My son,Will,and I are constructing new benchwork for a new layout.It will be a model of the Chicago & Northwestern’s Beverly Yard in Cedar Rapids Iowa as it was in 1994 with all the operations in and around this facility modeled over a period of time as layout construction and equipment purchases permit.
This is Beverly as of 1988.There are a few deletions and an addition between the years 1988 and 1994.The stock track,east end pocket track and section house track all removed and a crossover added between the mains on the east end of the yard just before the Edgewood Rd crossing.
Beverly yard was used more as a staging point for interchange with the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City RR and departure and receiving cars of the transfer run to North yard near the downtown area of Cedar Rapids.Crandic’s receiving interchange was located east of Beverly,south of main track 2(westbound main).This required a shoving move from Beverly.The receiving interchange from Crandic was located off the Cedar Rapids line a couple of miles from Beverly.The CR line came from the north side of the mains and into Beverly as a running track.The Tower crossovers east of Edgewood road allowed access to the CR line from the south side yard.
Operations at Beverly consisted of yard jobs during three tricks(shifts) These were north and south side yard jobs during weekdays and one or more jobs during afternoon,evening,and weekend tricks as needed (sometimes only the north side jobs).These jobs switched inbound and outbound cars,shoved to Crandic’s interchange,transfered to North yard,or pulled cars from the CR line Crandic interchange as required.Loaded coal or grain trains were shoved into the Crandic by the road crews that brought these trains into Cedar Rapids.Empty hoppers and covered hoppers were assembled from the CR line interchange and left on the CR line and a road crew called from Boone Iowa for these trains.
Quite the ambitious project, my hat’s off to ya! I’m in the very preliminary design phase of what will hopefully be a layout very loosely based on the Quaker Oats/CCP Yard/4th St. Cooridor area.
I spent a LOT of time at Beverly in the late 80s and early 90s…time I “should’ve” been spending in the classroom, labs, etc. Oh well, good memories anyways.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with for a trackplan for this. In my case, I’m having to “reinvent” the world to get components to fit into the space I’ve got. Hopefully, if/when its ever built, people “in the know” will recognize the areas…even if they aren’t quite where they’re “supposed” to be…
With Jobs 32, 33, 34, and 35 working Beverly, the “Drags” to and from North Yard, road freights like PRDMA/DMPRA, PRCBA/CBPRA, SPBVA/BVSPA, PRKWA/KSPRA, and PRNPB working the yard…you guys will have plenty of operation going on in addition to switching General Mills, and the Crandic moves you mentioned.
Good luck!
Chris Umscheid
Former Amana Refrigeration Paramedic, now schlepper of Durable Medical Equipment…
I’m just estimating, but to build that schematic as is and have the shorter tracks do something will require about 20 ft x 5 ft of space accessible from both sides. And that does not include the yard lead.
Chip,That’s close to what I’m figuring.Then as permitted,there will be staging yards on either end of the mainline runs and staging for the Crandic interchange and CR line.
I just received North Western Lines Vol 17 No2 Spring 1990 with the info by Allan Hunt.Altho he only details the yard jobs,your info on the mainline freights helps add pieces to the puzzle.What are the SPBVA/BVSPA trains?
Bill, SPBVA/BVSPA was South Pekin (IL) to Beverly and return. Seems like it was pretty heavy with ADM traffic. At times, it ran as a South Pekin to Boone movement (SPBOA/BOSPA). I’m probably forgetting some of the mainline movements, but those were the ones I remembered watching the most.
Don’t forget that you also could have some CYBOE (Clinton-Boone Extra) trains coming in to “fill-out” with empty grain hoppers off the South side of the yard. If you backed-up to modeling 1993, you’d have your hands full with all the flood detour traffic that ran through Beverly…
Keep us posted on the design and building of this OK?
There are 9 yard tracks on the north side,1-9 and 6 on the south side of the mainlines,15-20.The yard jobs were 31 and 32 on duty at 7am,33 and 34 on duty at 3pm,and 35 and 36 on duty at 11pm.Odd numbered jobs worked the north side,even numbered jobs worked the south side.Power for these jobs were kept at the yard office at the east end for the north side jobs and at the west end on whatever track was not intended for any action on the south side.
