Sierra Ten-Wheeler no.3 - Progress

Okay, today marks one month since the last update of Sierra no.3, a Ten Wheeler machine built in 1891 originally for Prescott & Arizona Central Railroad; which later became the Sierra Railroad. In just one month we were able to complete the entire 3D mesh of the locomotive and tender; a total of over 280 high quality textures were rendered for the entire machine, externally and internally.

The version of the locomotive that you will see below represents the Sierra Railroad period after 1948. A very important detail that we were told by Mike Ninneman makes clear why we chose this version as a favorite: Before 1948, Sierra no.3 did not have its original manufacturing plates, they were lost in the late 1890s. It remained without plates until 1947 or 1948 when replicas were built:

In this version you will have the conservative machine when it comes to its aesthetics. Sierra Railroad used the predominant black in its locomotives, with light gray or white accents; like the writings on the tender and the digits of the number 3. Our version shows the same scheme in its paint, but a little brighter, but we are analyzing the possibility of making a version with signs of use. But remember, we have a lot of textures to work with.

Almost literally, we count rivets to reproduce this locomotive in Train Simulator 2022. This is not a common practice of Machine Rail, we build the locomotives using references that we have at our disposal and sometimes we limit ourselves, in the case of this project, hundreds of references emerged , and we had to limit ourselves to most of the small details obligatorily; when the 3D mesh of no.3 appears above the supported limit we set for our locomotives. So don't be alarmed when you see that this machine will demand a little more performance from your PC compared to our previous locomotives.

Currently, the machine is complete and its operation is almost perfect. "Almost" because we are still dealing with some problems in the animation scripts and other limitations that we need to overcome. Sierra no.3 is an oil burner, it stopped burning wood a long time ago, so we would like to introduce the presence of some details that only locomotives that burn oil have, such as the sound of the blowtorch, the black smoke when oil is injected into the firebox, etc.

And as is our custom, you will be able to open the front smokebox door, the sand dome cover, among other very attractive external animations that you will soon see in detail.

Inside the cab, we tried to reproduce all the visible details for a certain era of the locomotive. Of course, some things are not 100% faithful, as here is a representation of a locomotive that has undergone many modifications throughout its life. All doors and windows interact with your mouse, the main levers, taps, buttons and valves will also respond to your commands. And as you are already used to our locomotives, don't expect extremely complex driving; but respect the machine, don't make it hungry or thirsty, and don't abuse its performance, or else you'll never make it to the top of the hill.

Current progress:

•Finalizing other animation details

•Technical adjustments of the locomotive using its authentic specifications

•Creating high quality and realistic sounds for the outside and inside of the machine

What versions are planned for release?

Well, this locomotive has been in dozens of old movies; at the beginning of the project we said that maybe it would be possible to represent every painting she received during these movies and TV series, but unfortunately there are too many; and most (if not all) still have their rights holders.

So what will be done?

We will continue to work on the original Sierra Railroad idea, and create its variations of the railroad; including your current preservation form, which will lead us to make some external modifications to your 3D mesh. It's the little details that make all the difference. We are also looking into the possibility of recreating its original 1891 version when it came out of Rogers' workshops. When everything is completed, before the official launch, we will leave in writing how the locomotive will be made available.

Thank you if you've read everything so far. Best regards from our team.