Nice layout but two things; You never run a switcher on the apron for a freight transfer, you would use idler flats. The ones on the Belt Railway in San Francisco had caboose style steps and railings on a couple. There were car ferries that could carry a locomotive but the aprons were much heavier. In Oakland California the former Espee Industrial line only had tailing switches, not one single facing switch, there was at one point over eighty customers. The main line was single track while the Industry track was double track with frequent crossovers. The other thing is that except for the areas around a couple of satellite yards all the industry is on the east side. Several switch jobs were used at the height, now down to a GP-40-2 and/or a Helm leasing GP-38-2. The photo buildings were great but I have a feeling we were only told half the story, some look like they have cornices on top or I can’t tell the paper from the plastic.
Excellent, Excellent video and really great layout. And a lot of great information and tips on modeling buildings. thanks Paul
Fabulous and highly instructive. This is exactly what I pay my subscription for. I could and would watch stuff like this all day.
This is an excellent synopsis of this layout, I have become extremely intrigued by waterfront railroading since David Popp did the tutorial on building a car float for the magazines layout. I only wish I had adequate space to redo my S Scale layout in this type of a point to point set up. Nicely done Paul, can’t wait to see the ultimate completion of the layout.
Thanks for sharing your railroad with us Paul. Since I first saw the track plan in MR I’ve liked it and have thought about ‘borrowing’ your plan as it fits my space perfectly. Great tip on the photos and illustration board, those buildings look great. I’m looking forward to more articles!
Mr. Dolkos’ railroad speaks to me. Looks like great operation without switching puzzles. The layout allows for work to done. At the same time, the layout seems to be of modest size yet offers great opportunity for realistic work. Note also the prototypical slow speeds the trains run. Our hobby is the only one I know of that celebrates work. This layout stands as an example to all who want to pursue our hobby.
Really great experience watching the video and seeing a neat switching rr. And the brief instructional re’ building up backdrop buildings from photos on illustration board has given me some ideas. Now if I can only find the right buildings free from a lot of street clutter… Thank to Paul Dolkos and MRVP for bringing us this look at the Baltimore Harbor years ago.
What a superb layout. I have always admired your workmanship and it was nice to see it in video format. I have enjoyed your articles in MR for many years. My home layout was modeled after a design of yours called " a tight Yankee or compact Dixie" that appeared in MR many years ago and I still operate it to this day. I look forward to the remaining articles on this layout that will appear in future issues of MR.
Best Regards,
Ashby Trevey
Paul. Thank you for including your “backdrop” buildings out of photos and illustration board. I recently completed backdrop panels for our club’s On30 modular and show layout. I utilized photos of old Colorado mining town structures and “painted” them into their respective scenes. Other building I actually painted from scratch. It was a great success with the visitors at our show last weekend. However, getting back to my own HO layout, …finally, I am going to take your technique on with both back drop and foreground structures. I have many areas where commercial kits just will not work. Thanks for a solution to my problem. Why didn’t I think of this first? Duh! Merry Christmas, Randy
Awesome layout. Great tour by Paul illustrating his operations and modeling.
Paul:
I’m currently in the very beginning phase of building a small HO layout with lots of switching. Your layout gave me some good ideas. Your scenery is fantastic.
Paul; Great job… Looks like you’ve done a lot more work since we visited your layout a few years ago. You and your layout are a true inspiration to the hobby.
Thanks for sharing…
You have a great layout. Thanks for sharing your railroad with us. Many nice ideas here for future reference. Keep up the outstanding work!
This is a great operation, and some really nice ideas… Thank you for the insights and sharing…
Fantastic, I lived and worked in Baltimore, kind of felt at home. Again great work and I also will try the illustration board and photo technique looks like fun.
Superb.nplease document the construction of Canton Yard for a future MR article.
It’s good to put a face to a familiar name! This is a great layout and very inspiring. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Very inspiring… Great ideas like the relief buildings and the actual harbor area, I was trying to figure out what to do with my small harbor area and now I know…thanks…
Paul, thanks for sharing clearly a very successful Baltimore Harbor RR! I’m going to try constructing the illustration board buildings. Many great ideas! Jim
A pleasure meeting you through this video! Great layout and I picked up a few ideas that I will try. Especially liked the illustration board building technique.