Tosh hard at work detailing the New Babbage Tram Port Line Extension, here at the line’s Brunel’s Railway Bow Street Station terminus. There are many challenges in this project; Tosh is just the tiger for the job.
Port Line Extension
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Lovely picture!
how did they get over the bridge?
A quick chicane to line up, and laid it right over the the top of the bridge following its arch. The track looks tight to the side of the bridge at the approach, but the curve and the car’s length takes the car around so it seems to clear. Over the arch is no big deal, but the chicane to line up seems to be a necessary compromise. Of course going is quite slow through that stretch.
One alternative I would propose would be a slight redesign of the bridge, since it can’t be moved due to the anti-erosion angles cut into the canal corners (without a great deal of work, and there’s still the matter of veering around the park after the bridge anyway, which limits gains got by any method at the bridge itself).
If the railing were moved to the centre of the bridge to steer foot traffic to the East side of the bridge, and the corner posts then cut down in height on that side, the tracks could be slid right over to the Western edge of the bridge. A cheat could even be worked out to add half a metre to that edge giving even more room without making a complete mess. That would allow straightening out the chicane (jog) somewhat, leaving more clearance between the car and the Steamweaver building, and between the car and the railing, smoothing the tram’s path in the process, allowing it to hug the brick walkway around the park on the South side.
A half metre or a bit more would yield large gains in improving the tram’s path. All of this would inspire more confidence among the travelling public, ahem. That transition in course will always be required to align the tram’s path bewteen the two sims, but if it were eased a bit it would be more livable.
On the other hand, the almost non-existent cart traffic would be forced to detour. Sucks to be them.
Anyway, just a thought. It does work as-is, after all.
the car has to stay in a narrow public corridor. bridges can be moved, that invisible corridor cannot. or not easily.
yep, the corridor accross the other side of the bridge is barely wider than the tram car, so the track has to be where it is, it has to do an S bend either before the bridge or on it, and this way the bridge doesnt need altered except perhaps the post near the tracks nudged asside a little. The hump in the track is no trouble.
Flattening the bridge would make the tram crossing a bit faster, but head room on the canal is already quite low for many boats with a mast or tall funnel, so keeping the current bridge is better imo. Its also still part of one of lokis old babbage mystery trails, so better left un-altered.
I will check the posts when I get home, those are easy enough to nudge.