More about Wheels

One might say, when talking about model railroading, "Its all in the details" and that is certainly true enough. And when model railroaders talk about details they often describe adding the illusion of activity on their model railroad. In truth the only true action on a railroad is found on the track.

Yes, you can add working fountains, and waving flags, a turning carrousel, and perhaps a burning house. I have seen a burning house scene on a "public" layout in Pennsylvania where the fire brigade put out the fire with real water. To be fair Madurodam in the Netherlands also has such a scene. Personally I find that more often then not these working props tend to look cheesy, so you probably won't find any on Sierk's NY City Harbor Model RR with the possible exception of working overhead doors.  The December 2011 issue of Model Railroader has an article on how to make these, and I think I have just the spot.

So how do you create the illusion of action in a still life environment? It has long been known by artist that the the way you pose a figure, or draw a still life, can create a feeling of anticipated movement. It is almost like kinetic energy. The figure of a person standing on a sidewalk suggests no future action, the person is just standing. Now take that figure, pose it as if it were walking, one leg in fron of the other, the front foot slightly elevated of the ground, "walking" with purpose down the sidewalk. You may adorn the person with one or more shopping bags leaning slightly to the rear as if the bags were trailing behind. Now you have created the illusion of a person walking with purpose and possibly with haste. Add to that a bus pulling up to a bus stop, and you have added the illusion of urgency: the person is trying to catch the bus. So you see that you don't need motion to create it. And I think this is a huge part of the art of model railroading; to create motion where there is none.

A very big part of the props on a layout are vehicles. Although you can and often do create action with vehicles, more than anything vehicles are a key ingredient in setting the stage for the time period. You can look at any scene, in movies, in paintings or otherwise, and you can recognize immediately the time period the scene depicts by the cars that you see. You can play a trick on your audience or ruin a great 1950's era scene buy adding 2010 Chevy Corvette. You might as well have added the Delorian from Back to the future, and truth be told the Delorian would probably fit better in a 1950's era scene than the Corvette.

I get the Walthers monthly color sales flyer, and I eagerly anticipate their N-Scale vehicle section even though it is only a couple of pages long. I actually don't buy anything; at this time I just browse and dream. But I really enjoy the 1950's era vehicle selection. This post is dedicated to vehicles. So what follows is a selection of possible vehicles you might find scattered throughout the layout. It is my intent to spend a little time researching the vehicles to make sure that the time frame is appropriate. Walther's and the manufacturer of the vehicles aren't always clear on exactly what timeframe the cars or trucks came from. For example I discovered while doing this research that a model "White WC22" was actually short for White Motor Company WC22 a vehicle and manufacturer I had never even heard of.

 
1950 Chevrolet Pickup truck - 1950 Buick Sedan
Busch Gmbh & Co
Part # 189-8320 $13.99
1950 Chevrolet Pickup & 1950 Buick
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/189-8320




1953 Ford Country Squire Wagon Red
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50317 $14.00 (Sale $10.98)
MiniMetals(R) 1953 Ford Country Squire Wagon (Carnival Red)
Who wouldn't want to own a station wagon like this?
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50317




1954 Ford F350 Pickup - Blue
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50274 $15.00 (Sale $11.98)
Mini Metals 1954 Ford F350 Pickup (Sheridan Blue)
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50274




1954 Ford F700 Blatz Delivery Truck
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50310 $15.00
MiniMetals(R) 1954 Ford F-700 Delivery Truck (Blatz Beer)
No layout would be complete without a couple of beer trucks
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50310




White (Motor Company) WC22 Falstaff Delivery Van (1950)
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50266 $14.00 (Sale $10.98)
Mini Metals White WC22 Delivery Van (Fallstaff Beer)
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50266




1954 Ford F700 Fuel Delivery Truck
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50325 $15.00
MiniMetals(R) 1954 Ford F-700 Fuel Delivery Truck (Shell Oil)
This one is dedicated to my dad's many years of service with said company
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50325




1954 Ford F700 Tank Truck
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-50300 $15.00 (Sale $11.98)
Mini Metals 1954 Ford F700 Tank Truck pkg(2) (Mobil Fuel Truck)
And this one to the competition.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-50300



International (Harvester) R190 Aero Van Reefer (1954)
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-51121 $17.99
Mini Metals "Transition Era" Semi - International R-190 w/32' Aero-Van Reefer
These just look cool, and with all those warehouses there are bound to be trucks around.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-51121




(White Motor Company WC22) US Steel National Tube Co Flatbed
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-51125 $17.99 (Sale $12.98)
Mini Metals White WC22 Tractor w/32' Flat-Bed Trailer
What can I say more trucks. I am just going to have to come up with some suitable loads for these flatbeds.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-51125




White (Motor Company) WC22 Tractor Aerovan Refrigerated Trailer
Classic Metal Works
Part # 221-51140 $17.99 (Sale $14.98)
Mini Metals White WC22 Tractor w/32' Aerovan Refrigerated Trailer
Like I said, one can never have to many trucks. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/221-51140



Locomotive Power

Fig 1. #27 Baldwin 0-6-0T Saddle Tank Switcher

What is a railroad without engines?  That will be the subject for today's blog.  I don't really intend on answering this question though.  Instead I will show you images of the engines I intend to use on the layout.

