Modeling Commuter Railroads and Transit

[paulsafety]

The December issue has a wonderful pair of articles on commuter operations and how the MR staff incorporated commuter trains on their layout.

I was wondering how many modelers either focus on commuter/transit, or have included commuter/transit on their home layouts or club layouts.

If you do include these operations on your layout, would you be willing to share your highlights, photos or frustrations?

Thank you.

Paul F.

[MisterBeasley]

I model subways, as well as the surface above them.  One great thing about subways is that I can have a very low-profile, double-deck layout.  The surface lines are only 3 inches above the subway tracks.

I've used the Proto 1000 subway train sets from Lifelike/Walthers.  Walthers still lists them, but they're sold out.  There are some at Trainworld for a great price.  I've also got a Bowser PCC car, which I painted and decalled myself.  I added end gates (from Images Replicas) and chains to the original set of "Redbirds," but the newer Walthers ones (after they took on Lifelike) come with the end gates.  Nice upgrade, by the way.

This is one of my first photos, actually taken with a film camera.  It shows the first of my 3 subway stations, at Saint Anne Street.

Here's an overhead shot of the layout in its early construction phase.  Almost all of the subway line is now covered by scenery, either solid covers or removeable liftoff sections:

(You can get a larger view of these photos by clicking on them, by the way.)  Here's the PCC car in the foreground.  This is the Penny Lane station, which is dual-track:

I've had a lot of fun building these.  Pretty much everything, though, must be scratchbuilt.  I made latex molds and cast the floors and tile walls for the subway stations from Hydrocal.  The tunnel walls were made from strip styrene on which I applied Hydrocal with a paint roller, like a textured ceiling, to get a rough wall effect.  Fortunately, Plastruct makes H-beam girders, which I used a lot of in the stations, and I could adapt Model Power fences, too.

Track cleaning is a problem, as it is in any tunnel.  Just last week I finally got a CMX "Clean Machine" track cleaning car, and after running it around the tunnels for a few minutes, I've got no problems with my track.  Great product.

Finally, I put a small video camera in the front of one of the subway cars, so I could have the fun I used to have as a kid riding in the first car.  This video is a bit dated now, as much more scenery is complete, but it still give you a flavor for what's going on down under:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g82i9arQMyw

 

[jecorbett]

Although it won't be the central theme of my layout, I do plan to have a large commuter operation when I am fully up and running. The layout was designed with that in mind. My large urban station has 4 through tracks and one stub track to allow for a very busy rush hour. Although the layout is designed as a double track loop-to-loop (dogbone), it has cutoff tracks at each end that will allow it to operate as a double track oval. I intend to use those cutoffs to allow westbound commuter trains to disappear at the west end and instead of going into the loop staging yards, they will take the cutoffs and reappear as another westbound at the east end of the layout. Doubling up their runs will allow me to make twice as many runs with the same amount of equipment.

Like Mister Beasley, I may include a subway line on my layout but it will probably consist of a single stairway going down from street level

[tomikawaTT]

My layout incorporates commuter operations with both DMU and EMU trains, as well as heavy through passenger, freight, interchange (including interchange of unit coal trains, which have to reverse direction and change motive power) and engine change action, all concentrated at a single subdivision point which is the end of catenary station.

EMU commuter trains operate from Tomikawa (dedicated stub platform track) to Minamijima, but actually disappear into a tunnel portal and enter the netherworld a short distance from that stub.  Overnight layovers remain on the platform stub, which is long enough to handle them.

The one dedicated DMU commuter does the same thing as is done for Troy on the MRrail.  After spending the night at Tomikawa, in passenger storage, it runs deadhead to Harukawa, then carries revenue passengers through Tomikawa to Minamijima.  Its daytime runs cover the length of the division, shuttle fashion.  On its last run from Minamijima it terminates at Tomikawa and gets switched into its usual storage location.

The purely commuter operation is supplemented by a LOT of local, semi-express and limited express movements, many of which are scheduled to meet rush-hour needs at the (mostly unmodeled) online cities.  All of those trains stop at Tomikawa for crew changes.  All but diesel powered trains change engines (steam to catenary motor, or vice-versa) as well.

In the netherworld, the EMU trains have their own terminal.  The DMU commuter has a designated layover track at the main passenger staging yard.

The one thing that characterized Japanese railroading in the mid-20th century was LOTS of passenger service, of every possible type.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[RRCanuck]

I certainly don't focus on it, but I do run commuter stuff (GO Transit) from time to time.  No frustrations in particular that I can think of, except that these Athearn GO cars originally came with flanges so small they couldn't handle my (apparently) bad trackwork.  Supposedly this was a common complaint and I got them replaced at no charge.

