Maarten's Regions (Imaginia and Schellingen Stadt)

[riiga]

Fantastic update Maarten! Stunning work with the RHW 

- riiga

[io_bg]

Great set of pictures! And fantastic interchanges (as always)! I'd like to ask where did you get the dark bluish building on pic 11? It's located next to the uppermost overpass.

[Terring7]

Excellent job, keep going



Just an idea. If i were you, i would built elevate heavy railroads. This will prevent the avenue crossing and will allow the connection of G.L.R. rails.

[Kevin1a]

I've found another MD to follow!  I actually saw a picture of yours in the show us your intersections thread, and looked to see if you had an MD where I could see more.  Your use of RHW is really good. 

In image 19 you have display monitors for the automated traffic control system above the autobahn; may I ask where you found these?  Germany does a really good job with their highways, at least compared to the US.  I've lived both places, and the engineers in the US, just aren't getting the funding to do it right (unless it's something else)

[mave94]

Good to see another dutch MD
Your area is really good; keep on going 


I saw dutch NBA-signs (Nieuwe Bewegwijzering Autosnelwegen); Are they now available on the stex?

Matthijs

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic pictures, Maarten!!! Great work!!! 
Happy new year!!!

[MandelSoft]

Welcome back!

Nice work with the GLR Catenaries! And your work with the RHW shows me again one of my painful deficits - I have never mastered the RHW ... 

There is only one thing though that I do have to criticize: the avenue level crossing (shudder) at the station Konrad - West in Picture 2. I am sure you do find a way better solution compared to ... that ... well ... 

Take care!


Bernhard 

Thank you for your comments. About the avenue level crossing, I agree that I could have found a better solution to that. But other than that number of level crossings is reduced a lot since I read your article about railways. By the way, I'm sure you like the upcoming updates...

Fantastic update Maarten! Stunning work with the RHW 

- riiga

Thank you!

Great set of pictures! And fantastic interchanges (as always)! I'd like to ask where did you get the dark bluish building on pic 11? It's located next to the uppermost overpass.

I believe it's one of the Maxis Monuments, the Seafirst Tower.

I've found another MD to follow!  I actually saw a picture of yours in the show us your intersections thread, and looked to see if you had an MD where I could see more.  Your use of RHW is really good. 

In image 19 you have display monitors for the automated traffic control system above the autobahn; may I ask where you found these?  Germany does a really good job with their highways, at least compared to the US.  I've lived both places, and the engineers in the US, just aren't getting the funding to do it right (unless it's something else)

The traffic control signs are from my own design and I haven't uploaded those yet, mainly because they are not completely finished...

Good to see another dutch MD
Your area is really good; keep on going 
[image]

I saw dutch NBA-signs (Nieuwe Bewegwijzering Autosnelwegen); Are they now available on the stex?

Matthijs

No, this is actually the Imaginian Signage system, which I also haven't released yet. However, I'm working on a dutch NBA set 

Fantastic pictures, Maarten!!! Great work!!! 
Happy new year!!!

Thank you!

Before I start with my update I'd like to note that my previous updates took a long time to complete and they were usually huge. In the future, I'll try to make smaller, more frequent updates. I've also changed the name of the MD to "Maarten's Regions", since I don't cover only Imaginia anymore, but also the city region of Schellingen.

DISCLAIMER
Some content I use is not available anywhere. It's mostly testing stuff, experimental stuff or things I didn't complete yet. Don't ask me when these things will be released, since I don't know either.  Here's a list of content I use that's not available anywhere (yet):

• Network Addon Mod Version 30 (Testing Version)
• Real HighWay Mod Version 4.2 (Testing Version)
• Network Widening Mod Version 2.0 (Testing Version)
• NAM Re-Texture Mod - Euro Version (Developer Version)
• RHW Ploppable Median Lights (Developer Version)
• Uniform Street Light Mod - LRM Version (Developer Version)
• Imaginian Signage Set + Traffic Control Signs (Developer Version)
• GLR Catenaries Addon Mod (Developer Version)

Welcome to the marvelous city of Schellingen, capital of the Bundesrepublik Schellingen! This quite large city has over a million inhabitants and hosts the government of the country, which is located in the Bundesquartier. We'll talk about that subject later this tour. Before we begin our tour through the region's central city, let's have a look at the region. (click for full resolution, goes for all pictures in this MD)

As you can see, the city is widely spread across the map. The city is at its widest 12 kilometers across and has a medium sized airport, a decent rail and tram network and a large city ring freeway. But you can also see that it's a lot of work in progress, especially in the West and the South of the city.