Fig 2. Wathers N Scale 0-6-0 Loco #433-7781

The first engine is The Baldwin 0-6-0T.  For you non-railroaders out there, the three numbers indicate a steam engine classification.  Each number indicates a truck.  The middle one is the driver, and the front and rear are the supporting "wheel" trucks.  Thus the 0-6-0 means that the engine has a 6 wheel driver truck, and no front or rear trucks.  The NYD employed all steam until 1951 when the company purchase 5 new GE diesel switchers.  More about that later.

The engine that originally caught my eye was the Baldwin 0-6-0T, and as it turns out I found a suitable scale model in the Life-Like Trains N Scale 0-6-0 Loco 433-7781 modeled for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.  (I'll have to fix that)   When you look at figures 1 and 2 you will notice some significant differences so I will have to decide if I am going to take the time to rebuild the engine to better match the photograph.  I am thinking that initially this will not be the case.  I will remove the AT & SF logo; put on the NYD logo; add the engine number; weather the engine (to make it look just as grimy); and call it good.  I may fix the headlight since that does look like a glaring oversight

Note also that this is presently the only piece of the railroad equipment I own, and it is still in the box.  Somehow I will have to convert this to DCC (Digital Command Control) plus, I understand that the switchers aren't very good performers either.  It is a good thing that the engines were technically not allowed on the barges so you hardly ever saw them without a idler car.  An idler car is a car that is used to separate the engine from the cars being moved.  This is used mostly where the weight of the engine is not allowed i a particular area, like a barge, but cars still had to be shunted on and of that section of track.  I had plans to use an idler car for 3 reasons:

1. A place to install the DCC decoder.  There is no room in the engine.
2. Add a second set of power pick-ups for the engine to improve the pick-up area/distance (I read an article about using 2 switchers back to back to improve pick-up, so why not a RR car.  This improves the continuity of power to the engine and thus its performance.
3. Add a DCC controlled un-coupler inside the car, so you can uncouple the trains without having to use a tooth pick or install magnetic un-couplers everywhere on the layout.

Fig 3. GE 50 Ton Diesel Switcher

As it turns out the time frame, surrounding 1950 will be ideal for modeling.  According to the photographs many of the old ware houses still exist, and the old steam engines were in operation through 1950.  I had hoped that this would be the case simple because the years surrounding 1950 are a popular time for modeling since they allow people to model the transition from steam to diesel.  Imagine a dirty little steam engine and then on to the scene comes a brand new yellow diesel switcher #54, one of 5 purchased by the company.  Okay, the one in figure 3 doesn't look so new, but you are going to have to use your imagination just a bit here.

In addition, 1950 is also an ideal time for modeled things like cars.  In one of the future blogs I will discuss the purchase of cars and trucks and you will see that there is a surprising amount of variety in car make and models available in N scale.

• Photo of figures 1 and 3 are used with permission from the author of the Yew York Dock website http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/indloco/nyd.html  The photos shown in figures 1 and 3 are F.R. Dirks Photos from the F. Zahn Archives (Phil Goldstein’s collection). 
• Photo of figure 2 is from the Walther’s on-line catalog

The Docks and Warehouses

The most difficult part about doing something like this is deciding what to do next. As you might have observed there are three primary stage areas to this layout. From left to right they are (See inset in illustration 4 below):
G – A Piece of Brooklyn
H – The Docks and Warehouses
JJ – The Float Bridges and Car Float (Barges)

In envisioning the outcome of this project I have really focused on G and JJ simply because I figured that that is where most of the action will take place. Incidentally I say JJ because the Fulton Harbor features two float bridges each labeled “J”. In deciding about what to do next I realized that I had never given much "detailed" thought about the middle area. As a matter of fact I had put more thought into the background, and what goes behind the warehouses than what the foreground of the layout would look like. In deciding what to do next I thought to look at the area I had nearly forgotten about.

