I really enjoy reading all the excellent planning and construction progress reports around here: I have received many good ideas, so I wanted to share my progress. I am building Tacoma, WA around 1949. The main yard on my layout is at Tidewater Flats. There was a lot of warehousing and shipbuilding industry in that area as well, some of it will find its way onto my layout. This is a general overview: Both bridges will be included in my layout (eventually) My representation is of course condensed, as I only have a 10 by 12 feet room to work with. Here is an overview shot of my yard looking west: You can barely see the two approaches to the bridge in the top left hand corner... and east. Here is a detail on the eastern approach leading into the yard. The track curving to the left goes into the Helix and up to Stampede Pass, the track to the right to Union Station and the engine terminal. The strange metal object in the background is not a N-Scale UFO but an IKEA light fixture awaiting repair... All track is PECO Code 55, most turnouts are manual using RC Airplane control cables. I am currently completing the wiring, my next project is the curved crossing (which will be my first handlaid track....) Cheers Dirk
That looks great. It's a double decker too. I like the curved yard not follwing the fascia angle. It adds a lot to the look of trains rolling through. Please sir, can I have another... picture that is.
Interesting aerial view. I like the WWII sub chasers tied up. Am trying to remember the layout there. Somewhere in the middle of that photo, was the UP yard. UP Junction, off the picture at lower right. And a track should lead to upper left, over to the Milwaukee Road's Tide Flats Yard. Boxcab E50
Dirk: That's a great looking yard! I'll be looking for more pics in the future. And while you're at it...How about a pic or two of the upper deck and helix? Is that a river running along the front edge of the upper deck? At the risk of getting too greedy...Is there any chance you could post close-ups of how you secured the airplane control cables to (through) the fascia, and what you did at the other end to link from under the layout to the turnout on top?
Thanks for the encouragement. I will post pictures as I go along. Boxcab: I like the subchasers as well. The company is called "Martinac Shipbuilding" and used to build subchasers, PT boats and later tuna clippers. I could not yet find models for the subchasers (and might not have enough space for them), so I settle on a group of 4 to 6 PT boats. The long, narrow building facing away from the camera (right next to the end of the black bridge) is the Union Pacific Freighthouse. Look carefully and you might be able to see the billboard "UNION PACIFIC" on top. I could not yet find any reference to a track leading directly accross the tideflats to the Milwaukee yard, but your directions are correct: It would be to the top left opf the picture, with UP Junction to the lower left where the 15 street bridge joins the mainline. Dave: I will start a separate thread on the cables. Here is a picture of the Helix: A train leaving tidewater yard can either climb up to the helix to Stampede Pass or go the "Seattle" staging yard (where you can see the UP train). There is a turnback loop at the end, so trains can be re-used during a session. Cheers Dirk
Somehow, I must be looking at the photo wrong. Fifteenth Street Tower, should be the other side of Union Station. Where the Prairie Line came down the hill. At photo bottom, where the bridges disappear, should have been UP Junction. Boxcab E50
Boxcab, you got it right, my description was misleading: UP Junction is not on the picture, but just outside the frame to the bottom of the picture. I include another picture from the opposite direction. The bridges have changed their color, 15th street bridge is now the lighter colored in the foreground. UP Junction is at the opposite bank where the track coming off 15th street bridge (it is hidden between the 2 driveways) is meeting the mainline. Union Station is just to the left of the picture, the Prairie line crosses Pacific Avenue on the left margin of the picture. Cheers Dirk
Rob, have a look at the Tacoma Public Library, http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/images/dt3.asp Cheers Dirk
