The Third Avenue is a swing bridge just like several of the other bridges over the Harlem River. To stay close to the prototype, I decided to build a structure on the center swing pier that would be both realistic and functional. Again, I had several photos of the original bridge plus some more detailed […]
A Bridge Model that Swings Read More »
Adding Detail to the Trusses It took me two weeks to review my design of the Third Avenue swing bridge span and to create the vector graphics files for the additional details. And cutting the files on their 60W laser wasn’t a top priority of my laser cutting service during Covid-19 times. But when I
More Swing Span Details Read More »
This is a blog contribution that comes almost three years late. In my first blog about the Third Avenue Bridge model, I left open the entire access ramp to the bridge abutment. That’s about a 2′ section on my CNJ Bronx Terminal layout. I built and completed the ramp over time and it now enhances
A Bridge in Pieces – Part 2 Read More »
The section of the Third Avenue Bridge that was within my layout perimeter was completed a long time ago. I could have left it with that, a girder bridge ending on the eastern rest pier of the swing bridge. Modeling the complex web of a truss bridge was out of reach for me. After my
Across from the CNJ Bronx Terminal along Third Avenue Bridge sits a large warehouse that always fascinated me. The eight story high building is a large dominating structure visible from far. Its curtain walls with large windows on all four sides make it a witness of mainstream industrial design of the first half of the
Bruckner Building on Third Avenue Read More »
Bruckner Boulevard (133rd Street) between Third Avenue Bridge and Lincoln Avenue with its row of houses on the NE-side is often included in photos of the CNJ Bronx Terminal. Most buildings have been around for nearly 100 years or more. As such have witnessed the peak of the industrialization in the Bronx and more specifically,
Bruckner Boulevard Read More »
Having spent a good part of my live in the European country I grew up, I had no idea what an RS-3 diesel engine was, until I started being interested in US railroads, present and past, and in model railroads. I had no idea, however, that I came across this type of locomotive a long
I had been struggling a while to find a locomotive that was suitable for my CNJ Bronx Terminal. It would have to be a small enough switcher to fit into this kind of yard. But it would’ve to be a strong puller that could work well the narrow curves and complicated turnouts without losing power.
A Strong Puller for the Layout Read More »
The CNJ Bronx Terminal was dismantled in the early 1960s after the Central Railroad of New Jersey ceased operations and the property was sold to make space for new commercial use. Since then, a warehouse was built within the former Bronx Terminals’ former perimeter and various businesses made use of a location close to Manhattan
A New Era Begins in Mott Haven Read More »
This blog post is entitled “Motive Layout Power” to make it very clear that the locomotive roster I’m using to operate the CNJ Bronx Terminal is not prototypical. I have introduced CNJ #1000 in an earlier blog – the first commercially successful diesel locomotive in the US that for a while was the only locomotive on the
Motive Layout Power Read More »