Thursday, June 30, 2011

Layout Specs

Today's blog post will be a bit technical, describing the layout specs and details.

Rail: Code 83
Concrete brand: PECO, painted to light gray
Wood brand: Atlas (still unconfirmed), painted to brown
Radius: 22" to 26"
Customers:10
Scale: HO Scale (1:87)
Host Railroad: CSX
Locale: Fort Lauderdale- Deerfield Beach, FL
Local Trains Represented: O717, O718
Signaled Grade Crossings in Layout: 2
Era: 2011-2012
Distance Represented: 17 Real Miles

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Layout Plan

Due to being informed of limitations in the room of choice, I revamped the plan to suit a smaller footprint. More storage than was anticipated is needed and the windows in the back need access - so I redesigned the layout. It is still from Fort Lauderdale to Deerfield and the switching will be a little modified.

Unlike the other layout S Dania would need to be accessed through a removable helix and the storage track north of DFB station is eliminated, plus I opted out of including Home Depot. However with the support of Google Maps, CSX has gained / regained three customers in Pompano Beach, FL. Boise Cascade is a frequent customer now and was shown to house two boxcars and two centerbeams in the 3/21/11 O/L; Fast Dry Courts had four tank cars; and Amerigas had seven (!) LPG tanks plus three waiting on the main track. The latter two "came from the dead" while Boise is new. Grace Construction is intact and included. I had a tossup between the Water Treatment Plant off of Powerline/Prospect and the Amerigas since I wanted one that was realistically located. Sun Sentinel and Publix are included as planned. Also, I added Allsteel and Gypsum, off of Sunrise Blvd, which was not in the original plan, a frequent recipient of coil cars. TRANSFLO, who receives dry bulk, granular, and ethanol loads, and the scrap metal team track, F05, and the spur track were not forgotten as well, in accordance to the old plan.

The pictures Mike M. graciously sent me before were a great help and support in deciding this plan, and I thank him.

So here is the rundown of customers by product:
  • TRANSFLO: Cement, Plastics, Gravel, Ethanol, Corn Oil
  • Team Track: Mainly Scrap Metal
  • AllSteel: Coils of Metal *and lumber too! (Google Earth)
  • Water Treatment Plant [Option A]: Chlorine and Soda Ash
  • Amerigas [Option B]: LPG Gas
  • Grace Construction: Um.... Oil?
  • Fast-Dry Courts: Um... Chlorine? Bleach? 
  • Boise: Lumber and Construction Products
  • Publix: Plastic Pellets
  • Sun-Sentinel: Newsprint

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Updated Layout Specs

Note that this layout's design is subject to any change at any time.



Phase One
TRANSFLO

This should be done by fall of 2011 but the table should be installed by summer 2011.

It will have the ethanol house tracks and team track. I can't wait to buy the materials for the flyover!

F05 should come out interesting as well. Look for the industrial buildings to be rendered as a backdrop.

Instead of Homasote which is hard to get I feel Plywood is a viable material as there are no noticable rivers that will interfere with this design. The new river is not to be rendered yet until I maybe find more space.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Atlas Trinity Well Cars

I have to admit I am impressed with this new item Atlas MRR Co. is producing. Even though the announcement is a month old, it's news to me. The well cars add a variety to my prospective recreations of Q172, Q174, et al for the coming SFRM Deerfield Swap meet shows.

http://www.atlasrr.com/Images/HOFreightCars/ho53wellcar/20001266_BeautyShot.jpg

Layout Progress Finally Coming Soon

Now that the stage is set I can practically work on my layout now. Watch for some homasote based benchwork progress in the coming months.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Homestead Sub Subject to Growth

I was talking it over with another railfan and came to realize that, despite the slowdown the Homestead Sub (HS) hit over the years, there is some growth potential left.

  • Stock Building Supply in Homestead closed down in 2009. However, since 2010, that spur has seen the light of crushed stone gondolas, and even more recently, a covered hopper over several times. There is a spur track that runs parallel to a road that can serve as a team track.
  • FPL's Turkey Point plant received a transformer last week through Homestead. In any event FPL does need something, they can turn to CSX.
  • Florida Rock ran a rarity, a rock train from Krome Quarry. This shows that more rock is likely to be mined from there to add fuel to the Homestead Sub.
  • Developments along the Lehigh Spur and Homestead Sub show a lot of railroad-ready buildings. Plus there are possibilities that warehouse tracks can be rebuilt at the neck of the Homestead wye.
  • Coal ash output from Cemex grew in the past months.
  • Orr W.T.P. carloads grew.
So hopefully this will be good news to railfans of the line, but we'll just leave it to whim.