Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project v2b - a review

  • Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project v2b


    Fizzbin has done a great work, so far, on his beta version. Lots of tracks and there are many future days and weeks ahead waiting to be spent at playing being the best tram driver in Karlsruhe (please don't wake me up). It is Wörth (worth) a look and download is free. It still needs a lot of editing, as it is only a beta, and there are various tracks where the rules are changed - I can understand when someone works on a project for weeks and forgets to look at the track rules. It's a pity that one of the extended lines is blocked by buffers, which is a simple fix of welding in World Edit. It is a complicated system on a large scale with many things to consider. It is beta; for us to have a look, so we can be like a child outside a sweetshop window.


    Double loop - for the price of one


    The route itself will look like 3 or 4 commercial add-on's once completed. It is worth buying the retail routes, in my opinion, and I believe there is more 'bang for your bucks' for the savvy simulator gamer when this beta becomes a finished product. The ride is a little bumpy and there are no speed signs on the extended routes, but who looks at the "Speeding" warning, anyway, when testing it out :D




    Virtual wind farm included


    The route is fictitious, but is widely based on the Karlsruhe tram/stadtbahn (low-floor tram) system and fizzbin keeps close to it as possible with artistic license. Best of all - it's free!


    Unlike the real thing, the route is not really for low-floor trams. This is down to the author wanting to use trams from the U-Bahn Farnkfurt am Main V2 add-on. However, if you can lower the platforms in World Edit then you can perhaps use a yellow low-floor tram that is available for free on this site. It takes up far too much time to raise the platforms just to lower them again for a free tram that isn't as good as the commercial ones from Just Trains, unless you want to copy the route and have two routes for two systems - I wish you well!


    Lameyplatz from Mühlburg at drone height


    Fizzbin has done a great work in his fictional stramstop Alb 1, 2 + 3
    , probably named after the river that suppose to flow past it. I have searched the whole of Google Earth and I cannot find a tramstop or "transit stop" named Alb. This is not the only "fiktiv" stop on fizzbin's route. However, they do add a little something to it and this is where 'creative license' comes in. I don't know why transit stops/platforms are laid down before the tracks, maybe it is just planning and marking for further production.


    Alb transit stop - including a dried up river bed


    We might get to see a line stretching all the way to the Rhine, that would fine should he have time. I'm not sure if trains share the same stations as the trams, but I personalise it for myself if I wanted to run a DB-BR425 or ICE 3 along it. Maybe I'll try a steam train as a tourist scenario.

    It looks like a great start, a chalk drawing on a canvas and waiting for the painting to be finished. Hopefully, not watching paint dry until fizzbin releases v2 fully edited and fully tested. :)
    I am already doing some of my own editing to get the Wörth and European School lines working fine for myself to play around and create my own scenarios, when I have rainy days in North West England - which are plenty btw.



    I am a Durlach tram


    Opps! I nearly forgot the improvements to v6 + my v7 version. This part is complete and with turning loops at Wolfartsweier Nord and Hirtenweg. I am pleased he kept my fiktiv (fictitious) Schloss Gottesaue loop in this new version. Other trains/trams/rail vehicles may not be able to open the doors automatically on some platforms that he put back, but I am not attached to them and I won't be moving them again. The U-Bahn Frankfurt trams can open their doors manually from the tram's dashboard, but to unload passengers takes a click on the HUD. The only thing is, it's 35 seconds on the HUD and 20 seconds on the dashboard; once the bell sounds, just like Pavlov's dogs, it is easy to set off and forget you're still loading/unloading passengers - ouch!


    Fascinating Spöck *LLAP*


    Fizzbin sure has a lot of work on his hands finishing this project and I am sure there will be 100's of TS gamers out there who will be very greatful for his time and effort - I know I am. My thoughts are: download it, have a look, play around, edit it if you can, but mostly enjoy.



    Here is a big smile from me

    European School of Ice-Cream Cone Emoji's


    You can download the beta route using this link: Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project v2b

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    Skipper

    16 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Skipper () aus folgendem Grund: Spelling mistakes and making sentences more clear

  • I am living near Karlsruhe and can tell that Lameyplatz looks pretty realistic, however there is still missing a lot of buildings.


    Keep up the good work :)

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  • Yes - Fizzbin has done a great job. I didn't know how realistic is it, not having Street View for Germany. Nearest thing is photospheres. When I do my edits I look at Google Earth or photos from transit stop information on Google Maps.

