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About this City Journal

Highways & Interchanges, Railways & Infrastructure, Skyscrapers & Skylines, extensive mmp work and custom lots & BAT's.

Entries in this City Journal

TakemeThere
I'm finally back from my "semi hiatus". Haven't been around ST much and its been a over 2 months since the last CJ update, though it feels like it's been much longer. Long story short, too much going on IRL + SC4 burnout. Playing the game and being super active on ST was really cutting into my sleep time. But I think I'll be able to find a better balance going forward now Baycole is a medium sized city located on the north shore of Cisco Bay, it's location in the region is highlighted in red below. This is...
TakemeThere
Taking a break from the usual localized entries it's time for another all-encompassing E2 update(the last one was almost 8 months ago!) E2 is short for Encyclopedic Entry and it is a comprehensive analysis/overview of one specific system covering the entire region. The original plan was to have 12 of these updates, but there will be 10 now after cutting off 3 and adding 1 special entry - that special entry is today's. What's special about this E2 is that instead of focusing on one specific system I'll...
TakemeThere
*Update* - This entry only showcases the maxis night shots of the power plant. For the cooler dark night shots please check out entry 34. The rest of the city may sleep at night but the power plant is very active. Normally only two units are required at night, but on this humid night all units are active while another nearby power plant is down for maintenance. The stacks for unit 3&4 weren't built with a maintenance/rest platform so aside from a single high-intensity xenon discharge flasher on the north...
TakemeThere
I've never been one to make short entries so rather then making several smaller ones I'll be merging a few different items/topics into one. First on the agenda is that hydro crossing over Spaghetti Junction, below is the much improved new overhead crossing; 2 3 4 Spoiler I forgot to post some night shots in the last entry so here's a few for the road. 7 8 9 10 11 12 Why only no darknight? Unfortunately even with all that lighting the darknight mod doesn't work so well(imo) for highways and interchanges; A...
TakemeThere
This will likely be the final entry from the Middle East borough of Pretoria. To mark the occasion I've completed a street map of this area which covers 21sq/km. Due to the size of the map I had to split it into two images. However it seems the top portion doesn't always show. Silly imgur, doesn't know what it wants to do from one moment to the next. In any case the image for the bottom 2/3rd's of the map is working and is the more important section of the borough. At first the city borders were...
TakemeThere
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...
TakemeThere
This update will cover the last two neighborhoods of Dresden; Valhalla Park & Woodside which are located towards the central & southern portion of the city. These neighborhoods are largely suburban in nature with only a few small pockets of commercial, institutional or industrial development. How the cites areas/neighborhoods of Dresden are divided up; First some colorful closeups of Valhalla Park, arguably the nicest suburban area in the entire region. These photo's beg the question, is there such a thing...
TakemeThere
For this update we head back to Orchard Heights first seen in entry 25. Back then I only showed closeups and focused on the hydro corridor and the residential area surrounding it. But in recent years this neighborhood has developed a small commercial downtown owning largely to the governments policy of intensifying density near Fastraxx commuter train stations. The area now accounts for a little under 20% (5500 of 29,000) of Dresden's commercial jobs while12,600 live in the area. The Orchard Heights train...
TakemeThere
As seen from the last entry, my CJ can be quite heavy on the dialog at times. Not that I think that's a bad thing, but it's good to take a break sometimes. Also while the focus of the CJ is on infrastructure and transportation, that is not all that encompasses Pretoria Dresden has probably the largest suburban population of any of my cities. Here's some views of those suburbs up close, specifically the neighborhood of Orchard Heights; One of my favorite parts of the suburbs is where the Hardack hydro...
TakemeThere
Over the past year I've rebuilt the entire highway network as it had previously had been almost entirely maxis-highway based. The hardest and most time consuming part of that process is rebuilding the major interchange between highways. Just when the rebuilding process was nearly done, the NAM team goes out and gives us NAM 33/34. Because of this I've had to rebuild several of the major interchanges, yet again. Thanks a lot NAM team... for being so DAMN AWESOME! because building interchanges has always...
TakemeThere
To help reorient where we are, here's a quick look at the southern portion of the regional transportation map: Dresden is the large size map at the southern most part of the region. The metro area extends further south and I might add that area to the region in the future, though it's largely suburbia south of here.The Highway System in Dresden Dresden is served by two 700-series expressways, highways - 700 and 702(4 to 6 lane RHW). These are the two primary north to south highways in the region, they...
TakemeThere
The Ring of Steel(RoS) is the name of the main telecommunications array for the South Shore borough. The array is built on Mount Tokiko() which is 632ft /192m high and is positioned in an ideal location near the center of the city. There are much taller peaks both within and just outside Dresden city limits, such as Mount Hadron(1,145ft / 349m) and several others in the Phaeton mountain range that rise above 1,500ft / 450m tall. However none of them are easy to access because of steep cliff sides so it was...
TakemeThere
After months of work, with many breaks in between mind you, I've just about completed my Interchange Rebuild Project. Looper Junction, located in Dresden of the South Shores borough is where highways 700 & 702 meet and one of 7 major interchanges that needed to be completely rebuilt. current Highway System map; As with the others, the reason for rebuilding this interchange is because I decided to used the Project Symphony highway mod, which is not compatible with NAM highway interchanges. Looper Junction...
TakemeThere
Ok time to post some real Edit*entries(not eateries!) not just teasers. lol guess I know what I was thinking about when I first made this update. To make up for it, this will be the first of a longer type of entry. Every so often I'll be posting what I call Encyclopedic Entries or E2's for short. Basically a comprehensive synopsis of one system in the entire region. Here is the list of items I intend to cover in this way: -Highway Interchanges (today's E2) -Subway System -Commuter Rail System -Freight Rail...
TakemeThere

