Conrail Windsor St Yard (York PA) Engineering Report

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ahh. Similar, but different from what I've done.

[chuck geiger]

It's really just concrete with a spur into an industry and not asphalt or concrete streets with lots of heavy action. he brought up the sides with core board. 

[SSW7771]

Street running action is going to be hot. I have been enjoying following your progress.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Making progress on sidewalks in York. Kinda.

This involves slicing rows off of the scribed sheets, joining them together where necessary, curving the ends and adding curbs. The curbs was annoying, so I created a jig by clamping a metal ruler down to my desk over top of some glass.



I decided to move down the one street so I could get this scene going.



So far, so good.

However, I've got the SD50s out because they're my longest power and wanted to make sure they clear all of the curbs. Unsurprisingly, they don't...



So now I have to move that sidewalk back a bit. The problem was that I didn't pave far enough back to do that. And to think, I thought I was done with clay...

You can see the issue here.

[DeltaBravo]

I see you're very busy at work today.

[chicken45]

I see you're very busy at work today.

Today's a holiday! I have the day off.

Anyways, looking pretty good!

[MK]

How about chamfering it to a 45 cut?  It won't be as realistic as a 90 deg corner but it's the least work.  Depends on your tolerance of perfection. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I see you're very busy at work today.

If you only knew... lol.

[DKS]

I think I would have just done a "curb cut." Sand down the offending bit of sidewalk until it cleared. No?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think I would have just done a "curb cut." Sand down the offending bit of sidewalk until it cleared. No?

I think that might be what I do.

[DKS]

While you're at it, give all of the sidewalks a light sanding to kill the styrene sheen and give it a more realistic texture. Also, make some cracks with a knife point dragged backwards along jagged lines. And for even more realism, break up the strips here and there and shim random individual squares to rise up or drop below the rest of the sidewalk on slight angles.

And if you were planning to do this anyway, just tell me to shut up.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

While you're at it, give all of the sidewalks a light sanding to kill the styrene sheen and give it a more realistic texture. Also, make some cracks with a knife point dragged backwards along jagged lines. And for even more realism, break up the strips here and there and shim random individual squares to rise up or drop below the rest of the sidewalk on slight angles.

And if you were planning to do this anyway, just tell me to shut up.

Good call on the sanding. I'm using a flat paint, so it's not terrible, but that's a good idea.

The knife thing. Good idea! I've actually already accidentally done that in a few places (although it's never in a direction that I actually want).

The pushed up stuff is another winner, but at this point, I want to crank through this at industrial speed.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

More sidewalk progress.



I followed The Master's advice here and just cut the thing back.





Ignore the joint at the bottom. The two sections aren't attached.

[wm3798]

I dunno.  Not digging the putty paving system.  You've got some real axle benders in that surface.  Sheet styrene is gobs more realistic, in my estimation.  I like the foam rubber stuff I used, but it does grab dust a bit more than I like.  Plus, styrene affords you the opportunity to bond the styrene sidewalks to the road, giving you a seamless gutter...



painted styrene.  Note that a final dull coat wasn't applied, and the Hard Hat was not glued down.  Lines were painted using 1 pt. graphic tape masks then oversprayed with flat black and mists of gray.



Black Craft Foam streets.  Striping done with Sharpie paint markers (yellow and white) with an overspray of gray primer for weathering.  Pencil graphite gives you a good exhaust line in the lanes.  The sidewalks in this image are glued to the foam with E-6000.

Also, at that one end of the reverse loop, that dead end junction... well... I guess Ed's Law applies.  Even if it strays from you prototype thesis, I would elevate the road a bit and put an overpass or an underpass, just something to break up the very model railroady loopty loop.  Regardless of the road configuration, you need something to block the view of that loop, or at least break it up a bit.

Tear it all out and start over.

Lee

[nuno81291]

I disagree with Lee. Putty is the way, styrene looks entirely too uniform for a gritty area. You could not model my local industrial areas in styrene effectively, talking 1’ + deep potholes (craters really) keep pushing on Ed I think what you have looks great and as far as removing that bit of sidewalk for clearance I can find all sorts of similar quirks in old eastern cities like Lawrence and Holyoke, good tight confines eastern industrial railroading! No offense to Lee but styrene is only good for a fairly well maintained road. None of which is prototypical in industrial areas that I have seen. In comparison Lee must have an extremely highly funded DOT; not a single pothole anywhere, for someone who pushes the Bible of contours and slope, your roads are far too ‘perfect’ for my taste and could use the blemishes present for added realism.