Mockup Update

End of turnback aisle with Maxwell House Coffee (left) and BethShip (right) both in white. Tan and gray buildings beyond are rowhouses.

Today I finished the last buildings mockup on the layout. These are found in the BethShip (Bethlehem Shipyard) and represent the main office, work areas, storage buildings and boiler house. 

I use white foam core and Elmer's glue with T pins to hold while the glue dries. These are just quick massing models to get a feel for, you guessed it, massing which means an abstract model for checking size, proportions, positioning, and relationship to other things. 

I begin the process by using my overall layout plan and reference materials to locate and size structures in 2 dimensions. Then I mark the footprints directly on the benchwork in pencil, erase, and redraw as needed until I am satisfied with the location and size. 

The intersection of 11th and River Road is another very important signature scene for me. This is where the historic marker for the first recorded professional baseball game sites (upper center). Beautiful cars and Rock Island boxcar by Rick De Candido.

Then I go to the foam core models as a first draft in 3 dimensions. They go together in 30-60 minutes a piece depending on the size and complexity. Here are the latest in situ: 

One of the many times steelworkers and shipbuilders went on strike. Notice the street trackage bottom left to top right along Hudson Street. Today the Hoboken Historical Museum resides in the long gable roofed building.

A signature scene that suffers a little from a lot of compression.
This is where the strikers picket line will be. (see below)

Buildings on the piers at BethShip

Close quarters is the feeling all throughout the HBS as here on the piers of BethShip

View from the BethShip piers

BethShip boiler house with smokestack

Foreground left to right are the BethShip supply building, workshop, and boiler house and shorty smokestack (right). Behind is the larger Maxwell House Coffee plant and American Can buildings.

Open side to a utility building so facilitate operating cars inside just like my dock buildings.

I have a long list for my summer 2022 workplan. Scenery on the Harlem Terminal and backdrop and fascia on the HBS are the top priorities. More on my backdrop musings upcoming. 

More Mock Up Buildings and Some Track Realignment

Part of my overall track laying strategy was to temporarily lay track then revise after operating and fitting in buildings. This process continues on the stretch of track at the docks on the 6th and 7th Street piers.

I moved the switch back at 7th St to be able to get the two tracks into the pier headhouse. Of course, there are conflicting accounts in different maps about the exact arrangement - but I'm over that, and I am comfortable taking my best shot at the most prototypical and operationally optimal arrangement. 

Original configuration:

And here's the track with switch moved back and the warehouse with four 40' car capacity.

I also mocked up Campbell Stores at the adjacent 6th St pier to the left and the East Asiatic Import/Export Company (long warehouse) to the right. Some issues with viewing cars and such, of course, so some trial operating will need to be done. The East Asiatic warehouse is especially a problem, so some sort of cut away representation may be in order.

At Campbell Stores, dock doors provide a target spot for operators from the inside. An interesting view point as well as an opportunity to model the interior of the building. Not sure how to handle the section cut yet. 

Along River Road and Hudson Streets, there are several multistory rowhouses that will essentially provide a view block. Because of compression of space, these particular ones will probably represent different buildings on each side. 

Maxwell House Coffee plant mock up

I mocked up more buildings today and I laid out the grounds for Maxwell House Coffee. There are several building in the complex, and I have to cut a couple of the them due to space.

I'm also having a bit of a think on whether to extend the layout to get in the coffee barges on the river. They are essential to the scene and understanding of how the plant functioned, but I don't want to pinch down my aisle too much. I just need to find the proper balance.

Happy 2020!

I'm alive, the railroad is alive, and there may be more posts this year?! :)

A few operating sessions per year since the last post, but not much on the layout itself is new. 14th Street switching tracks have been reshuffled to allow for a track to get to the engine house (see below) and US Testing.

New non-operable track to the engine house. Perhaps a curved crossing could be scratch built to make it a working piece of track. The 14th street trackage is actually supposed to be behind the engine house, but that is out of reach. Compromise is the uncomfortable, but necessary at times.

Reconfigured 14th street track. from top right to left, the engine house, Kelly Springfield Tire/Xzit/National Cleanser, then finally Continental Baking (Hostess Twinkies) All buildings are very close to actual prototype size gotten from historical maps and Google maps measurements.

US Testing is almost in the correct orientation. It should be perpendicular to the yard, but there isn't enough room to curve the track properly. More compromise *sigh*, but, it's very, very close...

Recent activity is turning towards sketch buildings to ensure the track alignments are good. These will also provide good templates for final models.

Engine house with brakemen waiting for assignments. The shack is the scale house.

Engine house (left) and (right) Xzit/Kelly Springfield Tire/National Cleanser

Xzit/

Kelly Springfield Tire/National Cleanser (left) and Continental Baking (Hostess Twinkies) (right)

Lehigh Valley 27th Street Freight Station - Pier 66

I've finally started on the 27th Street Freight Station of the Lehigh Valley Railroad - and I "finished it" the next day. Well, operationally, anyway. I needed another 2 operating slots a little earlier than I had in my master plan of layout construction, but pending visitors will do that to a schedule. :) So in a couple of days, I was able to go from nothing to completed yard while watching the Olympics.

