08-26-2010, 05:08 PM
A while ago I came across this very interesting website with tons of information on "Industrial & Offline Terminal Railroads of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx & Manhattan": <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html">http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html</a><!-- m --> . One of these old, long out of service railroads is the Jay Street Connecting RR. It was a very small railroad that only ran in the streets under the Manhattan Bridge and it's immediate vicinity. One of these streets is Plymouth Street. Don’t get me wrong: I am not modeling the Jay Street Connecting RR, I am not even modeling New York City in paticular. I liked Plymouth Street so much that it inspired me to do an urban layout with a small section of this street, with its old houses, street trackage, cobblestones and cracked blacktop being an important part of it. To model all this will be a real challenge. The other half of the layout is inspired by these old freight terminals like the LIRR Bushwick Terminal with their team tracks and warehouses. When I am running my modern rolling stock on the layout, the freight terminal will be out of service and only a few warehouses will still be served by rail, but I am planning to also run my 1950s equipment and then the terminal will be a busy place.
To put together this aerial pic for my trackplan I used aerial shots from Plymouth Street, Bushwick Terminal and Metropolitan Ave. The size of the layout is 12' x 1 1/2'.
![[Image: ply1.jpg]](http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/ply1.jpg)
As you can see, the trackplan is quite simple, but I am more into building a layout than operating it. So a few tracks to run my engines and shove a few cars around is enough for me.The little drawing under the trackplan shows the proportions of the structures quite well, especially for Plymouth Street on the left. The shape and size of the warehouses on the right still have to be decided.
If you walk down Plymouth Street from this position: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=de&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=40.703763,-73.986066&panoid=M_C1AHX2IsqDWxlfx8ojbw&cbp=12,97.76,,0,5&ll=40.703861,-73.987349&spn=0.001708,0.00515&z=19">http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=de&ie=UT ... 00515&z=19</a><!-- m --> to the next corner, you’ll see the section I am going to model (well, not exactly, I’ll take some liberties). Maybe you’ll see what I like about it.
To put together this aerial pic for my trackplan I used aerial shots from Plymouth Street, Bushwick Terminal and Metropolitan Ave. The size of the layout is 12' x 1 1/2'.
As you can see, the trackplan is quite simple, but I am more into building a layout than operating it. So a few tracks to run my engines and shove a few cars around is enough for me.The little drawing under the trackplan shows the proportions of the structures quite well, especially for Plymouth Street on the left. The shape and size of the warehouses on the right still have to be decided.
If you walk down Plymouth Street from this position: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=de&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=40.703763,-73.986066&panoid=M_C1AHX2IsqDWxlfx8ojbw&cbp=12,97.76,,0,5&ll=40.703861,-73.987349&spn=0.001708,0.00515&z=19">http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=de&ie=UT ... 00515&z=19</a><!-- m --> to the next corner, you’ll see the section I am going to model (well, not exactly, I’ll take some liberties). Maybe you’ll see what I like about it.
Kurt