Quanah, Acme and Pacific (QA&P) - West Texas - Fictitious Model Railroad Layout Agriculture Industry

Discussion in 'Freelance' started by skyraider, Oct 13, 2019.

  1. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    It will take about four or five hours to build. I used a pack and half of 0.030x0.060 styrene strips to build the ice house loading platform and 0.100 square styrene for the bents and roof structure.
    .
    Joe
     
  2. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    I'm lazy. I would use a sheet of scribed siding for the floor--saves lots of time. The pavilion would have to be scratch built stick-at-a-time, but that's not a real big deal. The two attached photos are of an N scale layout I built starting in about 1995. In the top of one and the bottom of the other, you can see an open pavilion that I parked diesels under. It was scratch built stick at a time, with a roof of pieces of corrugated metal.On stuff like that, I draw a template and build the model on wax paper on top of the template.

    Paul Untitled-9 copy.jpg Untitled-5 copy.jpg
     
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  3. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    The paper produce stand is nearly complete. If you've never tried a paper structure you might want to. It needs some empty crates and a person on the porch plus a little weathering. Since it's an old grayed out wood building, the roof is sagging a little, the steps aren't perfect straight anymore, etc. detail.jpg
     
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  4. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    I like the Frisco Daylight coming out of the tunnel and the Frisco Ps4 in the yard! :LOL::ROFLMAO:
     
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  5. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Patrick, that was my N scale layout 20 years ago. The pavilion / open shed was scratch built--no kit involved. It was just an open shed to park diesels under. The prototype was actually a hay barn I saw someplace and liked the looks of.
     
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  6. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    The main town on my new layout is currently oriented at an angle to the track / yard direction for two reasons. One, It allows you to look down the street and see the fronts of buildings on both sides. Two, one of the structures came from another layout where it was located in a place to require cutting off the back at an angle. With the main street at an angle, the building back works because the yard is behind it (google screen shot of a cotton warehouse in Memphis, TX, that has the corner cut off ).

    Does the angled street look weird? I've never seen a city where the streets were oriented at an angle to the railroad, but it is a model railroad.

    Thanks for any input.

    Paul Moore
    IMG_3780.JPG IMG_3781.JPG IMG_3782.JPG memphis cotton warehouse.jpg
     
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  7. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    There are dozens of not hundreds of towns angled to the railroad. Your plan is fine the way it is.
     
  8. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Thanks, Patrick.
     
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  9. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    Look at Jennings, LA or Franklin LA, the two that come immediately to mind
     
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  10. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Jennings is a great example. Thanks!!
     
  11. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    And Jennings is in very flat prairie country too. It was a 1900 something oil boom town like many on our Gulf Coast
     
  12. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Finally made some progress on the town and the yard. The town obviously has a ways to go, but it's getting there. I have a few questions regarding the yard . Tom Holley gave some great info and I revised how I laid the track based on what he told me (used ballast when I wasn't going to, for one).

    First question: Should I have ballasted the area between the mainline and the passenger siding? The large expanse of ballast bothers me for some reason. Would dirt or weeds or something be more realistic than the ballast? My layouts have always had sort of a backwoods feel--not class 1 railroads, so that may influence my perspective.

    Keep in mind that the yard is nowhere near done. There will be oil stains, stuff dropped by covered hoppers, etc. Right now it looks too pristine, but that will be corrected. Please feel free to give me ideas regarding that part, as well. This not a model of a current railroad. It is modeled after the 40's and early 50's. There would have been more clutter then than what is allowed now.

    Next question: the team track has room for another structure. At the left end is an unloading ramp. Before that are two warehouse looking structures (haven't decided what). Near the grain bin there is room for something small. The grain bin isn't attached yet. It can be moved to the left or right Any ideas?

    If anyone has some good photos of yards during the correct time period, please upload them. Creativity isn't my strong suit. Most of my modeling involves using photographs as a guide.

    Thanks much!!!!!

    Paul Moore


    IMG_3801 copy.jpg Untitled-1 copy.jpg IMG_3825 copy.jpg IMG_3823.JPG
     
  13. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    Hommage to Zeke; Nice! As long as the main and passing track are on the same “dump” the space between usually has ballast; you can always have lots of weeds in between to give visual separation. Generally speaking, team tracks are by definition, a place to load/unload rail cars from/to a truck or similar vehicle. They are used by businesses, which on not on a side track. I believe that leaving things open, will offer more possibilities for “local business”.
     
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  14. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    What sort of small industry would be appropriate?
     
  15. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    That’s the whole point of an "open spot” with no building, you can deliver almost anything.....pipe, utility poles, drilling mud, hay, lcl, bagged commodities such a seed, etc. dig a small pit under the track, install a small conveyor type elevator and spot hoppers... deliver sand, gravel, coal, fertilizer, etc.
     
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  16. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    OK...that actually sounds pretty good. It also goes along with one of my themes of not making the layout too cluttered.

    Thanks!!
     
  17. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    In my box of kits is a medium sized overhead crane. Just a timber one-not some huge steel prototype. Maybe that could go there to give a method for unloading. There's a small one near the unloading ramp. It could be at the spot you describe, but it's not wide enough to straddle one track and a truck.
     
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  18. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Karl,

    Here's another idea regarding the team loading / unloading area. What about a little covered platform where trucks can be unloaded onto boxcars? Would that be more viable than a small overhead crane? The attached photo is for transferring from narrow gauge to std gauge, but the same could be done between a truck and a boxcar. Just have a dock high platform for trucks to back up to next to the track--covered or uncovered.

    Paul Moore
    BREW-5.jpg transfer.jpg
     
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  19. Paul, I think that’s a good idea for you. A ramp for unloading rail to trucks would be pretty common. Like Karl suggested a small conveyor is easy to model also.
    Things like that open up your team track to just about any type of car or load you dream up. Foreign road traffic also for the occasional long distance delivery.
     
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  20. klrwhizkid

    klrwhizkid Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Paul, the platform pictured is obviously a cross-load platform for Standard/Narrow gauge but it is a good idea. BTW, where did you find that picture? Was it taken in Colorado?
     

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