Figure 1. The Docks and Warehouses (*1)

Take a look at the figure 1. One of the most prominent features of this photograph are the warehouse buildings. I am fairly certain that the photographer is looking north while standing with the float bridges to his left. In other words he was standing in area JJ. As a point of interest also notice the intricate track work in the foreground. I am certain that once I learn to lay my own track this will be a fun part of the layout to build. Next notice the proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge in the background confirming the location of the layout.

Back to the building, the initial thing I thought fascinating were the arched doorways at every level, which would lend itself well to interesting “shadow box” modeling. This means that when building the model you include interiors that are visible to the audience. In N-Scale these interiors will be rather limited in scope, but you can still add in a great number of small dioramas, giving the illusion of activity on a grand scale.

Add to this the fact that I saw a similar warehouse reasonably priced in N scale in the Walthers catalog (Figure 2) I figured I was off to a good start. As a matter of fact there are a great number of similarities between the two buildings’ photograph and the model kit. I am not yet sure what to about the warehouses in the background. But if you look closely at figure 1 you will notice a slightly taller set of buildings exhibiting more rectangular detail than these buildings in the foreground. I will have to do some more digging to find out what these buildings look like.  

Figure 2.  Warehouse kit, Walthers #244-2010

I did spend some time designing the track work in the foreground, which was slightly tougher than I thought. The hard part was that I was trying to condense about 16’ of modeled real estate into and area of between 7 and 8 feet, but as you will see I managed. 

Figure 3. Detailed Map of Fulton Harbor and Docks (Click to enlarge)

Using the map shown in figure 3 I was able to figure out some basic distances. For example the overall length of areas A through E was roughly 2600 feet. At 1:164 scale that is equal to 15’ 10” (I will apologize to my metric friends in advance, but this is an American Blog) I also figured that the areas of absolute importance would be A at 283 feet (2’ 4”) and D at 466 feet (2’ 10”). It so happens that the warehouse shown in figure 2 is 28 inches long (2’ 4”) so that was a given. I also liked area B and ended up including a smaller version of it with a possible track going into the building. I will deal with Area E later as I work on section JJ. Area C was all that was left and I figured since that section included 1250 feet of parallel track it was where I could easily do most of the cutting.

Something you can't quite see in Figure 3 is that each of the structure blocks is labeled to indicate how many stories it has. The building in section A is a single story building. The building in section B has 6 stories. Section C has 5 stories, and section D has 4.

Figure 4. The Dock and Warehouse Front N-Scale Layout.

Note: the large letters in the inset identify the following areas
G – A Piece of Brooklyn
H – The Docks and Warehouses
JJ – The Float Bridges and Car Float (Barges)
So here you have it, a model N-Scale layout of the Dock and warehouse area. The inset shows you how this whole section is situated. Since at this point I have not fleshed out the details and track work in the car float area things may still change, but I think we have the important elements nailed down.

*1 Photo of figure 2 is used with permission from the author of the Yew York Dock website http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/indloco/nyd.html   The original photo was located online in the Life Magazine archives and was taken in 1943. This photograph was part of a series of three all of which pertain to the Fulton Terminal.

How I Plan to Use the Available Space

The following diagram will illustrate the general concepts I am talking about. The top of the diagram shows a overview plan of the layout's general concept, while the second, hand sketched diagram, shows a cross-section at line XX. I will now take the time to explain each of the letters.



A – The water Front

This will pretty much include the front 2/3rds of the peninsula areas (I, J, and K). It will contain a small ocean freighter (docked permanently at wharf (I). It will also contain the focal point of operations: two float bridges (J) with removable car floats or barges. The areas labeled K will be large corrugated (or wooden) warehouses.

B – The Docks

The docks are the area containing most of the track works. The area between the two float bridges (J) has what essentially amounts to a four-track yard. The dock area has all the track work that connects the warehouses, the car floats and the yard on the pier with the main line, which is simulated by the staging yard (F)

C – The Warehouses

The immediate background adjacent to the dock will consist of two or perhaps 3 story warehouses. These structures will be partial flats (depth of 1.5 to 2 inches) with a number of shadow box interiors to add interest. You have to figure that probably 6 to 8 feet along the dock’s back wall will be these types of stone or concrete warehouses. Fortunately the map shows that these run at a slight angle along the dockside and step back in a couple of places. This should add additional interest. I think that the use of odd angles to accommodate as much of the key elements in the layout is actually working to my advantage by adding interest to the overall layout.

