Brooklyn 1st Ave waterfront

[Rscott417]

Well, it's happened again...considering changing up the layout...again. As I'm working on the street I realized there's no way I want to pave 24 feet of a roadway and then attempt to maintain the track that's burried in it. I'm already having a difficult time keeping the portion clean in the styrene cobblestone sheet and not ruining it. I really like the idea of modeling an urban waterfront rail yard but i dont think its a realistic option for me. I'm going to attempt to come up with a plan that doesn't involve ripping up all the track and using most of the current track arrangement as best I can. What I have in mind is to combine the Northern Branch in Bergen County NJ with a small industrial branch in Mamaroneck NY. I would start by making the carfloat lead an industry on the collapsible peninsula similar to Weyerhaeuser in Closter NJ or Cove Industries in Northvale NJ


The team tracks would be changed to just a lumber yard.


Franklin Polymers and Atlantic Waste would be converted to a food processor. The Franklin Polymer track would spot 2 reefers and Atlantic Waste track would be tank cars.



The Yi Pin and East Peak Trading spur will be replaced by a plastics industry similar to Colorite in Ridgefield NJ just condensed to half the rail capacity


The tricky part now was how to make this new track arrangements work. 3 of the current yard tracks and the engine house tracks will be removed. This leaves the track closest to the edge of the layout in place for access to the new lumber yard. I remembered the industrial spur in Mamaroneck NY has a very cramped track arrangement that could work for me. It has 2 very long track leads that at one time numerous industries shared. Currently a plastic pellet industry sees the most traffic (possibly the only one) but it's all the way at the end of the spur and covered hoppers squeeze between long and narrow buildings once rail served. I'm thinking I could take advantage of this long narrow building and use it on the layout.i could add 2 more industries with 2 car spots each sharing the same track and that also solves the question of how I would line up the lumber yard.



Once I find my grid paper notebook I'll sketch up a track plan. I'm curious what others think about this, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Edit: Looking at the street view images in Mamaroneck that long narrow building seems to get refrigerated trucks so I went with reefer cars at these 2 spots.