I'm sure there is somewhere. In NYC, as you get off the George Washington bridge into the Bronx, there are APARTMENT BUILDINGS over the Cross Bronx Expressway! So why not parking garages over train tracks.
Never heard of such a thing outside of, say, Manhattan. And there the roads sold a lot of "air rights", but I don't know if any parking providers ever bought. I can think of a lot of reasons why parking providers wouldn't--vibration on the foundation, no entry-level parking, (or you have to drive up and back down ramps to reach that on the other side). I can think of a lot of reasons the railroad wouldn't, too. There's an airport parking garage right next to the tracks here in town. That's as close as I've ever seen, even at depots. Would be handy for helping trains disappear into staging, but I can't help you justify it.
Yup I find lots of N scale parking garages on the web but none over the tracks. Even looked for one I could modify but alas none. HMMM got about 70 feet by 40 feet because of turnout throws. Hmm 2 or 3 level replaces the station parking. And then I can get those Greenmax 3 story taxpayers to install on the former parking space. Hmm .060 by .060 and .080 by .080 strips and .040 sheet material and some .040 by .250 strips. Or get two paper parking garage kits plus the building material. Hmmm. Maybe convert the two turnouts back to electrically thrown turnouts and gain space, they are Katos.
The closest I know of is Washington Union Terminal. I often walked to the top floor to view activity. I had a full view of the through tracks from the south. All NEC, MARC, and northwest bound ATK trains ran beneath my feet. Ergo, I was above them. I had direct access into the parking garage 20 feet to the west, but it was adjacent to those tracks, so cannot be counted as "above". However, the garage was above the METRO tracks. Does that count, maybe just a little?
This is downtown Columbus Ohio. I believe NS or CSX tracks. Parking garage is next to Nationwide Arena.
Whitney Peak Parking Garage. W. Commercial Row and and N. Virginia Street, Reno NV. (Official address is 50 E. Plaza Street). SP double track went right through at ground level back in the day. UP tracks are in a trench now, but still goes underneath the structure. I used to request a trackside room at the now defunct FitzGerald Hotel. The rooms had bay windows. I could watch and photograph the SP trains from high up. The front desk thought I was nuts for requesting a room on that side. The trains would wake you up at night if the window was slightly open. The old FitzGerald is now the remodeled upscale Whitney Peak Hotel and is a block away from the parking structure. Might be a good one to kit bash.
I know that parking garages over train tracks exist in the 1 to 1 scale but I was trying to find if they did in N scale. And it seems they don't exist in any scale. So once again I am on the cutting edge, daring to go where no modeler has ventured. This is the parking lot that I want to develop into more shops for downtown. And there can be seen the two manual thrown turnouts that I have to deal with. 100_0032-1 by John Moore posted Aug 14, 2022 at 10:47 AM Thanks to Kato's turnout design I just have to plug in the turnout wires harness and hook it to one of their controllers. And I wisely saved most of the wire harnesses when I installed the turnouts as manual. Kato even makes an adapter to hook to my Tech 7 power pack that I can piggy back the controllers onto, part number 24-842. That solves some of the space issues to for me as I now have more room to work length wise. The parking tower is 50 mm by 100 mm and there is a 2nd version 60 mm by 90 mm that soon will be on order and made by Cosmic that makes a line of stuff including Helixes for Unitrack. I am solving the issue of train clearance by a combo of two ways. First is to raise the ground level on either side of the track. Then construct a platform of styrene on top of that for the parking tower to go on. Then using the same styrene I am going to make a curved driveway to access the parking tower. Once the parking lot is freed up I will be installing the Greenmax 3 story shops.
Well this afternoon I took the first step in my urban renewal project by ordering the Kato 24-842 adapter that lets me hook the Kato turnout controllers to my Tech 7 power pack. Also ordered two turnout controllers with it. Should be here by next week. The next order will be for the new stores and the parking garage from Japan.
Well today I received word the my Kato turnout parts have shipped and I ordered my structures from Japan. The parking garage is on back order but should be in in about 15 days. The parking garage is by Cosmic item number NS-91K. I could not find a suitable photo to upload. The Greenmax kit is 4 buildings, cost about $17 and is item 2157. -1-1 by John Moore posted Aug 17, 2022 at 3:22 PM I really like the roof details on these. And then I placed an order for about $60 worth of Plastruct styrene shapes and sheets. Should have the Kato parts first this week so I can begin to get the turnouts working remotely instead of manual.
I have really scaled back on my Japan orders recently, seems like DHL has almost doubled from just a few months ago. It really isn't worth the shipping to buy just one or two things, but the last few orders have been sticker shock once shipping is added in. The good news, though, is that you will still get things VERY quickly, all things considered, when you order.
Well the first parts order has arrived, my power adapter for the Kato turnout controls so I can use them with my Tech 7 power pack. And I have started wetting down and loosening my two turnouts from the scenic material so I can drill the holes for the power leads. 100_0018-6 by John Moore posted Aug 20, 2022 at 12:36 PM The supplies to build the base platform for the parking garage should arrive next week.
Is the power adapter the little blue box? Does it have regular connections for other power sources? To have away from the Kato power source/controller?
Yes it is and hooks to the accessory terminal of any power pack and converts the power to that used by Kato Unitrack turnouts. The Kato turnout controllers can hook to the little power converter that same way they do to a Kato power pack. Multiple controllers can be piggy backed off the little unit.
As far as I know all power packs have an accessory terminal that is AC unlike Kato which is DC. The converter for those other power packs is converted to DC by this attachment.
In the case of one picture worth a thousand words. 100_0019-1 by John Moore posted Aug 21, 2022 at 11:43 AM -2 by John Moore posted Aug 21, 2022 at 11:43 AM
