Here is a portion of the layout showing the coal/building supplies dealer.
My question is whether it would be worthwhile to add the switch labeled 4L6 and small spur shown in dotted lines or just keep the one track? The line of squares are coal/sand/gravel bins (really just a series of parallel 4 ft high x 10 ft long railroad tie dividing walls with a roof). They are loaded with a moveable under hopper conveyor from trackside and shovelled/loaded into the customers vehicle on the other. I don’t think I could put a trestle on the single track but could perhaps on the second spur.
Here’s the whole layout:
I’ve added a small overtrack bridge crane and and a travelling crane at the end of the left spur at the A. Pettler machine/scrap dealer. I’m thinking of adding roads between the scrap dealer and A. Davidson’s retail store; coming out of the the underpass below the PRR tracks; and perpendicular to the tracks at 4L1 (same as the prototype).
Having seen the process of unloading hoppers between the rails and moving coal with a portable conveyor (Port Washington, Long Island, back in the dark ages when people heated their houses with coal) I think the separate spur would be a good investment. Moving the hopper car and cleaning up the mess on and between the rails would be a major PITA if the building materials yard is switched frequently.
As for the road, “Just like the prototype,” any time you can draw directly from what your prototype does, go for it!
Well, along the same lines, here’s my question/dilemma. I’ve laid the main track and passing tracks for the following design.
I have not laid the yards, spurs or sidings yet. I’m planning to run a backdrop along the middle, and have a town on one side, and either another town or a mining scene on the other. My problem is, on the lower right, I have 3 parallel tracks that I don’t have a plan for. I could run them into a 3 stall backshop, but then I lose a lot of room and potential for other industries. Besides, I’m modeling a small branchline, and there was no large shop on it. I could take the bottom left one to serve a single stall engine shop, spread the other 3 out a bit, and serve 3 other small industries. Or, I could use 1 or 2 of the 3 tracks to serve a coal customer of some kind, and have the mine on the opposite side of the backdrop, thus creating an “empties in, loads out” arrangement. However, I kind of wanted to set that up on the left side of the layout, since that side is butted up against a wall.
