Entry no.33 - The Railways of Dresden
This entry will cover the passenger and freight rail network in Dresden. Slight difference in format as this time I'll intersperse the mosaics' throughout the entry. I'll go over the passenger train network first and then go over the freight train network(s). Some of the images will cover locations already seen(but no duplicate photo's were used) but in order for this to be an all encompassing update they will be included here as well. However most of the mosaics seen below are taken from a higher and wider/longer perspective which gives a much better sense of how the network runs through the city.
But first I'll start with something I've been working on for a long time. Completion of this project has been delayed mostly due to city building and work on the CJ but I've finally managed to finish this sucker - the Dresden city map.
Passenger Service
The city is served by two Fastraxx commuter train lines - the L(Loop) line and the SS(South Shore) line. There are 5 train stations in the city, 4 on the L line and 2 on the SS line. Dresden station located in the downtown area serves both lines allowing for commuters to transfer over between the two. The L line features all day(5am to 1pm) commuter train service operating every 15 minutes in both directions while commuter trains only run during the peak period(morning and afternoon rush hours) on the SS line. Hallmark trains, the name of the inter-regional train service(the equivalent to Amtrak) operates regional long distance trains on the SS line. The only station that they stop at is the Dresden(downtown) station.
1 The first station on the combined L & SS lines coming into the city from the north is Portlands. This station is fairly busy because of the nearby Industrial Sector G which is directly to the east of it. SS line trains pass through the station without stopping. The station is built on a viaduct that is 1.85km and passes over 10 roadways.
2 Average daily ridership is 3,945(all number used are actual in-game counts), parking for 180 vehicles is provided in a small surface lot across Edison Rd.
The next stop on the combined line is Dresden(downtown) station. You can barely see the station itself because of the surrounding highrises. Average daily ridership is 5,961 and parking for 1,250 vehicles is provided in an underground lot. As mentioned above, trains on both lines stop here as do regional trains. The station is currently operating near maximum capacity.
It's difficult increase service any further because the station(and the entire viaduct) has only two tracks. Problem is there is no space to add an additional track(s) through the area without demolishing many highrise buildings. That's the in-game justification, out of the simulation the problem is the nearby curves don't really allow for any space for a turnout.
A total of 192 trains pass through the station on a daily basis:
-160 on the L line, all-day(20 hours) 15min service in both directions
-32 on the SS line, 10 commuter trains every 20 minutes northbound in the morning rush hour(s) and the same number and spacing for southbound trains in the evening. Additional, 12 daily regional trains, 6 northbound 6 southbound
4 The L & SS lines diverge between this station and the next stop, Orchard Height. If you've seen just about any of my previous dozen or so updates you'll have seen this junction already but for completion purposes here it is again.
5 The SS line continues southward, stopping at Woodside before leaving the city. The station is currently very lightly used with an average daily ridership of only 281. Proposals have been tendered to develop nearby land which would greatly increase it's usage and the location could certainly use some work.
6 The L line meanwhile continues northeast, stopping next at Orchard Heights. Daily usage is 1,061 commuters with a surface lot of 255 spaces.
7 The last stop on the L line in Dresden is Gonzaga, another lightly used station with a daily ridership of 312 and parking for 170 vehicles.
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For the record, Gonzaga is the name of a small neighborhood in Dresden's north east quadrant. In all honesty it's the least interesting of Dresden communities, mostly because the roadways all straighten out before entering the next city over.
In any case here's a little pano of what Gonzaga generally looks like.
Freight service
Both of the regions two major freight companies operate line through Dresden. The ICR's(InterContinental Railway) Lakeridge subdivision(railway specific term for a mainline corridor) runs northeast to south. First running along side the crest of the Costello mountain range before spiting the communities of Orchard Heights and Valhalla Park. Next it crosses over the Farham corridor and highway 702 on a 440m long viaduct(seen up close in the last entry images 17&18) before cutting though Woodside on an elevated embankment. ICR's Sumeria spur branches off the Lakeridge sub(northward), runs around Valhalla Hill and connects to the GWR mainline at the Sumeria-Dykon Junction where traffic between the two freight companies is interchanged.
