trains coming out of my ears!

Welcome to the great train station and bus stop extravaganza! (Now with parking lots too!)

Okay, is that dramatic enough? Because I kind of went a little overboard here. Seriously, if I see another train in the next six months, I might go insane!

I'll go ahead and share these links at the start - Criquette's neighborhood deco building sets, and Sunni's deco cars - both of which were used extensively in this project.

And it all started with this, the LCMTA Rail Map.

There are two rail lines in the end - 1, blue line, from Stoneview Court to the Lakeside Heights town center. And 2, yellow line, from Lake City Corporate Center out to the space where my projected airport will be. (An imaginary airport for the time being, and for a long while to come!)

And you can kind of see how all the neighborhoods are laid out too, in relation to each other. (Traditional compass direction apply): Northwest of the river is all Lake City, and southeast of the river is Lakeside Heights. Lake City is landlocked except for the river running through its southeast corner. That same river then runs through Lakeside Heights' northwest corner, and then it carries on to the east along Bluewater's northern border.

Bluewater Township isn't on this map because it doesn't have a rail station, but it would be to the east of Lakeside Heights, with the same river to the north and the same lakeshore to the south.

Funny enough, I've always imagined Lake County was in southwest Michigan, but if I'm going to stay true to what I've established here, with Lake Michigan to the south, then Lake County could only be in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ah well, so be it, lol!

All this was inspired by a story, the one where Corbin needed a car to go visit Leila, because Bluewater doesn't have a rail station, and only one bus line. Only one single, lonely bus stop - this one. And the bus runs once every other hour, from 8-5, weekdays only. It's a very desolate place, this bus stop.

I wasn't thinking about actual, physical train and bus stations then - it was just something I made up for his story. I kind of had these ideas and orientations vaguely in my head, but then making up the rail map really gave all of this a real physical presence for my story. Now, you can see all the layouts and distances with your eyes.

Bluewater Township will not be a part of this project. We love them, for their very rural charm, but the country it is what it is. They don't get a rail station. And they only get one bus stop - there you see it.

The basics:

Each station is based off this template, and tweaked a bit to suit the neighborhood it belongs to. There are about ten stations in theory, but only six exist in physical form.

Five of my stations (Hazel Park, Metro Station, LCU Campus, West Washington, and Stoneview Court) are extended with a parking lot and longer platform, but the inside remains the same.

The platform = ordinary foundation with a stage on top, and reaches the level of the train doors quite nicely.

The control box - we'll pretend they need a key, so not anybody can just reach over and mess with the trains, lol!

No guns allowed on the LCMTA!

Lakeside Heights:

The residents of Lakeside Heights pay most of the tax money around here. And you know, money gets what money wants! And they didn't want any train overpass mucking up their pretty skyline or lakeshore views (= I couldn't figure out how the crap to lay those big honking track pieces on this tiny map!). So we went underground.

How? Well, in our imaginations of course ;)

There are two stations in Lakeside Heights. One in the town center, and another on the hill, at the Hazel Park neighborhood.

Lakeside Heights Town Center Station:

The Lakeside Heights Town Center station is bordered by the lakeshore on one side - there's the Marina House in the background.

And is situated right here in the Lakeside Heights Town Center. You know, hence the name, lol!

Lakeside Heights is a trendy residential area and popular shopping destination, so the station advertises fine dining and home ownership, as well as brochures for the local shops.

(close-up of the posters) Deppiesse's Lakefront Bistro on the left, Riley Estates Company on the right. I think I'll also make those businesses pay for this prime advertising space ;)

Bus stops in and around LH Town Center:

Brant Street neighborhood.

Shadow Woods Metropark.

Hazel Park Neighborhood.

There will be another bus stop built on site at the new public school, scheduled for opening next fall.

Next up is the Hazel Park Station (at the bottom of this picture, on the hill). After knocking down that mountain, we're now able to get a much better view of the town from the north side, facing out toward the lakeshore, which we were never able to do before.

Hazel Park is one of my stations that has on-site parking. It's also near the school, so there's a bus parked in the lot, so that we might imagine some kids went on a field trip to the city.

The Hazel Park station is right across the street from the actual Hazel Park, so there's a wide and well-lit crosswalk there.

