Project Carousel Production Log (2/25/25)

*CRAWLS OUT OF A HOLE, GASPING FOR AIR* I FORGOT- I FUCKING FORGOT TO POST THE THING, I'M SORRY

Okay, so, I've been working on a new TVS Vicarstown route. It's more of a diorama set? Only good from the tracks, essentially. Anything beyond, and it starts to fall apart

The original pitch for the route was for it to be a mirrored version of Knapford, and to rely more on sharp edges rather than the comforting energy of TVS Knapford.

 It's become more of a parallel to it since then, including a cute little goods yard behind the station, before the main yards.

ATropicalMango, legend as they are, also made a custom station building based off of Knapford, but with differing brickwork!

After this, I started work on the area behind the actual station, which will be the prominent focus of the set.

The yards are intentionally very open, for a reason that I'll be explaining soon!

I wanted to try and make this yard seem a lot more industrial, with a lot of switches and tight corners. Definitely fit for small engines like Thomas or Percy to navigate... but nearly impossible for an engine like Henry or Gordon.

A lot of Project Carousel follows James' involvement with a carnival attraction, and how it impacts him directly. The issue is that it's a little difficult to get an engine directly involved with the carnival without... directly putting the yards in the carnival. So that's exactly what we did! The yards were intentionally left very open, so that way there was plenty of room for carnival attractions.

This also introduces something I don't usually tinker with, that being layers. By utilizing layers, I'm able to choose between several different types of Vicarstown Yard, namely an empty version...

a Carnival Setup version...

a full Carnival version...

...and a "Carnival Goers" layer for all the people, since the carnival will sometimes appear without people in it.

The full carnival is actually really fun to look at. The carousels are animated, the Ferris Wheels spin, and there's even music that plays from the models. It's a nice vibe :)

I also added a little mail depot beside the station just for the sake of having some more structures nearby.

The latest addition made to the route was adding a whole bunch of houses, just so that way it doesn't look like a desolate wasteland :P

That just about covers everything. This Friday there likely won't be a post, since I'll actually be making my drive to Washington starting Saturday, and will likely have my computer packed away before then.

Thank you everyone for reading. I'll keep you updated on other things as they develop! Take care!