Underground tram station

[carlfoxmarten]

I've been working on a scene for quite some time now, and have pretty much hit a brick wall, as I can't seem to be able to add more detail to the scene without making it look terrible.

I've posted three pictures of its current progress in one of my galleries.

If you can give me some tips for improvement, I'd really appreciate it.
(I do know that most of the textures aren't right, but I can't figure out what makes it wrong to know how to fix it)

Comments

[teric.livejournal.com]

The tram rails are too shiny and polished. While it's true that the trams passing by tend to polish the contact surface, the rest of the rail tends to get dirty and gritty pretty quickly.

Another thing you could do is post ad banners on the walls, or put waiting benches near the rails. Perhaps a boarding platform?

[carlfoxmarten]

I suppose I forgot to give enough information... >.>

My favourite kinds of games are adventure games with lots of puzzles in them, so that's the kind of game I'm creating.
The world I'm creating bears only some semblance to our world, but not to our overly-commercialized areas.
The track system is part of a maintenance system, so is only designed for the proper personnel, and hence the ads don't really fit.
The tram itself (which I still haven't finished designing) is a magnetic levitation type that is turbine-propelled, so it doesn't really rub the rails very much, just when it stops at stations.

Sigh, yeah I hadn't mentioned enough...

[teric.livejournal.com]

Ah, so something more like the magnetic trams seen in the game 'Riven', yes?

Well then, ask yourself--what kind of environments do these trams pass through? Completely sterile underground passages? Or is there any dust/dirt/grime/humidity that gets picked up along the way? Any rust/oxidation going on?

Another thing is that a magnetically-levitated tram requires that an electrical current be passing through the tram rail. Perhaps you could connect wiring nodes at regular intervals along the rails? Or rail supports?

[carlfoxmarten]

Yes, that's kind of what I was thinking of, though not that exact shape, I'd move things around a bit so it'd look different.

As for it's environments, mostly underground, though there will be some open air environments, with trees, overhanging cliffs, and brush, along with underwater areas that use water-repellent devices to keep the tunnels open.

I'll be adding rail supports at regular intervals once I've figured out how to handle creating the tunnel for easy creation and manipulation.
(that part's rather tricky if you don't know what you're doing, and I don't yet)