sysdfg and Gats: FWIW: My plan was also done with Atlas C80 #4 turnouts...I just laid them out on the 12" square floor tiles then drew up what I had.
Went down to the riverfront to check out the area I plan on modeling. WOW! Things sure change in 30 years LOL. Most of the street is gone and it's just track. Camera was acting up & the pics came out to bright, I'll have to go back & take some more pics later. I did start a small project to see how well tracks would look in the street. Here they used brick & coble stone. I plan on using brick. I cut out a piece of picture frame. Glued some flex track down. The brick design I am using is from Plastruct HO scale brick (remember I'm doing N scale) works out great. Using .60 streyne inside the track and the brick, the level is just right. I did not paint under the plastic but know now that you should so you don't see the white. I still have to weather the brick and area.
Went to the local hobby supply store (Michaels) and found this neat item. 'Sophisticated Finishes' it is a 2 step process for creating rust. Gave it a try & this is the best for making things look like rust! I cannot get the cammera to focus close enough on the 2nd picture for the rust view. They also have a patina finish for that old copper look. The other product I have been using for my roofs is from plasti-kote called Fleck STONE. Spray it on wait for it to dry & then add paint, very realistic looking tarred roof. Also trying it out as a road. 2 Products that are worth checking out.
Sysdfg, your street track looks wonderful! Using HO brick does look better than smaller N scale. Make sure you post up a picture when you do a turn out--that's what scares me about trying to do something like this. I have a feeling this one is going to be in great modrel railroads 2008 if your starting shots are anything like what it turns out to be.
WOW! Thanks for the encouraging words. I figured this would be the easiest way without having to tear up the new 2x4 tables I just built. Kind of like a test bed before I actually lay track.
Great tutorial and pics on the bricks paving the way for your street running. What's the latest version of the plan look like?...any changes from the last plan you posted?
Been on a trip to California and just got back tonight. I'll have some updates posted up this coming week.
Finished up my test & I think the brick street idea passes muster. I think the bricks need to have a little more red in them? I will have an updated plan sometime this week.
Great job! I think you have nailed it quite well and wouldn't add anymore red to the brick colour. It's roadway and gets dirty and having the centre parts of the brick as it is with the dark edges works very well. Question - have you tried a street trackage curve yet?
No curve or turnout yet. I wanted to try first on something small (LOL). Once I figured out some of the basics I wanted to try I could move on. Now I have to finish tweaking the design. Plus I don't have all the turnouts yet. Buying track every couple of weeks, that way it doesn't seem to expensive.
Updated Plan This is my latest updated plan. Went back to the TRRA web site and looked at their track plan. This one follows pretty close to the actual. A couple of the industries have been added in, though there locations are actually further down the tracks. Also added a staging yard.
Sysdfg, The design is outstanding! I look forward to seeing the pictures of your progress in building the layout. Your method of building the brick paved road is exactly what I plan on doing to Alameda Street on my own layout. Instead of using brick pavers, I will be simulating asphalt over concrete. Jerry
sysdfg: From the maps, I got the impression that the Terminal RR might have started working the Bremen Ave block from the Bremen Yard, which would be off of your layout to the bottom right. Trains would come into the area modeled on your layout on the industrial lead on the right side of the main. That would have led to the 3 left hand crossovers to cross over the 2 BN mains to get to the industrial lead on the left side of the mains. The BN mains bend to the east (left on your layout), just north of (below) Lange-Stegner...exactly where you've put staging. You've done a wonderful job of selectively compressing both the length of the area you've modeled and the complexity of trackage through the area (by eliminating one of the BN mains). I also like how you've hidden the staging at the bottom of the layout. You may want to consider some minor adjustments to the staging area: Bend all 3 tracks a little to the left instead of having them run straight to the bottom edge of the layout. This will simulate the BN bend toward the Mississippi River. Hide the bend behind a building and/or trees. Simulate the Terminal RR coming into the Bremen Ave block by connecting the staging yard to the RIGHT side industrial lead instead of the left. You could then reproduce the prototype's left hand crossovers (only 2 instead of 3) to reach the left side industrial lead. This adjustment will match the prototype RRs a little better but might take more length than you like. If so, connect the staging to the central main track and imagine that you've already crossed to the main as you come from Bremen Yard. If you have a left hand turnout which feeds the center main through its curved portion and the right industrial lead through the straight portion, you will be able to represent the Terminal RR taking a curve onto the BN main or going straight to work their industrial lead. This will also let you accomplish your move from the main to the left side industrial lead by a single crossover instead of 2. These changes will give you direct access to either industrial siding by pulling cars directly from staging instead of having to see-saw back and forth to get to either siding. They will also minimize times on the BN main because the only times the main is occupied are when: 1. crossing from the right industrial lead to the left 2. escaping to run-around cars on the left industrial lead to work the facing point industries and get the loco back on the other end of the train, and 3. returning back across the main. If you pull cars into staging, then you would not need to use the main again. If you want to push cars into the Bremen Yard, you will need to use the main a 4th time to position the loco to push. If I understand this process correctly, there would not need to be any connections to the main at the upper end of the right hand industrial siding, unless you want to make a run-around movement to PUSH your cars into the Bremen Yard/staging area. Keeping the upper connection to the main might be a good idea because that way you'll be able to keep your loco from being trapped in staging (or having to sacrifice a staging track to gain a