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GramCentralRR
Canada
25 Posts |
 Posted - 11/01/2009 : 18:24:05
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The Erie-Lackawanna double track mainline in Griffith, IN crossed the GTW and the EJ&E right in the street, with it's crossing tower looming nearby.
So there is a prototype for everything!
Model to your heart's content!!! |
Wally
GramCentralRR
Life's too short to be prototypical. |
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nkalanaga
USA
3272 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2009 : 00:27:31
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If you want wood, you're on you're own. If you'll accept concrete or asphalt, there is a fairly easy way to do it. You'll need a piece of plain white paper, letter or printer is fine, a pencil, and some cardstock, styrene, or whatever you like for the road surface.
Lay the paper over the crossing and pin/tape the corners so it can't move. Use the side of the pencil ( I like a yellow one), or the lead if you feel lucky, and rub over the entire crossing until all of the rails are clearly marked on the paper. Using the painted side of the pencils helps avoid tearing the paper, but the lead makes clearer markings. Your choice. Since you haven't cut anything, you can try both ways if you like.
Remove the paper and mark the road on it.
Glue the paper to the crossing material. If you're using styrene, use a removable glue. If you're using wood or cardstock, the paper makes a fine surface and, if neatly glued, can be left.
Allowing for flangeways, cut the crossing pieces. There will be a lot of waste, but cardstock and styrene aren't that expensive for a one-off project.
Glue them in place, and paint to suit. I doubt that you'd find many wooden crossings in a situation like this, simply because cutting that many boards would be a real pain. But such crossing were more common than many realize. City streetcar lines had them nationwide, mostly in brick or asphalt streets. |
N. Kalanaga
Be well. |
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Power Stroke
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2009 : 19:14:38
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quote:
Originally posted by nkalanaga
If you want wood, you're on you're own. If you'll accept concrete or asphalt, there is a fairly easy way to do it. You'll need a piece of plain white paper, letter or printer is fine, a pencil, and some cardstock, styrene, or whatever you like for the road surface.
Lay the paper over the crossing and pin/tape the corners so it can't move. Use the side of the pencil ( I like a yellow one), or the lead if you feel lucky, and rub over the entire crossing until all of the rails are clearly marked on the paper. Using the painted side of the pencils helps avoid tearing the paper, but the lead makes clearer markings. Your choice. Since you haven't cut anything, you can try both ways if you like.
Remove the paper and mark the road on it.
Glue the paper to the crossing material. If you're using styrene, use a removable glue. If you're using wood or cardstock, the paper makes a fine surface and, if neatly glued, can be left.
Allowing for flangeways, cut the crossing pieces. There will be a lot of waste, but cardstock and styrene aren't that expensive for a one-off project.
Glue them in place, and paint to suit. I doubt that you'd find many wooden crossings in a situation like this, simply because cutting that many boards would be a real pain. But such crossing were more common than many realize. City streetcar lines had them nationwide, mostly in brick or asphalt streets.
Thank you very much!!!
I will probably do it in asphalt.
Here are other pics. The idea is to place either the signal house from Atlas or the trackside structures kit from Walthers in the triangular shaped area that seperates the interchange. If the road goes through there, well that 'ain't gonna happen.
Nothing is cast in stone but it seems like the best way to get as much as possible out of my real estate.
The idea is to put Walthers Central gas next to the refinery plus have room for one oil storage tank, possibly a fire house across the street, along with the DPM trackside bar.
Down the road, possibly a farm style house, and across the track, Monroe's Smith lake frieght shed.
As I have read, it is a layout that is difficult to work structures into but I think this will work.
I really do appreciate all comments but I really was looking for some instruction. Thanks everyone. |
"You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. With it, there is acomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis." - Henry Ford
My Gulf Summit & Susquehanna Valley layout in progress.
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c224/snwbluebyyou/Guilford%20Rail%20System%20Layout/?albumview=slideshow
My N Scale locomotives slideshow
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c224/snwbluebyyou/My%20N%20Scale%20Locomotives/?albumview=slideshow |
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umtrr-author
2052 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 13:11:07
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Flip the placement of the road and the tower... problem solved.
