Yard Pictures Needed

i am about to start working on my yard details, and would like pictures to see what you all have done to make yours look good. all help is appreciated. would like to know what structures and details i need. right now i just have a 2 stall engine house and the lights mounted. this is a pretty small yard, just four staging tracks. all help appreciated.

 

This is half the switching yard on the JJJ&E. A turntable area is off to the far upper right. There is one major industry between the turntable area and switching yard; a cement factory.

There is also a small gear facility in the switching yard next to a sanding tower.

In the second photo you see the turntable area, some holding track, one of the roundhouses and a closer view of the cement company.

The Unitrack in this photo's have been completely weathered and ballasted.

The switching yard is ten feet long.

 

that looks great, but i do not have any steam engines, so i dont think i really need a sanding facility. what do you think? it just looks really bare.

 

There's a small yard...

...in Lansdale, PA. CSX runs it now (former READING). It pretty much looks like your yard. Very utilitarian and sparse since it is just a small yard with 4 or five tracks. It is at a junction with a very active commuter service but the freight operation is bare bones. They switch empties and loads from local industries during the week and then make up the loads into a small train and take them to (probably) a large Philadelphia area yard for outbound shipping. If you're looking to pack all kinds of details into your scene- this wouldn't be the one. Point? Sometimes simple yards are just what they are and what they need to be. I know, I had one. The locomotives are parked on a passing siding across from the branch/main tracks to leave the main clear. There aren't even lights and it seems all the moves are made during daylight hours. Of course this is the remnants in the industrial northeast and you may be trying to replicate some of that big time UP action with gazillion acre yard action. There's always repair equipment sheds/buildings, electrical boxes and stacks of ties and rail for just general yard clutter.

Good luck and looking forward to more pics (from everyone).

Mark

 

Take a look at NS yard in Alexandria, VA, very sparse, small and utilitarian, a good easy model to work from!!
my best,
Jan

 

UPChayne:

Then go with a small diesel storage facility. Look at some photo's of small diesel yards in your time frame.

The time frame of the JJJ&E is the steam-transition era.

Do a Google search for diesel storage yards. You'll find plenty of photo's and info that you can use.

 

I might use some ideas from your guys posts. Nice job guys

 

John,

Just because it is a yard doesn't mean that your scenic details have to all be railroad related. Here are some ideas to add clutter and visual interest to the area in front of the yard tracks. Their appropriateness will vary, depending upon your era.

Water tower (Walthers makes both a modern and old style)
Microwave relay tower
Cellular phone tower (they're everywhere)
High tension wire tower
Assorted fuel tanks
A recycling yard full of scrap, with a fence separating it from the rail yard.
Piles of assorted junk next to the engine house.

Add older structures from an earlier era that are now boarded up and in a state of disrepair.

And yes, modern diesels still require sanding towers, although the design is obviously different from a steam era tower.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Please post some pictures to show us your progress.

 

Diesels use sand too!

HowStuffWorks "How Diesel Locomotives Work"

Mark

 

This is pretty much laid out like the west end of the 'real' Winslow, AZ yard in 1972. The roundhouse and turntable would be just off the side to the left. The whole west-end ladder and passenger station end is modeled the best I could fit:



The 'telltale' things that make it work are:

1: a uniform, lower-level elevation from the mains; in this case, a basalt cinder ballast native to the area that is quite red.

2: Faded ties; almost a gray color, very noticeable from actual photos.

3: The 'modern' enginehouse, fueling racks, etc. added in the late 1960's.

4: The deliberate mixture of ballast colors (see the ladder) to show switches added or repaired; the different ballast color around the 'new' service tracks.

 

I have the yard splt...one side has the current diesel support and the RIP tracks, the other deals with steam and diesel repair and all the steam stuff ergo coal, sand, water, etc. and the yard office.

 

This is something I don't usually see. I like it.

 

Here is a Pun Topic "Stuff You Find in Yards." It is prototype but may give you some ideas.

 

Yard at Waterville Valley in Maine

I think this is a grain or feed unloader for coverd hoppers. There was a place in between the rails to catch the content.:

 

WOW! This is one of the best model pictures I have seen in years!!

 

Electrical boxes as made by BLMA are very common around yards.

 

Try the Stewart Classics #1103, the Diesel Service Facility. And a service platform such as Randgust used.

Awesome photo, J Widmar! :thumbs_up:

Cristi

 

thanks for the info, i am really looking into buying some of those Stewarts Products. They look pretty good.

 

Electrical boxes and storage sheds.