Just the essentials: TV remote, glue, architecture history and Dr Pepper (not necessarily in that order.)

On the way home from work on Friday afternoon, I stopped off at the local big box hardware store and picked up a 3/4" sheet of blue rigid insulation board. I sliced it into three 2-ish feet by 8 foot pieces, laminated those together with Elmer's glue (I know not the most sophisticated glue around, but it seems to have worked!), and I let dry for about 24 hours. I then finished off the three exposed edges with black Gatorfoam board to match the Harlem baseboards. I glued this and then screwed with black coarse threaded drywall screws to hold it until it dried. Then the next day while watching some inspirational Olympic competition, I covered with black flooring underlayment left over from the Harlem Station pocket terminal.

I get by with a little weight from my books, and furniture to secure the track while it dries.

Lots of turnouts including two double slips and also 4 crossings, which will make for some fun switching maneuvers. Black flooring underlayment is my subsurface for gluing down the code 75 Peco track. No insulated rail joiners here, because I run battery powered locomotives.

This material, as far as I can tell, is very similar to Woodland Scenics' roadbed. I am using the underlayment mainly for sound absorption, and it seems to accept Elmers glue well, which is how I glued down my track after letting the underlayment dry for a couple of hours.

The completed track work.

If you go have a look at Phillip M. Goldstein's amazing web site on all things New York freight railroading, you'll see some great diagrams of the track over the years and some history of the building that inhabits the air space above, the Starrett-Lehigh Building. I will somehow model this so that the lower floors are accessible for operation (maybe just have structural columns) and then have the full building above. The unique feature of the Starrett-Lehigh Building is that it had truck elevators that would carry delivery trucks to the upper floors for loading and unloading. This will be pretty cool to model!

Also go check out David Ramos' excellent New York Harbor version. I referenced his translation and research material to create my version, which is pretty close to his. Great minds...

Slotted into an existing bookshelf at the same height as the rest of the layout for car float compatibility.The top shelf will be gone soon to make room for backdrop and building model.After the track

Relationship with existing Harlem Station pocket terminal. A car float will transfer cars between these yards and the Hoboken Shore portion of the layout in the other room.

Locomotive eye's view of the two yards.

This lightweight baseboard/bench work technique goes extremely quickly, and it is as light as you can get for a layout that needs to be movable. I think the black provides a very finished looking unfinished platform to operate on until the scenery goes in. Much better than bare plywood with no muss and no fuss to get that way.

At some point I may provide strategically located handles on these rotating pocket terminals. The idea is to keep building them and then swap them out for different operating sessions. This allows me 1) to forever keep expanding my layout while remaining in the same size physical space, 2) to try out different techniques of construction, scenery, etc. in a confined area, 3) to keep buying new locomotives ad infinitum for any railroad on the east coast, and 4) to provide new operating interest and challenges for the operating crew. 

Up next is some locomotive work on the Lehigh switcher that will be based in this yard, and then it will be ready for some operations! 

Realignment No.1

As always planned, I am going to refine the track alignment in many sections of the layout. My overall plan was to get it down as faithfully as I could to the information I had on hand and get operating as soon as possible. This allows me to learn how the layout works, what could be brought out more in a session, see if any foci present themselves, and do more careful research on relationship of track to buildings and any prototype operational practices.

Original alignment

I have found multiple sources for track alignment of the railroad, so I can now cross-reference and verify what it was at what time. The below are for the Maxwell House/American Can complex in particular.

Left half of Maxwell House and American Can complex. (Hoboken Historical Museum)

Right half of the plant with piers into the Hudson River. (Hoboken Historical Museum)

I am nominally modeling 1959 at the moment, but that is mainly because of the Erie's situation of being at the end of it's solo career. It would be a hoot to model the HBS starting at the beginning in the 1800s, and making changes over the course of a few years evolving as the railroad did. That would be amazing, actually. Maybe I will model backwards since I have locomotive roster for that and I have to scratch build the earlier stuff. Hmmm. I like this idea. Makes scenery more of a challenge, but reworking track is easy.

Pulling up the track was easy, I use clear adhesive caulk that allows for quick removal. The only problem is if too much uplift is used, the rails will pop out of the ties, so some care is required.

Realigning was a quick exercise because of the adhesive caulk laying method: I used adhesive caulk on bare plywood. That simple. There are several areas I have eyed for realignment.

The 14th street industries might want to move back or forward so that I can model the buildings better (more on this in a later post). In particular, the US Testing building has an interesting 90 degree access track that cuts across yard tracks that make sit fun and unique. Similar for the Engine House. I would essentially need to eliminate the 14th street tracks to have enough room for this.

