7th Street Terminal

[stivesnick]

_{I had intended to scratchbuild the station / railway office building, but then came across the DPM hotel kit.}

 

_{It was not quite what I wanted, but saves a lot of time cutting out windows. The main entrance door was removed to create a through passageway to the street. (Question: would this still have a door, even if kept open during traffic hours?)}

 

_{The retail type windows on the ground floor have been replaced with doors for the parcels/express office and the side windows bricked up. Photos show progress and the start of work on the canopy. This has not yet been fixed and yes, the columns will be vertical eventually!}

 

_{Work has also started on the entrance gates to the adjacent goods yard.}

 

_Regards

 

_Nick

[stivesnick]

Some useful progress over the last few days. The office block / station building has been painted. Having started to paint the window frames and realising tat it would take ages, I ended up spay painting the whole building the colour of the windows and then went back to paint the stone work. It still took ages, but only one lot of ages rather than two!.

 

Have now built the second platform canopy and painted the platforms. Canopy frame still to be painted. Not sure if natural wood or a painted finish would be best, any thoughts on this.

 

Finally I picked up some street lights to use on the platforms at 4D models in London. They are made by the German firm of Schulcz who make a range of architectural model components. These are 1:200 scale but look OK, although I might reduce the height a bit.

 

Photos enclosed.

[stivesnick]

_{The first bit of scenery carried out today. The apartment blocks fixed to a sub-base and concrete path and earth/grass added.}

 

_{My previous layout had 100s of trees, not so many on 7th Street Terminal and will be generally hidden behind the platform canopy.}

 

_{Need to add a little bit of clutter and some street lights but the first bit of the layout looking complete.}

 

_{Pictures below:}

[stivesnick]

The last major building to be constructed is the print works - this is a scratchbuilt concrete frame building with brick infill panels and large windows. The building will go over the siding on the right hand side of the layout.

 

The wall facing the front of the layout has been cut out and the "concrete" strips added and painted. Next step is the brick panels.

 

Progress photos enclosed.

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

Some progress with the print works, the first wall has been finished along with the second wall. Windows are from Smart Models and Gold Metal Models brass etch used for the handrails on the escape stair. I also dug out some previously used buildings from layouts which will complete the scene.

 

Photos enclosed.

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

The print works now has it's third side plus the loading dock and roof.

 

Next step is to try our various items of rolling stock to ensure they clear the loading dock and outside columns.

 

Once it is all stuck together, I can touch up the paint work and add signs, exterior lights etc.

 

That will be the last major building to complete, the other structures on the layout will be those salvaged from previous layouts.  

 

 

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

With the larger buildings now nearly complete, here are a few general shots of the layout showing how the buildings fit together. Nothing is stuck down yet so things may move a little. The final few structures are being reused from previous layouts with some appearing on their 3rd layout.

 

Regards

 

Nick

 

[stivesnick]

I have started to detail the builders yard at the front of the layout.

 

The main workshop/office building has some large windows at the front and I have left one of the workshop loading doors open. As the inside of the building is visible I have created some very basic interiors from bits of plastic section. They are not intended to win any modelling prizes, just to create the impression that there is something going on inside the building.

 

Outside in the yard, I have built a gantry crane for the unloading of materials. Many interurban electric locomotives also had some batteries to enable shunting to take place in non-electrified areas, so this will be the case here. If operation of the layout gets a bit dull, I could always assume that not all the locomotives had batteries to add interest, but not sure that anyone would notice.

 

Photos enclosed. The gantry photo also shows how the workshop interior looks from the outside.

 

Nick

[298]

Battery equipped locos were rare, they did exist but we're expensive by comparison, and would have required significant modifications such as wider hoods.

 

Stringing a wire was a lot easier by comparison, and in your example it could have been set to one side away from the crane and the Trolley pole held against it. Or to increase operating potential, you could use another car to reach the flat or gondola under that crane.

[stivesnick]

I have been playing around with a possible timetable for the route. The 7th Street Terminal (in a city now called Manning) is assumed to be the middle of the line and the divide between it's northern and southern operating divisions. Passenger services on the two divisions are kept separate.

