So a few months ago I started working on a module for the MRH First Module design competition. I didn't place in the competition, but I think I've got a pretty cool railroad none the less, so I thought I would share it here. No worries, I'm still a die-hard WM Fireballs and black diamonds fan, but it had been fun to draw inspirations from other prototypes!
The inspiration for this layout came a few years ago when I was commissioned to design a 3D printed N scale model of “The Diesel That Did It”, CNJ 1000. Over the course of the project I became very familiar with the Bronx Terminal Railway and its incredibly intricate track work. It became quite clear that the essence of this railroad could be captured in a very small space using commercially available track. Having limited space to model made an N scale interpretation of this little railroad the logical choice. Furthermore, we are currently renting, so whatever I construct will have to move at least once. This layout provides a lot of operational interest in a very small space and provides a great opportunity to get started in scratch building with simple structures like a railcar barge, float bridge, and engine house. Hopefully by the time I have completed those projects, I will have developed the skills to tackle the round freight house!
The track plan is clearly derived from the Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Bronx Terminal Railroad and is set in the early 1950’s to coincide with my other modeling interests. I’ve kept the general layout of the peripheral stub end tracks and the double loop around the circular freight house, but the trackwork is greatly simplified. For removable staging, I have built a three track car float which has a capacity of twelve
forty-foot cars. An interesting revelation is that because of the car float operation, the City Terminal can operate as a stand alone layout or as an off layout destination for an existing layout. I have chosen to use Peco Set Track and Atlas code 80 flex track for two reasons: it is readily available, and it runs very reliably. Sharp curves and tight turnouts in close succession are no fun if they don’t work reliably. Practically all of the track will be buried in a muddy rail yard, so appearance is not a major concern. Though this railroad does offer continual running potential, it is intended for operations.
My benchwork was inspired by our Free-moN friends. I built a 2’x4’ frame using 3/4” birch plywood to house a foam tabletop made from two 1” sheets. Per Free-moN standards, I used a 6” end plate and 4” side rails. I parted from the Free-moN standards by using folding table legs. I’m quite tall, and later decided to add extensions to the legs using 1 1/2” electrical conduit, which slipped snuggly over the table legs with little wobble. This brings the final table top to 50”. I do plan to add shaft collars to clamp the top of the conduit in place, allowing me to level the modules.
The next step was to print out a scale drawing of the railroad. This was the first time that I was really able to get a feel for the size of the railroad, and how things would work. I decided to shorten the stub end tracks so that they only hold four forty foot cars each. This will allow me to model a street front in this new found space at the right side of the layout. The actual table top is made from two sheets of 1” foam laminated together using Gorilla Glue. Using two 1” sheets makes it much easier to model the dock area of the layout, as you can simply cut away the space that will be water before laminating the two sheets together. Getting the two pieces to lay flat and not push apart took a considerable amount of weight. Once the final adjustments to the track plan were made, I laminated the print-out to the top foam sheet. This proved to be problematic later though, because when I began adding ground cover, the glue wrinkled the paper, creating very unrealistic ripples in the ground cover.
Knowing the nature of this layout, I wanted to make sure that it operated as smoothly as possible. My first impulse was to solder every track joint. But then again, this railroad is going to live in our garage so seasonal expansion and contraction could cause problems. I decided to compromise and solder all track fixtures that contained multiple turnouts. I then soldered a feeder to each rail in the fixture.
I began laying track by placing the large turnout fixtures in their respective locations, and bored holes for the feeders through the foam using a sharpened bamboo skewer. I attached the track using yellow carpenter’s glue and held the fixtures in place with push pins while the glue set. This was a relatively simple process, but connecting all of the feeder wires was more than tedious and took a few days to accomplish. Each wire was soldered to the bus wire, then covered with heat shrink tubing. To date this technique has paid off, as I can creep my Bachmann 44 ton switcher into every corner of the module with no stalls. I have wired the layout for DCC and am using an older NCE system that I had in storage, but because the railroad only used one locomotive, one could easily use conventional DC cab control.
Once the track was laid and the wiring completed, I turned my attention to the staging yard…er…car float. I made mine by laminating four .125” styrene sheets together with MEK. I then used a belt sander to round the edges and corners. Once I was happy with the overall shape, I stripped the rail from a few pieces of flex track and attached them to the deck using CA. I plan to use some Walthers Hayes bumpers at the end of each track, and will add some ship cleats to give it a more maritime look.
For ground cover, which is minimal on this railroad, I wanted to experiment with using sanded grout and it is nothing short of amazing! It is extremely easy to work with, inexpensive, and looks great. I began by masking over the rails and sifting charcoal colored grout over the entire area using a tea strainer. This leaves about a teaspoon of larger granules left in the tea strainer after each scoop. I set this material aside for use between the rails later. After sifting the first layer of grout onto the layout, I brushed off the top of the ties outside of the rails and misted the entire area with a mixture of diluted white glue with a few drops of rubbing alcohol to break the surface tension. Once this was dry, I removed the tape from the rails and added the courser material between the ties. Once I was satisfied with its appearance, I repeated the process with the glue mixture.
I modeled the water using the “toilet paper and glue” method as described in a tutorial I found on Youtube from Marklin of Sweden, which can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TwpB7sVMn8. This method was surprisingly easy, and I plan to use it again in the future. I built the ocean front wall by sanding the edge of the foam smooth, and covering it with drywall spackle. Once the spackle dried, I sanded it smooth and painted it with acrylic paint from the local big-box store.
Here is an overhead shot of the railroad as it currently stands. The next phase of the project will be adding roads. I have not decided what approach I will use, but I’m leaning towards cutting them out of sheet styrene so that I can paint and detail them away from the layout.
The next module to expand the Terminal Railroad is also based off of the CNJ Bronx terminal and is a very loose representation of the railroad as it was on the West side of the Third Ave. Bridge. The railroad ran past the famed circular freight house and under the Third Ave. bridge to serve a number of industries. The track plan on this module could be more or less complex than I have made it, but I want to challenge myself to refine my scratch building skills as I try to build industries in the outlined spaces. In the interim, this module would connect directly to the first to form an L. These two modules would provide a tremendous amount of operating railroad in a small space. The compact, but complete city scenes that could be created could provide numerous photo opportunities in only sixteen square feet.
If a railroader were so inclined, a third and final module could be added. The third module appears to be very basic, but draws its inspiration from many of the other terminal railways along the Hudson River. This module connects the other two, and would provide the opportunity to model street trackage. The single track on this module runs straight down the middle of a busy Bronx street. The final orientation of the three modules would be free-standing in the middle of the room, in the shape of a C.
Thanks for looking! More to come and feedback appreciated!
