Conrail Windsor St Yard (York PA) Engineering Report

[chuck geiger]

The streets are paved with gold or broken YUNEGLING bottles.

[Dave V]

Generally, yes. Think about it, two way streets usually have parking on both sides and then the lanes themselves. Modelers generally make most scenery stuff too small.

This.

The easiest way to do it right is to Google street width specifications for your era.  But yeah, most modelers make impossibly narrow streets that look dangerous as hell.

I don't remember the exact width I used below, but I recall having done the research to do it right:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

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[MichaelWinicki]

Generally, yes. Think about it, two way streets usually have parking on both sides and then the lanes themselves. Modelers generally make most scenery stuff too small.

Ed, I get the whole, "N scalers tend to cheat on road width issues."  Heck I've done it myself, but the road I've highlighted just looks very wide to me... Unless that vehicle is not a 1/160th scale, which is possible I guess.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

After reading this I did look at it a bit. It's might be a bit wide, but not too much. Here's the real thing: 1 S Pershing Ave

https://goo.gl/maps/Yef6BhL3Aht

[CodyO]

@Ed Kapuscinski no pictures of your upgraded fascia or glued down sidewalks?

Just some Conrail SD-40s sucking at life....

[davefoxx]

If Ed were to begin adding traffic markings and lines, that would make the road feel smaller.  I like the wide road, because, since drivers generally have a foreshortened view of the road, modelers tend to make them too narrow or paint the lines incorrectly.  I like what Ed has done so far, and really like that hawt picture of the Conrail coal drag coming down the street.

Now, Ed, get a yellow colored pencil and a white colored pencil and get to work on those lines.  If I can do it, anyone can do it.



DFF

[DeltaBravo]

After reading this I did look at it a bit. It's might be a bit wide, but not too much. Here's the real thing: 1 S Pershing Ave

https://goo.gl/maps/Yef6BhL3Aht

 the street view show's three lanes plus room for street parking.

[OldEastRR]

Generally, yes. Think about it, two way streets usually have parking on both sides and then the lanes themselves. Modelers generally make most scenery stuff too small.

Yes! Yes yes!! Exactly!! Having a downtown with only 2-lane wide streets surely detracts from whatever skill you put into building the scene. And those scenes where a 50' long semi is sitting on a very narrow street with sharp corner intersections really looks weird. How did it get there?
My downtown has a main street 4 lanes wide, along with angled parking. With wide sidewalks and trees along the sides it looks like a Main Street. I planned the town to be much wider than deep so I could use normal-sized streets.
One thing, tho -- How did the RRs protect those wide road crossings? the stock crossing gates in N are way too short to cover their half of the street. Extra-long gates?

[wm3798]

First a little stroll down memory lane.  Prior to dismantling from my house in Cambridge, we took some measurements, and this shows how snug the fit is at Ed's.



and the 3-D view...


It really was kismet!

As for street widths, it's worth noting that in many instances, selective compression is desirable to achieve the overall sense of place.  Since York is an urban street grid, it makes sense to work with scale width streets.  But frequently, you can play with the dimensions of the non-train elements of a scene to force a more realistic perspective from the aisle, or in photos.



...and if the road gets too narrow or has a sharp bend, install the necessary warning signs!

Lee

[pdx1955]

Yes! Yes yes!! Exactly!! Having a downtown with only 2-lane wide streets surely detracts from whatever skill you put into building the scene. And those scenes where a 50' long semi is sitting on a very narrow street with sharp corner intersections really looks weird. How did it get there?
My downtown has a main street 4 lanes wide, along with angled parking. With wide sidewalks and trees along the sides it looks like a Main Street. I planned the town to be much wider than deep so I could use normal-sized streets.
One thing, tho -- How did the RRs protect those wide road crossings? the stock crossing gates in N are way too short to cover their half of the street. Extra-long gates?

Sometimes the gates were longer, but in the past, gates weren't that common . Most streets just had flashers or a wig-wag .I've seen plenty of crossings on  four-lane roads with just flashers (on roadside and over-the-road.)

[DKS]

One thing, tho -- How did the RRs protect those wide road crossings? the stock crossing gates in N are way too short to cover their half of the street. Extra-long gates?

Yes. Gates were/are as long as they need to be. Some are even articulated so they don't interfere with overhead wires.

[OldEastRR]

Looks like they had four long gates, two on both sides of the crossing, to close off the entire roadway.There are foreign N models of such crossings, didn't know they were in the US too.
I've also seen those articulated gates, which have an extra leg near the far end that swings out when the gate is lowered and helps support it. A working N model of an articulated gate would be pretty neat.

[DKS]

Looks like they had four long gates, two on both sides of the crossing, to close off the entire roadway.There are foreign N models of such crossings, didn't know they were in the US too.

It's more typical of the early days; relatively modern crossings rarely have four arms.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Windsor St crossing backdrops are now in thanks to Dave Betz (@DeltaBravo)!