Survival Railway Network (Survival 3)

Survival 3 Railway Network
Survival 3
A view of Grand Central Station in spawn.
Project
Type	Transportation Project
World(s)	Survival 3
Leader(s)	darparniox
Contributors	Line Managers:  William278  Marbou9 → Mrs_Diss  Skelleton123 and many various Helpers...

The Survival 3 Railway Network was a network of railways across the Survival 3 world with the mission of providing a high quality rail transport network using four main SRN lines that began at Grand Central Station in Spawn and extended in each cardinal direction. It was the successor to the network on Survival 2 and Survival 1.

Network

SRN and NTN map, in-game

The third iteration of the SRN network once again followed the successful and familiar cardinal structure. The visibility of the project took a large upturn, with Grand Central Station returning to Spawn, this time as one of the most prominent features. Railways were interspersed with stations to provide access to new land, NTN and to break up a player's journey into observable parts. Branch lines connected to these stations, and were built by their owners to provide access to many sorts of settlements, projects, and builds.

At the end of the Survival 3 world, the network had expanded well past the previous iterations. Over 17 months, 24 SRN stations were constructed, a marked increase on the 14 during Survival 2. Every cardinal line eclipsed it's previous distance mark, most notably South Line, with seven stations that span over 11 thousand blocks. The longest completed line was the section between Endor and Thornhill Stations on the North Line, at 1897 blocks. In addition, the SRN network was connected to by a record number of branch lines. Many of these branch lines were the largest seen by a margin, incorporating more than 10 stations in some cases. The Winter Line in the Southwest and Avalanche Line in the Northwest are special mentions in this area.

Headquarters

Survival 3 saw a return to the SRN being headquartered at Spawn. The building was found past the North wall of the Basin, and contains information, material storage for railway construction, thank-you wall, and decorative offices.

Survival 3 World

Spawn Build

SRN management was approached in late August 2018 and was given the opportunity to build Survival 3 Spawn, with the view of Grand Central Station being a main component upon server owner ReNDoG's request along with an underwater theme. The offer was accepted and work began therefrom.

Construction was hampered often through the design and building process. Several major clashes of ideas and breakdowns of trust occurred, and members of the build team often became disenchanted with the building process during them.

Railway designs for spawn

Grand Central Station was one of the first confirmed features of what is now the Spawn Basin, and it was suggested and then implemented that each line takes on a colour of its own for identification purposes, starting at the Grand Central flooring. However, the lines stemming from it were not even started until the final week of construction and previous SRN helper Mrs_Diss was invited to assist with rail construction. Nevertheless, the build was completed in full for the 20ᵗʰ of October - opening day, and a rather shaken SRN management team marched on into the new world.

Immediate Impact

Although slightly against the usual SRN philosophy, having four pre-built lines from Grand Central Station allowed SRN construction speed to exceed the early stages of the previous worlds. East Station was completed a mere two days after launch, and West Station within the week. South and then North Stations followed shortly after during the month of November. A temporary HQ was built underneath West Station.

At this point, secondary lines had been renamed 'branch lines', to better reflect what they were. The first would be completed to the CKC starter base in November. Initiatives to encourage branch line building were implemented by line managers later, in April.

Balaton Station opening

Attention turned to the next stretches of rail from the initial four SRN stations. The one from North Station was the first test of a slightly more prepared build session format, and was highly successful. Nine players assisted through various points during eight hours of continuous construction that saw the entire line to the Shoreline Station site fully completed. That station was completed in early January, making North line the first to have a second stop, closely followed by the opening of a second Mall Station. The first third of the year also saw the advent of the 'Bean War', in February and based around SRN social circles. This ensured that SRN stayed in the forefront of many players minds, with Tidal, Coconut, Witchwood, Balaton and Cool Cove Stations all being constructed around this period. The flourish in station activity was complemented by the return of misterblue28's SRN/NTN pixel art map in February, and the long-awaited SRN HQ in April, built by darparniox and Skelleton123.

