Pier 39 - 4x1 feet US outline switching micro layout

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by James76, Dec 5, 2020.

  1. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    A HO scale micro model railroad layout, representing a car float served waterfront switching area in the urban area of New York city.

    Micro Layouts for Ease of Moving

    This HO scale micro layout was one of 3 proposed to be built to replace the Dolton / Illinook / Blue Island / Barr layout. With the possibility of an impending move some time 2020, I decided that it would be best to minimise the layout moving stress and dismantle the previous modules in favour of some smaller and easier to move modules.

    Layout Description

    The Pier 39 layout is a 1200mm x 300mm HO scale micro layout which has a 2 track transfer table, with each track able to hold a loco or one or two cars depending on the length of the cars. The track plan is shown below.

    1-4x1-plan-Pier39.jpg

    The track plan is based on the track plan of th same name on the late Carl Arendt’s small and micro model railroading website. I was able to add some extra trackage, such as the RIP / Loco track, and the COFC / TOFC track along the top.

    Operating Sessions

    For an operating session on this layout, the ‘aim of the game’ is to ‘swap’ inbound with outbound cars. Cars are hand staged in the yard tracks, and they have to be moved to the relevant industry track, while cars already in those tracks have to be moved to the yard tracks.

    Because usually only one car can be switched at a time there is a need for the train crew to think ahead, and treat the movement of cars somewhat like a chess game or other game requiring strategy. Most cars moved on this layout are virtually interchanged with other layouts / model railroads through the Virtual Interchange group I am a member of which helps give purpose to each car movement.

    2-ModelTrains_Pier39_1010225.jpg


    Locale

    The Pier 39 Yard layout is representative of a small car float served switching area in the Brooklyn, NY area where cars arrive / depart by car float (implied rather than modelled) between the Pier 39 Yard and the Greenville Float Yard in New Jersey. The car float is implied rather than modelled. Some of the inspiration for this layout was taken from the New York Cross Harbour Railroad’s operations and locale, although the Pier 39 facility is located in an undefined area within Brooklyn, which once had railroad connections to other railroads but now the only access is by car float. The Pier 39 facility serves various nearby industries, has a port for marine shipping, and is a place where various types of activities take place such as :

    • International shipping transfer to / from rail.
    • General freight rail transfer to / from road transport.
    • Bulk and aggregate transfer rail to / from road transport and storage.
    • COFC / TOFC rail to / from road transport.
    • Stevedoring / customs services.
    • Forklift transfer between rail and nearby industries.
    I will add some photos of the layout in the next post.

    Regards, James
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2020
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  2. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Some photos of trains on the layout...

    1-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020276-1.jpg
    Above: GE44 picking up reefer from team track

    2-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020330.jpg
    Above: Switching covered hoppers

    3-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020331.jpg
    Above: Moving a covered hopper into a yard track

    4-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020332.jpg
    Above: GE44 entering the 2 track traverser

    5-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020333.jpg
    Above: GE44 moving reefer from team tracks.

    6-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020334.jpg
    Above: GE44 moving reefer through switchback.

    7-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020335.jpg
    Above: GE44 running around reefer using traverser.

    8-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020336.jpg
    Above: Switching 2 short hoppers to aggregate transfer area.

    9-ModelTrains_Pier39_1020337.jpg
    Above: Switching 2 short hoppers to aggregate transfer area.​

    Regards, James
     
  3. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Neat little layout James. Looks like it keeps you busy !

    I have only realised that you are responsible for the layout my son and I built, Jay Dubyew North Yard ! I used your layout Dolton Industry Park as inspiration for Jay Dub. I just flipped the track plan over ! I duly acknowledged your layout and provided a link to your youtube page.

    https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/jay-dubyew-nth-yard.593/

    Cheers and thank you for the inspiration !

    Gary.
     
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  4. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Hi Gary.