run-around/escape track), and you'll be able to work the Bremen Yard/staging tracks just like a classification yard (with the right side industrial lead serving as your yard lead). Hmmm...the more I think about that upper connection to the right industrial lead, the more I like it. In order for you to accomplish your switching on this layout without going onto the main dozens of times, you will need to block your cars so you can work them in a particular order: right side trailing point sidings, cross the main, left side trailing point sidings, run around on the main, left side facing point industries, cross the main, right side facing point industries, run around on the main, and push cars into Bremen Yard. Blocking cars in staging could be a job separate from any other jobs. I suppose it would also be possible to work all right side industries (using the main for two run-arounds), and then push cars into Bremen Yard. Then take a 2nd cut of cars to work the left side industries (using 2 run-around movements on the main). This second option will let you work a much higher density of traffic (double the number of cars) as working both sides with one train. Operations: Depending on how you want to set up operations, you could do both ways...right side AM job, left side AM job, both sides PM job. I'd bet the prototype would do something similar when traffic volume was high. (3 jobs) Do you have plans for an industrial switcher dedicated to Lange-Stegner? The plan looks a little like it. If so, you may want to have two tracks that the Terminal RR accesses only by directly pushing cars (never pulling because that forces run-around movements). Those 2 tracks will be the inbound and outbound tracks. The industrial switcher should be able to pull cars directly from the inbound track and push them straight into the industry tracks, and also pull cars from the industry tracks and directly push them onto the outbound tracks...never needing a run-around, unless somewhere in the complex there is a siding(s) that faces the other direction. (a 4th job) Rearranging cars on the staging tracks into blocks to facilitate switching could be a 5th job.
Dave H. From my military mapmaking I should have posted the North symbal on the map. Actually the top of the map is south, yes it's bass ackwards, just easier for me to draw it this way. I like the idea of turning the tracks into the staging area. From reading I saw that is is a good practice that the tracks should turnout on the ends. I'll work on that. Should there be a crossover or 3 to 1 to 3 turnout there in the staging area to access all 3 tracks? If it seems practical for a switcher at Lange-Stegner I can have one there.
Sysdfg: From the single turnout that is the throat of the staging yard, there should be just enough turnouts to enter each of the staging tracks. moving the other direction from that single throat turnout, track connects to the the Terminal RR Track (the one that serves as the yard lead but also as the right side industry lead). There will need to be one crossover from the right side industry lead to the main and then a second one from the main to the left side industry lead. You will need to have a way of making run around movements on both the left and the right industry leads. A right handed crossover at the top of the left industry lead will give you more room in the Ryerson siding. The prototype could use a left hand crossover because they didn't have to worry about squeezing a loco and a car into the Ryerson siding...they could just pull onto the lead to Bulk Services without having to enter the industry itself. You could too if your track to Bulk Services is long enough and is located above (south of) the left handed crossover....otherwise, flip the crossover to a right handed crossover to the main. The prototype had the luxury of being able to complete a run around movement in the Bremen Ave Yard (AKA Walters Yard). Since a run-around in your staging will reduce your staging options too drastically (IMO), you may want to put a right or left handed crossover as far south along the right hand industrial lead as possible without entering Cash's metals. (I personally lean toward a right handed crossover (EDIT 8/16/07: Should be a LEFT handed crossover, sorry!), because you won't need to enter Cash's every time you want to perform a run-around movement to push cars into the staging tracks. Note how this is just a mirror image of the situation at Ryerson's.) Regarding a Lange-Stegner dedicated industrial switcher...this is a matter of your personal preference. I would prefer to set it as another job to be run during the operating session. Someone else might say they prefer having the industrial switcher from the Terminal RR do all car movements as part of the jobs to be completed by the Terminal RR switcher working the left side industrial lead. The yard is fairly large...You could probably justify a Term RR switcher pulling a 7 to 9 car train from the Bremen Ave Yard to L-S, then have the L-S dedicated switcher perform the rest of the in-house switching. (FWIW--If you can figure out a way to do it space-wise, it might be better to have the Phillips and Midland sidings served by the Terminal RR instead of the L-S switcher...Make the Term RR switcher use L-S's open track (inbound or outbound track, whichever is available at the time) as their lead to the Phillips and Midland sidings. )
Updated the track plan. Main line now curves into hidden staging. Working on a couple of buildings and working on the design of another. Also going to get some casting materials tonight & try my hand at it.
I got a couple of different types of mold making material from Michaels last week. Sorry no pics, I should have had some because you would have found them rather amusing! One type was a 2 part clay like mixture. Squash the 2 together and then flatten it and place on what you are wanting a cast of. The other was from a product called Magic Hands. This was a powder mix. They both created elastic molds. My only problem was, they wouldn't lay flat. Though I could not actually see that at the time. So I pour my plaster mix into the molds I make and wait till that night to pull the casts from the molds. HAH! It looked like a drunk bricklayer was at work. Then on top of that the one that did hold the most promise, Magic Hand mixture, the next day the mold was as hard as a rock and twisted like an old orange peel. Time for some real laytex! Maybe make something a little skin tight!LOL. I'll keep updating about once or twice a week to let ya know how things are progressing. I'll try and have pics, maybe not anything skintight though.
*Geek gets deeply concerned look on face* So do all the guys have to wear something like this to all your operating sessions? I think it'll make my belly look kinda fat. LOL
