Jade Bight 8: Norden; Port & Industry
The Jade Bight 8
Norden: Port & Industry
Welcome to The Jade Bight!
In this installment you will see about half of the city of Norden. That's right -- only half. I have chosen to split this presentation into two entries for a variety of reasons. Large entries are always somewhat tedious due to the number of pictures to post and the text. And sometimes, the text can take a good deal of time. The main reason for splitting up the material is that this is the first city in which I have been able to incorporate some of your suggestions, as well as to correct a few errors you have kindly pointed out. No doubt, there will be more errors this time around, but that is alright. I have also used this map to integrate additional game systems, or to use them more effectively. Consequently, there are many more pictures included to highlight detail work.
CITY OVERVIEW:
Norden is a thriving port city of some 70k inhabitants. And, they are an industrious lot, indeed, with slightly more than half of them gainfully employed. Their health is excellent, mainly due to the lack of traffic congestion and the relatively low taxes they pay. "Gramps" will likely live to the ripe old age of 85 -- giving him enough time to enjoy that average income of 65k (not bad money for an old geezer that should be retired). The education level of the townsfolk hovers around 150 -- which is quite good, considering the sustained growth rate of the community.
PORT & INDUSTRIAL AREA:
This view shows the seaport docks and the surrounding industrial area. You notice immediately a large bulk hauler putting to sea, while two more are moored alongside the loading docks. To the left, you see a small rail yard siding and a bulk cargo seaport handling roughly 270 tons of freight. The right end of the pier is occupied by two coaling docks belonging to Norddeutscher Coal & Coke, a subsidiary of the Norddeutscher Shipping Line. Norddeutscher is the largest shipping line based in the Jade Bight and handles virtually all imports and exports of coal in the nation. Norddeutscher has many subsidiary businesses you will find scattered around The Bight.
PORT: Two views
You will note the rail and road connections along the lower edge. At the seaport end, the connections come in from Esens. At the lower end of the industrial area, you can see the tracks and highway leading to Schillig Roads. This was my first attempt at actually integrating the rail and highway systems between cities. It did not come off as well as I would have liked, but more of that later.
S.S. MORTIMER GOTH:
Once again, we have a picture of some fine bat & lot work. This is a "Somy" Steamship Lines' vessel -- the SS Mortimer Goth. She's home-ported out of Panama and bound for Lisbon. I have yet to see a Somy ship that disappoints!
HARBOR OVERVIEW:
Here we have a closer view of the harbor area showing the general arrangement.
BULK CARGO SEAPORT:
Two views of the bulk cargo seaport; one showing the layout of the rail yard sidings and handling facilities -- the other showing the use of the NBVC Modular Container Port pieces and a variety of custom filler lots all mixed in with the seaport. Very flexible and matches up nicely.
NORDDEUTSCHER COALING DOCKS: Four Views
This is the principle port used by Norddeutscher for all its maritime coal imports and exports, hence the "double" layout of the piers and rail yards. I did not create a large holding area for mountains of coal near the dockside, since Norddeutscher has a large and rather extensive storage facility farther inland, midway between the mines and the port. They have a veritable network of storage facilities covering the area designed for rail and road distribution.
I have used a variety of PEG, NBVC, and Fukuda material (not to mention others) to piece together the system shown here.
COALING DOCK DETAIL: Five views
First, let me say I'm sure some aspects of this project could have been handled better by a more skilled member. I am, alas, bereft of the skill necessary to traffic enable a lot -- so I must borrow them and try to rig something up. And some of the equipment and structures my research turned up simply were not available in "the prop locker" -- so I'm certain a "batter" could have done justice far beyond my meager skills. Therefor, I do apologize for my shortcomings.
But, for some reason, everyone making "bats" and "lots" seems to have ignored coal in general. It's a massive industry -- supplying large portions of our energy needs -- with complicated networks and plant facilities just begging to be modeled. So this has become an on-going project for me.
One thing -- I WOULD like some advice on the rail yard. I can't seem to figure out how to apply a texture to "grunge"-up the looks of the thing. I already have a rail Mod doing something(??). BUT -- should I remove the trees and flora from the rail yard? And would it seem out of place to change it to a concrete or dirt base? Keep in mind that the rails beyond the actual lot will not change color -- so there will be a stark contrast at the edges of the lot.
The original idea was to take the old "Jamison Coal Docks" and simply do a "face lift" on them and plop a few more props. I had to discard that notion when I discovered that nearly the whole thing had been "baked" together. Seeing no way to add or subtract from the original lot -- I had to start from scratch and build a whole new coal dock. The only thing to survive from Fukuda was the Bistagne Bulker and a coal truck prop (possibly the coal piles -- not sure). The dock itself is put together with mostly PEG and NBVC props. The cranes are Bipin props. The rail yard is a conversion of NBVC's Tank Car Filling lot. And the loading docks plopped on the other side of the tracks are, of course, PEG CDK3 Basics. The "blanks" were filled in with various lots and custom fillers. Like Fukuda, I made one dock with the SS Bistagne attached, and made another dock "empty". In this case, Somy's "Bella Goth" is loading there.
