Justin,
Could I make a suggestion? If you make the turnout into Consolidated Container a right hand turnout instead of a left hand turnout, Eagle Foods would be able to fit 4 cars instead of 3 cars. Another result of the turnout change is that the line would look like part of the mainline with Consolidated Container branching off instead of the mainline branching off of Consolidated Container.

I would also put the transload to the front of the storage track instead of at the rear. This way you can switch the customer without disturbing the cars on the storage track unless you use the storage track for another customer. How about a building supply? Flats, box cars, hoppers, covered hoppers, gondolas, flat cars, center beam cars, etc.

FCIN had a great idea about the tank car unloading spot. Maybe you may not want to add a second track, but to add a spot on the spur with tank car unloading pipe and some tanks would be something that I would consider.

I would also include a highway overpass at an angle on the left end of the plan over the mainline, interchange, and toward the end of Consolidated Container.

As far as the railroad running it, if the buildings look generic enough, you can run anything from Conrail to Southern Pacific to Great Northern to Southern. My Port Able Ry will have and old Southern NW2 lettered for the Port Able Railway. You can run any engine that you want. You can run it as a class 1 or a short line. The Rahway Valley Industrial Railway has a nice ring to it. It's similar to the Raritan Central in concept. You can also run it as both.

Here's some links to the Raritan Central Railway:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=RCRY

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/Raritan_brochure.pdf

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/index.html

Justin;

Per Mike's (and my) suggestion; would a revision of the main section of your layout something like this work?[attachment=8882]I'm sure I don't have the dimensions correct for your bench work, but I think this would more closely resemble the actual facility and give you more operational potential. This is what the actual "lower dock" looks like and shows where the tank car would spot:[attachment=8881]The former main line which has the transload and car storage is not quite as long as per your plan, but you'd also have room to store a car or two on the lower dock track.

I know that everything is compressed and you may not be able to spot as many cars on each of the Inland tracks as you might like, but we always have to do a lot of compression to make things fit our limited modeling space. Since this is the major industry on your plan, which would have to be switched daily, having the two tracks just would provide a lot more switching potential in my opinion than the single track. Of course having to line up your cars on a single track also requires a fair amount of switching, but this arrangement does look just a little more like the prototype.

Just something to think about and I'm sure you can work out the details to fit your bench work much better then my example. Once you get your track (and foam?) you can try out different configurations for this part of your layout and see what works best for you.

Mike Kieran Wrote:Here's some links to the Raritan Central Railway:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=RCRY

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/Raritan_brochure.pdf

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/index.html

I pointed that one out already, lol. I think i've thought about every possible NJ prototype, lol.

Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:

Mike Kieran Wrote:Here's some links to the Raritan Central Railway:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=RCRY

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/Raritan_brochure.pdf

http://www.raritancentralrr.com/index.html

I pointed that one out already, lol. I think i've thought about every possible NJ prototype, lol.

Whoops, sorry. I thought that I saw every NJ shortline but the Raritan Central. My bad.

Ed, It's a great idea, I just prefer to keep track plans simple. I would just leave it at one track for two reasons. Railroads would usually prefer to add one turnout and to just add a wrinkle into the switching game.

Like I said, if you put a highway overpass on the left end and some tanks to the right of the plant, that should do. I love the interlocking tower. That would go beautifully under the overpass for some great photo ops.

Justin, there is a thread on the Rahway Valley on this forum <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?134627-Rahway-Valley-RR-Site">http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/sho ... ey-RR-Site</a><!-- m -->

Mike Kieran Wrote:Ed, It's a great idea, I just prefer to keep track plans simple. I would just leave it at one track for two reasons. Railroads would usually prefer to add one turnout and to just add a wrinkle into the switching game.

Like I said, if you put a highway overpass on the left end and some tanks to the right of the plant, that should do. I love the interlocking tower. That would go beautifully under the overpass for some great photo ops.

Mike;
I too like simpler track arrangements and actually prefer a situation where you have a single siding with multiple car spots where cars must be placed in specific locations on that track. Even two different industries on the same track is quite prototypical and adds another wrinkle to the operations. I worked many such situations on the prototype back in the "Good Old Days". Can make for some very interesting switching and rather time consuming at that. I have three such industries on my ISL right now and it takes a surprising amount of time to switch each one of them. Pull this one, spot that one, re-spot another one, etc.

Since Justin's plan appears to be a mirror image of Jack Hill's layout and basing the industry on the plant at Biglerville, PA, to me, it would be just a bit more prototypical to try and get a similar track arrangement to the prototype. The choice is of course entirely his, not to mention fewer turnouts equal less expense. I do think he should at least change the turnout for the container plant to a right hand and make that track as long as he possibly can, just so there are ample car spot locations. Could even have a left hand turnout at the end of the curve in order to make the track longer and still have plenty of room to work the facility.

