tomikawaTT If Walthers does issue a New York Harbor style 3-tracker in N scale you will be able to sit back and laugh! A car float has to be just about the easiest thing in model railroading to scratchbuild! All that's really needed to begin is a piece of pine, thickness equal to the waterline-to-deck dimension of your chosen prototype. a couple of stripwood (or strip styrene) rub strakes, a couple of nautical fittings of appropriate (or 'close enough') scale and some N scale truck tires, plus track (rail spiked to the deck) and you've got it. Appropriate numbers on the sides at the bow and centered on the transom, and possibly a herald or railroad name amidships... My own hidden track plus cassette dock is more like the Bronx Terminal arrangement - the yard tracks are schematically alongside the dock and single-ended, rather than end-on and double ended. Of course, if you really want to Rube Goldberg it, some additional inside-the-hull complexity would allow your car float to react to loading - sagging down as the first cars go aboard, leveling fore-and-aft, then sagging and leveling side-to-side as the other tracks are loaded. All it takes are a separate waterline section below the lower rubbing strake and four soft springs, one each at the center of each side and each end. Dead simple - and watch your visitors' eyes pop! Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - several mountain ranges from navigable water)
If Walthers does issue a New York Harbor style 3-tracker in N scale you will be able to sit back and laugh! A car float has to be just about the easiest thing in model railroading to scratchbuild!
All that's really needed to begin is a piece of pine, thickness equal to the waterline-to-deck dimension of your chosen prototype. a couple of stripwood (or strip styrene) rub strakes, a couple of nautical fittings of appropriate (or 'close enough') scale and some N scale truck tires, plus track (rail spiked to the deck) and you've got it. Appropriate numbers on the sides at the bow and centered on the transom, and possibly a herald or railroad name amidships...
My own hidden track plus cassette dock is more like the Bronx Terminal arrangement - the yard tracks are schematically alongside the dock and single-ended, rather than end-on and double ended.
Of course, if you really want to Rube Goldberg it, some additional inside-the-hull complexity would allow your car float to react to loading - sagging down as the first cars go aboard, leveling fore-and-aft, then sagging and leveling side-to-side as the other tracks are loaded. All it takes are a separate waterline section below the lower rubbing strake and four soft springs, one each at the center of each side and each end. Dead simple - and watch your visitors' eyes pop!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - several mountain ranges from navigable water)
Walthers has a;ready told me they have no plans to issue these. That doesn't mean that they can't change their minds, but I doubt they will.
I've often thought of getting the car float to react as it would have if it were real. But at this point I am having enough trouble trying to figure out how to lay the necessary gantlet track on the car float and install switch points on the apron that that has been put on the back burner. Add to that the fact that I have never hand-laid track before and there are some serious issues that need tro be tackled before I can even think of that.
Irv
corsair7 ---- snip. I would have used Walthers car float and terminal but they won't be releasing them in N-Scale. I asked and they said absolutely not. So I will have to make my own. And once I've done I fully expect Walthers or someone else to announce they are going to release a 3 track car float. Sylvan make a two track car float in N Scale. The only problem is it only has two tracks and can only 8 railroad cars max on those two tracks. Those are too small. Irv
---- snip.
I would have used Walthers car float and terminal but they won't be releasing them in N-Scale. I asked and they said absolutely not. So I will have to make my own. And once I've done I fully expect Walthers or someone else to announce they are going to release a 3 track car float.
Sylvan make a two track car float in N Scale. The only problem is it only has two tracks and can only 8 railroad cars max on those two tracks. Those are too small.
Irv, if Walthers does issue a New York Harbor style 3-tracker in N scale you will be able to sit back and laugh! A car float has to be just about the easiest thing in model railroading to scratchbuild!
MisterBeasley On a related topic, anyone interested in pier-side railroad operations should check out the latest issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. There's an excellent article on the prototype "Big Mac" McMylar rotary coal dump facility operated by the Central New Jersey Railroad. This facility featured two huge dumpers which transferred coal directly from hoppers to barges. The article is very well written, and full of period photos. The following article is about an HO scale model of the same operation built by a local club in NJ.
On a related topic, anyone interested in pier-side railroad operations should check out the latest issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. There's an excellent article on the prototype "Big Mac" McMylar rotary coal dump facility operated by the Central New Jersey Railroad. This facility featured two huge dumpers which transferred coal directly from hoppers to barges. The article is very well written, and full of period photos. The following article is about an HO scale model of the same operation built by a local club in NJ.
That was a great article. I would have loved to have seen the real thing.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley I'm jealous. I think a car float terminal is a great thing to model, but it does take up a lot of space. I model in HO, and I just think it's more space than I can find. This is a shot I took at the Treasure Coast Model Railroad Club in Florida. I believe this is a pair of the Walthers HO-scale floats and aprons. At one point, they were thinking of using these as casettes, but I think the floats are just part of the scenery now. Love that dirty water.
I'm jealous. I think a car float terminal is a great thing to model, but it does take up a lot of space. I model in HO, and I just think it's more space than I can find.
This is a shot I took at the Treasure Coast Model Railroad Club in Florida. I believe this is a pair of the Walthers HO-scale floats and aprons. At one point, they were thinking of using these as casettes, but I think the floats are just part of the scenery now.
Love that dirty water.
It does take up a lot of room but my layout when complete will have two levels. Given that I think I can spare the space that this will occupy. It should be interesting to watch. I do plan to use my N-Scale car floats as casettes so they won't be permanently attached to the layout. They'll only be there when necessary as they will block a doorway when in use.
With the size you have set for this project, it appears you can amost do it as drawn. I'm figuring the tracks were fairly closely spaced and a total of 12 tracks at the widest point in the yard should get you in the 16inch range. The only thing you might have to do is shorten the yard a bit to keep within your length. If you do decide to go to 24" wide you should be able to capture the surrounding area as well.
This looks like a nice and straight forward layout that can be modeled well. Great choice.
I haven't posted whats hapenbing on my layout recently so heres the story.
First the layout has name now. It's the Hudson and Hartford.
I am in the middle of devising a track plan for the car float operations that will take place on the section known as Bay Ridge. This is where the New Haven originally handled cars brought into Bay Ridge, Brooklyn froom Greenville Yard in Jersey City, NJ by means of car floats from about 1915 through the end of the Penn Central era. Here's the layout of the original area:
You will note that there are four car float aprons on the left side of the plan. This was changed in the late 1960s or early 1970s and there are now only two car float aprons there. The yard tracks were also modified so there are now only two of the four yards you see in the plan. The idea was to centralize all car float operations into Brooklyn and Queens here but it never happened as all f those operations were relocated to Bush Terminal, which is just north of this area, instead.
I am modeling the two center yards and aprons and need some help. The area this will occupy on the layout is 18 inches wide (I could expand it to 24 inches if necessary) and 4 to 5 feet in length. I also have 7 inch x 18 inch area for the car float aprons so the entire 4 to five foot area can be used for the tracks leading to and from the car float aprons and the two yards. Each yard needs to have a minimum capacity of 45 cars and it needs to be able to handle the unloading and reloading of 15 cars.
All of this is in N-Scale in the modern era. Any suggestions, criticisms or observations are welcome.