Conrail Windsor St Yard (York PA) Engineering Report

[wm3798]

Very nice work.  But what happened to the highway underpass at Greenwood?


It was modeled after the one at Burhans Blvd. in Hagerstown.  If it is being surplussed, I'd like to bequeath it to Sizemore, being as he'll be building some representation of Hagerstown Yard at some point.  The underpass was pretty cool... I even wired it with yellow LEDs, which sadly I never photographed.



Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's safely stored on the other end of the basement under the other layout for now while I figure out what I'm going to do with it.

Tim, if you're interested, just let me know and I can hand it off.

I really like the Greenwood scene, so I'm trying to figure out how to preserve what I can of it, but I don't mind letting the retaining wall and parts thereof go to homes where they can be used.

[Rich_S]

Ed, what is the purpose of the Christmas tree lights in the above photo?

[Dave V]

Ed, what is the purpose of the Christmas tree lights in the above photo?

I'll let Ed answer (obviously) but my guess is that those are a vestige of Lee's former arrangement whereby there was lower-deck staging beneath Hagerstown.  As I recall from the one time I was fortunate enough to op the WM, the lower deck was illuminated with Christmas lights.

[davefoxx]

I'll let Ed answer (obviously) but my guess is that those are a vestige of Lee's former arrangement whereby there was lower-deck staging beneath Hagerstown.  As I recall from the one time I was fortunate enough to op the WM, the lower deck was illuminated with Christmas lights.

That's exactly right, Dave.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Exactly.

I'm in the process of removing them.

Although they do make it seem a bit more festive...

[sizemore]

I'll take the underpass! Or is it overpass?

The S.

[S Class]

I'm glad I've got friends with pickups, because this would NOT have fit in my 3.

I have an '04 3 and for what it is worth you can get about half a dozen 6ft and even the odd 7ft length into one of those things. Not something you'd want for long trips but the local store should be ok

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'll take the underpass! Or is it overpass?

The S.

Cool, you got it. Next time I know I'll see you, I'll pry it loose and bring it along, or you can stop by some time.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Reposted from weekend update...

This weekend hasn't been half bad.

Now that I have a layout in the basement that needs some active work, I can actually make little bits of progress toward the greater whole.

One of the first things I have to do is mate the two halves back up. So far I've used some wood filler to fill the gap the saw left behind, painted it to cover it up, and then cut the ties back so I can add in some joiners. I still need to square the ends up, then its on to cutting a ton of joiner tracks. At least it's progress!



Next, I spent some time cleaning up the former engine terminal. Similarly to how CR would have to do some environmental remediation, I'm doing something similar. I pulled up the old tracks, and have been cleaning up the former ballast.



This now means I have to figure out how to repurpose the area.

I'm thinking of adding a Flexi-Flow terminal and an MOW storage area (somewhere for my awesome G26s to mingle with my camp cars), but I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have.

[seusscaboose]

I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have.

Whatever you do, it needs to include unsanded grout.

[wm3798]

Take a piece of 1/2 foam and fill in the pit, leaving the concrete apron.  Scenic it up with some sculptamold.

The red tracks can be your engine servicing tracks, and the yellow tracks can tie in to form the flexi flo.  Just pave the whole area, roll in some tank cars and covered hoppers, and get some conveyors and piping to load the trucks.

A couple of support buildings, and you're done.  I would definitely leave in the ghosts of the turntable and fan tracks as much as practical.  Nothing says Conrail like old scarred earth...
If you want, I can give you the turntable bridge to throw off to the side, maybe get one of those welder's torch circuits and make a scene out of it being scrapped.

Then I can send a photo of that to Walthers along with a note about how I feel about their product support...

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like that. I'll go try mocking it up.

[Philip H]

I like it too, especially with the engine service tracks over the old pit. Which begs the question as to whether you should apply a Law named for some guy called Ed, and have an open service pit under one of the tracks that crosses the old turntable pit. Maybe with some sort of steel half shed over it.

[jnevis]

I like it too, especially with the engine service tracks over the old pit. Which begs the question as to whether you should apply a Law named for some guy called Ed, and have an open service pit under one of the tracks that crosses the old turntable pit. Maybe with some sort of steel half shed over it.

That is effectively what happened at the Portola Yard when the WP started going diesel.  You'd be hard pressed to find the remains of the turntable though.  IIRC the entire engine shop, now the Museum, is over where the pit was.  Somewhere I have an article on it, I'll look when I get home.