Moderator, I had no idea where to appropriately post this. HO is too restrictive of audience, it might be operations oriented but it's also scenic related, so I wound up here, please move if you feel appropriate.
I'm building west on the JGL, and in addition to the 180 degree turnback curve in the background of the photo, this entails the 25' of 16" wide shelf seen, leading into the next room where west end staging is. It is divided roughly in half by a scene with a river. The far side of the river in the photo has a passenger station where the blueprint is taped on the wall, a passing siding long enough for a 20 car freight and a lead off that siding to an industrial area, which also goes around that 180 degree turn and serves several industies on the adjacent peninsula.
This industrial line also crosses the river on the under construction deck girder in the picture. And there is a three track yard there with a capacity of about 14 ft. Or will be! This yard serves a Pennsylvania railroad interchange asa well as the local industries. The interchange is at the other end of the small yard, where the Penn. passes over the JGL as it goes into staging (or will!)
The deck girder bridge is a replacement for the old timber trestle, which will be built between the two steel bridges. This does in my mind overcrowd the scene, but the attraction of building a trestle with no rails but with old rusted tie plates and spikes, since these are available for those who wish to build very detailed handlaid track (I tried and my eyes just won't let me, so I have these items available), is just too irrestable. This bridge will be where one single leftover bent from a previous project is supporting a length of flex track just barely long enought to span the gap.
I'm getting close to asking for advice. This scene is attractive to me in that it will allow me to show traces of what used to be. A line of decrepit old ties will lie from the abandoned trestle to the point where they were oblitherated by the process of realigning the approach tracks to the new bridge. I have a clear picture of this on the far side of the river. On the near side, I am wondering if I could leave some of the original trackage in place for a small serviscing facility. The turnouts whose diverging routes are just visable at the bottom of the photo could just be eliminated and the area where the short piece of crappy flex track is could be weed grown. Slight trace of old ties, etc. Or, I could leave a turnout there, which would connect to a short length of the old line, to park a dedicated loco on, for very minor maintenance or perhaps fueling.
You need to know the use of this trackage. Freights in either direction will stop in the siding, and drop and pickup cars from the local industies and Pa. interchange. There will be a fair amount of traffic, enough to have a dedicated switcher assigned. This switcher, I'm thinking so far, will remain at site for a week or some other appropriate time period, then return to the division point yard for regular maintenance, being replaced at such times by another loco.
Here's the question. Can (or should) I utilize the small space in the photo coming off the old trestle for some kind of svc, area, or even some other use? Or do you think it should be just weeds?
I'm building west on the JGL, and in addition to the 180 degree turnback curve in the background of the photo, this entails the 25' of 16" wide shelf seen, leading into the next room where west end staging is. It is divided roughly in half by a scene with a river. The far side of the river in the photo has a passenger station where the blueprint is taped on the wall, a passing siding long enough for a 20 car freight and a lead off that siding to an industrial area, which also goes around that 180 degree turn and serves several industies on the adjacent peninsula.
This industrial line also crosses the river on the under construction deck girder in the picture. And there is a three track yard there with a capacity of about 14 ft. Or will be! This yard serves a Pennsylvania railroad interchange asa well as the local industries. The interchange is at the other end of the small yard, where the Penn. passes over the JGL as it goes into staging (or will!)
The deck girder bridge is a replacement for the old timber trestle, which will be built between the two steel bridges. This does in my mind overcrowd the scene, but the attraction of building a trestle with no rails but with old rusted tie plates and spikes, since these are available for those who wish to build very detailed handlaid track (I tried and my eyes just won't let me, so I have these items available), is just too irrestable. This bridge will be where one single leftover bent from a previous project is supporting a length of flex track just barely long enought to span the gap.
I'm getting close to asking for advice. This scene is attractive to me in that it will allow me to show traces of what used to be. A line of decrepit old ties will lie from the abandoned trestle to the point where they were oblitherated by the process of realigning the approach tracks to the new bridge. I have a clear picture of this on the far side of the river. On the near side, I am wondering if I could leave some of the original trackage in place for a small serviscing facility. The turnouts whose diverging routes are just visable at the bottom of the photo could just be eliminated and the area where the short piece of crappy flex track is could be weed grown. Slight trace of old ties, etc. Or, I could leave a turnout there, which would connect to a short length of the old line, to park a dedicated loco on, for very minor maintenance or perhaps fueling.
You need to know the use of this trackage. Freights in either direction will stop in the siding, and drop and pickup cars from the local industies and Pa. interchange. There will be a fair amount of traffic, enough to have a dedicated switcher assigned. This switcher, I'm thinking so far, will remain at site for a week or some other appropriate time period, then return to the division point yard for regular maintenance, being replaced at such times by another loco.
Here's the question. Can (or should) I utilize the small space in the photo coming off the old trestle for some kind of svc, area, or even some other use? Or do you think it should be just weeds?
