THere was at least one that the late Mr. Sperandeo did not mention, and that one was the Midway facility on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford co. And it was a big railroad.
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
I, too, will be working on a mostly-steam era service facility...a working diorama, if you will, until I move somewhere with more space. I'm modelling mine in N scale and already have Walther's 130' turntable and roundhouse with add-on stalls totalling 18 stalls. I currently have three Challengers, six Big Boys, a few Consolidateds and Heavy Mountains, as well as two Alco PAs and a PB (kind of doing the UP transition to diesel era); I've also placed an order for three more Big Boys when Athearn releases the next batch. I also have a kit based on the 650-ton coal bunker UP had at its facility in Cheyenne, WY...the facility I'd love to model if I could afford about a dozen more Big Boys and Challengers. And figure out how to expand a roundhouse that can have no more than 35 stalls to one with 48 stalls...LOL.
Anyway, I came across this http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/ArkCity/firemaps/arkcity/acit045.jpg link on another forum. It's a firemap for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe's facility in Arkansas City, KS and thought I'd use it as the starting point for my plans as it also includes the ice house and reefer icing platforms and a flour mill in the drawing. The lower middle portion of the drawing joins up on the north end of the tracks shown on the left and the right portion of the drawing joins north of the icing facility. If your browser software allows it, you can zoom in on the drawing to see more details.
HTH,
Allen Anderson
One foot = 87 HO scale feet.
A Big Boy is about 130 ft long.
The big turntable Walthers sells is 130 ft long.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Hey Captain:
The track plans are exactly what you see in the magazine, complete with grid, in PDF format.
--O'Dave
While we were here, another thread began developing a lot of sound and fury - on the subject of a layout featured in the May (08) Model Railroader that was designed by the owner but mostly built by a professional builder. The subject? The Junction City Locomotive Terminal, a steam-era division point engine servicing facility with very innovative off-scene staging involving a second, hidden turntable. The left-hand end of the track plan appears as the lead illustration on today's MR newsletter.
It certainly deserves a look or several, if for nothing else than inspiration.
Edit: The John Armstrong vest-pocket engine terminal I referenced earlier is in the February, 1953 MR - "Four by Eight Layouts."
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Capt. Grimek wrote:Thank you Dave. Do you have any specific books or other resources to recommend to me so that I can learn more?
Thanks. Don't know about the building process, other than any histories of Baldwin, Lima or ALCO.
Here is an aerial photo of Baldwin's Eddystone works. all that exists now is the cross shaped office building. I grew up about 10 miles from there.
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/builders/eddystone.jpg
Modeling a commercial locomotive builder would give you the opportunity to run many different steam engines out, but they would be sorta one time moves. Most of the business would be supplies being moved in.
If you were modeling a post 1970's or 1980's era I would suggest a locomotive rebuilder (Paducah, etc). That way you could recieve old and new engines and have them come out in different paint schemes, different modifications, etc.
I need to search for pics of a dynanometer car for starters.
Walthers sold a model of one a while back.
Also photos of scenes insidea build/rebuild shop for ideas and detailing as locos hanging from cranes could be interesting. Would the book I mentioned in my original question be my best source forservicing yard detailing?
This is probably one of the most valuable site on the internet:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/hhquery.html
The Library of Congress Historical American Engineering Record site. Search for "Railroad shops" and you will get list of documented sites of shops and other facilities. Each entry may have photos, diagrams, maps, written documentation, etc. Waaaaay cool stuf if you are searching buildings or facilities.
P.S. Would there be enough prototypical runaround/"rail fan" type track to, well...run around the room? Did the servicing/testing facilities take locos out onto the mainline fortest runs or break in periods, etc.?I'd consider two separate layouts/layers one for a loco servicing yard and one for rail fanrunning if that's what it'll take to fit into my tiny little rooms...still trying to figure outwhat I want to model and operate. Just starting to attend operating sessions at round robin home layouts and clubs.
Think Steamtown. they have a locomotive collection, plus an active rounhouse and operate tourist trains. Alternate would be an equivalent to The RR Museum or PA/Strasburg.
I am just adding this 5x9. It could be much smaller if I didn't want double track around it and if I used the smaller turntable and roundhouse. I could have been a 4x4 bump in the middle of a 2 foot wide shelf layout.
Hey Capt.
This thread is timely - I went to my local library yesterday and checked out a copy of The Locomotives that Baldwin Built by Fred Westing. I haven't read through it yet, but on one page there is a small picture of the track layout and buildings of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, PA. Looking it over, I thought that modeling the works would be an interesting project.
You'd get to have a lot of different kinds of steam & early diesels being built for a lot of different kinds of roads, plus the industrial switching and interchanges. I don't have the book with me now, but it looks like the PRR cuts straight through the plant and connections with the B&O are nearby. It's much too big for a small space, of course, but maybe you could pick out the most interesting parts, or compress the heck out of it.
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
'Way back in the 50s or 60s, John Armstrong managed to cram a turntable, roundhouse, transfer table, service tracks, part of a backshop and a few ready tracks into 4x8 - in O scale! Something similar should be do-able in HO in a few more square feet.
Mr. Armstrong's layout was published in MR, in an issue that is long out of print. I haven't done a content search in the magazine index, but if you find it there the MR Customer Service folks can probably supply a copy of the article (for a fee, of course - but worth it.)
The "test track" is normally in a building and the locomotive is "tested" standing still. Any moving tests they put the engine on a train with a dynamometer car and run it across the railroad.
Modeling a servicing facility would be more exciting than a locomotive builder. In a backshop the engines are moved more with overhead cranes inside buildings than they are outside..