Blogs related the design and build of track, turnouts and crossings.
My last section of the left leg of my Westside Railroad includes a reverse loop for the high line. Close to the reverse loop is the ramp connecting the high line with the street level tracks. Those tracks are 270 and 180 degrees circular tracks with a radius of 13″ or larger. They take a […]
Barclay Street Hoboken Ferry Terminal Read More »
Having finally built the single 45 degree crossing at the eastern yard entrance, I was able to finish my rail yard of the B&O West 26th Street Station. Hand-laying a crossing is messy and even though after about half a dozen of such builds, I now know what works best and what does not work,
Building the B&O W26th Street Station Yard Read More »
Originally, I decided to use the Fast Tracks BullFrog manual turnout control to switch my turnouts on the street level. (Note that ehe elevated track is a different story and will use remote control). I felt that this would be appropriate for street running trains in the transition era. My first three modules I equipped
From Manual to Electric Turnout Control Read More »
What’s the Baltimore & Ohio West 26th Street Station without a rail yard? I had it on my plan from the very beginning but never gave any thoughts how I could fit a few tracks into a limited space. Let alone how I could make it prototypically looking. Some History The Baltimore and Ohio West
Adding a Rail Yard to the B&O W26th Street Station Read More »
Good progress on the block between West 26th and 27th Street along Tenth Avenue forced me to finally think about the elevated section of my layout. With some of the sections of the track leading through already built structure, I also had set a few parameters. Height above surface would be about 42 mm and
A First Piece of the High Line Read More »
The block between West 26th and 27th Street West of Tenth Avenue was not on my initial list of locations to consider for my Westside Railroad layout. That was until I came across a fascinating archive photo during my research. The photo from 1939 or 1940 was taken from the corner of Tenth Avenue and
Tenth Avenue and West 27th Street Read More »
Before I developed big plans about my new layout, I wanted to validate some of the main design concepts I intended to use. The first one was, how can I scratch-build track embedded in a street? Moreover, how can I build track in a cobblestone (or Belgian blocks, as the type of stone used in
Building Street Track in Cobblestone Road Read More »
Ever since I had finished my CNJ Bronx Terminal layout, I was playing with the idea for adding a complementary section with the CNJ’s extension yard on the NW side of Third Avenue Bridge. The plan has never materialized as I would have simply no space for another layout. It would be even bigger than
Reaching Beyond the Bridge Read More »
You don’t normally connect something to your layout – you build it for your layout so that it fits! That’s not how it worked this time for the swing bridge segment of my Third Avenue Bridge, however. First of all, it was mostly outside of my original layout. Second, with a pre-pandemic plan to move
Connecting the Swing Bridge to my Bronx Terminal Layout Read More »
Not having ballasted a layout before, I delayed that part of track work until I really had to do it. As mentioned in my previous post Track Ballast, Streets and Ground Cover, I started with the team tracks. Most of them were straight and not difficult to do. When I came to the crossovers, it got
More Ballasting of Tracks and Turnouts Read More »