D – The Run Around and Elevated Track

These tracks serve two purposes. The lower track acts as a “hidden” run around track. I like the idea of shuttling cars from one end of the layout to the other without actually seeing them. However in thinking about it, why hide a train completely. So I thought to allow the trains to become visible at the cross streets (intersections) of which I can create a couple. Furthermore to add interest I thought to add an elevated NY subway train. I am pretty sure NY has them though they probably never ran along the riverfront in Brooklyn. But they would add interest. In addition there is a company that sells laser cut elevated train platforms that are absolutely phenomenal and would add an exciting element of depth and perspective between the buildings, even if we are only talking about 2 to 3 inches. Also the idea is that the el (short for elevated train) runs on it’s own timetable. It just goes back and forth stopping at a couple of stations, of which you’ll be able to see parts. This is mostly the programmer in me talking.

E – Back Drop with Building Flats

The backdrop will be a photo or a painting of the Brooklyn skyline just south of the Brooklyn Bridge circa 1950. This should not be real hard to find since I am sure there are lots of photos out there of the Brooklyn Bridge taken from the Manhattan side. From what I have seen thus far, most of these photos show a smoky and dingy skyline. This will work to my advantage, especially if I decide to paint the backdrop myself. I imagine that by limiting use of color, going with muted sepia grays, I could create a pretty exciting looking city skyline. To add interest and depth I will probably add some building flats just behind the elevated track, especially at the openings between warehouses caused by any cross streets.

F – Staging Yard

What can I say; I’ve got to have a staging yard. A 6-inch shelf, about 4 feet long with 3 to 4 tracks.

G – A Piece of Brooklyn

This will essentially be a small business and residential area. Though, as the red line shows, the trains will move through the back streets to get to the staging yard. I did think about using a drawbridge to connect the main layout with the staging yard, but as far as I could tell there were no drawbridges in Brooklyn. There are plenty of those in Chicago, but I am not modeling the windy City. Bummer thus.

H – The Docks and Warehouses

This is discussed extensively in section B above

I – The Wharf and the Ocean Going Freighter

This will be a key part and focal point of the layout. I expect that there will be tracks along the wharf (I) to add operational interest.

J – The Float Bridges and Car Float (Barges)

This is what got the whole thing started. The car floats (barges) act as cassettes, so I expect to initially build about 4 of them. They won’t be pretty, more like rusty old barges with tracks on them. But the low railings and barge accessories will allow me to add detail and interest. Furthermore the track and wye switch half of which is on the float bridge, with the other half on the barge, will have to be hand laid. I envision the barged to slide on exposed tracks laid in the water to facilitate proper alignment. These tracks/guides will be hidden when the barge is lying against the float bridge. Also adjacent to the barges I will have one of those famous NYD Harbor tugs.

K – The large Wharf Warehouses

These will be large buildings usually found on the piers. I expect they will be made from corrugated materials. I have played around with the idea to run tracks inside, to act as additional hidden staging, but I’ll have to think about that.

And there you have it for today.

Goals of the Layout

1. It's funny, but whenever you read articles about model railroading or talk to model railroaders they tell you about the goals of their layout. What were they trying to accomplish during the design and building phases of the layout. Chances are that if you are reading this you already know about layout goals, so I won't waste time explaining them. Instead I will explain here the things I would find, in order of importance, essential to the success of the New York Harbor Model RR project:The lay out has to have a very strong operational component. When all is said and done, when the track is laid and the buildings are glued down and the paint is dry we are going to want to operate the railroad and not play with trains. We are going to shuttle railroad cars and cargo across the East River in New York.
2. Despite the space and scale limitations I want this layout to look cool. The waterfront with piers and docks will represent the foreground. This is where all the railroading activity will take place. A docked ocean going freighter will be the focal point of the layout (more about that later.) The dock front warehouses, behind which we will have tall building flats and a cityscape (possibly) painted backdrop.
3. Part of the operational element is automatic railroading activity. This is made possible with DCC. The idea is that periodically some construct will move onto the scene, and you (the local engineer) have to be sure you are of the main line (as far as you would have a mainline on an industrial railroad)
4. Even though it does not exist in actuality I have been kicking around the idea of putting in an elevated train (NY EL train) that runs automatically behind the warehouse buildings. You would be able to see these trains as they passed over the cross streets. The elevated road bed is made of those beautiful laser cut jobs. 