UPDATE:
The more I looked at the rail yard serving the coal docks, the less I liked the idea of all that flora and fauna. I did a quick re-lot and came up with something I think will be more suitable. The concrete look is much more appropriate for a coal yard terminal.
INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW:
This shot gives you a closer look at the industrial zone.
INNER CITY FREIGHT:
I found this (I think) on STEX and downloaded it, figuring it would look pretty good in the factory setting to replace the Maxis freight depot (bland). But the query function doesn't work properly -- and though it is traffic enabled for rails -- it may not be enabled for "through traffic". So -- it may not function as a freight depot (cargo capacity) -- and might even interrupt the rail line (forcing the trains to choose another track). Can anyone tell me if that is the case??
INDUSTRIAL DETAIL:
Just a close shot showing some detail work with T-Wrecks, BSC, and custom filler lots. Very useful stuff.
DEADWOOD PAPER PRODUCTS:
This turned out quite well. The paper plant grew up -- then a small burner unit moved in beside it -- and it looked like it belonged there, so I kept it. The shape of the lot lent itself very well to detailing with various filler lots. Looks very much like a lot of old factory yards I've seen. It would have been even better if there had been enough room to use some diagonal fillers, but the rail line wound up having to go through there because of the inner city freight lot.
GANONG CHOCOLATE FACTORY:
FUKUDA INDUSTRIES:
Yet another configuration of the two Fukuda lots. These two buildings are very flexible -- makes them easy to work with. I recently ran across these buildings in a PEG "SPAM" factory upload. Apparently they re-purposed them for use in their agricultural Mod. That's most likely where I got the idea they were PEG material.
MISTRAL DISTILLERY:
Easy to use custom fillers to "flesh out" the loading bays.
MAXIS FREIGHT:
Being unsure of the functional value of the Inner City Freight Depot, I decided to throw together a Maxis freight depot and dress it up with CDK3 piers and filler lots. Not bad -- but I'd like to find a functional alternative to Maxis freight. ANY SUGGESTIONS ??
COMMUTER:
A shot of a short commuter train -- the "4:10 Special" -- rolling past the Deadwood Plant on its' way to Schillig Roads. This was my first attempt at using passenger rail. For the most part, I ignored rail in general. Hardly -- or never -- used it. So figuring out where to place it to be effective was a real problem -- and I'm not so sure I nailed it. I'm still learning about the commuter habits of Sims and finding them to be an odd lot. I've heard about the "Eternal Commuter" -- but can't really tell if that's happening or not. Haven't learned enough yet. My strategy is to have one passenger depot near the residential on a spur line. I place a second passenger depot near the industry on the main line between cities. This should (I hope) ensure that commuters will get off at the factories -- provided there are enough jobs for them. I'm experimenting with this sort of stuff in an effort to work out the bugs before embarking on a new direction for this region.
FREIGHT:
A shot of a freight train picking its' way through the seaport siding to the pier. Another freight runs regulary to Schillig Roads -- so it would appear I've figured out how to manage the freight traffic. One of my goals for this city was to properly integrate the rail systems so they would actually work.
THERMO FISHER:
Nice shot of the Thermo Fisher HT building. Note the parking on the backside of the building and the parks laid out at each end. I went back and retro-fitted some parking as several of you pointed out the lack thereof. I put a small airfield in front of the building. I wasn't really in favor of the idea, because the Maxis airports are "very vanilla". But a city of 70k needs an airport to boost the business. Can anyone recommend a nice alternative to "Maxis Air"?? Something small, attractive, and possibly modular (for flexible variety)???
RADIO & PUMP STATION:
Once again, I dumped KSIM out in the woods south of the airfield, and did my "custom" job on the water pumping station.
NIGHT SHOTS: Seven views
For you "Night Owls" out there -- here are some shots from "The Dark Side" (Star Wars pun intended -- lol-lol-lol).
That concludes our tour of Norden -- for the time being. In the next installment, we will turn our attention to the residential and commercial sectors of the city. Much of the member's recent advice has been taken to heart. I brought in the bulldozers and leveled the downtown -- and went out in the suburbs to plan some new housing. In addition, I took out my detailing cursor and tried my hand at some new stuff. We'll see what you think of it next visit.
AS ALWAYS -- I solicit and welcome your comments, criticism, and suggestions. Give me something to work with -- and I'll do the best I can with it.
Next time:
Jade Bight 9:
Norden: From Downtown To The "Burbs"
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