Remember just this morning I said I was done and ready to build. Well, a person commented that the layout was good with landscape and scenery, good with the yard and interchange, but lacking in industrial switching.
Well I couldn’t make the changes he wanted in terms of staging, so I had to find a new source. And I did. And fixed something I hadn’t quite allowed for.
Changes:
The obvious. The old staging area is
There was a pipe running through the layout. I thought the upper track missed it, but it didn’t. I moved the upper track forward and ran the passing track to the back. The turnout that was in the hidden track came back into sight. There was some loss of real estate to the TC industries.
I had to move the brewery to the new switching area. It has several support structures.
Staging is now in the laundry area. This forces me to remodel that area ahead of schedule (but I think I’ll start work on the visible side and run point to point). IT also gets the layout halfway around the room making it tempting to finish the whole basement in 1885. It will cover half my workbench, but I can still set-up my reloading equipment in front of the layout. There’s also about 18" between the workbench and the loop. I’ll be able to set-up the Zephyr, which means the programing and test tracks (with computer interface) can all occur on the bench.
Lots more staging.
Now for the help.
When it comes to industrial switching, I think like a box. If anyone has some creative ideas… I need the runaround obviously. And the brewery is pretty much 4 x 10" with at least one 3 x 3 support building, and really could use a corral for hoses for the delivery wagons, and a silo for grains (or whatever 1885 breweries used to store grain.
The other industries are up for grabs. They can be false fronts
Remember just this morning I said I was done and ready to build. Well, a person commented that the layout was good with landscape and scenery, good with the yard and interchange, but lacking in industrial switching.
Well I couldn’t make the changes he wanted in terms of staging, so I had to find a new source. And I did. And fixed something I hadn’t quite allowed for.
Changes:
The obvious. The old staging area is
There was a pipe running through the layout. I thought the upper track missed it, but it didn’t. I moved the upper track forward and ran the passing track to the back. The turnout that was in the hidden track came back into sight. There was some loss of real estate to the TC industries.
I had to move the brewery to the new switching area. It has several support structures.
Staging is now in the laundry area. This forces me to remodel that area ahead of schedule (but I think I’ll start work on the visible side and run point to point). IT also gets the layout halfway around the room making it tempting to finish the whole basement in 1885. It will cover half my workbench, but I can still set-up my reloading equipment in front of the layout. There’s also about 18" between the workbench and the loop. I’ll be able to set-up the Zephyr, which means the programing and test tracks (with computer interface) can all occur on the bench.
Lots more staging.
Now for the help.
When it comes to industrial switching, I think like a box. If anyone has some creative ideas… I need the runaround obviously. And the brewery is pretty much 4 x 10" with at least one 3 x 3 support building, and really could use a corral for hoses for the delivery wagons, and a silo for grains (or whatever 1885 breweries used to store grain.
The other industries are up for grabs. They can be false fronts
Maybe I mis-understood your question(s), but if you are looking for ideas of industries, for that false front industry in front of the phone you might consider:
Imperial Foods is early 1900’s but as the saying goes … it’s your RR.
For your time period I would expect, maybe wrongly, prevalent use of team tracks … farmers etc. bringing their goods to the RR from their ranches/farms via wagons.
No I’m not actually looking for industries, though I have it it do. I have a Muir Model Lumber Yard that will find a home most like likely.
It’s just that I’ve seen such cool switching layouts out there, then when I go to do it, I keep getting the same general shape…and a big gap in the middle. Maybe that’s the way it should be. But I get the feeling is should be more.
BTW: I saved the picture of National Manufacturing Co. If has a couple modern features, but it could easily be scratch built–& then I could trun the corner with it. Thanks.
This is the structure I plan on using for the Brewery. It’s footprint is 4" x 10" and you see the support building. I would also need grain storage and corral for horses.
I have a Muir Models Lumber Yard that is 12" x 5" The rails can either run to the front or the back , but if it runs to the front, a couple inches must be added for customer access. No Picture. I’ll try to get one tonight.
Here’s a photo of a building I might use as a template to scratch for the false front. I would then build the side of the building around the corner. I woud go well for the phone area.
The other industry that I would like to bring in, though I don’t know how is this tool and die company. The footprint is 11x5 plus the support structure.
Funny. I keep telling Newbee layout designers that they need to know what structures they are going to serve before they lay track, so the first thing I do is lay track without buildings and feel it’s not right.
Okay, I’m gradually coming unstuck. There is no reason why the curve has to come in at that point. Track just has to get from Train City to the new area. I would still like a runaround in this area so I don’t have to use the A/D track. False front industries can be added pretty much at will.
A brewery for the hard stuff or beer? A logical support buildings for a beer brewery would be an ice house. That means perhaps a place to wash reefers and another to ice them.
I re-discovered last night that JAHA’s Heritage Discovery Center was originaly built as the Germania Brewery Company in 1907 and operated until prohibition kicked it in 1919. There is a circa 1930 black & white picture half way down the page with a tall smokestack and two rooftop water tanks that might make for some scratchbuilding and/or kitbashing…
Here’s a quote: “Several brick buildings ringing an interior courtyard were constructed on Sixth Avenue. The tallest building stood five stories and contained the brew house, malting mill, keg dispensary and beer cellars. The bottling plant was located next to the two story brewery office, and a two story brick building housing the cooperage and warehouse stood next to the J.W. Walters Lumber Yard at the end of the courtyard.”
Do you need the brewery to be in that location? Can it be at the bottom? More room for those additional support buildings there.
If the brewery location is fixed. Can the 2 spurs from the runaround be moved? The front could be run from the runaround in line with it (sorry, my english is lacking at the moment) and everything can move forward. Now you have some room to run a second curved track (second industrial district?) with flats on the wall (grain elevator (feed and seed dealer / co-op)) with sheds for implements en coal. Always need that and lumber merchants.
Bottom has a lot of tracks close together. Loose one and you may have room for a switchback connection in the empty space. This is easier than what I mentioned above.
The buildings can go anywhere. The track can go anywhere as long as it connects to the main and heads in the direction of Train City. The grey irregular-shaped industry in Train City is a sotck yard.
Question: Would a tool and die company need iron and coal or would they build from finished steel? The question has to do with whether a tool and die company would exist in California, or if they would import from back east.
I doubt there would be much use for a tool and die works in your time period. There just wouldn;t be the enough industry to support a dedicated tool and die maker. Most things would have been made by whatever company’s personnel - ie, if a piece was needed by the lumber company, their own blacksmith or toolmaker would create it. If the railroad needed a part, they had their own shop to make it, etc.
I don’t know. I am sure it was mentioned when I went on a tour a few years ago , but I have forgotten.
Water powered the machinery. It was piped to the foundry where it turned a pelton wheel, which turned a shaft, which connecred to the machinery through overhead belts, pulleys, and shafts.
One of the main products of the foundry was pelton wheels for use at mines and other industries.
Chip, at this late stage, I do not see the purpose for that passing track, off of which comes a turnout and a team track. Would it not be more useful, if you really want such a function, to make it useable for servicing L (and therefore parallel to L’s trackage)? You only need a turnout for that team track on the diverging route between T and L…the parallel does not seem to be needed, IMO.