Cheers.

[randeemw]

I try to model the MBTA commuter rail for Boston.

Nothing quite like trying to run push-pull operation--helps you make sure your trackwork and rolling stock are in good condition!

When you can see the train in push mode--it's a good sign of how well you've managed your track, couplers, trucks, and car weighting (still need to add controlled lighting for cab end of Walther's coach in DC). 

 

[MisterBeasley]

FYI, the Proto subways run great in either pull or push mode.  The camera car is one of the unpowered units, so I almost always run that train in push mode.  As long as some dummy () doesn't leave a turnout thrown the wrong way, these things never derail.  (Yeah, I run my layout by myself.)

[topcopdoc]

I have four main-line passenger tracks and one freight track running under Penn Station (Walther's station). Above at street level are two commuter tracks. This combination is seen a lot in the East.

Say RRCanuck how did you do that great sky? I am in the process of doing my backdrop now.  Any tips would be appreciated.

Doc

[RRCanuck]

The sky is photoshopped because currently the sky behind my backdrops is just plain blue.  Painting in clouds is just one of those projects that I may or may not ever get around to doing.

[dinwitty]

A "Commuter" line is all but automatic for me since I will be doing the South Shore, North Shore, and some CTA.  SS and NS handled freight as well and thats being done, but I am kinda de-emphasizing the passenger side, but will still be present and focus more on the freight operations.  A series of interchanges will move N&W/Virginian  coal traffic over everything, and I will model the NKP/South Shore interchange in Michigan City at Shops.

I have to scrounge an IC electric from passenger cars to make them. This is a ground up designed in plan.  

Just visited the Kalamzoo train show scoured over the dealers. There were several modular layouts there. Wasnt too money up, but after seeing a few things I wanted I ended up buying 1 thing, the Virginian E33 electric to mate with my first one so I have 2. That makes my Virginian roster full with EL1 Jackshaft, EL2, and the E33 (EL3 for the virginian) 

Doing Chicago its tough finding equipment, I bought the NY cubway cars mostly for testing, but I found over time 3 MTS CTS 1-50 subway car kits. 2 ebay finds one thru email.

North Shore I have just about all the equipment I need several NS cars, Steeplecab kits to detail and the 4 truck 452 loco. 

South Shore 1 little Joe, 2 700's, 4 brass passenger cars, 2 Russ Brigg kits, 3 Walthers versions and 2 Paul Moore kits.

I'm gonna be vewwy vewwy busy getting all this together. Wheee!!

 

[SecretWeapon]

1st a U-34-CH & a custom Comet 1 cabcar in EL/NJDOT. Then a NJT line up.

 

 

[Lillen]

FYI, the Proto subways run great in either pull or push mode.  The camera car is one of the unpowered units, so I almost always run that train in push mode.  As long as some dummy () doesn't leave a turnout thrown the wrong way, these things never derail.  (Yeah, I run my layout by myself.)

 

Are these easily converted to DCC? I mean do they have a plug or something?

 

Magnus

[MisterBeasley]

FYI, the Proto subways run great in either pull or push mode.  The camera car is one of the unpowered units, so I almost always run that train in push mode.  As long as some dummy () doesn't leave a turnout thrown the wrong way, these things never derail.  (Yeah, I run my layout by myself.)

 

Are these easily converted to DCC? I mean do they have a plug or something?

Magnus

No, there's no plug.  It would have been easy, but they didn't do it.  But each car has a circuit board and you can attach the power wires to the board using the same no-solder connectors that they used.  You'll need to add resistors for the lights, although it's hardly worth it since they're so dim.  There is a lot of room inside the car, and the interior lights work fine with the constant lighting from the DCC tracks.  It took me about a half-hour, start to finish, to do the new one.  The original unit took a bit longer, but it was my first decoder install so I had some things to figure out.

[dinwitty]

FYI, the Proto subways run great in either pull or push mode.  The camera car is one of the unpowered units, so I almost always run that train in push mode.  As long as some dummy () doesn't leave a turnout thrown the wrong way, these things never derail.  (Yeah, I run my layout by myself.)

 

Are these easily converted to DCC? I mean do they have a plug or something?

 

Magnus

No, they are DC, but llike any equipment, you can convert anything to DCC...if YOU work on it.

no, no plug, I opened mine.

 

 

[marknewton]

My layout will mostly run EMUs on commuter trains, with a small amount of loco-hauled goods traffic.



