much. Track laying and signals can be confusing though, so it is a matter of caution to lay track very carefully and hope to avoid jams.

 

I have done this type of armchair exploring before. It is interesting what you can find. If you click on the little yellow man near the zoom control it is possible to view some pictures which have been tagged with GPS coordinates via Panoramio. These can sometimes give an even better view of a particular area. Some places don't have any pictures though. Good luck.

Thank you. But I can't get that site to load - tried repeatedly and just get a blank screen. Got the same thing whether from your link or from a Google search. ???

[Gwizz]

All I got was a message to "update browser" at both links.

[MaglevForever]

That is the right url address. Try using Internet Explorer to load it. It seems these guys are paranoid about sign up rules etc., but for some reason the site needs some seemingly spam (not dangerous from what I can tell) elements to run, which is strange. Just be careful. I have had it loaded in other browsers before, but right now it isn't working. Don't know why.

[Gwizz]

They could have gotten hacked.