Ja!! It will be interesting to see how the popularity of “Thomas the Tank Engine” over the last 15 years or so in the US (he was virtually unknown here before that) will affect future US langauge, as we have kids growing up now hearing about “sheds” and “wagons” etc. since Thomas is British and uses U.K. railway terms for the most part.
Reinhard,Sounds very interesting…There is such a railroad called Progressive Rail that serves a industrial park…That should help you plan your switching road.
I recomend that you take a look at the links that have been put in my “car repair works” thread. In both follow the tracks both NW and E. There is amazing stuff there.
I suggest that you try figuring that all the spurs are off a local or industrial line of some kind while the main is CSX. Then maybe your layout is a corner of the local/industrial system. Whether the loco shed is on your modelled bit or elsewhere is up to you.
The great thing with this set up would be that this much track and switching- when it was all busy - would require several locos. All you have to do then is decide which ones! [:)]
Modelers tend to think that every industrial park and every industrial lead has its own switcher, when in fact it is relatively rare in the US. It is only recently that the economics and engine availability has made it feasible to have all those local industry switchers.
I agree it may be uncommon but,it seems to be a growing trend over the past few years.
However,there has always been such prototypes in larger industrial parks that require frequent switching…Many short lines offers switching services to larger industries as well.
Looking future we can see where large elevators,river transload docks have their own motive power as well…We certainly can’t over look TTI whose main goal in life is to haul coal from its CSX connection at Paris Ky to a river dock at Maysville,Ky so the coal can be transloaded into barges.
How about a short line that is 7 miles long and serves 10 industries? This railroad exist simply because the serving road was no longer interested in that industrial spur because it only generated 450 carloads in/out in a year.That’s roughly 9 cars a week.
That’s okay then. [:P] I don’t really count myself as a modeller.[:-,] I just buy nice looking toy trains and play with them… when I’m not working on the full size railway or doing some research, [(-D]
Dave. I was making a suggestion for developing one possible interpretation of a model scenario. You mihght as well say that "Modellers tend to think that intermodal trains are two SDXXMacs with five well cars and a TOFC flat behind it.
Anyway… I blame the magazines and model manufacturers, The former should stick religiously to exact lists of train consists in dull, boring plain line areas. There are after all far more miles of uninteresting track than there are yards of interesting stuff. The latter should only make a few exact replicas of individual locos on specific days in their working lives.
As for freelancing! [:(!]
Then, of course we should model scale length trackage and only run trains on a 1:1 time schedule. So, if our exactly copied s
Since you decided to take off your engine house here is a way you could leave your engine parked on the main and have the fuel truck pulled up next to the tracks like someone else had mentioned. I stumbled upon this today when I was out cruising around looking for trains today. I went over to Illinois to take some pictures of a SPS work train sitting along the BNSF main in East Dubuque, Illinois that I saw sitting over there the night before and then came back across the bridge. When I got back into Dubuque, Iowa I saw this train pull in and stop as I was headed back up the line to the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern yard, so I took a quick trip up to the ICE yard and then came back to photo graph this train. Just as I pulled into a good spot to take a couple pictures the fuel truck pulled up, never seeing this occur before I thought I would watch and snap a few pictures of the engine being fueled. This is in Dubuque, Iowa right under the US Highway 20 Mississippi River bridge, aka Illinois Bridge
What a nice photo. I did see some similar photos refueling engines from trucks but in that cases the engine was some kind of local or switcher. I assume in this case something unplanned has happened. Look how thin the hose looks at that huge engine.
I did modify a container by adding a door and some windows as some kind of a yard office and placed it beside the track close to the fuel unloading dock. That is a location suitable as an engine parking position. If that engine is permanent assigned to the industry park or just idle for some time waiting for the next job is not defined by my layout but is open to the fantasy of the observer[}:)]
That gives my the best of both worlds. I got the option of an additional engine on the layout, got an unloading dock for tank cars but do not have an not prototypical justified engine house at an CSX industry park in GA/FL.
Dave ask:Do they take any special measures to make sure that no other train runs over/through the hose over the rails?
When I worked on the railroad we would be advised that a train was on the through track being refueled and be looking out ahead for it.
However,like all things railroad things could go wrong…The engineer would stop the engine before running over the hose or the brakeman protecting a shove would radio a “stop 'em now 4224!” or “emergency stop 4224!” just before bailing off…Either way would alert the engineer he needed to stop immediately.
I believe Brakie is correct that the train was on the main. Without driving down there and taking a quick look I cant tell you for sure, since the train was sitting on the edge of the small yard. I would drive back down there to look today, but I am waiting on a few packages to arrive today 1 Christmas present, a computer for work, and some new model rr cars.
If I remember, the next time I am near the yard I will take pictures of the office/shop down there. They have a siding where they park 2 GPs that they use for locals and switching. I know they run out at least as far as Farly, IA to the bio diesel plant and something else that uses a smaller version of what looks like an intermodal crane, but it only lifts steel using chains, from what I have witnessed passing by on the highway. I am also suspecting they travel out to Dyersville, IA ,same town as they use to make the Ertl tractors toys. There are a couple of graineries out that way and an Ethanol plant as well. By my estimate the two engines would travel at least 40 miles when they go out to Dyersville since the track kind of snakes around the hills leaving Dubuque.
What I am getting at I guess is that it would be another possibility for the the engine house or a spur to the shed at the very least. They have a ramp there where they can unload some box cars and with a skilled operator maybe even a flat car that has wheeled or tracked machinery. When I finally get around to building a little switching layout I have thought about incorporating something similar, so the crews dont have to remove all the snow and ice from the two MP15s before they can use them [;)]. Especially true right now, since for the past three days we have had combinations of snow, freezing rain, and rain.