The railway to Snowman Station under construction, May 2019

Base Tour Boom

A tour of the SRN with server owner and youtuber ReNDoG was recorded on the 27ᵗʰ of April and released on the 29ᵗʰ of June. While creating large exposure and a large population boost for the server, as with previous examples of base tour videos, the SRN itself became even more widely known in the server community. Maintenance was a top priority as traffic increased exponentially overnight, created predominantly by new players from the video. Two days later, marbou9 resigned as South line manger, choosing Mrs_Diss as his successor. A somewhat impromptu 'passing of the yellow hat' ceremony saw 20 people crowd inside of SRN HQ to watch.

Enthusiasm was high for both the SRN and NTN, although many prominent members of the project felt slightly overrun with the experience. Endor and Bastion Glace Stations were completed in early July, and Snowman Station was finally completed in August.

Continued Growth

SRN Headquarters, May 2019

Throughout August, the SRN continued to enjoy constant growth, with the openings of Meadows and Retro on the east line. August also saw the NW Avalanche Branch Line begin to open as well as the commencement of construction on the SW Winter Line. In September, Barrier Station opened and in November, Relleka station was also opened. In November, Neon Station on the south opened and in December, Thornhill Station on the South opened, making all lines 5 stations long, the longest any main SRN lines have been in history. The Avalanche line was also completed all the way to Calafort, making it, the longest by far in distance a branch line has ever accomplished. In February 2020, the SRN and NTN map was re-constructed to fit the growing size of the network, in a 3x3 map form. A handful of stations were also completed during the new year, including Tower Station in January and The Rock as well as Luxor Station in the final month of March. Significant portions of the Winter Branch Line were also connected in this period, opening some far reaching areas before closure.

Stations

• Grand Central Station

North Line

North Station, adjoined by other builds of NIGHTMAREx84

• North Station
• Shoreline Station
• Witchwood Station
• Endor Station
• Thornhill Station

East Line

Cool Cove Station at night

• East Station
• Tidal Station
• Cool Cove Station
• Meadows Station
• Retro Station

South Line

Coconut Station, with the SRN's Dogcraft Spleef League arena in the background

• South Station
• Coconut Station
• Snowman Station
• Barrier Station
• Neon Station
• Tower Station
• Luxor Station

West Line

West Station on a hill with its extensive surrounds

• West Station
• Mall Station
• Balaton Station
• Bastion Glace Station
• Relleka Station
• The Rock Station

Branch Lines

Branch line station at the Cagean Isles

• Avalanche Line
  • Going west from Witchwood Station: Frosting Lake → Sunpetal Oasis → Dogfish
  • Going north from Relleka Station: Lancre → Barkenstein → Seaguard → Dogfish
  • Going north-west from Dogfish Station: → Drowned → Tekrimeter → Calafort
• SW Winter Line
  • Going south from Bastion Glace Station: Everec → Wilder → Meander
  • Going south from Relleka Station: Holiday → Jello → Meander → Cloud → Edgecliff → Safari → Ratanga Junction.
  • Going west from Snowman Station: Steampunk → https://minotar.net/helm/Aeghu/20.png Aeghu's Base → Build Battles → Cantina → Meander

• Cool Kids Club Starter Base - North West of East Station
• Dragon Valley - East of Shoreline Station
• The Home Tree - East of Witchwood Station
• Ouranos - Southeast of Cool Cove Station
• Lakewood - East of Coconut Station
• Liamaar - North of Cool Cove Station
  • Winter Wonderland - North Of Liamaar Station
• The Cagean Isles - South of East Station, West of Ragecorp
• Toltec Towers - Southeast of Snowman Station
• Snowfields Ski Resort - North East of Bastion Glace Station
  • Wolfhaven - West of Snowfields Ski Resort
• Ragecorp - Southwest Of Cool Cove Station, East of The Cagean Isles
• Dogcraft Ice Boat League - East of South Station