Model train guides and notes from the build
How to plan, build and run a model railway in Traluno, ideas that carry over to a real layout, and the engineering notes behind the game.
Play · 8 min read
Minecraft With Trains? What Else Is on the Shelf
Traluno gets called Minecraft with trains, or a small Cities: Skylines. What those, the tycoon games and the train sims do better, and what none of them do.
Play · 9 min read
The Other Model Railway Games, Compared Honestly
Model railway games compared: Trainz, Rolling Line, Model Railway Easily, BAHN, the track planners and the makers' own software, and what each does best.
Behind the build · 6 min read
What the Table Teaches You
Traluno could have been a god-game on an infinite plane. A 3 m table in a hobby room, seen from standing height, decided almost everything after.
Layouts & track plans · 6 min read
Lay Your First Model Train Loop
How to build a model train loop in Traluno: twelve pieces of track, the order to lay them in, and the three mistakes that stop a first loop running.
Scale & geometry · 8 min read
Why Tight Curves Break Voxel Track
Traluno's track has one curve radius, 5 units. Why a swept box breaks below a minimum radius of its own, and how that compares with real HO curves.
Behind the build · 6 min read
Two Material Languages, and Why They Must Not Mix
Traluno's voxel art style has one rule: anything built is stacked blocks, anything manufactured is smooth. Where the line falls, and what breaks if crossed.
Scenery & buildings · 6 min read
Building a Town That Does Not Repeat
How Traluno's procedural buildings vary: colours hashed from the cell each house stands on, jittered blocks, and why the glTF people cannot be tinted.
Scale & geometry · 5 min read
The Loading Gauge, or: Why the Crane Ate the Train
What a loading gauge is on a real railway, the one number every Traluno model over the track must clear, and the crane a goods train drove through.
Behind the build · 8 min read
Roads Are Harder Than Rails
Procedural road geometry for a voxel model railway: four street pieces, junction pads, square kerb islands, zebra crossings and the people who walk them.
Scenery & buildings · 9 min read
When the Lights Come On
How Traluno's day night cycle works in three.js: unlit glow meshes for windows and lamps, sixteen real lights at most, and a garden sky of point stars.
Running trains · 7 min read
A Desk, Not a Menu
Traluno's model railway control desk is levers, toggles and buttons on the front of the table, worked with the mouse. What it cost, and what it taught.
Running trains · 7 min read
Riding in the Cab: Two Cameras, One Renderer
How Traluno draws its train cab view: a second camera in the same three.js renderer, a scissored viewport, recording inside the frame, a seat for every ride.