A few weeks ago, someone mentioned that team tracks have gone the way of the steam locomotive and dinosaur. Then I came upon this facility in CommerceCity, an industrial suburb of Denver. It appears to serve an industrial park. BN laid tracks to a few industries in the park, but the rest got to use a communal team track kind of facility. It seems very well used and has has not one, but three separate loading areas. One is a flat area, with the rail almost invisible under a flat and even dirt surface, which seems to be used by a few lumber yards in the park. This is the view from the opposite end. Here you can see the second loading dock, which is simply bermed from the dirt, with a concrete loading platform at the top. The third dock is served by a dead-end spur as well as the passing line. I've only seen it used by a nearby construction equipment place Here's the sign for the facility And finally, a view of all three docks So I guess team tracks are alive and well (and busy) in the modern era. From a modeling perspective, this gives one the freedom to model an industry (e.g. the Cat dealer) which uses the railroad, but without needing an actual spur to the industry itself. Does this type of stuff interest anyone? William
William, Information and photos like this is invaluable to both modellers and prototype members here. It is interesting to see that a team track can be used so effectively. thanks for sharing this with us.
This is very interesting. I am developing a small layout, having few spur sidings. I model various eras. This will allow for more versitility for both steam & diesel eras operations. Thanks.
Thanks for this information. Like Petey, I am in the process of planning a small layout where team tracks would be a useful industry to include, because I can spot various cars there. I plan to model an earlier era, but this is a great inspiration and source of ideas.
This may come in handy for those "I'm not sure what to do here" areas. Best part about team tracks is you can always add a building later.