Another thing I would like to note is the route numbering system. You can see that the freeways have a A# number (where "A" stands for "Autobahn") and the main routes that don't have a freeway status have a B# number (where "B" stands for "Bundesstraße"). There are also C# routes (the international "Continental" route system) and L# routes ("Landstraße"-routes), but the last category is often not signaged, and purely administrative. The route numbers themselves also follow a certain logic. Odd routes are going North-South, even routes are going East-West. City rings often end with 0. The first digit of the number is linked to the region where the route is in. There are nine regions in Schellingen.

Also, the route numbering is an integrated system, meaning that one number can be assigned to one route, no matter if it is a freeway or not. So when the A14 ends, it continues as the B14. The only oddity you might spot is the A112. This is because it's only a short stretch of freeway and there's already a A12. To prevent the route got ridiculously high route numbers, the route got it's own number.

Here is a map of the whole country: CLICK HERE! (3750 x 5078px, 2 MB)

OK, let's zoom in to Schellingen-Mitte, especially in to the Altstadt (the old city district)...

Here we see the old city center (the current CBD is at the other side of the river). Here in the center of the picture we see the cathedral of Schellingen: the St. Stefankirche. It's one of the main tourist attractions of Schellingen. But let's not forget the rest of the Altstadt. The beautiful architecture and the good atmosphere attracts tourist from all around the country and beyond. So let's take a tram tour through the Altstadt!

Yes, the Altstadt is quite large. You also immediately notice the grid layout of this old city district, which is quite unusual for its time. The avenue at the bottom of the picture, the Fransösallee (B12), is one of the main roads in Schellingen. To the West (right in this picture), it goes to the "Zentralautobahn" A7, Bewerbegebiet Mannzig (an industrial area, which I'll show you in the next update), Schwanau Airport and the A12 to Bammsmunster. Let's continue our tram tour...

We arrive at the train station near the Altstadt. I hear you ask: "what are all those modern buildings (including the station) doing right next to the old city center?" That's a quite interesting story. In the year 1913, there was a large fire in Schellingen. The eastern part of the Altstadt couldn't be saved and has completely burned to the ground. The western part of the Altstadt and the Bundesquartier was almost completely separated from the eastern part by the; only the railway station connected the two. Unfortunately that building caught fire too, so the whole fire fighting crew focused to stop the fire at the station building to prevent that the western half of the Altstadt would burn down too. They succeeded to do that and the western Altstadt and the Bundesquartier were saved.

In the following years a new city district was build up and some old buildings in the western half were demolished (due to the severely bad conditions of the buildings). Nowadays the area has completely revived. We take a tram and we stop at the next stop to exit the tram and take a walk to the Friedenpark, a large park located in the governmental complex called the Bundesquartier.

That arch is impressive, isn't it? That's the Friedenbogen. It's a gift from the neighbouring country Steinmarken for the good relations between the two countries. In the background you see around the large square the ministries of Finances, Economy, Healthcare & Well-Being and Social business. Let's continue our tour through the Bundesquartier.

Here we have the ministries of Transport, Science & Education & Culture, Inland business, Foreign business and the Parlement building (the large building in the back).

Here we have the ministries of Agriculture & Food quality, Defense, Justice, General Business, Envoirment, Trade and Utilities (note: the last ministry takes care of electricity, water and other resources).

Now we take a taxi and we head to the location of the next update, but before I end this part of the tour, I'll show you two more pictures...

Here is the Zentralautobahn A7, the widest Autobahn in Schellingen. It has a 4x3 lanes setup, where the center lanes are for express traffic only. At the right end you see where we came from, and at the left we see the location of the next update. Stay tuned!

