Upper Level
South Side
This side has a street running the length of it complete with a Faller Car System. This has a working (almost!) bus stop, gas station and traffic lights with junction.
In the far left corner there are a series of buildings based on the South Main Street in South Norwalk, Connecticut. The following photos and plans are from the Library of Congress American Memory Heritage Buildings website.
Photos taken from Library of Congress, American Memory, Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present
Back and Front views:
Photos taken from Library of Congress, American Memory, Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present
The back view will be replicated with a series of the backs of City Classics buildings complete with fire escapes.
Plans:
Drawings taken from Library of Congress, American Memory, Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present
The south side continues along with factories behind and above the tracks and a street scene in the middle. Inspiration for this section came from the New York High Line. I love the way it weaves in front, behind and even through buildings. I can thoroughly recommend the website: Forgotten New York for photos of the High Line. I can honestly say that this website is one of the reasons I model American trains! More details can also be found at Friends of the High Line.
This is one of my favourite photos – I love the idea of a building with tracks underneath it. This is part of the Cross Harbour railroad in New York.
I can’t fit this building in with the tracks but the photos still look amazing.
Photo taken from the Forgotten New York website
Photos taken from the Forgotten New York website
Instead I turned my attention to a similar building further down the railroad:
Photo taken from the Forgotten New York website
This building is more likely to fit in the space that I have. However, having started to put together my shelf orphan kits – I have more than enough to fill the street without a large factory so it remains to be seen as to whether it will actually make it onto the layout.
The next building will be towards the right of the elevated run. It will be called Tovey’s Textiles after a friend. It will sit over the rails at the start of the storage tracks but cannot be as deep. The faux stone will need to be scratch built.
Photos taken from the Forgotten New York website
Another great website is Old NYC. Not only does it cover the High Line but does many other railroad routes around New York that just cry out for modelling.
The elevated section is based on the following photos from the American Memory website and Old NYC:
This photo is from the Chicago Elevated.
Photo taken from Library of Congress, American Memory, Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present
Photos from the Forgotten New York and Old NYC websites
The construction of the elevated section was based on these photos from the Old NYC website.
Photos from the Forgotten New York and Old NYC websites
I have yet to do the top railings but have put in the elevated section with its supports based on the NYC High Line. The elevated section was scratchbuilt with styrene shapes and actually supports the plywood trackbed. There will be a series of buildings underneath to hide the Tortoise motors which drive the point motors.
On the right of the photo will be the City Classics Gas Station.
When I originally put the track in, I put in loads of black and white mock up buildings, some of which you can see in the background of this photo.
Street trackwork will be based on more photos from the Old NYC Cross Harbour Railroad.
The first time I laid the road I put in a Faller Car System (see Projects). I laid the guide wire too deep and ended up sanding so much back. I haven’t managed to squeeze in too many cobbles yet but I might do on the final detailing if I carve them in.