An axonometric view is a three-dimensional view in a typical 3D modeling system, where parts that are farther from the viewer are not shown smaller as they are in a perspective view. Typically, in a 3D modeling system, the point from which the viewer is observing, is adjustable, but a three-dimensional effect is not produced, since all parts appear in their actual size. This is sometimes called the "User" view.

The surface on which you build your layout. It starts out as a flat plane, but you can adjust elevations manually or with a displacement map.

The wheel and axle structure, on each end of a railroad car, that rests on the tracks and supports the car.
Called a "truck" in the U.S.

The electrical wires over a track which come in contact with an electric locomotive's pantograph to transmit power to the train's motors.

The word is derived from the name for the shape which the upper supporting wire takes as it spans two structures. Other vertical supports, of varying lengths, hang from this upper wire, and the wire that comes in contact with he pantograph is attached to the bottom of them. The lengths are designed to keep the lower wire as horizontal as possible, to make a more uniform contact with the pantograph.

For more information and a sketch, select "Overhead Line (Catenary)" on the Contents line of
THIS web site ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

The engine and other rolling stock that's coupled together to make up a train, ^{7 (Page 2)}
(it's what the train "consists" of).

The part of track structure that permits one track to cross another, by providing a slot through which the flange of the wheel can pass. ¹²
In the US, it's called a "frog".

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

A term used to content created by yourself or third parties for use in Trainz. ^{7 (Page 2)}

A database, prepared for areas within the Unites States, by the U.S. Geological Survey with elevation data for 90 meter, 30 meter and 10 meter intervals over the U.S. ^{19 (Manual, Page 2)}
This type of data is also available for other countries from various local agencies, (often at considerable cost).

A grey scale topography image in which the lighter colors represent higher points of land elevation than the darker ones. It's used to change the elevation of points on the baseboard from a flat plane to make it represent the land surface that the displacement map represents. ^{7 (Page 2)}

An identified connecting line between two verticies in a 3D model.

All the polygons in a continuous mesh. in a 3D modeling system.

A surface defined by three, (and only three) verticies in a 3D model.
Note that a face defines a plane, because any three verticies define a plane.
Also note that there may be multiple faces in a given plane, and any group of these, that are adjacent, are called a polygon.

The part of track structure that permits one track to cross another, by providing a slot through which the flange of the wheel can pass. ¹²
In the UK, it's called a "crossing".

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

A Trainz® terrain generation tool written by Adam Wojcieszyk, a Trainz user. It is a utility to create Trainz ".gnd" files out of ".tga" images. Once the ".gnd" file is created, it can be used to replace the ".gnd" file that Trainz includes when you create a new single-baseboard, empty layout. Starting with a new one-baseboard layout, HOG will add as many baseboards as needed to cover the area described by the DEM image you give it. If you also supply the TIGER image, that MicroDEM created, it will paste this image on the baseboard surface. Finally, it can identify rail lines in the TIGER image, (by their color) and trim baseboards that can't be seen from the rail line.

For more information about this process, click HERE.

A railroad yard for sorting the cars of incoming trains onto various tracks for the subsequent makeup of new outgoing trains. The trains are pushed up a hill, (called the hump) uncoupled at the top, and allowed to roll down the other side of the hill into the appropriate yard track. ¹²
Speed restricters are placed at various points to control the speed of the rolling cars.

For a picture of car, with a fragile load, that must not be roll freely down a hump yard ramp, click HERE.

Indexed Mesh files (*.IM) contain the basic geometry, texture, and animation capabilities of every 3D object in the Trainz world. Models may be one or many separate meshes. ⁴

Jarchive files (*.JA) "is Auran's Jet Archiving utility, and is used in Trainz to store multiple assets (such as locomotive and other 3D models and their associated textures) in one big file. One of the main reasons for using archive files is related to speed. Windows based systems are not quick at opening files and it's much faster for Trainz to access an object within a large file that has been opened once as opposed to having to search a directory and then open another file after 10's or 100's of files have already been opened. The difference in power up speed is quite noticeable if all of the files are left individually residing on the hard drive as opposed to being bundled into the .JA file. Another advantage is in storing hundreds, if not thousands of individual files in one big file... It maintains it's own directory structure internally, and this is important to remember when adding and extracting files." ⁵

The part of track structure that permits a train to move from one track to another,
Also called a "Switch" or a "Turnout".

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

Kinematics (Animation) files (*.KIN) "contain animation that moved from one key frame to another, and allow the developer to model movements in the development tools rather than in the game code." ⁴

KUID (Koolthingz Unique IDentifier)
An Auran numbering system to identify objects in Trainz. For more detail, see THIS link.

The world that you create in your railroad model. ^{7 (Page 2)}

A plan view of your layout. ^{7 (Page 2)}

A group of inter-connected edges in a 3D model.