The station inside is clean and well-kept. Lots of families would come here to travel, because of the parking, and because it's closer to the residential areas of Lakeside Heights.

Another view of the parking lot, and here is where you can see how the track wraps up around the hill and out to Lake City.

Lucy will show our final bus stop in Lakeside Heights, on route to Lake City at North Beach. This bus stop is a little more rustic than the others.

From the shores of the Bluewater River, you can see the two bridges that take us to Lake City, one for rail, and one for road.

Lake City:

The Lake City stations were a little bit trickier to lay. No, you won't actually see any tracks here - there was no way for me to lay track through the city, so the rail actually wraps around the city's edges.

In theory, there are ten stations, though one is completely imaginary (the airport station, off-map), two were combined (the south end station and commerce center - and I'm totally not redoing that map, so we'll just pretend there are still two, lol!), and the corporate center station I'm going to *attempt* to build as an underground station (something like this awesome thing, but you know, maybe not quite so scary, lol!). So there are currently six physical stations in Lake City, and that one underground to come.

Mostly, the tracks in this set were too large and awkward to really go where I needed them to go. So laying track in Lake City was mostly a sketchy job, pieces disjointed and covered up with trees. It should look fine from lot view, which is the main point though. Get me my pretty story pictures and to heck with everything else ;)

That said, only one of the Lake City stations is finished enough for showing right now. The rest of them are just the standard templates, and they'll be customized to suit the neighborhood they're in as needed.

This one is Campus Station, on the LCU campus. Right next to the LCU Field.

Campus Station also has parking on-site, with a lovely assortment of cheap student cars.

April will help us demonstrate this station live.

I've tagged this station with a uni record, so YAs will show up at this lot. The Campus Station also has its own busker in the lobby, trying to earn tips to pay his tuition.

The lobby is decorated with band posters and public service announcements, and somebody left their homework under a bench.

Here is a close-up of the post cards and greeting cards, which are the same in every station.

It was about here my graphics card crapped out - probably best you can't see what somebody dropped there by the garbage can - ick! College students are sloppy, and campus station is not the cleanest place. I actually can't believe I didn't take a picture of the front garbage bins, for as long as I spent placing empty beer bottles and trash around them. They're quite trashy, lol!

Since we have April here, I might as well demonstrate the platform, and how she can walk right up to the train doors. If you'd like to replicate this effect, this is just an ordinary foundation, with a stage on top. Because my graphics card crapped out, the fuzzy train kind of looks like it's even moving! It's not actually moving, and April is perfectly safe.

As you'll have with these silly kids, it wasn't long before a fight broke out.

Which prompted me to add a campus security patrol car outside at this station.

Other Lake City Bus Stops:

Outside County Hall.

Lake City Rec Center. The actual bus stop is on the other end of the lot, and I don't know why I took the picture from this angle - I guess I wanted to show you the poster board? lol! :\

Quite a clean stop, with some vending machines behind it. This is in the commerce district near LCU.

This one is my favorite bus stop, in the Old West End. I wanted to have Angelo demonstrate this one, but I ran out of time.

This is part of my grungification project (yes, not actually a word - though "uglification" does seem to be a word) of parts of Lake City. This is the Old West End though, and here we're going for more a charming vintage worn than actual slums. And besides, this is actually a park!

See, it's a park! ;)

I figure this is the kind of place Angelo would hang out sometimes, since he grew up in the Old West End. He probably tells people he still lives here, because his dad still does a lot of business out here, and because he wants to pretend he's all hard and tough. And because he doesn't want to tell people that he actually lives in the lovely gated community of Stoneview Court.

But it's safe enough for the kids and everything - we have signs! Drug free - gun free! That makes it safe, right? Or safe enough for kids like Angelo anyway.

The grungification of South Lake City is in progress... (Look, see the cop car!!!) And this is kind of on task, because you can actually see the train at the unfinished Metro Station there in the background. And a random bus stop too on the left.

South Lake City isn't meant to be super-urban, by the way, like high rises and everything. I actually have in mind more a sprawling vacant squalor kind of urban. I'm bad at grungy, but I'm trying. You'd think I'd be better at it, having come from Toledo and Detroit (said with the utmost respect, of course!) - but it seems the best I can do is some raggy grass and trashy dumpsters.

Ah well. This is Lakeside Heights, after all, we've got classy slums up in here!