If you see no background images after the scene is apparently loaded, or if you see artifacts such as "floating" trains, hit the Refresh button.
There are lots of goodies in this scene, and it will replay over and over, with differing viewing effects, as the trains vary in length and speed. So, a train completely obscured the first time thru may be completely open the next time. Get a cold drink, relax, and let the trains come to you. Again, if it just won't load properly, with background buildings, etc, try hitting the "refresh" button once.
While many artists contributed to this scene, Dave Hersrud and Gregg Staley have drawn dozens of gifs just for this scene. I would like to thank them for their significant contribution to this scene and the train gifs body of work as a whole.
The Buildings:
Cyclone: Dave Hersrud
Heat Exchanger/Steam Building: Dave Hersrud
Woodchip storage bin and conveyor system: Dave Hersrud
Woodchip conveyor system from railroad car unloading area: Jonathan Kearney
Yard throat electronic tower: Dave Hersrud
The Trains:
General train cars and engines: Tom Burger, Chris Denbow, David Epling, Dave Hersrud, Erik Rasmussen, Matt Steinblock, Alfred Woolfolk II, Bryn Zellner
EPIX and EPIU trash platforms and containers: Gregg Staley
Log cars: Dave Hersrud, Tom Burger (BN)
Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus Red Train: This entire train is the work of Brad Morocco. There are no duplicated cars in this 45-car consist. The BNSF engines are from Matt Steinblock.
Woodchip cars: Ed Burchell, Erik Rasmussen, Gregg Staley, Alfred Woolfolk II, Bryn Zellner
Woodchip goats: Tom Carter (well-used ex-WP SW7), and Dave Hersrud (Frisco S-12). The maintenance and railroad employees at the plant volunteered their labor to strip and re-paint the locos to represent them in their prime.
The Vehicles:
Chemical tanker: Gregg Staley
Flatbed lumber semi: Tom Burger
Log "Dinosaur": Dave Hersrud
Log Loader: Bryn Zellner
Log trucks: Gregg Staley
Woodchip trucks: Gregg Staley
The scene is representative of an integrated wood products mill located in the northwest corner of the United States. It is on a BNSF secondary main line, and is serviced primarily by BNSF, but UP has access via an agreement with the shipper and BNSF. Note that most cars are right at home in this scene, but a few might be construed as "foreigners", such as the CSXT and Southern woodchip cars. These are added for variety, and are also added because the artwork is good, and the cars just look great. Besides, business is booming and the plant needs all the cars it can scrounge up!
As with all Frograil train gifs scenes, there are several objectives to be met by this scene. First and foremost is the desire to showcase the excellent train gif artwork that is available thru Frograil. The artists credited with the creation of these gifs have given us a vast and varied collection of gifs from which to choose. All gifs used in this scene can be found within Frograil, and are placed on Frograil with the permission of the artists.
Secondly, this scene was developed as a lab to demonstrate the use of new (for me) techniques. One is script-controlled acceleration and deceleration. This scripting is available thru Brian Clough's tutorials, Number 5. Trains entering the plant's yard decelerate; those leaving accelerate. Several hundred trucks with logs and woodchips would enter such a facility as the one depicted here every day, and plenty of those have been added. Instead of making these separate "trains", they are spaced out fairly randomly via the use of "spacer" transparent gifs.
Finally, there is a (very) loose effort to display trains that are prototypically correct for the Pacific northwest, but there's a prototype for everything, and I do take liberties from time to time, especially if I need a bunch of something or other, but have a limited number of gifs to choose from.
If you're interested in creating your own gifs or scenes, you should consider joining train_gifs@yahoogroups.com , which is an e-mail list group of train gifs artists, from novice to expert.