   

   Photograph of the Fulton Harbor RR (*1)

   
5. Because I was really enamored by the little saddle tank engine I will probably end up modeling the turn of the century (I'll have to check on that to be more precise) even though I think that the N scale cars and truck available for the 1950s would make an excellent addition to the layout. Unfortunately they would not (for obvious reasons) go with the 1900's time period. 
6. I would like to get my feet wet laying my owned track and building switches. The NYD railroad lends itself beautifully to this idea. First the Car Floats will be built from scratch, probably a piece of wood to start with (nice and heavy), on which the tracks will be laid by hand of course. In addition the float bridge leading up to the car float has a cut switch, (the switch starts on the bridge, and continues on the car float) which will have to be hand laid. Finally there is a section in the prototype where several tracks cross each other in a very confined space (see photo.) I have seen people do that kind of stuff and I think it is so cool. So I would like to incorporate that as well.

And that will be it for tonight. I will probably re-read this in the morning, make some revisions and periodically come back to it to see if I sufficiently captured the vision my layout. So count on seeing some changes over time as I figure out what the real priorities of the layout are.

*1 Photo is used with permission from the author of the Yew York Dock website.  The original photo was located online in the Life Magazine archives and was taken in 1943. This photograph was part of a series of three all of which pertain to the Fulton Terminal.  http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/indloco/nyd.html

The New York Dock Fulton Terminal, the true source and inspiration

Fulton Terminal 1966 (Unknown Photographer)

I may have been inspired by the June 2010 Model Railroader article entitled "Working the harbor on the New York Central", but I got really excited when I came across this websitehttp://www.freightrrofnyc.info/ which contained so much information and pictures that I nearly completed my initial research in a single day.

Slight note of caution: the above page is huge and older computers, like mine, suffer near nuclear melt-downs when loading the voluminous  amount of information.  Fortunately Firefox seems to be dealing better with this website.  

 The Web site's author Philip Goldstein did an amazing job gathering the pictures and information and then compiling them into a central location. The main website: http://www.freightrrofnyc.info/ officially covers Industrial and Offline terminal Railroads of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx and Manhattan. I was impressed and sold at the same time. Besides the pictures the author provided access to maps, a valuable tool when planning a layout. A portion of the map that will provide the foundation of my layout is in the header of this blog. Thank you Philip for your tireless efforts in gathering these materials and making them available.

So why the New York Dock (NYD) and not some other railroad? That is a good question indeed, and let me tell you I did have to go through a lot of material to be sure that the NYD was in fact the one for me. As I mentioned in my previous post, the amount of space I had available in my basement was roughly 12' by 1'. Not a lot of room for a layout, and it is in a straight line to boot. This of course seriously detracts from the excitement and wow factor that you often experience when you walk into one of those 30' x 40' plus layouts. You know the ones that are featured on the glossy pages of Model Railroader magazine with peninsulas and long sweeping stretches of main line galore. So right from the start I was looking for something with a linear feel to it, something I could stick against a wall and that with a little creative use of paints and building "flats" would still have depth and character. This is also where I decided that I would go with N scale (1:160) for it would allow me to get the greatest bang, space wise, for the buck. I think in all honesty that modeling HO on a 1' shelf would be beyond challenging.

Introduction

"Why a(nother) blog about a model train?" you ask. The answer is simple, it's for me. But if you like model trains you may enjoy this ramble about setting up a model train themed after a New York Harbor car float operation. I have been thinking about building this, my second, layout for a year now, and even though the budget is substantially non-existent, I figured it is time to formalize the planning process. Hence this blog.

Why model a New York Harbor car float operation? Perhaps I should explain what a car float is. A car float is a barge with two or three sets of tracks on it. This barge is loaded with railroad cars at a yard on one side of a harbor, and pulled with a harbor tug to the other side, where the cars are unloaded and the process is repeated for the voyage back. Before the days that bridges were capable of handling the weight of loaded railroad cars trains were shunted across the harbor using these barges.

In model railroading operations the modeler sometimes employs cassettes, or long wooden trays with tracks that can be hooked on to a spur in the railroad to simulate the idea of cars or train constructs moving on and of the railroad jurisdiction. It is kind of like a mobile staging yard. This idea has fascinated me for a long time. I have been planning a layout for a ridiculously long time, and I can tell you that every plan involved elaborate staging to simulate the movement of trains and cars to locations other than modeled on the layout.

And so it was that when I read "Working the harbor on the New York Central" by Lloyd Miller in the June 2010 issue of the Model Railroader magazine I knew what I wanted to do. By then I had already decided that I would build this layout in my basement, a 9' by 18' area that I share with my son Patrick's Xbox, and our combined computer. My wife, Debbie has her own computer upstairs. Space down here is a precious commodity but I figured we could probably live with a 1' shelf, 12' long and since Patrick marginally shares my interest in trains, he won't mind.

So here it goes. I hope to share my plans, sources and any ideas. I am also using this subject to familiarize myself with the fundamentals of blogging, but foremost I would like this to be an interesting experience to you the reader.