There were 2 enginehouse tracks and a sandhouse track coming off the RIP track lead on the east end near the yard office.A company material track (track 10) was located on the south side of the carshop.2 RIP tracks(tracks 11 and 12) serviced the carshop.North of the car shop were the wash tracks(tracks 13 and 14) for car cleaning.
A wye was located at the west end of track 9.The tail of this wye leads to the north side of General Mills for spotting cars.Another spur serviced GM on the south side of the building,this came off of the wash track lead from the west end.Covered hoppers of sugar or starch are spotted indoors for unloading on both spurs.Outbound product goes by truck.
Crossings in the area are Old Bridge Rd at the west end protected by crossbucks only.Edgewood Rd protected by gates and lights and 26th St crossing east of the Tower crossovers protected by gates and lights on the mainline tracks and lights only for the CR line.Hwy 30 crosses at this location on an overpass over the main tracks and the CR line.
Thanks,Chris.If you haven’t already done so,read my other thread on ‘Layout Construction with Dominoes’ and see how I’m doing it all.I’m working on the first 2 dominoes,one for the east end and one for the west end of Beverly.
Now that I’ve covered most of the prototype info,I can detail what I plan to do with the model.
The benchwork for the model of Beverly yard in HO scale will consist of 4’X2’ domino sections,beginning with 2 dominoes,one each for the east and west ends of the yard.These are 1X4 frames with 1/4" masonite tops.I’ll be attaching Woodland Scenics 12"X24" foam roadbed sheets to each domino(4 pieces).All track will be Atlas code 83.I’ll start with the mainlines centered 1 1/8" each from the domino centerline,giving a 1 1/4" track center spacing for the mainlines.The reason for this is that the groundthrows for the crossovers will be between the mainlines.All yard tracks will be on 2" centers working away from each mainline.This allows me to have yard tracks 1-5 on the north side and 15-19 on the south side.All secured track will end 1" from the edge of each domino and have a 2" ‘bridge’ track section spanning the joint between dominoes.
I’ll be using no.8 turnouts for the mainline crossovers and no.6 for all other locations.I can only get 4 turnouts on each side of the yard on each domino(the diverging turnout and 3 ladder turnouts).The rest will have to be located on the next domino section built as time allows.For now I will work on these 2 dominoes and setup staging sections so we can begin some limited operations.
I plan to use Digitrax DCC for operations.This requires only 2 bus wires under the layout with feeder wires to each track on each domino.I use Atlas terminal joiners for feeders and have never had problems with shorts or loss of power.Plus I like the idea of not having to solder anything!
Bill, I think I’m starting to like this “dominoes” concept.
One thing you’ll need, on the East end at the “Tower Crossing” (26th. St.) will be a light/medium blue 1984 Chevy Celebrity. It should have a scruffy looking 20-something sitting on the hood. He should have a CNW cap on, a portable radio, a camera bag with a pair of Nikon FM-2’s, and a handheld scanner. You’ll also need the ‘Iowa Blackie’ graffitti on the steel power pole at this crossing…
Seriously though, sounds like you’re off to a flying start on this! You’ve got me hooked…
Chris,I’ll have to add those to my list of details to purchase to complete the scene![(-D]
By ‘scruffy’ I take it you mean unshaven,wild hair,and overly worn clothing(the kind you don’t dare wash,but can’t seem to part with).Has he bathed lately?I ask because it may be hard to simulate having flies buzzing around in HO.Of course these dang Iowa flies tend to buzz around a person no matter what the smell like![(-D]
I was just your “typical” early 20’s college bum…I mean, “student.” Showered everyday, hair was a bit “wild,” at times…but quite presentable in the company of “nice” people…
Now “Iowa Blackie” on the other hand… nice guy, but one to stay upwind of…
Back to your Beverly project… I think I’ve got a line-up or two floating around here yet, listing many, many movements through the yard. I had a whole stack of line-ups and N. Yard switch lists…until my dog had a “puppy moment” and became a four-legged paper shreader. If I find it, I’ll post it here for ya…
We have 2 dominoes completed and materials for 2 more.We bought roadbed sheets and 2 more switches yesterday and plan to start laying track this weekend.
You’re welcome,Chris.Unfortunately I have to work today 11am to 8pm and it’s already started with a mix of freezing rain and snow(started about 8:30am my time).I’ll be posting more plans tonight if we have power.If not,then we’ll be working on the layout by lantern light(battery operated)[(-D]