    I saw the Jay Dubyew plan somewhere and thought "boy, that looks familiar. I wonder whether he saw my Dolton layout's plan". It's good to know my modelling ideas have provided inspiration. Although I can't take full credit for the track plan of the Dolton layout - I got some inspiration myself from the Yahoo Groups Small Layout Design group before I decided on the Dolton track plan, just as I got inspiration for this Pier 39 layout track plan from Carl Arendt's publications and website.

    Regards, James
     
  5. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    It is a good track plan and offers plenty of operation, I'm glad I came across your youtube channel ! Jay Dub has been out to about 4 or 5 exhibitions and it is well received. More modellers should build shelf layouts !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  6. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Agree! The 8x4 foot oval layout can't match the operational potential of a shelf of the same area (16x2 feet) in my opinion. And a 2 foot wide shelf layout doesn't need so much space around it for access as a 4 foot wide layout.

    Regards, James
     
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  7. Graham K

    Graham K Full Member

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    You've certainly packed plenty of operating interest in there James - and prompted me to learn a bit about US railroad terminology too :thumbup:

    How long do you find an average operating session takes?

    Am intrigued by the Virtual Interchange group.

    All the best
    Graham
     
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  8. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Hi Graham.

    Regarding the railroad terminology, I try to use terminology relevant to the region of the layout I am describing, Eg, switching in US = shunting in Britain / Australia. Although I am sure I make mistakes in terminology from time to time.

    An average operating session for the Pier 39 layout takes about 15-30 minutes. But I usually operator more than one of my other layouts in the full operating session, and so a fully model railroad operating session on my multiple layouts can last as long as 1 to 1.5 hours. Because I have 6 different micro layouts, modelling 4 different regions of the world, I can operate just 1 layout / region, or multiple layouts / regions. Because the Pier 39 layout has (implied) marine - rail interchange it is really the hub of all the regions I model, which I collective call the "International Transportation Conglomerate" (reporting mark: ITC). So the Pier 39 layout is probably the busiest layout in that sense, especially as it is the ITC transhipment point for freight between US and non-US locations, and also a place where freight can be store pending forwarding elsewhere.

    The Virtual Interchange idea is basically the moving of freight 'virtually' (ie, not physically) between member railroads. Member's railroads can be any scale, including V scale ('virtual model railroad like Trainz or Train Simulator) because there is no physical interchanging of cars (except maybe if a member has more than one layout like myself, and physically moves cars between their own layouts). As far as I know I am the only member of the virtual interchange group that resides outside the United States, and so it is predominantly US / Canadian railroads that are modelled by members. But with some of my layouts covering regions outside the US as diverse as Brazil, Oceania and the UK, the group has become more international in it's scope. I built an application on the internet for managing the waybills for interchanging freight for the members of the group, which is found here: http://jstan2.pairserver.com/apps/interchangecars2/ . You could also check out the 2 groups on groups.io:
    And the Manual for the application at: http://jstan2.pairserver.com/apps/interchangecars2/pages/view/manual .

    All of my layouts are designed specifically to be virtual interchanged, and the waybills for all cars moved during an operating session are managed via the above mentioned internet based application.

    Regards, James
     
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  9. Graham K

    Graham K Full Member

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    Thanks for the very comprehensive reply James :thumbup:

    It seems there's a whole aspect of railway modelling that had hitherto been totally unknown to me! What a great way of not only bringing an added degree of realism, but also expanding the scope of operations. I'd always known that fiddle yards represented the rest of the network, but MRICC seems to take that up a few notches - "To Infinity and Beyond!" :D Quite fascinating, and something I'll keep in mind for when I have my layout(s) up and running.

    I've often toyed with the idea that I'd build a couple of micro/practise layouts, then move on to THE layout, but the more I read and think, it seems that multiple micros might not only be more achievable, but also give more overall operating potential, not to mention variety.

    All the best
    Graham
     
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  10. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Agree regarding multiple micros vs THE layout. That's been my experience. Although it was good to have large-ish semi-permanent layouts in the past, I am finding a few micros more than makes up for operational potential of a single larger layout. And micros can be 'stacked' on top of each other for storage or even permanently.

