Ideas for revamping my HCD layout?

[Bsklarski]

I Like that last one from DKS. It does have potential. I personally do not like those reversing sections. But looking at it. I am stealing a few ideas off this one including that angled backdrop

[VonRyan]

Here's something to chew on. It offers the options of being based on different industries, and modeled in different eras or locales, depending on the structures/rolling stock used.



It's an out-and-back design that ought to deliver on operation challenges, given that it has multiple industries, and a small yard to boot.

David, you never cease to amaze me... and better still is that you deliver!

You've hit some key notes, and the town you've included can be an excellent candidate for street running trackage. Plus you've included one of my favorite things, an industry that accepts cars into the building!

You basically took the two types of layouts i was thinking of and put in best of both worlds.
(though i would love to see what you could come up with for a urban, warehouse/port district, switching layout that feeds from a 3' long, two track, removable staging yard.)

I see a great modification of my existing Walther's "machine shop" building to not only include code 55 track, but better fit the space.

Plus...

I really like David's latest suggestion (I seem to like all of them...) and I see great potential in it.  The port scene would look fantastic.  My first thought is to eliminate the reversing section.  Aside from the minor wiring/DCC solution to that, it would require a clever solution to hide the hole in the backdrop.

I think that i'll be eliminating the reversing section, but keeping that spur into the backdrop to allow for a low relief building that'll allow for one or two 40' boxcars to be set out in the building, the tail of the spur hidden in a mountain on the other side of the layout.

David, many thanks for your effort thus far. Your assistance is very much appreciated.

-Cody F.

[DKS]

Cody, I'm delighted to know that I was able to score a few hits with this plan. It is, of course, just a starting point, and it can get tweaked in any number of ways.

...it would require a clever solution to hide the hole in the backdrop.

Easy. The track enters a building there; or, it passes between two buildings that have an enclosed walkway bridge that crosses over the track. Those are off the top of my head--I'm sure there are other possibilities.

[Bsklarski]

Easy. The track enters a building there; or, it passes between two buildings that have an enclosed walkway bridge that crosses over the track. Those are off the top of my head--I'm sure there are other possibilities.

Yes that is the easiest way!

[VonRyan]

Cody, I'm delighted to know that I was able to score a few hits with this plan. It is, of course, just a starting point, and it can get tweaked in any number of ways.

Easy. The track enters a building there; or, it passes between two buildings that have an enclosed walkway bridge that crosses over the track. Those are off the top of my head--I'm sure there are other possibilities.

Tweaking is probably expected when it comes to track plans.
And the hiding the "hole in the sky" would fall to the task of some of the leftover wall parts from the machine shop, with some tichy windows to distinguish them from one another.

I'm already thinking about firing up MS-Paint to make some simple modifications, but right now i'm surfing the net for inspirational pictures of PRR/CNJ street trackage as well as operations in port/warehouse districts (sans the CNJ Bronx terminal) during the early half of the 20th century. I'm torn between the type of layout you've come up with thus far, or a more strictly switching layout that is fully enveloped in the gritty atmosphere of early 1900s urban America, albeit still on a 36x80 door but would feed from either an on layout yard (just a simple downtown yard), or a removable 2-3 track staging yard that would be no more than 3' long, extending off the layout at a right angle from what would be an upper left or lower right corner depending on how it is viewed. Its an interesting idea in my though since it would require lots of laser cut cobblestone to imbed the track, as well as plenty of various urban type buildings (industries, warehouses, port terminals, etc.).
(Plus, if i can convince a fellow N-Trak club member, the layout could become an interesting temporary addition to his soon-to-be basement empire for op-sessions and/or open houses. No layout is complete without some form of street trackage, and it being in a port or just a plain urban setting makes it all the better.)

Which idea would win if it is to come plan-to-plan? That all depends on how tempting the one is as opposed to the other.   

-Cody F.

[DKS]

Which idea would win if it is to come plan-to-plan? That all depends on how tempting the one is as opposed to the other.

Your alternative idea is, oddly enough, one of my favorite themes as well. Lots of cobblestones and sharp corners, stubby switchers, brick canyons, rust and dust. I'll twiddle with some sketches. Who knows what may come of it, especially as it's near and dear to my heart (with CNJ and RDG vying for my preferred line)?

Chris Schmuck ought to chime in here with some links to inspirational web resources--he's another one into period urban/port settings.

Speaking of, hey Chris, how is that Erie port layout coming?

[VonRyan]

Your alternative idea is, oddly enough, one of my favorite themes as well. Lots of cobblestones and sharp corners, stubby switchers, brick canyons, rust and dust. I'll twiddle with some sketches. Who knows what may come of it, especially as it's near and dear to my heart (with CNJ and RDG vying for my preferred line)?

Chris Schmuck ought to chime in here with some links to inspirational web resources--he's another one into period urban/port settings.

Speaking of, hey Chris, how is that Erie port layout coming?

Interestingly enough, there is a second circular building that was near the CNJ Bronx Terminal: http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/ht.html but yet it is nearly unheard of...

