How to fill this space?

[ednadolski]

The paint is barely dry, but here it is:  214 inches of prime model railroad shelf space in my soon-to-be completed basement rec room! Best of all, the Local Real Estate Planning and Use Commission has already given approval for layout construction to commence as soon as possible!



My question now is:  what to fill this with?  The only real druthers I have at this point is a 12" (or so) deep shelf with some kind of nice open sky backdrop, and a simple, linear plan with a modern era prototype and some nice scenery.   Most other options are open, including even the scale (N, HO/P:87, or P:48).

All thoughts, comments, and opinions are requested and welcome! 

Cheers,
Ed

[pjm20]

[Ed Kapuscinski]

1850s Proto:48 portage railroad on its last legs.

[chicken45]

[TLOC]

Oh never mind!

TomO

[Missaberoad]

Dayton's Bluff - St Paul, MN

BNSF, CP, UP, CN, WC, Minnesota Commercial, TC&W, BN, CNW, Soo, Milwaukee, Rock Island, CB&Q, GN, NP, CGW, almost anything that went thru the Twin Cities....

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/642529/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/616347/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/495976/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/606267/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/604938/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/370606/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/294970/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/241157/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/85610/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/131395/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/3906/

[ednadolski]

Thanks everyone for looking.  My bad here but it looks like I wasn't clear: it's just the one wall there for a narrow shelf-style layout.   The rest of the space is still going to be a Man Cave & rec room.  My apologies for the confusion!

I thought that these were kind of intriguing:

The BKRR if I straighten it out:  https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/resize/users/MAGX/battenkill-765x383.jpg

Or Palmetto if I stretch it out:  https://nightcopy.de/ho-vs-n-a-devastating-comparison/


Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

I don't have any specific proto suggestions, but I'd love to see you take on a modern urban scene in proto:87 with a bit of street running.   (Or really anything in proto:87.)

[milw12]

Dayton's Bluff - St Paul, MN

This was my first thought too- and not because I was dreaming of a basement-sized layout based on the rail operations through the area recently! Considering the scope, there's a lot of industry along the river here coinciding with barge operations. Even in modern times it's pretty traditional industrial railroading- spotting cars. In each 'area' I've provided a maps link to one industry if the curious want to explore, and I have more addresses and details available.



On the Saint Paul side (east bank) of the river UP (ex-CNW, ex-Omaha, some ex-RI), there is a spur parallel with Hoffmann Yard that includes Hawkins Chemical, Cemstone aggregates (https://goo.gl/maps/GQisYTBR4JAkMtLG6), Flint Hills Resources (asphalt is what I've seen) and Contanda Terminal (various oils for feeds). Mostly served by industry-owned trackmobiles now but rules can be bent. Also a Morton Salt barn (appears unused) and a scrap load out that's mostly an empty lot.



Further up river is Univar Chemicals and my favorite, a combination ADM terminal grain elevator with an autorack facility (Nissan, Volkswagen, Fiat-Chyster, https://goo.gl/maps/1XhqkQrqXdJGD4adA ) built on an old Omaha yard. I've built a proof-of-concept shelf in N pictured below and it's very workable. A plant switcher (ex-MKT SW with green starting to show again) at ADM sorts cuts of inbound grain (no unit unloading, this is old school!) and autoracks can be sorted by automobile facing, making for intense switching. Including the nearby five-track (easily compressed, it's mostly empty these days) Western Avenue yard would help facilitate switching, but it's not completely necessary.





On the neighborhood of West Saint Paul (west bank) there's a CHS fertilizer facility (off the main map), Northern Metal Scarp, another Hawkins plant, and Alter Metal recycling (https://goo.gl/maps/qFaJ73QhMjQCLcwS6 ). Further south is Praxiar and Sanimax, and my other favorite, the Dakota Bulk ( https://goo.gl/maps/hqaiY6AEPwhx3atG8 ) barge transfer facility, which also contains Holcim cement. This could be a layout on it's own, but given that it's based on a wye, it'd be tough to make a shelf out of it.





Back on the east side and Saint Paul proper again, south of Pig's Eye yard, the CP (ex-Milw) has a spur with Gerdau Ameristeel (rebar mini-mill, https://goo.gl/maps/3CbTmd8DnE1XVNqJ7 ), yet another Hawkins, Saint Paul Terminals, and Gavilion Grain.



The BN (ex-CBQ) also has a yard parallel to CP's Pig's Eye with a much larger autorack facility and some other things, but I'm not too knowledgeable about that.

To bring this back to your question, there's a ton of potential in the area. Stitching a few cherry-picked industries (most are simple spurs) would make for a great modern industrial shelf layout. There's a large variety of car types, power (SD-40N rebuilds, GP-60's, -38's, -40's -15's, modern toasters) and structures to keep things interesting, along with the stunning river/bluff scenery as seen in Ryan's post. I agree with Gary about Proto 87, I believe it would allow for the best operations mechanically and would have the best display quality when the room is being used for other purposes.

Lucas

[Point353]

Most other options are open, including even the scale (N, HO/P:87, or P:48).

Three layouts - one in each scale - on separate shelves.

[prr7161]

How about CP RADE outside of Greensburg, PA?  It's the junction of CR/NS and the Southwest Penn:



In addition to the interchange, pre-DPU days Radebaugh Summit was a helper district for heavy trains, and sometimes power would cut off here and drop back down west to Pitcairn.  The hillside on the north side would be a natural backdrop, with the cut on one side and Grapeville buildings on the other to hide the end of the scenery.

Since this is mainline railroading, it would probably require end loops to work convincingly, which probably means N scale given the width.

[milw12]

I couldn't help pondering a plan after my last post, so here's a 10 minute thrash plan on how I would attack this:



N scale because that's my comfort zone, but I scaled the length accordingly. A runaround for sorting cars, I avoided any cassettes or off-scene staging, I didn't feel it was necessary.

Hawkins Chemical would be the switching focal point. Lots of chemical tanks in and out, although it's pretty light here:



Dan Dossa did a nice layout based on this in HO:



Cemstone, don't blame me for liking covered hoppers- simple spot and go industry. A trackmobile to the side could suggest the plant loading/unloading process.



The barge slip is inspired from Dakota bulk:



Just about any dry bulk goods in or out. Grain, cement, salt, plastics, coal, steel, pipe, etc. Tons of port side detailing potential.

Power around here is usually a GP-38 or 40 rebuild or two.

Again, this is just my spin on things and what I would possibly do. Hopefully a little food for thought. I'll shut up about my UP in Saint Paul plans now

Lucas

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks everyone for looking.  My bad here but it looks like I wasn't clear: it's just the one wall there for a narrow shelf-style layout.   The rest of the space is still going to be a Man Cave & rec room.  My apologies for the confusion!

Ed

I mean, so far Josh's response is actually the most accurate then.

[seusscaboose]

It puts the lotion in the basket

[nuno81291]

If it were my space, I would look for either a bumbling old branch with few customers, or modeling one larger industry. For my interest it would likely be a highly compressed paper mill, but that could have a lot of ops play value. On the other hand gritty tight quarters urban industrial makes for very interesting scenes. One example here would be the Peabody branch to a gelatins manufacturer. You could somewhat accurately depict the track config of the operation in that space, but there are a few miles in the run to the plant and lots of great opportunities or modeling in that instance.