BNSF3704 Your descriptions are really helpful for those of us that rely on pics and can’t get to actually see it. [tup]
Thanks [:)]
Thanks for the other two replies as well [8D] That’s a really scarey way of doing it to me. If we refueled outside a depot there would be restrictions and protection all over the place… but when you can have packed passenger trains coming through at 125mph that’s just sensible.
First thing, your shelf layout is very nice. I enjoy the fact that you are modeling Florida and CSX, which is a departure from what is normally modeled. Since there is very little railroad activity around where I live in Northern Lower Michigan, I used this as a reason to drift to warmer climates. Having been to the Port Lauderdale area several times as well as Miami and having Lance Mindheim’s inspirational Florida layouts as guide, I decided on this lo’cal. While my layout isn’t as far along as yours, I have gone the shelf layout format and a prototypical section in the greater Miami area. If you already haven’t, check out Lance Mindheims “Voodoo & Palmettos” East Rail and Downtown Spur sections. There is tons of excellent pictures of his work along with a “how to” section. I have also included a Bing map of the CSX spur that I am modeling near Miami. If you follow this spur North (the top of the map), the spur curves to the left and then hooks up with the CSX main line. Moving the map north about 6 kilometers and you will see the large CSX yard in Hialeah in north Miami. Use the Aerial and Birdseye buttons to drop down extremely low. You can also change the direction that you are using to see a photo by touching the N,S,E, and W symbols on the left hand part of the screen.
Larry,Looks like you have a fine start on a ISL.[tup]
I was wondering if you have a plan you could share?
Last Thursday I ripped up my small N Scale loop layout as it didn’t work out as planned.Next month I plan on starting a N Scale ISL since I perfer those layouts over loop layouts even with industrial sidings.
I am working on 3 different thoughts but,know it will be CSX…
Larry, the first photo of your layout looks really good.Please post more as you proceed.
I plan to stay much closer with the prototype for the next layout.
This layout has a somewhat crude history as outlined in my very first posting of this thread. It’s origins are in the Chicago area with lots of dark brick warehouses in the 1950-60 area. After the track work had completed and wired I figured out the very special attraction of the light colored shoe box like industrial building to be found everywhere in the US today but mostly ignored on layouts. When I discovered the light ballast and ground of Pelle, Lance and Kurt my mind changed completely. I wanted to have a “very light” and friendly layout.
My luck I have also some CSX engines on the shelf and the FL/GA area was the perfect location for light ground (sand) but still lots of vegetation unlike as Pelle’s layout of the West.
That’s the story of a pure freelance layout that become named a FL layout[:)]
The plan that I am using starts with the large Seaboard/Archives Americas warehouse complex pictured in the Bing Map above. The spur stops at this complex, but if you follow it north, you will see a large green complex on the right side which is Colmar Storage followed by Quixen’s produce company. The spur curves to the left and eventually meets the CSX main that runs north to the CSX yard and south to the Miami river. Not all the structures are served by rail and a few that were are not vacant, but will be modeled anyway. The plan mimics Lance Mindheim’s East Rail but is a truer representation of how the spur actually appears.
The photo below shows the CSX main on the far left. The rail spur I am modeling is located just north of 59th street and can be followed off the main and ends at the Seaboard/Archive Americas warehouse. Sentry Industries are located on 58th street and can seen in the lower right of the photo where several white tank cars are parked.
Sentry Industries which sells chemicals for swimming pools is located off the main on another spur just south of this location. It receives tank car chlorine chemicals that are remixed and sold to swimming pools contractors and home owners.
Why would that be scary? Its a single main so no other trains will be coming down the main. The tracks next to the train are obviously not main tracks so you aren’t going to have 125 mph passenger trains roaring through a 10 mph yard track.
Ultimately any other “restrictions and protection” you could apply boil down to telling the persons in charge of the track not to use the tracks. That is the primary protection in any case and any system.
I guess we just do things differently so that it’s a thing to recall to read pictures differently. I think that someone said that the train being fueled was on a main track. So I’ve got my head round the idea of going the wrong way on each track (unless you’re CNW) but a 10mph speed? Right through a yard? [:O][wow] With your long freight trains that must take forever. I’d hate to get stuck at a grade crossing!
While “telling someone” is routine our systems almost always require a physical action as well. at the shortest this can be for the signalman to place a reminder appliance on the appropriate control(s) or, as it would for a refueling job like that protection similar to your blue flags would be used… even for a short period job. As someone said though the hose they are using looks pretty thin so a full top-off of the tank would take a bit of time. I don’t suppose that one of those locos goes far on a spare can of fuel out of the trunk! [:-,]
Of course the difference in speed is why almost all our main track road crossings have barriers - automatic half barriers on lesser lines / lesser roads and Dircet control or CCTV on busy lines even if the road is a minor one. Despite this we still get people being hit or near-missed. Once you’ve seen a Pendolino go through at over 100 you’d think that no-one would take a risk but some of them actually climb over the barriers. Of course it’s always the trains fault if they get hit. [:(!]
When I first got interested in US RR I had a friend in Texas lived right by a grade crossing. He told me that out in the wilds the locals often built their own crossings, sometimes with just earth, rather than go round via a regular crossing. [:O] He also told me that someone drove straight into the side of an 89’ TOFC (empty) because he couldn’t see it in the dark… and that is why they started to put refle
Take a closer look at that first switch…Any train that comes up that first track will need to stop so the switch can be lined.The other yard tracks are blocked by cars.