Woodbine Industrial Track

[conrail1973]

Thanks Jeff! Lance Mindheim's book was my inspiration for changing my focus from a roundy round layout to an industrial switching layout.   When I have more money/time to focus on more scenic aspects of my layout, I would love to try my hand at incorporating a swing gate and the use of padlocks.  Aside from that, his book taught me to make a complete stop before I cross the two grade crossings on my layout, and I will also stop in front of the warehouse at the brewery and "wait" for the rolling door to open.  It's the little things that make this an interesting layout to operate.  With regards to Klein's, it is the place that ended my 5 year absence from modeling railroading.  I will make my trek down there when I go to the Timonium shows, and I always walk away with something that is not on the "list."

Thanks,
Adam

[conrail1973]

Good Morning,

We're in the process of buying a home, and my wife mentioned that I "could" expand my layout by adding another door.  I came up with this sketch after looking at Dave Vollmer's Enola Yard, and I wanted to fetch some thoughts from this really basic sketch.  I really would like to model a small yard serving my existing layout.  I am using True-Track, so I hope that Atlas might expand their line of True Track by the time I can "finance" an expansion.  On another note, I did add a Life Like Chessie SW8 to go along with my Conrail GP38 and Reading Northern U23B.  It keeps up with my generic Mid-Atlantic layout.

Thanks,
Adam

[conrail1973]

After some thought and the post on the Heljan Brewery, I wonder whether my American Hardware Supply kit (it has been in storage) would be a better representation for the brewhouse on my layout?  I love this forum because it makes me think, and rethink, and think again about my layout.

Thanks,
Adam

[conrail1973]

Good Evening,

After some thought, I decided to change the track plan around where the brewery is at it.  I've decided to change this area up into two industries.  The area with the structures from the Walthers Superior Paper Mill and ADM Grain Elevator will either represent the brewery or going back to my plan B with a cereal plant.

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The other industry that I added is a warehouse with the Walthers American Hardware kit.  This industry will receive 2 boxcars a week.

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I'm just glad that I haven't attached the track to the foam insulation board which will be replaced with a thicker board over the summer.

Thank,
Adam

[conrail1973]

Good Morning,

It's been a while since I last posted, but we finally have moved into our new home.  My layout is currently located in our office, so it's good to have it outside of a basement.  I somehow remembered how I had the True Track set-up in the old house, and I came up with a similar configuration.  I did decide to remove the Walthers grain elevator because it did seem too big for a location that is receiving 6 grain hoopers/week.  I now have a budget of $75 for some "summer projects" on the layout.  I do plan on laying another layer of foam insulation board to hide the pin holes from the trees that I thought were cool at the time (this is not included in my budget).  I would welcome those that read this post to comment on projects I should consider for my layout.  To recap a few things about my layout:

Era: 1980s-Mid 1990s

Location: Mid-Atlantic (urban)

Industries: Food Processing Plant; Light Manufacturing Plant; Warehouse; Team Track

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Thanks,
Adam

[coosvalley]

Lightweight spackle will fill those tree holes nicely, and is cheaper than foam sheets !.. I like the layout..Keep up the good work!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Glad to hear you're back up and running.

Here's what I'd do, project wise:

Paint the roads.

Add some terrain into your foam. The world is far from flat, even "flat" areas need things like drainage ditches, overpasses, etc...

Looking at your terrain there, I'd recommend a highway embankment along the backdrop, with an overpass over on the right over the roads. I think dollar stores have some cheap foam core, which you can use for minor terrain variations. Then add in some light weight spackle to smooth it all out.

I could see the city part over on the right elevated slightly above track level, just to break up the flatness of it all too. Maybe gently sloping down toward the center.

I can also see a low pond in that area dead center, full of nasty looking water, shopping carts, tires, 55 gallon drums and probably a body or two.

Lastly, since you model the awesome era and location, don't forget abandoned tracks and rights of way! That passing siding in the front just begs to look like there used to be more of it. Same thing with those front "dead zones". If you've got the scratch for another siding, there's definitely room there for a scrap yard too. They're pretty common urban industries.

Once you have your general terrain figured out, add some ground cover. Go get some unsanded and sanded grout, and start dirting and graveling everything that's not pavement. Speaking of pavement, make sure to leave enough so there's logical access to all of the structures and areas. Use Google and Bing maps to easily get prototype inspiration.

How complete are your structures? I'd also think about painting them to make them look different than the pictures on the Walthers boxes. Again, Google and Bing maps will be your friend for looking for prototype inspiration. They REALLY make researching "generic" stuff so easy.

Oh, and backdrop... you've got a nice white wall there. Resist the temptation to make it coloring book blue! I love it.