MicroDEM is a microcomputer mapping program written by Professor Peter Guth of the Oceanography Department, U.S. Naval Academy.
It displays and merges digital elevation models, satellite imagery, scanned maps, vector map data, and GIS databases. from sources such as US Geological Survey, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Census Bureau, National Ocean Survey, British Ordnance Survey, Landsat TM, and SPOT
¹⁹

An orthographic view is any of the two-dimensional views in a typical 3D modeling system.

A jointed framework on top of an electric locomotive which collects electrical power from the overhead electrical wires, ^{7 (Page 2)} (which are also called the Catenary).

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

An perspective view is a three-dimensional view in a typical 3D modeling system, where parts that are farther from the viewer are shown smaller to produce a three-dimensional effect. Typically, in a 3D modeling system, the point from which the viewer is observing, is adjustable.

Progressive Mesh files (*.PM) "are an extension of indexed mesh files, and contain additional information that allows the game to increase the level of detail for models near the camera so they look as good as possible, or to reduce the level of detail for models in the distance to they are easy to draw quickly." ⁴

The moving part of a turnout (or switch or junction) that permits a train to move from one track to another,

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

A group of adjacent faces in the same plane in a 3D modeling system.

A term used to describe separate areas of the world that Trainz is designed to match. For example, in the Australia, Britain and the USA, different style of railroad signals are used, cars drive on different sides of the road, and the general theme of objects and ground texture are different. In Trainz, you select the region you want to model, and the results match practices in that region. ^{7 (Page 2)}

In 3D modeling, a spline is the line connecting two vertices, in the model. In Trainz, the term is extended to refer to an object, like a track, bridge, tunnel or road, that can be extended from point to point. The term is sometimes also used to refer to one of the points of a spline object.

In the Surveyor module of Trainz, a spline point is identified by dashed circle, (which may or may not rotate, depending on the options you selected). If a spline object is started at the spline point of another spline object and then dragged out, the initial direction of the new spline object will be the same as that of the one it connects to. As it is dragged out, the new spline object will curve to conform itself to the new direction. ^{7 (Page 2)}

Anything less than the whole object, in a 3D modeling system.

The part of track structure that permits a train to move from one track to another,
Also called a "Turnout" or a "Junction".

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

"The term 'Team Track' comes from a general purpose siding that was added for anyone to spot cars at for loading / unloading goods. They were utilized by surrounding businesses where a dedicated siding wasn't justified. A "team" of horses drawing a cart would then carry goods to surrounding places and haul others back again." ^{11(Posted By "prr001")}

The term TIGER^® comes from the acronym Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system which is the name for the system and digital database developed at the U.S. Census Bureau to support its mapping needs for the Decennial Census and other Bureau programs.

The design of the TIGER® database adapts the theories of topology, graph theory, and associated fields of mathematics to provide a disciplined, mathematical description for the geographic structure of the United States and its territories. The topological structure of the TIGER® data base defines the location and relationship of streets, rivers, railroads, and other features to each other and to the numerous geographic entities for which the Census Bureau tabulates data from its censuses and sample surveys. It is designed to assure no duplication of these features or areas.

²¹

A trackmark is a red triangle placed on a layout by the author, to show where a consist can be placed. ^{7 (Page 6)}

The wheel and axle structure, on each end of a railroad car, that rests on the tracks and supports the car.
Called a "bogey" outside the U.S.

The part of track structure that permits a train to move from one track to another,
Also called a "Switch" or a "Junction".

For more information and a sketch, click HERE. ^{(Link last checked on 12/3/2003)}

An identified point on an object of a 3D model at a defined distance from the origin, (the plural is "verticies").

Any one of several views of an object, or group of objects, as displayed in a 3D modeling system.
Typical viewports are:
Front: A two-dimensional view looking at the front of an object or group of objects.
Top: A two-dimensional view looking at the top of an object or group of objects.
Left:: A two-dimensional view looking at the top of an object or group of objects.
Perspective : A three-dimensional view of an object or group of objects, where the point from which the viewer is observing, is usually adjustable.

X, Y and Z are names for the three directions the "world" coordinate system in a 3D modeling system.
If you are looking at the "front" view of a three-dimensional object:
X is measures to the right (positive) and left (negative) of the defined origin,
Y is measured up (positive) and down (negative) from the defined origin, and
Z is measured away from you (positive) or toward you (negative) as measured from the defined origin.

U, V and W are the same directions, respectively, as X, Y, Z but they are measured from the defined origin of a specific object, and only have meaning within the bounds of that object. By referring to these dimensions when locating something on an object, the values will not change just because the object is moved to some other point in the scene. Note that U, V and W are the three letters just before X, Y and Z in the alphabet, and the names were (probably) selected to emphasize the similarity between the two coordinate systems.