03-14-2014, 10:12 AM
Malabar is a small yard on the BNSF Harbor Sub in the Los Angeles area. It's pretty convenient to where I live, and I visit there frequently. There's also a lot of info available on it in forums and books like Charles Freericks's Southern California Local Freight Trains. On the other hand, I see a lot of discussion on industrial switching layouts, or ISLs, and from what I see in the Los Angeles area (a very, very large metropolitan area), I'm inclined to say that when I look at model ISLs, even those by well-known professional modelers who shall remain unnamed, I keep thinking of my favorite commercial http://www.marketmenot.com/esurance-beat...ommercial/ and want to say, "That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works."
I sometimes think about putting together an article for MR, RMC, or MRH with this material, but frankly, I've dealt with all of them, and it's a pain that's not worth the few hundred bucks I'd get (if I got it from RMC at all, which is a no-pay or slow-pay). So I'm posting it here.
Here is a diagram of Malabar that I found on the web. I think it's about 20 years old, and some of the trackage shown has been removed. Almost all the industrial spurs shown have not been served in many years -- it may be that BNSF keeps the names on the books in light of the possibility that one might come back to use, but I don't think that's going to happen.
However, it's worth pointing out several things. One is that every track has a number, and often a name as well. This is related to the fact that every track has a clear purpose. Railroad tracks cost money. They don't get built because someone thinks a crossing would look good here. They are straight unless there's a good reason to curve them. A lot of shelf layout builders don't seem to understand this.
More in the next post.
I sometimes think about putting together an article for MR, RMC, or MRH with this material, but frankly, I've dealt with all of them, and it's a pain that's not worth the few hundred bucks I'd get (if I got it from RMC at all, which is a no-pay or slow-pay). So I'm posting it here.
Here is a diagram of Malabar that I found on the web. I think it's about 20 years old, and some of the trackage shown has been removed. Almost all the industrial spurs shown have not been served in many years -- it may be that BNSF keeps the names on the books in light of the possibility that one might come back to use, but I don't think that's going to happen.
However, it's worth pointing out several things. One is that every track has a number, and often a name as well. This is related to the fact that every track has a clear purpose. Railroad tracks cost money. They don't get built because someone thinks a crossing would look good here. They are straight unless there's a good reason to curve them. A lot of shelf layout builders don't seem to understand this.
More in the next post.