  • Oh wow, a review about that amateur route? :love: I´m surprised. Thanks.
    I will take a look at some review parts....

    Zitat von Ski

    It still needs a lot of editing, as it is only a beta, and there are various tracks where the rules are changed

    Yes it´s a lot of work to do and yes the track rule thing is far from perfect/good, I forgot to often to look at this. Shame on me


    Zitat von Skipper

    Alb 1, 2 + 3, probably named after the river that suppose to flow past it. I have searched the whole of Google Earth and I cannot find a tramstop or "transit stop" named Alb.

    Yes, the valley of the alb section is a little spontaneous fictive idea to prevent most of Karlsruhe to build :D . There will be a little river, sea, canyon too.


    Zitat von Skipper

    why transit stops/platforms are laid down before the tracks

    thats why most of the track-extensions has layed already in version 1 but after merge the routes I must rebuild these. Some has already done, some not. So there can be found stations but no track.

    Zitat von Skipper

    I'm not sure if trains share the same stations as the trams

    The line via Ka-West, Ka-Mühlburg to Wörth is used by both (but I´m not sure). ICE or 425 are not driving on this part (but who cares, it is a simulation)



    Zitat von Skipper

    I am pleased he kept my fiktiv (fictitious) Schloss Gottesaue loop in this new version ....
    ther trains/trams/rail vehicles may not be able to open the doors automatically on some platforms that he put back

    The loop at Gottesaue may be perhaps past when the lines into the west are ready ;) , don´t know yet. Then the lines will end at other parts. After some driving I changed them because they are more similar to the real, and some I see them too often, it feels in the end not right for myself. But you had done a good work. :thumbup:



    Zitat von Skipper

    this beta becomes a finished product

    that will take a long time :/ and lot of nerves too


    Zitat von Skipper

    The ride is a little bumpy and there are no speed signs on the extended routes

    thats why it is beta ;) . Exept of the 99,9% finished line between Spöck - Durlach/Wolfartsweier part at other parts track has to be smoothed, speed set, further streets placed, some parts has already some kind of buildings I think they would fit best for the location and so on.


    At the moment I would like to bring the additional extensions to a status that I am satisfied with (where a track has to be, speeds, streets / street crossings, where / which buildings should be, where /what kind of vegetation etc.).
    After that, other people are welcome to participate. Setting catenary for example is a horror to me. In any case, the overhead line only comes towards the end of all, as it is otherwise very frustrating to work close to the tracks. I didn't have the muse to properly deal with signals either ...(but I will begin a little experimenting with BoStrab signals that should be set in future on most of the tram sections)



    Zitat von Gsonz

    I am living near Karlsruhe and can tell that Lameyplatz looks pretty realistic, however there is still missing a lot of buildings.

    thanks and yeah there is very much to do. All parts west from Tullastrasse are unfinished (and to Waldstadt too).





    If unknown, there is a older thread I began for my project
    S2 Karlsruhe - Spöck (ehem. S2 Hagsfeld - Spoeck); NEU: Stadtbahn Karlsruhe Project

    "Wenn ihr nicht auf meiner Seite steht, dann seid ihr mein Feind!" (Anakin/Vader) - "Nur ein Sith kennt nichts weiter als Extreme" (Kenobi) - Star Wars

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von fizzbin ()

  • ich meine dass da überwiegend Dieseltriebwagen unterwegs wären (weiter nach Neustadt a.d.Weinstr) und Stadtbahnwagen (S51 / S52) nach Germersheim. Weiss es aber auch nicht wirklich.


    Die Rhein-Neckar S-Bahn fährt zwar nach Germersheim (S3?) aber nicht direkt über Wörth sondern ab Ka HBF über Bruchsal, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Speyer. Man sollte also in KA nicht in jeden Zug einsteigen wenn man dorthin möchte und der Germersheim als Ziel anzeigt *achtung*

    "Wenn ihr nicht auf meiner Seite steht, dann seid ihr mein Feind!" (Anakin/Vader) - "Nur ein Sith kennt nichts weiter als Extreme" (Kenobi) - Star Wars

  • Just for fun, you can put a train or tram at the top of Wolfartsweier Nord and release the breaks only. See if you can get past Hagsfeld or maybe how far towards Woerth. It can be done.

    4 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Skipper () aus folgendem Grund: Because I cannot delete it