Perhaps to take your mind off your recent occurances, you could do the artwork for the CNJ Bronx Terminal freight house to be laser etched in wood. You could probably even sell a kit to Tim Warris (Fast Tracks himself) since he has done some of the trackwork in N code40, not to mention HO.
Or you could do the whole thing yourself in N code25... 

I mostly have to blame the CNJ Bronx Terminal for reviving my interest in urban industrialism, not to mention staring at some of the old streetcar trackage in Philly near the Reading Terminal...

Anywho... I think the idea is starting to sound more and more tempting as it is discussed. I think there may be call for me to start looking to one of B-mann's 44 or 70 tonners. Perhaps if i go ahead with the idea, you might like to assist in the creation of some of the structures seeing as, IIRC, you have experience with having custom building kits laser etched?
"D. K. Smith Machining" has an interesting sound to it. 

-Cody F.

[Chris333]

Well you found the one site I would have linked.

I drew up the harlem transfer in Z scale once:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/HopelessProjects#5652459988568637218

[DKS]

I drew up the harlem transfer in Z scale once:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/HopelessProjects#5652459988568637218

By freaky coincidence, and not knowing Chris was doing it too, I also drew up Harlem Transfer in Z with the intention of laying it with Code 25 rail. I dropped the project mostly because I felt it was more of a "me too" and less of an original idea. I then went in pursuit of a comparable challenge, but never found one, concluding that I'd probably have to come up with a fictional setting.

So I've had lots of ideas brewing for an urban industrial/port layout. Stand by...

[VonRyan]

By freaky coincidence, and not knowing Chris was doing it too, I also drew up Harlem Transfer in Z with the intention of laying it with Code 25 rail. I dropped the project mostly because I felt it was more of a "me too" and less of an original idea. I then went in pursuit of a comparable challenge, but never found one, concluding that I'd probably have to come up with a fictional setting.

So I've had lots of ideas brewing for an urban industrial/port layout. Stand by...

As to a "me too" thing. I haven't seen much of anything in terms of Harlem Transfer (save the link Chris has provided). And with the CNJ Bronx Terminal, all i know of is Tim Warris' work in HO and the bit of N trackage he did.
Both are interesting projects, and with the CNJ Bronx Terminal, the one thing always left out is the warehouses next to the terminal...

It would be interesting to see someone do the warehouse connection either stand-alone, or in conjunction with the terminal...

I'm seeing a possibility of a two-man/two-module club comprised of Tim Warris and DKS.
(Of course David would have to convert Tim to code 25)

-Cody F.

[Scottl]

Now I get the interest in this Harlem Transfer.  That is a really interesting and distinctive prototype!

[Chris333]

There are a couple people who have built the Harlem Transfer in N scale, just hard to find them 

The idea to do it in Z was just for the size. I have to keep them nice and small, they stack better that way.

Hey David what ever happened to that Z scale 44 tonner? 

[DKS]

The 44 tonner is about where I left it the last time I posted anything about it. Sound familiar? It's not a totally dead project, just a very sleepy one.

Here's a plan for Cody to think about. Pure fiction, but it draws from enough real life to (hopefully) be plausible. Instead of making a cassette for staging, I thought an HCD offered enough real estate to make everything self-contained. Therefore, the staging runs along the back behind a row of building flats. Up front, the space is divided diagonally by a broad street with the main switching line running down the middle. To one side of the street is a highly compressed freight terminal with ferry slip; to the other is a dense cluster of urban industries. Minimum radius is about 9 inches for the freight terminal loop--that should set some flanges squealing. I didn't take the time to render any buildings--I figured things should be pretty self-explanatory based on the track routes. There would also be many other streets--I just rendered the important one.

[VonRyan]

Now I get the interest in this Harlem Transfer.  That is a really interesting and distinctive prototype!

Here is the Harlem Transfer in 1911:

And in 1928:

This link has everything you could need to know on the Harlem Transfer:
http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/ht.html
It and the CNJ Bronx Terminal are amazing prototypes, let alone amazing uses of the space at hand.

David, this plan is excellent. Plenty of possibilities for gritty urban industries, and even a ferry terminal. I think this plan is going to be the plan i go with for my new layout. Hopefully if the majority of the stuff i sent with a friend of mine to bedford sells, i'll be able to invest in the needed corssovers and curved turnouts. What are the degrees of crossings you have shown on the plan?
I'll probably begin work once i return from my cruise, which will probably be penciling out the other streets and buildings.

David, thanks again for your efforts. I'm very appreciative of all this.
As for the other plan you came up with. I think i'll use that at a later date as an extension to the port district. Its too good to go to waist.

Heck, it might even be a good plan for you to make a new Z scale layout.   

-Cody F.

[DKS]

Cody, I'm really glad you like this plan. It was a lot of fun to tinker together. The two crossings are 60 and 45 degrees. Also, you don't need to use curved TOs for the staging yard; you can use #5s or even #7s--the storage tracks would just be a bit shorter, and it would save you some scratch. However, the two curved TOs in the middle of the industrial area probably need to stay curved, elsewise the whole area would need to be redesigned. That said, it wouldn't be the end of the world.