BRAKIELook close and you can see where they already applied weeds,earth,cinders etc else where but,did a main line ballast job on a urban branch line.
This was a very busy line. In the 1950s, there was a radio call-in show, and somebody griped about getting stopped by the morning transfer run that fed the line. A week later, they researched and said 300+ businesses used the line, and the guy should leave the house earlier.
I think they ran transfers up to the line twice a day, 100+ cars on each. Schiltz was the no. 1 or 2 brewery in the US at the time. For all the traffic, the line would need to be maintained, and 1948 was before the decline of most everything.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
trainman6446 Something has been bothering me about the Beer Line layout and I think I finally figured it out. It is the track. Why is a branch line industrial track elevated and balasted like a class 1 main line? I know they selected code 83 for its reliability, but the heavy rail looks out of place on this layout. At least lighten up on the ballast and have some weeds in the track. Most of this rail would be buryed in the dirt. The prototype photos clearly show this. What are your thoughts?
Something has been bothering me about the Beer Line layout and I think I finally figured it out. It is the track. Why is a branch line industrial track elevated and balasted like a class 1 main line? I know they selected code 83 for its reliability, but the heavy rail looks out of place on this layout. At least lighten up on the ballast and have some weeds in the track. Most of this rail would be buryed in the dirt. The prototype photos clearly show this. What are your thoughts?
I agree..Also if one can ballast one can model branch line track.
You see,weeds,"earth",a mixure of stone/cinder ballast is applied like regular ballast.
Look close and you can see where they already applied weeds,earth,cinders etc else where but,did a main line ballast job on a urban branch line.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
desertdogThe Beer Line is a beginner or intermediate project. Ballasting can be a real challenge for a lot of modelers. Burying track, adding weeds, etc. takes time and patience and more than basic skill to look good and still be operable. I don't recall if the Beer Line had any superelevation, but I have seen it on branch lines and industrial spurs elsewhere. I can think of several possible reasons why they chose code 83: 1. Code 83 flex is available off-the-shelf in most places. 2. Code 83 is easier to work and less fragile than codes 70 and 55. 3. Code 83 turnouts are likewise readily available, as are "DCC friendly turnouts" To the best of my knowledge, no one has come out with a "DCC friendly" turnout in code 70 or 55. John Timm
The Beer Line is a beginner or intermediate project. Ballasting can be a real challenge for a lot of modelers. Burying track, adding weeds, etc. takes time and patience and more than basic skill to look good and still be operable. I don't recall if the Beer Line had any superelevation, but I have seen it on branch lines and industrial spurs elsewhere. I can think of several possible reasons why they chose code 83: 1. Code 83 flex is available off-the-shelf in most places. 2. Code 83 is easier to work and less fragile than codes 70 and 55. 3. Code 83 turnouts are likewise readily available, as are "DCC friendly turnouts" To the best of my knowledge, no one has come out with a "DCC friendly" turnout in code 70 or 55. John Timm
There are turnouts in code 70 and 55 - but not at 99% of your LHSs. Micro-Engineering makes flex track and "DCC-friendly" turnouts in code 70 - but only a #6. Shinohara makes a complete code 70 line of track, including flex track and turnouts in standard, dual, and narrow gauge. But availability isn't always great, and I don't know if the turnouts are the newer "DCC-friendly" design Shinohara produces for Walters in code 83.
Code 55 flex track is made by Micro-Engineering. Assembled turnouts and/or kits can be had in code 55, 70, and 83 from Railway Engineering (semi-custom made), BK (Trout Creek Engineering), Proto87 Stores, LITCO, and Fast Tracks. Very rarely will any of these be seen in an LHS (I have seen LITCO HOn3 turnouts at Caboose Hobbies) - mail and on-line ordering is the usual method of getting them.
Model Railroader likes to support its advertisers through product placement on its projects, and as John said, they are going to use off-the-LHS-shelf components and materials so that a beginner can replicate the project. Atlas track, and Kato once in a while, have been the standards for Model Railroader beginner/intermediate project layouts from the early 1960s.
Many more experienced modelers know about sources that are not MR advertisers, and would select alternate products that better fit their layouts. OTOH, these modelers will seldom duplicate a project layout in the 1st place, preferring their own designs and themes.
The non-project layout how-to MR articles were where one learned to take a layout a step up from an MR project in the realism aspect. These articles are not nearly as frequent as they used to be, perhaps due to today's emphasis on RTR. The demise of kit-building, IMHO, has made making the transition between RTR and master modeler much harder. There is very little intermediate work done anymore - or at least recognized in the pages of MR.
my opinions, yours may differ
Fred W
trainman6446Something has been bothering me about the Beer Line layout and I think I finally figured it out. It is the track. Why is a branch line industrial track elevated and balasted like a class 1 main line? I know they selected code 83 for its reliability, but the heavy rail looks out of place on this layout. At least lighten up on the ballast and have some weeds in the track. Most of this rail would be buryed in the dirt. The prototype photos clearly show this. What are your thoughts?