Bushwick Terminal

[cnw1961]

After a long hiatus, I am back with my new layout: Bushwick Terminal. Bushwick Terminal once was a big freight terminal with lots of warehouses, team tracks, loading ramps etc. owned by the LIRR. These days most of it is gone and most tracks are covered with asphalt, but the little that is left still makes an interesting small switching layout. Some pics and information can be found here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.oldnyc.com/bushwick/terminal/terminal1.html">http://www.oldnyc.com/bushwick/terminal/terminal1.html</a><!-- m -->

I scaled down an aerial shot to HO and with only a little tweaking to make it work with standard #8 and #6 turnouts, it fits perfectly into the space I have available.





The size of my layout is 12'4" x 1'6" with a 5' removable section on the left (not shown in the drawings). The era is modern (approx 2000–2006), that means that freight operation on the Bushwick Branch and the Bushwick Terminal is no longer carried out by the LIRR, but by the New York Atlantic Railway, which took over in 1997 … but other railroads will show up on my layout as well, like CSX and PREX.

I spent the last two days laying track and wiring and I am glad to say that everything works perfectly. I will post a few pics soon.

[mountaingoatgreg]

Kurt,

Welcome back!!
I am a big fan of prototype based switching layouts and I think you found yourself a real winner. It looks like there are many opportunites to get yourself in a pickle when switching this area. Also the scenic element looks promising with a nice amount of urban decay. I look forward to some in progress photos of your track!

[FCIN]

Kurt you rascal! Here I've been patiently waiting to see how your great looking Los Angeles Terminal layout http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic...=46&t=4455 was going to turn out and you've gone and switched layout themes again! Loved that track plan! Seriously, really like the look of this new layout theme and look forward to seeing its progress. You are a real inspiration to so many of us!

What industries are currently located on this line? I see that there is a lumber yard, and at one time there was a brewery, but am curious as to what other industries might be getting rail service.

[chuffchuff]

Very nice prototype Kurt,

I`ve looked at modelling some portion of this branch that many times i`ve lost count!,though i have`nt yet mainly because my problem is having the space to do it justice. (P48 modeler)
I also see that you`ve flipped the track layout on end, which had me confused for a while...
The link below takes you to an interesting page on this branch, which has a couple of nice track diagrams showing the full length of the branch as it was in times past.There are also some nice LIRR pics to go with it as well.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/bushwick/bushwick.htm">http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/bushwick/bushwick.htm</a><!-- m -->

Looking forward to see this one progress,

Brian.

[Rscott417]

Awesome! I'm definitely going to watch this one.

[cnw1961]

Greg, thank you for the warm welcome.

Ed, sorry for disappointing you . I agree, the LA layout was nice, but I like this one better … I cannot tell you what industries are currently located along Bushwick Terminal (apart from the lumber yard), but the warehouse in the upper left corner once housed a chemical company and I have seen pics showing tank cars being unloaded there. Apart from that, aerial pics from Google and Bing show boxcars, centerbeams, bulkhead flatcars, open hoppers and gondolas at the terminal. I think I will have to come up with my own selection of companies that will allow for a good variety of cars. The lumber yard and a chemical company are a good starting point and I think a team track would make sense as well.

Brian thank you for the link, though I have already visited this site and looked at the track diagrams countless times. The Bushwick Branch is on my radar for more than three years now and like you I tried to find a portion that I could model. Apart from Bushwick Terminal I was especially interested in the area where the line crosses Woodward and Metropolitan. I tried many times, but I could not come up with a trackplan that would be a good represenation of the Bushwick Branch and would be interesting to operate at the same time. Though I failed several times on my previous attempts, to come up with this trackplan for Bushwick Terminal was pretty easy. In Google Maps I simply measured the size of the portion that I wanted to model and that would fit onto my layout (320 metres), then scaled the aerial shot, flipped it and rotated it until it fit. Don’t know if I flipped it on my pevious attempts, but that did the trick.

Today I layed out the footprints of the structures. Looks very promising so far (better than these pics :? ).

[Ralph]

I am completely intrigued! Looking forward to more!

[fast car]

Kurt,

Welcome back. It looks like a very interesting layout. I can't wait to see the progress. I am still pulling ideas from your old Miami layout.

Larry

[jhock]

Hi Kurt,

Not sure if this will be of any use but I was intrigued by your prototype and came across this site from a google image search:

http://nycsystem.com/other/WM_Documentary/

[Sumpter250]

8-) 8-) So maybe we can expect to see:
This ?
   
Or this ?
   

Or, maybe even This?
   
Operating on, what looks like a very believable switching layout !!!!

[cnw1961]

Thank you all for your encouraging comments. I hope I won’t let you down and start ripping it all apart after a short time as I did with my previous layouts ...

jhock, thanks for the link. Though the pics are not from Bushwick Terminal, pictures of the Bushwick branch are always welcome.

Pete, you will see this:



… and this:



As you can see, I am still working on the Geep. It will be #268 and painted in the old green and white scheme.

[HM68]

Hi, everbody.
Normaly I am not taking part in any forum, but I am a frequent reader of BIG BLUE.
Found you because "googeling" terminal railroads of New York showed me one of the old projects of CNW1961
This time is I had to register, because of the following link, that I wanted forward to the community ...

http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html

I am not an model railroader, but an RailFan, "New York area" and railroads of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy ...

So therefore I will unregister of the forum ...

Have a nice day
Heinz from Vienna

[ezdays]

Hi, everbody.
Normaly I am not taking part in any forum, but I am a frequent reader of BIG BLUE.
Found you because "googeling" terminal railroads of New York showed me one of the old projects of CNW1961
This time is I had to register, because of the following link, that I wanted forward to the community ...

http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html

I am not an model railroader, but an RailFan, "New York area" and railroads of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy ...

So therefore I will unregister of the forum ...

Have a nice day
Heinz from Vienna

To start with, thank you for registering and posting this. Secondly, there is no need to "unregister", you are welcome here whether you are just visiting or posting. Everyone is welcome here whether they are a model railroader or a railfan, which you seem to be. Being a member doesn't require you to log in each time, but there are benefits to doing that since you have access to things that you wouldn't if you don't log in. You are under no obligation either way, so we will keep your membership active just in case you want to post something else in the future.

[Sumpter250]

HM68,

As a railfan, I'm sure you see, and maybe even photograph, subjects that us modelers would be interested in building, and adding to our own railroads.
In any case, I hope there is enough going on here to keep you coming back and enjoying the company.

[Sumpter250]

Pete, you will see this:

… and this:

As you can see, I am still working on the Geep. It will be #268 and painted in the old green and white scheme.

Once I get finished with my "Get Off Your Duff" Challenge 2-6-6-2, I may, now that I see someone modeling NY&A, get back to my kitbash of a pair of NY&A MP15AC's.
I will also have to find space somewhere for the Bridgehampton station, where I had my first "close encounter", with a working LIRR steam locomotive, and became hopelessly connected to them at the age of about 5.
Your Geep project is looking good !!