But Rule #1 always applies.
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UMTRR, A1G, W&NY and more...
http://www.irwinsjournal.com |
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MichaelWinicki
USA
1209 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 14:24:58
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I give Powerstroke a lot of credit...
First off, he's not on the sidelines of the hobby– reading books and taking names. He's actually building a layout. And his layout is beyond the "flat-board" stage. It has grades and even some scenery in place.
Finally he's not backing off from a more challenging model situation, i.e. putting road crossing on top of four diamonds.
That type of can-do attitude is commendable. |
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Chris333
3770 Posts |
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MichaelWinicki
USA
1209 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 15:14:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris333
In Griffith, IN the Erie crossed the EJ&E and GTW.
Wow!
I bet that was one heck of a place to railfan at one point. |
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nkalanaga
USA
3272 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 15:38:50
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| I bet building that wood sidewalk was a chore, too. |
N. Kalanaga
Be well. |
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randgust
USA
4012 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 20:03:09
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Typically when I'm doing something like that I'll 'rub' a piece of paper over the track (leaving the rail impressions in the paper), and then cut out the paper to use as a pattern on whatever material I'm using. I've done a lot of multiple-track curved passenger platforms that way, and my own no-no, a crossover over the middle of a passenger platform.
That Griffith shot is incredible. As a 'track guy' I noticed the stash of diamonds on the RH side, either coming out or going in. I also noticed that despite the proximity, they still managed to have two separate depots. THAT'S stubborn!! Just about any other situation like that would have a shared passenger depot and agent.
I've only seen one like that - Tipton, IN where the NKP crossed two tracks - ?? where the diamond was in the middle of a road crossing - main line to main line at a depot. You can check out Tipton on Google Earth, still very evident where it was though the diamond is out now.
My own Hickory Valley Railroad had a two-track diamond at the end of a joint highway/rail bridge across two PRR tracks, in the middle of the road.
http://gustafson.home.westpa.net/West%20Hickory%20Valmap%20Extract.jpg
Long gone now...but at least they had a toll bridge tender to keep the PRR diamond clean. What still blows my mind about that one is I can find no evidence on any historic paper that there ever was a signal there for anybody on any track - I think they ran it with the bridge tender waving them across. The bridge tender was my great uncle, and the bridge outlived the railroad by many, many years as a one-lane structure. |
Santa Fe Albuquerque Third District in N
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. - Theodore Roosevelt
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Edited by - randgust on 11/03/2009 20:10:36 |
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Chris333
3770 Posts |
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RussStraw
USA
352 Posts |
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randgust
USA
4012 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2009 : 21:39:49
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Uh...yeah. Check out this shot right above the MOW equipment, across the platform.
Its the only way my yard switcher can service the freight house and lumber yard...yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. BUT, I used the method I outlined all through here with the paper pattern to fit to all those parallel wide curves.
So I'm not ENTIRELY hijacking the thread.... |
Santa Fe Albuquerque Third District in N
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. - Theodore Roosevelt
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MBSF
USA
95 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2009 : 18:01:50
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| That crossing is awesome! Thanks for posting it. More proof I was born too late. |
__________________________________________
When I die I'm coming back as a crossing signal.
Matt Bradley, Tulsa, OK |
Edited by - MBSF on 11/04/2009 22:00:22 |
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eric220
USA
257 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2009 : 20:26:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris333
In Griffith, IN the Erie crossed the EJ&E and GTW.
Wow, that's determination on someone's part, be it the railroads' or the highway department's. Just goes to show, where there's a need, pretty much anything goes. |
-Eric
Modeling a transcontinental PRR
http://www.eric220.com |
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nkalanaga
USA
3272 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2009 : 20:37:30
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| I would think that an overpass would be justified here, even back in the 50s. If all three railroads have enough traffic to justify double tracks, it would seem that traffic jams would be common. |
N. Kalanaga
Be well. |
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Grade crossing at a diamond