I just recently added this photo to the CRHS photo archive. It's a bit before your era, but you might still enjoy it:
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-9310-a-VO-10E-in-Philly-5-15-1979

[OldEastRR]

I like how you have your buildings on  a grid pattern. Like real world buildings.
But for an eastern industrial setting the factories are spaced way too far apart -- more like a modern industrial park on the Midwestern flatlands. You start out somewhat crowded on the RH side then things get farther and farther apart as you move left.
For starters, how about getting another Brach's Candy and setting it end to end with the one you have? Then it  would look like one big factory is filling that block. Then the  two gray buildings in the center -- can you turn the RH one 180 degrees (so the loading  area still faces its spur) and set it between the 2 spurs? Then find another factory that will fit the space where the RH building was. Using Ed's suggestion, that one can have  an abandoned spur (maybe have the rails still in place even through the roadway).  And you can make that even more interesting by making it look that the ROW of where the  abandoned spur used to curve through is now where the light tan building sits. What happened was once the track was gone, some new place built on where it had been.  And the trashy pond Ed suggested can go right to the left of the tan building, sitting inside the old foundations of small industrial building that sat there but was torn down. These details give a sense of history to your layout.
As for the old-style buildings on the RH side -- move them up right next to the street sidewalks, and cram in more like them. No plant in the late 18th/early 19th century left open spaces for parking lots or even loading aprons -- those things came much much later. Especially in the east. The only open space among those buildings you see today are where a building once stood, jammed up against its neighbors.
The paper mill, however looks fine, as these facilities had large tracts of open land around them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's a really good point. More buildings, clutter, etc... all absolutely neccessary. But don't forget the negative space too. By your era, there ARE a lot of buildings that used to be there that aren't anymore.

There aren't a lot of urban paper mills, but there are a few.

Here's one I can think of: https://bit.ly/1UT2PMr

It's in Chester PA. In fact, if you browse up and down the tracks there, known as the Chester Secondary, you can find all sorts of inspiration.
For example, much of Brian Ferrell's stuff is from there:
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/ScenicAndActionGallery/BrianFerrell

[sirenwerks]

But for an eastern industrial setting the factories are spaced way too far apart -- more like a modern industrial park on the Midwestern flatlands. You start out somewhat crowded on the RH side then things get farther and farther apart as you move left.

Let's not forget that by 1991, the era he's modeling, asbestos-laden vintage industrial architecture was no longer of much use for modern industry, it would rather start new than try to adopt an old site; and brownfield reclamation was a burgeoning source of income for dying burgs.  So the building placement is pretty realistic IMO.  The scenery highlights interspersed between those structures will be the weed-choked, chain-linked-in, trash-strewn meek bones of former manufacturing powerhouses, but the early 90s were what they were, just as depressing as the 70s, but with a little more over-growth.  Honestly, I see a lot of folks modeling the east coast in the Conrail era, but no one has nailed the ugly industrial wasteland that much of the scenery was in reality,  It's one of the reasons flying is so popular over taking Amtrak, you don't have to see all the trash.  The placement of his buildings is a great opportunity to create such apocalypse - I say embrace it.

[wm3798]

Remember also, in most eastern cities, the street grid was there first...the railroad would have dropped in where the grades worked, or where the route demanded.  Maybe take your street grid and skew it 30 degrees to your track plan.  It will give you the opportunity build out neat triangular loading docks, small parcel industries, such as the aforementioned scrap dealer, and otherwise give the layout a more intensely urban feel.  It will also give you some natural view blocks, and make the layout look like a slice of the real world, rather than a perfectly square model railroady model railroad.



Keep the structures oriented to the street grid, and modify the sidings to come in square to them, or build out the loading areas.  It's a really small change that will have an enormous impact visually.

Lee

[Blazeman]

It's in Chester PA. In fact, if you browse up and down the tracks there, known as the Chester Secondary, you can find all sorts of inspiration.
For example, much of Brian Ferrell's stuff is from there:
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/ScenicAndActionGallery/BrianFerrell

Thanks for the "trip" to the home town. Scott Paper/Kimberly Clark hangs on. Bathroom tissue plant never stops.

Interesting the photographer never gets into Chester, only around it. Smart. Not a place one would rail fan, even at high noon.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I ain't no chicken!
http://railfanning.kapuscinski.net/2015/04/april-2015-philly-trip/

[conrail1973]

I really appreciate the feedback from yesterday and today!  There are a lot of suggestions that I will probably follow throughout the course of the summer.  One of the first things that I did this afternoon was to redraw the placement of the buildings on the right side of the layout.  I also practiced my scissor skills (I should've used my kids for this), and I added some templates for possible street locations.  I also brought out a few kits that were sitting on a shelf, and I came up with this:

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I came up with different configurations and angles for some of the buildings, and I attempted to add a more compact feeling for that part of the layout.

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I did come up with a "creek" for possible placement in the middle of the layout. I foresee a project for a culvert with this.

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Now this is where things can get interesting.  On the lower left side of the layout, I pulled up my Northern Power and Light for placement for an abandoned power plant or location for a scrap yard.  Then I thought how could I build a overpass on that part of the layout (I substituted the overpass with a piece of foam and 2 cups)?

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This would be cool because I could position the scrap yard around there.  Anyhow, I continue to look forward to the feedback, and I hope to start making this more of a permanent layout.  On a side note, the operations have increased because of all of the increased crossings.

Thanks,
Adam

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What about putting the track that the RS11 is on IN the street instead of next to it? Although, I admit, I like them both.

But, I also just uploaded this hotness...
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-8800-on-Tioga-St-in-Phildelphia-587

Also, another thought. Given the nature of the lines you're modeling, perhaps covering everything that isn't track in it, to bring the level of the earth about level with the track (as opposed to having it up on high ballast, as the true track forces you to), would be worth it too. That'll make all sorts of things easier, especially grade crossings and the like.