 

On the northern division, two trains each make two round trips between Manning and Greendale, whilst a third unit does a number of shorter workings between Manning and Edmonds. On the southern division, a single train makes 3 round trips between Manning and Burrows.

 

Badly drawn train plan enclosed. The dashed lines are trains with a parlour car added.

 

Does this look possible or is the timetable totally bonkers. Comments welcome.

 

Nick

sub div TT.pdf

[Zomboid]

I think it's a great idea, but I'd consider what the purpose of your station is - if it's serving an employment centre and your passengers are commuting then you want arrivals on both routes around 8.30 and departures around 5.30 (or whatever suits the working day in your city/era). As it is the timetable (green especially) seems to be designed for operational convenience more than to serve a particular demand.

 

I also note that it takes 3 hours to get to Greendale - how far actually is it, and what traffic is being served?

[stivesnick]

I think it's a great idea, but I'd consider what the purpose of your station is - if it's serving an employment centre and your passengers are commuting then you want arrivals on both routes around 8.30 and departures around 5.30 (or whatever suits the working day in your city/era). As it is the timetable (green especially) seems to be designed for operational convenience more than to serve a particular demand.

 

I also note that it takes 3 hours to get to Greendale - how far actually is it, and what traffic is being served?

 

Thanks Zomboid

 

The station is meant to be in a city so yes there would be commuter traffic as well a general traffic for people wanting a day out either for business or leisure. Speeds on interurban lines were not fast so a 3 hour journey would take you perhaps 80-100 miles. In their heyday, many routes would have had an hourly or two hourly service over all or part of the route. The tabletable was meant to be a "times are hard" affair prior to the end of passenger service, when schedules were cut back to try to save costs.

 

The other reason for producing the timetable was to help develop an operating sequence for the layout especially when taken to shows. Passenger cars coming and going would, I suspect, not be too interesting to exhibition goers, so it was also a way of identifying which services could have parlour cars or freight cars added.

 

Once I am happy with the schedule, the intent is to produce a station departure board as part of the layout display.

 

Thanks again for the comments

 

Nick

[Zomboid]

Here's what I'd do (largely keeping your durations):

- Green train spends the night at 7th St. Starts the day at 5am with a run to Burrows, with a quick turn round it can then get back to 7th Street around 9am. Does a repeat at 10, arriving back at 3pm (this is slower because it takes the freight car on this run if there is one today). It does a part line run to Larch at 3.30, arriving back at 5.30 (this trip is sometimes cancelled if dealing with the freight car caused delays on the previous one), ready for the evening commuter round trip at 6pm, getting the car and crew back for 10pm.

- The other line I'd leave the same for the morning, and I'd put the 3pm red departure back to 5.30pm, with the subsequent parlor car leaving at 6, keeping the rest of the evening as close as possible to what you've got. The evening red train might be at 8 rather than 7.

 

That has a couple of definite rushes to fill your platforms in the morning and early evening and a mid afternoon lull. I'm not entirely convinced that the green line is right though, I think it needs a morning arrival for people coming into the city to do their shopping. Could get one by swapping the part line run with the freight one, and if anyone from the far end wants to go shopping then they'll just have to get up early and come in with the commuters.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Zomboid

[Zomboid]

Editing failure

Edited July 30, 2018 by Zomboid

[stivesnick]

Here's what I'd do (largely keeping your durations):

- Green train spends the night at 7th St. Starts the day at 5am with a run to Burrows, with a quick turn round it can then get back to 7th Street around 9am. Does a repeat at 10, arriving back at 3pm (this is slower because it takes the freight car on this run if there is one today). It does a part line run to Larch at 3.30, arriving back at 5.30 (this trip is sometimes cancelled if dealing with the freight car caused delays on the previous one), ready for the evening commuter round trip at 6pm, getting the car and crew back for 10pm.

- The other line I'd leave the same for the morning, and I'd put the 3pm red departure back to 5.30pm, with the subsequent parlor car leaving at 6, keeping the rest of the evening as close as possible to what you've got. The evening red train might be at 8 rather than 7.