The GWR's(Great Western Railway) has 3 mainlines in the city. The Almera sub. enters the city from the northeast and runs along the shoreline of Cisco Bay until the Sumeria-Dykon Junction. The Portland sub. enters the city from the north via the Vandenburg tunnel under Cisco Bay, curves eastward through the Portlands area and ends at the Sumeria-Dykon Jct. Lastly the Farham sub. begins at the Sumeria-Dykon Jct and runs southward, adjacent to(but physically separated from) the SS commuter rail line between the Woodside & Valhalla Park neighborhoods. All the above mentioned mainline rail corridors are double tracked, signalized and fully grade separated from road traffic. The Sumeria spur has grade crossing but is not considered a "mainline". The Almera & Farham subs are connected to each other with what in railway parlance is called a "connecting track"(what else would they call it? 
) at the Sumeria-Dykon Jct to complete the wye. The GWR also has a medium sized intermodel facility and rail yard adjacent to the port of Dresden. There are multiple private rail sidings and spurs throughout the city, mostly concentrated within Industrial Sector G.
All of that talk about running this way and through such and such location is difficult to conceptualize, so here's another map of the city with all the mainlines and important connecting tracks properly labeled and uniquely colored.
We'll start off with thew Portland sub. in the northwest quadrant of the city and go from there.
11 After exiting the Vandenburg tunnel from Calgon, GWR's Portland sub runs along side highway 700 and the Fastraxx commuter line
12 The mainline then enters into Industrial Sector G where GWR's Aberdeen Yard is located.
13 Up close the yard admittedly could use some more work, I have some rail car props but I haven't gotten around to relotting them yet. But from afar things are much more interesting;
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14 Just east of Aberdeen yard is the "Racetrack Intermodel" Facility, so called for it's likeness to a racetrack. The runaround track allows trains to change directions without having to wye or disconnect the engines and reconnect them on the opposite end of the train either of which are much more time consuming activities. The facility seen at the bottom of the image is the South Shore sewage treatment plant originally shown in entry 29.
15 The Portland's control tower rises above the area and was actually once the tallest structure in the city.
16 The Port of Dresden is lightly used compared to the Port of Calgon on the other side of Cisco Bay. Most of the lots used here are of the older and probably less interesting variety, it might be something that I'll change in the future or I might just keep em'. Either way I don't like to use the same kinds of lots and buildings in another city if I've already used them once before.
Another angle of the Port & Rail yard, one of my favorite images of the update.
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18 The Portland Sub the continues on until the Sumeira-Dykon Jct where it officially ends. This junction is where GWR's 3 mainlines converge along with the Sumeria spur leading to the ICR mainline.
19 The single track rail line is the Farham-Almera connecting track, though it's only lightly used because most of the freight traffic continues off either of those lines onto the Portland sub in order to get to Central Pretoria.
The Almera sub begins at the Junction and continues north east towards the City of Cisco Bay in the Middle East borough and points further East. I posted some similar image in a previous update as the one below but this one is one zoom level higher and more inclusive. It covers the GWR mainline from the Portland sub.(entering on the right side midway down the image)to the Almera sub. exiting at the bottom of the image.
21 The Almera sub runs next the the power plant and then through undeveloped land along the shoreline of Cisco Bay before exiting the city and entering the Middle East borough of Pretoria.
22 The Fraham sub also begins at the Sumeria-Dykon Junction but instead continues southward. The lower portion of the junction is actually one of my favorite network connections. It wasn't easy to link the two railway companies lines together with what is know as the Sumeria spur especially considering the switch onto the Farham sub need to be facing northward, otherwise freight traffic from the ICR would be just doing one big nonsensical U-turn. Managed to figure out what I think is an interesting and very compact solution that I've been hiding from view until now 
23 All that's missing is proper RRW textures under the highway which I think is something the NAM team is currently working on.
ICR's Sumeria Spur(the single track line) runs around the neighborhood of Valhalla Park. It passes underneath highway 700 no less than three times and once under the L-line before finally linking up with ICR's mainline. Although it might no be noticeable, there is a significant change in elevation along the spur of 52m/171ft.
25 Closeup of the Sumeria Spur junction with the ICR mainline
While I feel I've done even more elaborate work with highway networks in cities I've yet to show, Dresden is probably my best work with railroads to date and will be hard to surpass;
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Going north from the switch in the ICR, the line meets up with the commuter L-line just east of the Orchard Heights station and shares the same corridor(the Lakeridge corridor) but is otherwise complete separated.
Now lest go back south. The ICR line runs above and the GWR line( the Farham sub) runs below in the same corridor as the SS line for about 2km. I've already shown plenty of close up shots of the area but never a shot of the 'complete picture' So without further ado, here is the Farham corridor in it's entirety
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