I like the idea of having the highway overpass on the end of the layout too. Helps to disguise that end of the layout and is something that I'm incorporating in to my own ISL. Makes a nice separation between the main layout and the staging track area.

The abandoned interlocking tower could be the railroad offices if Justin wants to operate the layout as a separate company too and it would look good semi-hidden under the overpass. I'd also include a dummy signal still standing guard over the now removed crossing.

Hey Ed,

I would even model the tower as abandoned like that guy does on his Washington Northern Railroad (mirror image of the The Pike City Belt Line).

I just figure that if Justin ran at 50% capacity of his sidings, then it would mean a maximum of 6 cars inbound for his operating sessions. I would run with a minimum of 4 cars and roll dice to figure how many would be used for the operating session.

Mike Kieran Wrote:I just figure that if Justin ran at 50% capacity of his sidings, then it would mean a maximum of 6 cars inbound for his operating sessions. I would run with a minimum of 4 cars and roll dice to figure how many would be used for the operating session.

Hi ya Mike!
That's the same number of inbound/outbound cars for a session that I figured too. Since his Consolidated Container plant is a very rail intensive facility, probably 5 cars would be destined to that one plant, with maybe 1 for Eagle Foods which would not necessarily be a daily operation. Not every one of the inbound cars would spot, as some would be held for later unloading and of course some empties held for reloading with the scrap paper. With having to place/pull/re-spot/hold cars at Consolidated it should take a fair amount of time just to work that one industry.

FCIN Wrote:

Mike Kieran Wrote:I just figure that if Justin ran at 50% capacity of his sidings, then it would mean a maximum of 6 cars inbound for his operating sessions. I would run with a minimum of 4 cars and roll dice to figure how many would be used for the operating session.

Hi ya Mike!
That's the same number of inbound/outbound cars for a session that I figured too. Since his Consolidated Container plant is a very rail intensive facility, probably 5 cars would be destined to that one plant, with maybe 1 for Eagle Foods which would not necessarily be a daily operation. Not every one of the inbound cars would spot, as some would be held for later unloading and of course some empties held for reloading with the scrap paper. With having to place/pull/re-spot/hold cars at Consolidated it should take a fair amount of time just to work that one industry.

Hey Ed,
I would have a maximum of 3 cars for the container company, 2 cars for the food company, and 1 car for the transload/storage track which I would make into a building supply.

Glad to see that you're up and about Ed . Does the pacemaker change TV channels unexpectedly? I actually wrote a script for a guy that gets released from the hospital. Let's just say that the guy begged his wife not to turn on yhe blender .

Mike Kieran Wrote:Glad to see that you're up and about Ed . Does the pacemaker change TV channels unexpectedly?

That's a good one! So far that hasn't happened, but whenever I use the microwave oven, I have to hit the start button and then take cover! Microwaves and metal detectors are two items I'm supposed to avoid.

So far, I have very little energy and tire out very quickly. Started working on a building mockup a few hours ago and just had to quit and go sit down for a while. Haven't even managed to complete one operating session on the layout since I got home last week. After about 30 minutes, I'm just too tired to continue with it.

Really want to get working on the layout "for real", but I'm going to have to be in a lot better shape then I am right now.

Thanks for all of the input guys!

Mike, I tried making the Container spur with a right-hand turnout and it didn't look to good, it had the same capacity of the left-hand version, but it created an s-curve that was pretty unsightly. I do agree with you about having a single spur, it works alot better than the 2-spur version for me.

Mike Kieran Wrote:Whoops, sorry. I thought that I saw every NJ shortline but the Raritan Central. My bad.

in hindsight, i sound absurd (shoot, i think my classes are starting to crack me. I meant that last part my in hyperbole, since most of us have been listing all sorts of shortlines and industrial railroads and things for weeks now, and i've been exhausting my books on the subject. rationally, i know there are more out there.

As far as the raritan central goes, thats a good one, its got neat locomotives and an easy paint scheme. i was kinda sad that one didn't get paid to much attention to when i first mentioned it. I thought about modeling the RCRY, but when i was starting out years ago, i couldn't find much info on it and went with the route I'm on today.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:Thanks for all of the input guys!

Mike, I tried making the Container spur with a right-hand turnout and it didn't look to good, it had the same capacity of the left-hand version, but it created an s-curve that was pretty unsightly. I do agree with you about having a single spur, it works alot better than the 2-spur version for me.

Smile,
Stein