Oh, and by the way, I said I would show two more pictures? Well, here's the final one: a slightly outdated mega mosaic of the city:


See you next time!

Best,
Maarten

[riiga]

Awesome update! Words can't describe how fantastic it looks, especially the retexture mod and the NAM stuff. 

[mave94]

Good to see another update, hope you will update more in future.
Your city has some beautiful details; and that euro texture
Good luck!

-Matthijs

[kodlovag]

Nice pics Maarten, especially the night shots. 
I love the region map too.

[samerton]

Amazing! The region looks great!

[noahclem]

Great update Maarten!    I love all the new content and especially the last picture with the RHW interchange at night!

[Ciuu96]

Awesome update, your cities look great and I really like that last pic with that nightlighting!

[RickD]

I am always excited when I see a new update from you. Not only because your pictures are great but also because I might get a sneak peek on new NAM features. 

[MandelSoft]

Awesome update! Words can't describe how fantastic it looks, especially the retexture mod and the NAM stuff. 

Thank you! I never get tired of the NAM

Good to see another update, hope you will update more in future.
Your city has some beautiful details; and that euro texture
Good luck!

-Matthijs

Glad you like the Euro textures, Matthijs

Amazing! The region looks great!

Thank you!

Great update Maarten!    I love all the new content and especially the last picture with the RHW interchange at night!

I've mastered the RHW over the years and one of the main developers of the mod.

Awesome update, your cities look great and I really like that last pic with that nightlighting!

Thanks to Kodlovag's USL (which I modified a bit for LRM lamp posts) I can make awesome night shots

I am always excited when I see a new update from you. Not only because your pictures are great but also because I might get a sneak peek on new NAM features. 

I'll always offer some sneak peeks of the new NAM features

Welcome to part 2 of our trip through Schellingen-Mitte. Today we are going to visit the industrial district of Schellingen (so we can see the "ugly" side of the city) and a I'll show a bit of the CBD and some ressidential areas.

We start at where we left from the last part. We follow the Französallee through the industrial area (Bewerbegebiet) Mannzig. It's one of the largest industrial area in the city.

The industrial area contains the city waste management. Especially near the Mannzigerallee there are a lot of waste management buildings. This waste management center manages all the waste in the region. Also notice the radio tower from the local radio station in the picture below.

Here is one of the main intersections of the industrial areas. Here two main avenues, the Fransösallee (B12) and the Mannzigerallee (B19), cross each other. You see that the tramline goes underneath the Fransösallee. This intersection handles large traffic volumes, especially freight traffic. Also, this picture is in the SC4Devotion Picture Competition HoF!

Here we see the Mannzigerallee underpass under the freight rail line. You can see the freight station is at the left.

Now we're going to leave the industrial area and go to the northern side of the river.

Here we have a look at one of the newer high-rise ressidential districts of Schellingen, Nordüfer. It's quite close to the CBD of the city. In the center of the picture you see the Schwanauerallee (B14). Also not the quite large quantity of small parks here.

Here we have the main railway river crossing. The main railway line as well as the tram line bridges the river Dubber. Due to the dense development some roads need to cross these railways, so some underpasses are build here.

Another ressidential city district, Weichen. You see there are large parks developed here. Schellingen is a lot greener than the cities I created in Imaginia. It's clearly visible when you compare my latest update of Imaginia with this one.

And to conclude this update, a nice night shot of the CBD and the Central Station. Fun fact: I used Amsterdam Central Station for three of my best cities: Konrad, Guilliano and also here in Schellingen.

Join me next time for the final part of our tour through Schellingen-Mitte. After that I'll take you to Schwanau.

Best,
Maarten

[WC_EEND]

I love those rail bridges over that avenue ditch

Xander

[Haljackey]

Welcome back to MD'ing Maarten! Glad to see this return to active status. Awesome pics on your lastest updates!

[Skimbo]

A couple of great updates in here =)

[Sciurus]

Really nice pictures Maarten!

Guillaume.

[mave94]

Great work, Maarten!
I agree that the cities are greener than Imaginia, especially the industrial areas looks more realistic!
Great work on the underpasses

-Matthijs