    Of the 6 micros I have, 2 are semi-permanently stacked on top of another in such a way that the ones underneath are still operational.

    For example:

    ModelTrains_1010357.JPG

    Both layouts in the picture are fully self-contained. No need for a fiddle yard / staging.

    Regards, James
     
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  11. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    It’s been a while since the last blog post for my Pier 39 layout, but that does not mean there have been no layout improvements. After spending quite a bit of time on improvements to my various other micro layouts over the previous year, I thought it was time to improve the look of the Pier 39 layout. The Pier 39 layout has been operational for a few years now, but little had been done to improve how it looked apart from the fairly basic primary scenery elements like ballasting, transhipment ‘concrete’ areas, and some clutter such as crates, pallets, and the like.

    Pier39-202202-01.jpg
    A recent (Dec 2021) photo of the Pier 39 layout before the recent improvements.​

    Over the last few months I have been busy making improvements to the Pier 39 layout. One thing that became apparent during my concentrating on the Pier 39 layout’s scenery is the course-ness of the area between the various tracks. This would cause a potential hazard to the 1:87 denizens who have to walk in the areas between the tracks or alongside some cars to do what train crews do. So I added some fine sand between the various tracks, with the odd weed poking through the sand for added scenic interest. I feel this change alone made a huge difference to the scenery.

    Pier39-202202-02.jpg
    Finer gravel between the tracks for better train crew safety.​

    Another thing I wanted to do was improve the background. As much as a light sky blue is pleasant enough to look at, it lacked a certain look of completeness and visual interest. I added a small low relief industrial office / workshop type building that I had stored away (which I think was on my previous Blue Island module), half hidden by the long fuel tank along the back. Then I added some more foliage in front of the building and tank to complete the scene.

    Pier39-202202-03.jpg
    Small low relief industrial office / workshop building​

    After that I also added some flat containers to the backscene behind the COFC / TOFC / bulk goods tranship area. The flat containers are container printouts printed on laser photo paper then glued to some stiff cardboard and then glued to the backscene. I tried to layer these printouts so that it looks like the scene is deeper than it actually is.

    Pier39-202202-04.jpg
    Containers added to the backscene behind the COFC / TOFC / bulk goods tranship area.​

    One of the sections of the layout that has caused me some angst is the 2 track traverser – it looked too much like a plain 2 track traverser! So I decided to give it the scenery treatment to try and disguise the fact that it was a traverser, or at least make it look more like an actual prototype traverser. To do this I added a raised concrete platform area between the 2 tracks, and then added trimmed coffee stirrers between the rails of the 2 tracks and on the front of the traverser. It looks a lot more like it ‘belongs’ in the scene now.

    Pier39-202202-05.jpg
    Trying to disguise the traverser.​

    In the area where the traverser is, I was dissatisfied with the backscene there. So I added a raised area behind the traverser, added some Superquick stone paper so that it looked like a stone wall, including some arches at the bottom that are partially hidden by the traverser. I had to be careful how I made this background scene, as if I didn’t do it properly the traverser would not have lined up properly for some track positions. I painted the top of the raised area to represent concrete. Then I pondered what to add on top of it. I was thinking I would add some more flat containers to this raised area, but in the end I felt that would mean too many containers and not enough scenic variety. After a fair amount of pondering, and testing buildings I had in storage to see what might enhance the scene, I decided I would butcher a Lima freight house I had in storage to make it a low relief building. This Lima building was utilised as a yard office on my Dolton Industry Park module which was dismantled a number of years ago. Now it has a new home, in a minimised format as a low relief building.

    Pier39-202202-06.jpg
    Backscene enhancements behind the traverser.

    Pier39-202202-07.jpg
    Pier 39’s GE44 on the traverser.

    Pier39-202202-08.jpg
    The layout after the above mentioned changes were completed.​

    There is still some work to do on the layout, but what has been done recently is a good start towards making it much more visually interesting.

    (From https://www.jimsmodeltrains.ws/2022/02/16/pier-39-scenery-enhancements/ )
     

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