 

That has a couple of definite rushes to fill your platforms in the morning and early evening and a mid afternoon lull. I'm not entirely convinced that the green line is right though, I think it needs a morning arrival for people coming into the city to do their shopping. Could get one by swapping the part line run with the freight one, and if anyone from the far end wants to go shopping then they'll just have to get up early and come in with the commuters.

 

Thanks for this. I will take a fresh look at the timetable over the next few days

 

Nick

[298]

You could also have a senaruo where there us a State Fair or Ball game at an outlying station, and extra trains run for it.

 

A timetable might be fine at home, but I doubt many exhibition punters would notice one in use. They just stand there with an empty tick box in their head and an expectation of seeing a train move within ten seconds.

[stivesnick]

You could also have a senaruo where there us a State Fair or Ball game at an outlying station, and extra trains run for it.

 

A timetable might be fine at home, but I doubt many exhibition punters would notice one in use. They just stand there with an empty tick box in their head and an expectation of seeing a train move within ten seconds.

 

Thanks 298

 

I had thought about including a special train - will need to sort out some additional cars first.

 

As for exhibitions, the timetable is as much for any operators as for the public. I was thinking about having a train departure board - most stations would appear to have a simple fixed board as enclosed photo. Not sure this would have worked on a busy system like the pacific electric so has anyone got any photos showing a simple departure board that would go on a platform to identify the next departure. I remember seeing them on the UK Southern Region when I was growing up, did they do something similar in the USA.

 

Nick

[rodshaw]

You could also have a senaruo where there us a State Fair or Ball game at an outlying station, and extra trains run for it.

 

A timetable might be fine at home, but I doubt many exhibition punters would notice one in use. They just stand there with an empty tick box in their head and an expectation of seeing a train move within ten seconds.

Not even all operators are bothered about timetables and sequences. The friend I exhibit with is more interested in grouping boxcars into colours for the kids (yellow for bananas, brown for chocolate etc.) and seeing how many he can squeeze into a given siding. So at our first show my carefully prepared operating sequence very quickly went out of the window!

[stivesnick]

In Post 42 I mentioned a typical station departure board for forgot to enclose the photo - here it is. I was thinking of putting something similar as part of the fiddle yard display.

 

I also mentioned the possibility of having some sort on next train departure for each platform - any thoughts on this, is this something that happened in real life.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[298]

I'll have a look...

[298]

My perception (thanks to an evening with books by Messers W. Wing and W. Middleton) is on some systems each train had a number code in the timetable (with odd for inbound and even for outbound, for example), and this was displayed on the front. There were also destination boards on the front of cars and a station announcer who would call what each service was.

 

I've found what must be timetable boards at stops, but nothing like a large departure board of even a post with finger boards as used in the UK.

[stivesnick]

My perception (thanks to an evening with books by Messers W. Wing and W. Middleton) is on some systems each train had a number code in the timetable (with odd for inbound and even for outbound, for example), and this was displayed on the front. There were also destination boards on the front of cars and a station announcer who would call what each service was.

 

I've found what must be timetable boards at stops, but nothing like a large departure board of even a post with finger boards as used in the UK.

Thanks 298 for having a look

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

The main areas between the tracks now have some ground cover.

 

Not sure if the railway company would have allowed some of the plant growth or would they have had it cleared? Mind you times are hard for the company with falling passenger revenues.

 

Progress photos enclosed.

 

A few more running sessions needed to ensure all is well before the track is ballasted.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

The ballast and electrification teams have been at work over the weekend. The masts are from Kato with many of the bits removed and the gantry length adjusted to suit the layout.

 

Also had a number of running sessions, the typical day's sequence takes about an hour to complete. If I remember what I did it might write it down!

 

3 weeks to go until the layout makes it's first appearance at the Kettering Model Railway Club Show on Saturday 15th September.

 

I have a list of extra details to add, some of which will be done before the show, but hopefully the layout is now presentable.

 

General progress photos enclosed.

 

Nick

[stivesnick]

7th Street Terminal will be making it's exhibition debut at the Kettering show this Saturday. A few extra details being added before the weekend.

 

The show is being held at Greenfields Primary School, Highfields Road, Kettering NN15 6HY. Close to Junction 9 on the A14. Opening times 10.00 to 16.00

 

Do say hello if you visit the show.

 

Nick