Entry no.1 - Intro

By TakemeThere,

As some of you may know I already have a CJ for this region in the forums. I was hesitant at first to use the CJ section since I wasn't sure if it would be as user friendly as the more traditional forum section. But I think its time I went with the times seeing as how the CJ section is the more active place for CJ's. I'm not sure yet if I'll maintain both journals, but this one will be less involved, that is over descriptive. The primary focus of the other CJ is the 'M Project' - short for the...
TakemeThere
Not the only power plant in the region, but the first one that comes to mind when people in the region mention anything about a power plant. Just a small section of it: Also a little over a month ago I started working on a street map for the region. Many years ago I had originally attempted to make a rail and street map using paint.net Needless to say the result was rather crude... First attempt at map making after completing the first couple of cities in the region back in 2006/07: Early Attempt at...
TakemeThere
Today I'll be taking a look at Broadcast Hill which is located in northern area of the city which is in the Middle East borough section of the city. Reference map; Here's an overview of the area; Located at the very top of the hill is the Broadcast Hill Tower and the studios for several TV and radio stations. The TV studio's for One Tree Hill News & Mother Prussia TV are located inside the broadcast building. In addition, the studios for the radio stations Kiss 92.3FM, Radio Polska & Chaz 103.5 are located...
TakemeThere
While everyone's off playing Cities: Skylines I'm sitting here making maps... but that's ok because I like making maps I used mapArt's maps as the template, with a few minor changes in the legend. Without further ado, here is the map of Cisco Bay; I'm fairly satisfied with how it came out. Let me know what you think. Also a peak at what the city looks like just after dusk; My personal favorite building in the city, just love the detailing at the top: One final view of downtown; Time to go for a drive, lets...
TakemeThere
Mayfield is one of those extra little towns I made at the edge of the regional map. It's a little more dense, but not as scenic as its northern neighbor Gravenhurst(Entry 11 & 12). City Hall & the Mayfield "Welcome sign" I meant to put this entry up last week but I spent most of my spare time working on one of my three major projects - the street map project. I've almost completed mapping the Middle East borough, which comprises a total area of 24sq/km, 13sq/km of which is developed. The other two major...
TakemeThere
Playing around with MMP's... something I never though I'd enjoy doing, but was I ever wrong about that. RE: Your Comments Huston Soon, very soon, I promise. Mymyjp Thanks! Haha and I was still planning a few more teasers! Just one more. Almost done with the plant, I just thought of a way I can improve upon it still though. Shouldn't take too long. 47ply Thank you. I've only recently started looking through the CJ section but your CJ definitely interests me very much as well. Yes the terrain has had a huge...
TakemeThere
This entry will deal with the transportation network and other locations of interest around the city. City overview: A - Broadcast Hill B - The Trueno River & related tunnels C - Guardians Gate Bridge D - Port of Isuzu, Supra River & Isuzu (Rail)Jct. E - Highway 709/Astel Rd. Interchange F - Kewston(neighborhood) G - Highway 709/Malkin Blvd. Interchange H - Cagalli (Rail)Jct. I - Downtown J - Highway 709/Crosby Ave. Interchange K - O'Leary Peak L - Fastraxx Cisco Bay M - Highway 700/709 Interchange N -...
TakemeThere
Kalahari peak overlooks downtown LC and rises to an elevation of 536ft/163m ASL(above sea level) which makes it the second tallest point of elevation in LC, a mere 9 feet shorter than the nearby Drogo peak 545ft/166m. There is a private road that leads up to the top that locals like to frequent. Those that make the trek are greeted with a pleasant view of downtown LC and neighboring Cisco Bay. The peak is located near the geographical center of the Middle East borough of Pretoria which makes it an idea...
TakemeThere
This entry will deal with the transportation network and locations of interest around LC. Lindin City Street Map Transportation Highway System LC is served by no less then five! highways(700-series - interchange access only). In numerical order these are; Highways 700(6 to 8 lanes), 704(6 lanes), 705(4 lanes), 707(4 lanes) & 709(4 lanes). There are two highway interchanges in the city, the massive and sprawling Spaghetti Junction and a smaller interchange between highways 705 & 709. In addition there are 3...
TakemeThere
Lindin City(LC for short) is the second largest city in the Eastern portion of the region. It's located just north of the city of Cisco Bay, seen in entry's 5 to 10. I've actually already shown two of my favorite areas of this city already, those being Spaghetti Junction & the Hillsboro Transmission Substation, but there is more to the city than just two places. This entry will focus on the downtown area and the nearby Kalahari Peak. As with the first entry on neighboring Cisco Bay, this update will only...
TakemeThere
First off few little mosaics of this quaint little town before we hit the road. long angle of the west bank: wide angle of the west bank: wide angle of the east bank: City wide pano: long pano; Now for the spaghetti... By that I'm referring to Spaghetti Junction one of the 3 largest highway interchanges in the region. This interchange is located in Lindin city which is just north of the city of Cisco Bay and west of Gravenhurst. After numerous delays the interchange has finally been completed. But I...
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