Also of interest is modeling the Seatrain operations that would be stunning with the crane lifts that move rail cars on and off the ship. A pier with a ship on it would be a crowd pleaser for sure. At the moment, the Seatrain tracks are about a foot long...

Rough new arrangement is not glued down, yet. I'm going to keep it unglued as I work on the American Can and Maxwell buildings so I can make adjustments. 

In the meantime, I have started on the Maxwell/American Can site with the goal to have more accuracy and more room for buildings. I've got a short film about the Maxwell House factory on order, and several great photographs. I will be scratch building/printing this large industry. I have the exact placement of the elements on a fire map, but there will need to be a little compression (of course). That is the price for being a track-centric modeler. If I were more rigorous in my prototype modeling, I would only model a portion of the railroad at true HO scale. Maybe someday I will be disciplined enough to create that type of layout.

Until then, compromises will keep the emphasis on the operations and dystopic setting on the waterfront instead of exact reproduction at scale of the physical elements. It's just one of the many challenging dichotomies model railroaders bravely face on a daily basis.

Slight changes

29 August 2013

A slight change, but noteworthy. I have moved the center peninsula about a foot to the left in order to get more room in the vital area of the layout at the HBS yard. I should end up with ample aisle width in that area to make operators more comfortable. This also reflects the removal of the full-blown Erie yard and RO-RO in favor of just the interchange tracks and more comfortable HBS Yard. This was inspired by Lance Mindheim's observations of operating at Holt's and Barrow's layouts earlier this month.

I will probably reduce the size of the Holland America docks as well, but I'm not worrying about that aisle for a while.That is where the guest bed will be placed as well (may end up being a blow-up king size mattress.)

If you navigate to the Layout Plan page, it is fun to flip through the plans like a flip book which will "animate" the evolution of the plan, especially the last two to see the subtle changes.

Buildings and streets and water...

... Oh, my!

Latest plan with details starting to flesh out the scenery.

click for enlarged view

Of particular note is the center peninsula with 14th Street running almost the entire length terminating in the viaduct that climbs the hillside to West Hoboken. Instead of having a backdrop that divides the scene, I am opting for a scene that divides the scene. (Buildings are only placeholders at the moment, more specific prototype footprints to come.) This will provide some good urban density to the layout which will give context to the bustle of the industrial railroading. The goal is to capture how the railroad is sandwiched between the Hudson River and a dense urban fabric. The track has been pulled toward the aisles on both sides to accommodate a wider street (Faller car system?!).

Some minor evolution at the end of the peninsula with the domino at the Bethlehem piers shrinking to 18 inch depth. This has already been implemented and provides better reach to tracks as well as more room in the aisle. The minimum aisle width is now 4'-2". What isn't showing is a closet in the Erie pier area (bottom right) that leaves about an 18 inch clearance between it and the peninsula at the moment. I've tricked myself into thinking the closet is going away, but doubts are creeping into the picture...

At the moment there is some spatial distortion taking place with the street grid - we'll see if it remains. The streets above the HBS yard are the same streets that cross the peninsula at 14th Street as 14th actually runs above the yard in real life. The industries above the yard are in the alley in the block between 14th and 15th Streets. A modeling compromise that seems OK at the moment.

A couple of strong personal ties to the history of Hoboken will be a part of the layout. I've added a baseball field to represent Elysian Field and the birth of The Game, and Hamilton and Burr (an ancestor of mine) will be dueling somewhere around there as well.

I've also got some room for big ship models.

Next steps on the plan will be to tighten up the streets (it's a little hard to manipulate shapes in Rail Modeler), check buildings and track more closely against maps and images, and make out a shopping list for track.

Next bit of constructing will be on the 149th to complete its transformation to a lightweight layout so the room can become a guest room again. I've only got a couple of more weeks of concerted work time before I get crazy busy again for the next nine months.

Revised Plan

Track plan 24 July 2013

A revised track plan with the Bethlehem Steel tracks reversed and the Seatrain and Piers 14-16 tracks reconfigured. The HBS yard is also moved forward towards the operator to help with reach and will also allow room for buildings between the yard and the 14th Street industries.

I am still working my way around the layout taking operator reach and position in mind while adding buildings and scenery elements. One of those elements might be a Faller car system as used at Miniatur Wunderland. The airport emergency vehicles are pretty amazing. This is a whole 'nuther set of design considerations...

In the meantime, I think I am close to ordering track to start laying the HBS yard.

Scale Test

I finished making a couple of triangular modules and setting them and the rest of the peninsula dominos in place and adjusting legs. Also spent some time relocating legs on some modules to provide a toe space (about 3-1/2") on the aisles. 

Photos show a quickie test on the completed peninsula bench work and how the Lipton Tea building will dwarf rolling stock. The cardboard model approximates true scale size of the multistory edifice. There won't be much sunshine in between the 12 story wings...