My son,Will,and I are constructing new benchwork for a new layout.It will be a model of the Chicago & Northwestern's Beverly Yard in Cedar Rapids Iowa as it was in 1994 with all the operations in and around this facility modeled over a period of time as layout construction and equipment purchases permit.
This is Beverly as of 1988.There are a few deletions and an addition between the years 1988 and 1994.The stock track,east end pocket track and section house track all removed and a crossover added between the mains on the east end of the yard just before the Edgewood Rd crossing.
Beverly yard was used more as a staging point for interchange with the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City RR and departure and receiving cars of the transfer run to North yard near the downtown area of Cedar Rapids.Crandic's receiving interchange was located east of Beverly,south of main track 2(westbound main).This required a shoving move from Beverly.The receiving interchange from Crandic was located off the Cedar Rapids line a couple of miles from Beverly.The CR line came from the north side of the mains and into Beverly as a running track.The Tower crossovers east of Edgewood road allowed access to the CR line from the south side yard.
Operations at Beverly consisted of yard jobs during three tricks(shifts) These were north and south side yard jobs during weekdays and one or more jobs during afternoon,evening,and weekend tricks as needed (sometimes only the north side jobs).These jobs switched inbound and outbound cars,shoved to Crandic's interchange,transfered to North yard,or pulled cars from the CR line Crandic interchange as required.Loaded coal or grain trains were shoved into the Crandic by the road crews that brought these trains into Cedar Rapids.Empty hoppers and covered hoppers were assembled from the CR line interchange and left on the CR line and a road crew called from Boone Iowa for these trains.
More later.
Have a good one.
Bill B
Bill,
Quite the ambitious project, my hat's off to ya! I'm in the very preliminary design phase of what will hopefully be a layout very loosely based on the Quaker Oats/CCP Yard/4th St. Cooridor area.
I spent a LOT of time at Beverly in the late 80s and early 90s...time I "should've" been spending in the classroom, labs, etc. Oh well, good memories anyways.
Can't wait to see what you come up with for a trackplan for this. In my case, I'm having to "reinvent" the world to get components to fit into the space I've got. Hopefully, if/when its ever built, people "in the know" will recognize the areas...even if they aren't quite where they're "supposed" to be...
With Jobs 32, 33, 34, and 35 working Beverly, the "Drags" to and from North Yard, road freights like PRDMA/DMPRA, PRCBA/CBPRA, SPBVA/BVSPA, PRKWA/KSPRA, and PRNPB working the yard...you guys will have plenty of operation going on in addition to switching General Mills, and the Crandic moves you mentioned.
Good luck!
Chris Umscheid
Former Amana Refrigeration Paramedic, now schlepper of Durable Medical Equipment...
The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!
I'm just estimating, but to build that schematic as is and have the shorter tracks do something will require about 20 ft x 5 ft of space accessible from both sides. And that does not include the yard lead.
Is this what you were thinking as well.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Chip,That's close to what I'm figuring.Then as permitted,there will be staging yards on either end of the mainline runs and staging for the Crandic interchange and CR line.
Chris-Thank you.
I just received North Western Lines Vol 17 No2 Spring 1990 with the info by Allan Hunt.Altho he only details the yard jobs,your info on the mainline freights helps add pieces to the puzzle.What are the SPBVA/BVSPA trains?
Bill, SPBVA/BVSPA was South Pekin (IL) to Beverly and return. Seems like it was pretty heavy with ADM traffic. At times, it ran as a South Pekin to Boone movement (SPBOA/BOSPA). I'm probably forgetting some of the mainline movements, but those were the ones I remembered watching the most.
Don't forget that you also could have some CYBOE (Clinton-Boone Extra) trains coming in to "fill-out" with empty grain hoppers off the South side of the yard. If you backed-up to modeling 1993, you'd have your hands full with all the flood detour traffic that ran through Beverly...
Keep us posted on the design and building of this OK?
Chris
Physical makeup and operations of Beverly Yard
There are 9 yard tracks on the north side,1-9 and 6 on the south side of the mainlines,15-20.The yard jobs were 31 and 32 on duty at 7am,33 and 34 on duty at 3pm,and 35 and 36 on duty at 11pm.Odd numbered jobs worked the north side,even numbered jobs worked the south side.Power for these jobs were kept at the yard office at the east end for the north side jobs and at the west end on whatever track was not intended for any action on the south side.