Moha564 interurban car.



Some JNR covered vans.

Like many Japanese private railways, the Toyama has a number of outlying termini where cars stable overnight, the first runs of the day being inbound trips to the main terminal. As the day goes on, and the morning peak starts, individual cars are amalgamated into trains to accomodate the schoolkids and workers heading into town.

After the peak, trains divide, cars either stable or run empty to the shed for servicing, then the whole process repeats for the afternoon peak. At the end of the day the last trips are outbound, and the cars stable ready for the next day.

Interspersed with the commuter traffic are the loco-hauled goods trains, and the trip train from the JNR interchange. There are also trams running on the subsidiary Kaetsuno line.



Street running at Hirokoji. This scene is still under construction, and has a long way to go before I'll be happy with it. At the moment it's as rough as guts. The structures, vehicles and trees have just been plonked down temporarily to get some idea of how it all goes together. The trams are ring-ins, too!

The biggest challenge so far with this project has been building catenary overhead. So far nothing I've come up with has been completely satisfactory, so I'm still working on that. The greatest satisfaction has been building the rollingstock - my fleet is a mixture of RTR, kitbashed and scratchbuilt. I have good contacts in Japan who can source infomation for me, plus I have a real Japanese tram at my local tramway museum for inspiration.



Nagasaki 1054 at the Sydney Tramway Museum. That's me on the left in the lairy orange top!

Another enjoyable aspect of this project is researching and building typical Japanese structures. There's not much available in kit form in HOj, so scratchbuilding is the go.



Grocery shop from my previous layout.

Cheers,


Mark.

[paulsafety]

I have to scrounge an IC electric from passenger cars to make them. This is a ground up designed in plan.  

Sounds great!  Which IC cars are you looking to build?  The older ones:

http://davesrailpix.com/ic/htm/ic115.htm

OR the bilevels?

http://ihphobby.tripod.com/hoimages/highliner02.jpg

Paul F.

[paulsafety]

Here's the PCC car in the foreground.  This is the Penny Lane station, which is dual-track:

I've had a lot of fun building these.  Pretty much everything, though, must be scratchbuilt.  I made latex molds and cast the floors and tile walls for the subway stations from Hydrocal.  The tunnel walls were made from strip styrene on which I applied Hydrocal with a paint roller, like a textured ceiling, to get a rough wall effect.  Fortunately, Plastruct makes H-beam girders, which I used a lot of in the stations, and I could adapt Model Power fences, too.

That's great work.  The photo reminds me of two lines I've ridden - the Pittsburgh light rail line (the subway section in downtown had combination high level and low level platforms to accomodate both the PCCs and the Light Rail Vehicles.  The other line is the Philadelphia subway surface PCC operations that share a tunnel with the Market-Frankford Elevated/subway line.

Thanks for sharing.

Paul F.

[Nataraj]

Yeah, I love passenger trains. I model amtrak (long distance p42 and superliners phase 5/4 and acela), and caltrain, with one southern pacific freight to make it fun. Looking forward to the kato daylight to be released next year....

--I am modeling the "new" california high speed rail between SF and LA/san diego using the acela... --

I recently saw a 10 car TGV POS at my LHS.... had to have it. Have to find some way to make it fit..... i guess I could make it a leased train to accommodate high demand of my california high speed rail....

I really do hope that project goes through... it will be on the next ballot.

[P42 108]

The focus of my layout is going to be Metro-North's Hudson Line. I am not running my layout on a timetable or anything, but the focus will be on Metro-North and Amtrak commuter trains as well as CSX frieght. The Hudson Line was a good choice to model, because I can incorporate three of my favorite railroads into one layout. Plus there are plenty of interesting scenery options as well. I'll make a post about my layout later on when I get more work done on it. But the article was very helpful in helping me understand commuter operations on model railroads.

[Lillen]

Thanks for the answer guys.

 

I love passenger operations, If I did not count my Taconite cars I would have more passenger equipment then all other thing together. So I'm looking for a subway or something similar in a more rural setting. To and it doesn't have a plug, I haven't started soldering in decoders since I'm quite honestly are very poor with these kind of things.

 

Magnus

[chatanuga]

On my layout, I have two New York-Chicago Amtrak trains (the Broadway Limited and the Pennsylvanian).  For my ficticious Cleveland-Columbus route, I have what I've heard referred to as the "3-C Corridor" with Amtrak coach trains running between Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati.  When I get time, I'm planning on updating my site with the schedules that I've come up with for the trains, modelled after the Amtrak schedules that I have from the 1980s.

