I have long been interested in replicating the Cleveland Union Terminal under electrification since my first attempt in my attic in the 1960's, in South Euclid, Ohio. Having moved over 20 times, my layout experience was mainly at the Zane's Trace and National Trail layout in Zanesville, Ohio, where we installed a fairly robust stub end terminal. In theory my "basement" here in California is big enough - 35 by 70 feet - but, being cut into a mountainside in the Sierra Nevada foothills, it is much too low at the south end, and the heating ducts get in the way as well. Nonetheless the depot proper would fit into the NE corner, much as the 12":1 foot version did. To be reasonably true to the prototype, you need about 35 feet on the diagonal (it bends in the middle) for the depot proper, and about 40 feet down the wall on each end for the throats and approaches. I favor no. 8 switches and double slips for the grand sense of distance through the approaches, but no. 6's will work. The tracked area of the depot comes out to about 8 feet across. The terminal is based on a pyramid yard design, and is a very visually appealing installation.
Responding to previous posts from a few years back, here are the basics. The first 10 tracks were for rapid transit and interurbans, and can be modeled fairly short. There was a turnaround loop for the Shaker Rapid beyond the foundation of the Sheraton Cleveland Hotel, under an over-built parking structure. The approach trackage was novel and complex, including the Ontario Street "subway", which was never fully utilized. There was design redundancy for all routes in and out in case of derailment or repair. Of course, some form of plexiglass structure would be required to allow any viewing of this area.
"Steam road" Tracks 11 and 12 were under the low ceiling of the Prospect Road overstructure, and likely lent themselves to day trains, like the Mercury and Empire State Express. Tracks 13 through 22 were under the big skylight in the main concourse. Tracks 12 and 13, 16 and 17, and 20 and 21 had scissors crossovers at the halfway point for switching out diners. Some of the distinctive dwarf signals were mounted above the tracks at these locations for visibility.
Track 23 was a running track, with a wide platform on BOTH sides and was unsignalled and part of the coach yard. Coach yard tracks 1 and 2 were the "Pullman Line" and had a blackboard for Pullman assignments for switching into through trains. Tracks 3 and 4 were underneath Huron Road, and 5 through 9 were out in the open. There was a car washer in the middle, maybe on track 7. Southwest of coach yard track 9 were two more stub end tracks for the brake shop and wheel lathe house. Additionally, at the east end, under the smoke gap behind the Midland Building, the track 16 lead crossed the "3rd main" (counting south from the rapid tracks) if you will, and held two C.U.T. P-1A "motors". There was a fuel oil tank there for the steam boilers for heating the passenger cars, and a small crew building. At the west end, there were two stub end tracks under the post office that held one P-1A motor each but were signalled and were long enough for mail cars or an RDC bound for Columbus or Cincinnatti.
The New York Central ran eastbound and westbound through the station. The Big 4 NYC subsidiary ran westbound, but sometimes arrived as part of a NYC train from the east. If they needed to be turned, they were either run down the Big 4 line to the lakefront wye, or later, out to Linndale. So sometimes they were backed in. The Nickel Plate ran a few trains through the station, both ways, but the St. Louis train(s) were added to eastbound traffic from Chicago and went on to Buffalo, where some of the cars traveled to Hoboken over the Lackawanna. The Nickel Plate turned its locos at the Erie roundhouse when needed. Eastbound the NKP handed over from steam at East 34th Street, and westbound not far beyond the end of the viaduct across the river.
The Erie did not enter the terminal until it had dieselized, but there were engine cut-off tracks where the C.U.T. lead joined the Erie where steam could run ahead and the electric could be backed on quickly. Had the Pennsy ever used the station, it likely would have followed this route from the connection at the Erie-PRR crossing near East 79th Street and Union Avenue. There were however multi-route trains that also used the Erie connection, such as the Interstate Limited from Detroit to Cleveland on the NYC, over the Erie to Youngstown, P&LE to Connellsville, and the B&O to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, and also the Washingtonian over the Erie to Youngstown, and on in the same way to Washington.
The B&O came in once diesels were used, and they departed on the coach yard (dark) eastbound lead, then crossed the Nickel Plate and Erie, backed down the connecting track to the B&O line near the Cuayahoga River, and resumed forward progress toward a wye junction that was partially under the Wheeling and Lake Erie trackage near their own wye. The trains to Akron and east proceeded down the Valley Line. The one to Wheeling - at the end an RDC - went west over through the Cleveland Zoo property to Sterling, and then turned back east through Warwick to Dover, and then on to Wheeling. After dieselization the B&O trains used the same overcrossing that the Erie used.
The Wheeling and Lake Erie had a connection, never used, under the Eagle Avenue viaduct that crosed the coach yard lead and connected on the "third main" (C.U.T. No. 2 Eastbound) which provided direct access to the entire station complex, similar to the Wabash-Pittsburgh connection in Pittsburgh from the Pittsburgh and West Virginia portion of the W&LE. It was still there in the early 70's and may have been used occasionally by the coach yard motors.
There were two P-1A's on each end of the depot, and one on each end of the coach yard.
The dwarf signalling system was most vexing from a modeling standpoint, as they were "approach-clearing" with 4 aspects. The normal aspect was red on the lower searchlight aspect. When the lever was reversed for a cleared route, the searchlight vane moved and the amber roundel swung into place. A man on the ground could see that a train movement had been permitted. As a train approached the preceeding signal, the searchlight vane swung opposite and displayed green, indicating a train movement was imminent, similar to the system in Grand Central Station. When the train entered the protected block, the searchlight returned to the amber display, but the red light on top illuminated, indicating a clear but occupied route. When the train exited the block, the signal returned to amber. Considering the very short blocks in the terminal throats and depot tracks, the "pinball machine" complexity of duplicating this display of changing lights would be most challenging, but with color-changing LEDS, the illumination of the aspects is the lesser of the problems.
If there is interest in this post I will happily add more practical elements.
Hello and Welcome Back!
Having a print will help your description:
CUT_Station-track level by Edmund, on Flickr
Out by the coach yard:
CUT_p1a by Edmund, on Flickr
Always one of my favorite areas to model. Sure would be nice if someone would produce the distinctive catenary supports in etched brass or 3D printing.
IMG_6782_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
I'll look forward to hearing more from you!
Ed
I am a sucker for a large downtown passenger station with its large and complex trackage. I model Dearborn Station in downtown Chicago, and with each succeeding layout, I try more and more to faithfully replicate the prototype.
While I shun freight yard operations, I can get lost in a positive way with train movements that are required to operate a large passenger station. The single most important limitation, of course, is space.
So, my question is, how many of those 23 tracks do you plan to model?
I am looking forward to following this thread.
Rich
Alton Junction
Theoretically you could just fit Terminal Tower under a 9' ceiling...