AC&Y - Ohio's Road of Service

[SAH]

It has been ages, or so it seems, since my AC&Y Spencer to Litchfield layout came down.  The move is behind us finally as well as all the fix up stuff required to make it a home.  It took awhile to come up with a plan but once I figured out how to get the kind of railroad I wanted into the space available I jumped in.

The short version of the story is I'm looking at 3 levels with a helix to connect them.  I still get a twitch when I say or type helix.  Never wanted to build one but to get the ops I want, doing so is necessary.  The layout will run from Akron to Columbus Grove, OH, concentrating on the towns with the best RR interchanges or industries that made the AC&Y what it was.  The research has been most enjoyable.  When (and if) the thing ever gets all the way to Columbus Grove I think it will present an interesting operating scheme that will keep 3-4 operators engaged for an entire afternoon.

I only take my track plan to the point where I know the elements I want will fit.  I follow the prototype as closely as possible anyway so drawing the tracks to scale does not add much value.  Here's the portion of Level 1 currently under construction.  Brittain Yard in Akron and Spur 4 serving the rubber plants is the focus.



It has been a while since I've posted.  Once I figure out how to do the image posting thing I'll post some in progress photos.

Happy New Year to All!

Steve Holzheimer

[wazzou]

Looking forward to it Steve.  I've always really enjoyed your modeling.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looking forward to it Steve.  I've always really enjoyed your modeling.

QFT!

[SAH]

Thanks fellas.  Here we go.

Building this part of the layout first will allow me to test the feasibility of operating with a narrow vertical window.  Given that this part of the layout is heavy duty switching it will provide a good test bed.  Brittain Yard is 36" above floor level and will be worked from a desk chair.  The adjustable height feature of the desk chair should allow most any operator to line up their shoulder height with the 8” opening between decks.  I’m betting doing so will allow easy access to the 15” deep section for uncoupling. We will see.  The short cabinet face in front of the chair can be slid back to provide some foot room.  A rotating desk (think the old grade school writing surfaces) can be swung out to allow a place for the yardmaster to do paperwork.  There is plenty of room behind the desk chair to allow other operators to pass the seated yardmaster with no problem.  Lighting is built into the deck above as shown in the mock up.  LOTS of light to read those itty bitty reporting marks!


The eastward main will go through the wall to the industrial park along Waterloo road and on to Mogadore, a distance of only 3.5 miles on the prototype.  France Stone will be at the back left in the corner, where it is located on the prototype.  Hopper loads of limestone from Carey, OH in (an online shipper) and empties out.  Ashland Oil moves from behind the yard (prototype location) to the right front to help hide the hole in the wall.  Waterloo / Mogadore will rate a turn (yard job actually) that should keep an operator busy for a good while.  A wide variety of industry was on this section of the railroad, including an Eastern connection with the Wheeling (NKP) at Mogadore.  Beyond the hole in the wall will be about 14 linear feet of railroad, which should do the line to Mogadore justice.


West out of Brittain, Spur 4 is to the left of the engine house, the main and yard drill track to the right.  The engine house is slightly scaled down to allow clearance for the tracks on the left and right but I think even those who know the prototype will not notice.  Off in the distance on the left you can see Spur 4 round the curve and to the right the main duck behind the backdrop.  I'm hoping I can get some signature scenic elements from this area into the scene.  The main on the right curves behind the backdrop and will run behind Spur 4 and the rubber plants before reappearing in Copley beyond the end of Spur 4.  This is where the B&O and EL staging will be as well.  In reality an AC&Y "puller" went to the B&O and EL to return and get interchange cars.  No fun from a modelling standpoint.  I'll get to model and run foreign road power and cabeese in my version.


Enough for tonight.  I'll save the nitty gritty on Spur 4 and the rubber plants for the next post.

If you're interested in learning more history check out the Society website at www.acyhs.org.  We are a 100% online historical society.  The newsletters are available for a download.

Thanks for looking.

Steve Holzheimer

[SAH]

Spur 4 would make a switching layout in its own right.  The photo below is from the U. of Akron Archives in their Goodyear collection.  The AC&Y Brittain Yard is out of the photo below. 

From the bottom, left to right:
  Goodyear coal storage yards
  General Tire plant
  AC&Y Spur 4 switching yard
  Akron Expressway extension, what would alter become Interstate 76.
At the center you can see Spur 4 peel off to the left to serve Goodyear Plant #2 (center of the photo) and Robinson Clay Products to the left of Goodyear.
Dead center in the photo is the Akron & Barberton Belt interchange yard, a very important connection for the AC&Y, who was a part owner of the little terminal road.

Overall a great photo of Akron in the boom days of rubber production.  Tires are no longer made in Akron.


Picking up where we left off I'll General Tire shipping along this stretch.  The General Tire buildings will comprise the backdrop and be removable to allow access to the main track behind the backdrop.


General Tire and other industries will serve as the back drop between the modeled Spur 4 and the main and tracks allowing Erie and B&O staging.  The Erie and B&O will bring cars to Brittain instead of the AC&Y going to get the cars, per prototypical practices. All track behind the buildings is Kato Unitrack.


A&BB interchange and Goodyear Plant #2 to the left.  The Erie and B&O staging tracks end behind what will probably be Hardwick Chemicals while the AC&Y main continues to another hole in the wall to reach Copley.  Spencer is above at 49".  The lighting valence is temporary rigged to show how it will look.  The top of the valence is 61", the approximate height of the third level.  I've uncoupled cars on the Spencer level to test the 8" separation and it seems to work fine even for someone my height (6'-1").


The backdrop in this area will be the Goodyear Plant #2 buildings.  I’ll try to work as many raw material spots as possible into this area.  The prototype accommodates me well in this respect.


I've recently been working on the switch mechanisms for the yard ladder, which is not very photo worthy but IS progress.

Steve

[Rich_S]

Steve, I've been hoping you'd be back with a new version of the AC&Y. Looking forward to following along with your current layout build.

[SAH]

Lots of business travel recently so the progress rate is pretty slow.  The yard lead is glued/spiked in place and most of the switch controls are functional.  A few more to go.


Here's a look under the hood.  The mechanisms are mostly a home brew design, modified slightly from what I used on the Spencer module.  I installed my first Blue Point.  Nice product.  They will be my first choice from now on, unless the situation suggests the home design works better.

[SAH]

I finished installing the switch machines for the yard ladder yesterday.  Then took a break from wiring and laid down some base scenery on the hillside behind the yard.

[Chris333]

Cool that you are modeling the yard      Is your era before or after the freeway?

[btrain]

Very nice progress so far! 

[SAH]

I'm modeling up to 1964, but +/- at that Chris.  The freeway extended to Brittain about that time.  It really  doesn't come into play from a modeling standpoint though.  It would be in the aisle.

[SAH]

I did the fake fur thing to give the hillside a base level of undergrowth.  An easy one evening session.  Well, two if you consider gluing the fur in place.  There were (are) some homes built on top of the hillside above the yard.  I've placed different images as different scales to see how it would look.  They'll be mostly obscured by foliage when the scene is complete.

[SAH]

Great progress this evening.  Half of the yard is in place.
Some of my photo links disappear for some reason.  They show up when I preview and when I check the post later.  No doubt something I'm doing wrong.

[Chris333]

Picasa has gone to crap now. With Google Photos, you have to use    ?.    At the end before the last image tag.
 
EDIT   you need to add   ?.jpg     at the end.

[jereising]

Picasa has gone to crap now. With Google Photos, you have to use    ?.    At the end before the last image tag.
 
EDIT   you need to add   ?.jpg     at the end.

Or better yet, just go to Flickr...or Photobucket...