There were 2 enginehouse tracks and a sandhouse track coming off the RIP track lead on the east end near the yard office.A company material track (track 10) was located on the south side of the carshop.2 RIP tracks(tracks 11 and 12) serviced the carshop.North of the car shop were the wash tracks(tracks 13 and 14) for car cleaning.
A wye was located at the west end of track 9.The tail of this wye leads to the north side of General Mills for spotting cars.Another spur serviced GM on the south side of the building,this came off of the wash track lead from the west end.Covered hoppers of sugar or starch are spotted indoors for unloading on both spurs.Outbound product goes by truck.
Crossings in the area are Old Bridge Rd at the west end protected by crossbucks only.Edgewood Rd protected by gates and lights and 26th St crossing east of the Tower crossovers protected by gates and lights on the mainline tracks and lights only for the CR line.Hwy 30 crosses at this location on an overpass over the main tracks and the CR line.
AmanaMedic wrote:Bill, SPBVA/BVSPA was South Pekin (IL) to Beverly and return. Seems like it was pretty heavy with ADM traffic. At times, it ran as a South Pekin to Boone movement (SPBOA/BOSPA). I'm probably forgetting some of the mainline movements, but those were the ones I remembered watching the most. Don't forget that you also could have some CYBOE (Clinton-Boone Extra) trains coming in to "fill-out" with empty grain hoppers off the South side of the yard. If you backed-up to modeling 1993, you'd have your hands full with all the flood detour traffic that ran through Beverly...Keep us posted on the design and building of this OK? Chris
Thanks,Chris.If you haven't already done so,read my other thread on 'Layout Construction with Dominoes' and see how I'm doing it all.I'm working on the first 2 dominoes,one for the east end and one for the west end of Beverly.
Now that I've covered most of the prototype info,I can detail what I plan to do with the model.
The benchwork for the model of Beverly yard in HO scale will consist of 4'X2' domino sections,beginning with 2 dominoes,one each for the east and west ends of the yard.These are 1X4 frames with 1/4" masonite tops.I'll be attaching Woodland Scenics 12"X24" foam roadbed sheets to each domino(4 pieces).All track will be Atlas code 83.I'll start with the mainlines centered 1 1/8" each from the domino centerline,giving a 1 1/4" track center spacing for the mainlines.The reason for this is that the groundthrows for the crossovers will be between the mainlines.All yard tracks will be on 2" centers working away from each mainline.This allows me to have yard tracks 1-5 on the north side and 15-19 on the south side.All secured track will end 1" from the edge of each domino and have a 2" 'bridge' track section spanning the joint between dominoes.
I'll be using no.8 turnouts for the mainline crossovers and no.6 for all other locations.I can only get 4 turnouts on each side of the yard on each domino(the diverging turnout and 3 ladder turnouts).The rest will have to be located on the next domino section built as time allows.For now I will work on these 2 dominoes and setup staging sections so we can begin some limited operations.
I plan to use Digitrax DCC for operations.This requires only 2 bus wires under the layout with feeder wires to each track on each domino.I use Atlas terminal joiners for feeders and have never had problems with shorts or loss of power.Plus I like the idea of not having to solder anything!
Bill, I think I'm starting to like this "dominoes" concept.
One thing you'll need, on the East end at the "Tower Crossing" (26th. St.) will be a light/medium blue 1984 Chevy Celebrity. It should have a scruffy looking 20-something sitting on the hood. He should have a CNW cap on, a portable radio, a camera bag with a pair of Nikon FM-2's, and a handheld scanner. You'll also need the 'Iowa Blackie' graffitti on the steel power pole at this crossing...
Seriously though, sounds like you're off to a flying start on this! You've got me hooked...
Stay SAFE...
AmanaMedic wrote:Bill, I think I'm starting to like this "dominoes" concept. One thing you'll need, on the East end at the "Tower Crossing" (26th. St.) will be a light/medium blue 1984 Chevy Celebrity. It should have a scruffy looking 20-something sitting on the hood. He should have a CNW cap on, a portable radio, a camera bag with a pair of Nikon FM-2's, and a handheld scanner. You'll also need the 'Iowa Blackie' graffitti on the steel power pole at this crossing... Seriously though, sounds like you're off to a flying start on this! You've got me hooked... Stay SAFE... Chris
Chris,I'll have to add those to my list of details to purchase to complete the scene!