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

[exPalaceDog]

The December issue has a wonderful pair of articles on commuter operations and how the MR staff incorporated commuter trains on their layout.

The Old Dog found the articles interesting but NOT great.

First, what is the objective/s.

Commuter operations provide a dispatching challenge in a limited space. One can have numerous short trains in a limited space making for interesting operation.

And while commuter operations do not interest the Old Mutt. Mechanical ionterlocking does. One could picture a layout where one has the stations seperated by towers. Assuming say triple track, the stations  could be on differing sides of the right of way. In addition not all trains stop at all stations. Trains not stopping should avoid the track next to station platform. So in could keep several tower operators busy shunting the the trains on to the right track for the next station. That might be interesting.

Have fun

 

 

[nbrodar]

Currently, I don't.  However, the two articles did intrigue me.   I'm seriously considering picking up some P1K RDCs and adding a few more small stations.

Nick

[Printer]

I model subways, as well as the surface above them.
This video is a bit dated now, as much more scenery is complete, but it still give you a flavor for what's going on down under:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g82i9arQMyw

 

I'm just totally awed by your subway Mr. Beasley. The more I look at it, the more it sticks in my mind. I can't find words to express how your layout has had an impact on my thinking about my future layout plans. I really really want to put in a subway now. It gnaws at me even at the dinner table. subway... subway... subway... is what I think about.

I'll figure it out. Thanx for the video

Scoot

[zgardner18]

Here is my commuter train.  Since I am going to be modeling Montana the Coaster won't fly but I still have it because I'm from San Diego and well I just like it.

The engine is a Walter's Trainline that I greatly detailed but still aren't finished with.  Yes, Trainline, but it actually runs very well.

Picture was taken at the Livingston (Montana) Model Railroad Club under the old NP depot. 

Train is in Push mode.

[jdamelio]

I have a Blueliner set.

 

(I don't get it.  Why isn't my signature shown?)

 

Jeff

Gainesville, Fl

RCT&HS 1628

Modeling Doylestown to the Terminal.  If only in my head!

[paulsafety]

Since moving to the Northern NJ area (originally from Philadelphia, by way of California) I've become fascinated with Newark's Penn Station.  It has a number of features that make it interesting:

1) built by the PRR, it also served other railroads over the years...especially during USRA control of the railroads (B&O and Lehigh Valley), and later after the 1967 Aldene plan implementation (CNJ & Reading).

2) it includes one of the country's rare cross platform transfers to a rapid transit line.  You can exit the Acela and walk ten feet across the platform to enter a PATH car.

3) Transit arrivals are on an upper level so that passengers can walk down ramps and stairs to their respective out-bound trains departing from multiple platforms.

4) The primary arrival and departure tracks are above the street level concourse and baggage areas making for easy connections to taxi or bus transport.

5) Local street car service terminated in a basement level loop terminal serving (initially) multiple routes around Newark by way of a subway tunnel operation.

6) A very high concentration of trains and routes combined with a high degree of diversity in equipment (third rail transit, AC Catenary & GG1s/E60/AME7/Acela, diesel push pull (CNJ/NJT), electric push pull (NJT), electric MU (PRR/PC/NJT), RDCs (CNJ/RDG))   Intercity limiteds mingle with commuter trains and utilitarian mid-distance intercity trains.

Reasonably compact, I wonder if anyone has tried to model Newark Penn Station, with or without condensing the number of platforms or tracks (it is only seven tracks wide, counting PATH track 2).  It might be interesting to model it with a removable roof (like an architectural model) so that during operations it would be easier to spot trains at platform locations and see signals, etc.  The layover/staging tracks could be designed as a train length turntable, or a pair of loops.  The main focus would be following a schedule of arrivals and departures with the variety of equipment and occasional "wild card" problems like removing a track due to maintenance or derailment, etc.

On the other hand, with no set outs or other switching, it could become a real bore of a layout.

Am I crazy to want to model this operation?

Paul F. 

[asrothzeid]

I would love to do layout of a fictional modern commuter RR, but have only a 5'X9' space to do it with a 22 degree curve limit. Most of the commuter cars offered are too long for those. Perhaps Athearn of some other manufacturer could make shorter version of modern passenger cars, like they used to with the streamlined cars. Otherwise, my choices are limited to the Life-Like RDC's (Which don't operate at proto speeds).

[andrechapelon]

Mark, Is that a San Francisco Muni PCC car to your left in the photo?

Andre

[wedudler]

Here's my example:

 

Wolfgang