By 'scruffy' I take it you mean unshaven,wild hair,and overly worn clothing(the kind you don't dare wash,but can't seem to part with).Has he bathed lately?I ask because it may be hard to simulate having flies buzzing around in HO.Of course these dang Iowa flies tend to buzz around a person no matter what the smell like!
Hey, I didn't get THAT nasty... *grin*
I was just your "typical" early 20's college bum...I mean, "student." Showered everyday, hair was a bit "wild," at times...but quite presentable in the company of "nice" people...
Now "Iowa Blackie" on the other hand... nice guy, but one to stay upwind of...
Back to your Beverly project... I think I've got a line-up or two floating around here yet, listing many, many movements through the yard. I had a whole stack of line-ups and N. Yard switch lists...until my dog had a "puppy moment" and became a four-legged paper shreader. If I find it, I'll post it here for ya...
Happy and SAFE Thanksgiving!
Formerly "scruffy" Chris
AmanaMedic wrote: Back to your Beverly project... I think I've got a line-up or two floating around here yet, listing many, many movements through the yard. I had a whole stack of line-ups and N. Yard switch lists...until my dog had a "puppy moment" and became a four-legged paper shreader. If I find it, I'll post it here for ya... Happy and SAFE Thanksgiving! Formerly "scruffy" Chris
Thanks Chris.That would be cool to read.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Chicago and North Western Transportation Company
Train Location Report (Line-Up)
To: All Concerned At: Beverly
Line Up No. 176 Date: June 10 1993
Subdivision: East Iowa
Direction: WW
Engine Alpha Leave From After Remarks
**** ***** **************** ******** **************************
GLLA6 Norway 0507
PRCBA Marshalltown 0600
8510 SHBTX Clinton 0455
MLTA2 Clinton 0520
PRNPV Clinton 0530
6500 PRDMA Clinton 0535
7010 ELNPA Clinton 0540
APKA6 Clinton 0545
MITK6 Clinton 0600
SPBOA Clinton 0630
CYBOY Clinton 0700
EXTRA Clinton 0730
PRNPA Clinton 0800
PRNPE Clinton 0815
EXTRA Clinton 0845
PRKCA Clinton 0900
CSNPZ Clinton 1000
BVBOY Beverly 1100
MTBMX Marshalltown 0645
WBO80 Boone 0730 Works between Marshalltown and Boone
MTMCA Marshalltown 0800
EXTRA Marshalltown 0900
YEG54 Ames West 0730 Works between KC Jct. and Ames West
EXTRA KC Jct. West 0800
After 0730 All Trains May Use Trk 1 Between
Crossover at MP 89.9 And Crossover at MP 117.4
Until Released.
Direction: EW
BOCYG Low Moor 0358
CBPRA Grand Mound 0510
DMPRA Lowden 0453
TAML1 Lowden 0524
NPCRA Lowden 0542
BOCYG Mechanicsville 0546
NPCSE CR Bridge 0520
NASHC KC Jct. East 0645
PDCSZ Boone 0645
TACX2 Boone 0700
BOCYG Boone 0715
WBO80 Boone 0730 Works between Boone and Marshalltown
NPPTA Boone 0745
BMCEC Boone 0800
EXTRA Boone 0815
ATBPC Boone 0830
DKWKC Boone 0845
NACPC Boone 0900
CUITW Boone 0915
BTPPC Boone 0930
NPPTE Boone 1000
NPCSZ Boone 1015
Crossover at MP 117.4 and Crossover at MP 89.9
Until Released. 12 More Extra Trains Expected to
Run after 0730 From Boone Ames West KC Jct East
Marshalltown and Beverly. No More Lines Allowed on
Line Up Screen
Line-Up Void: 1630
Dispatcher: JAB
Train Location Report Sent at 0643 06/10/93
Thanks for posting the lineup,Chris.
Happy Thanksgiving one and all.
Glad to!
Hope it helps! Sure looks like you'll have plenty of trains to "run through" and "work" the yard.
Keep us posted on the progress....
We have 2 dominoes completed and materials for 2 more.We bought roadbed sheets and 2 more switches yesterday and plan to start laying track this weekend.
Looks like it should be a good weekend for layout building...
Thanks for posting the dominos plans. If nothing else, its helping me see just how much track I can put into a given space.
Stay safe,
You're welcome,Chris.Unfortunately I have to work today 11am to 8pm and it's already started with a mix of freezing rain and snow(started about 8:30am my time).I'll be posting more plans tonight if we have power.If not,then we'll be working on the layout by lantern light(battery operated)