Piers, Docks, Wharfs!


CSXPAID

CSXPAID

Member
Lookin to build a custom pier with a few tracks and a gantry crane or two for loading a liberty ship for a wwII era layout! I just would like to get some ideas and designs so if you have any pics of model piers, docks, and wharfs I look forward to seeing them!!!

Thanks,

DEVLYN
 
I built my dock completely from scratch except for the Walthers modular building kits. Mine is built for the more modern era & my tracks are behind the buildings. If you wanted to do it in an earlier version w/the tracks right on the pier then you would have to make the pier a lot wider to hold the tracks & some small buildings. This is just an idea of what you can build yourself. Mine is on a 24" wide by 8ft long bumpout on the side of my train tables. Here's the photo's.
 
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There's also a book that I bought at Books-A-Million a few years ago that shows a ton of photo's from the late 1800's to about the mid 40's of military & domestic docks in black & white photography. I think you might also get one from the Amazon book store off a link on the forum at a discount price.
 
CSXPAID said:
Anybody Else???
Click to expand...

If you insist. It's not exactly your theme, but it's a dock with trains and a special type of crane on it...

ore_bridge-1.jpg
 
CSXPAID said:
That is a very nice dock scene!!! What was used to construct you dock?
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Thanx, its actually quite simple, mostly part of the wooden benchwork. A 1x6 running parallel to the waterfront, with a 1x8 "water" ledge with enough to hold a sylvan ore boat:

ExtendedSteelMillBench01.jpg


For photo shoots, I temporarily rig a dark-gray slab of extruded foam insulation (same kind use for scenery and subroadbed) with a sheet of dark green cellophane over it, that creates the appearance of a deep body of murky Great Lakes harbour water:

silt_colored_DowBoard-1.jpg


Obviously I can't have that "water" there for operating sessions otherwise stuff would be impossible to reach, LOL

The ore and coal piles started as piles of sawdust soaked with a 50-50 mixture of water and Elmers. After it dried I spraypainted it with appropriately-colored primer [to match the type of material], then sprinkled on a layer of granulated coal slag for the coal, Woodland Scenics Iron Ore for the ore, and WS light gray ballast for the limestone.

coal_stockpile_base_ingredients.jpg

coal_stockpile_whole_base2.jpg


The ore bridge model was scratchbuilt out of brass and based loosely on a prototype at Zug Island (~3 miles downriver from Detroit MI). The blast furnace is a 150%-enlarged version of Walthers' Ashland Steel series compressed HO scale blast furnace, scratchbuilt using various sizes of PVC pipe and Plastruc for detail parts, sitting on the original casthouse.
 
That's great modelling Ken. The Crane looks super.
I scratched my own pier as well, on a smaller scale:
Tugandpier2.png


The Crane is by IHC and the lake tug is scratchbuilt.
 
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CSX_road_slug said:
Thanx, its actually quite simple, mostly part of the wooden benchwork. A 1x6 running parallel to the waterfront, with a 1x8 "water" ledge with enough to hold a sylvan ore boat:

ExtendedSteelMillBench01.jpg


For photo shoots, I temporarily rig a dark-gray slab of extruded foam insulation (same kind use for scenery and subroadbed) with a sheet of dark green cellophane over it, that creates the appearance of a deep body of murky Great Lakes harbour water:

silt_colored_DowBoard-1.jpg


Obviously I can't have that "water" there for operating sessions otherwise stuff would be impossible to reach, LOL

The ore and coal piles started as piles of sawdust soaked with a 50-50 mixture of water and Elmers. After it dried I spraypainted it with appropriately-colored primer [to match the type of material], then sprinkled on a layer of granulated coal slag for the coal, Woodland Scenics Iron Ore for the ore, and WS light gray ballast for the limestone.

coal_stockpile_base_ingredients.jpg

coal_stockpile_whole_base2.jpg


The ore bridge model was scratchbuilt out of brass and based loosely on a prototype at Zug Island (~3 miles downriver from Detroit MI). The blast furnace is a 150%-enlarged version of Walthers' Ashland Steel series compressed HO scale blast furnace, scratchbuilt using various sizes of PVC pipe and Plastruc for detail parts, sitting on the original casthouse.
Click to expand...



Very Nice, I have been to Zug Island many times!! Spotting Coke trains, and pulling the empties!! It is a modelers dream there is so much stuff going on there, and endless amounts of stuff to model!!!
 
CSXPAID said:
Very Nice, I have been to Zug Island many times!! Spotting Coke trains, and pulling the empties!! ...
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Cool! Does CSX have trackage rights over the NS line running into Zug Island? The only railroads I've seen indicated on maps of that area are NS and CN (formerly Conrail and GTW).

If I'd had my druthers, I would have modeled the Rouge - but I'd need alot more than just a 2-car garage to build a model that does it justice. Maybe someday, if I can extend my layout space from the garage into the family room...:rolleyes:
 
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CSX_road_slug said:
Cool! Does CSX have trackage rights over the NS line running into Zug Island? The only railroads I've seen indicated on maps of that area are NS and CN (formerly Conrail and GTW).

If I'd had my druthers, I would have modeled the Rouge - but I'd need alot more than just a 2-car garage to build a model that does it justice. Maybe someday, if I can extend my layout space from the garage into the family room...:rolleyes:
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NS owns the tracks it is non signaled territory east of Delray. Permission to occupy is by the Delray tower operator which CSX owns Delray tower. We do have rights over there but NS and CSX service Zug!
 
CSXPAID said:
NS owns the tracks it is non signaled territory east of Delray. Permission to occupy is by the Delray tower operator which CSX owns Delray tower. We do have rights over there but NS and CSX service Zug!
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Interesting! If only I hadn't invested so much into all these B&O color position light signal masts, I'd be tempted to center my layout on Zug Island instead of the Cleveland Flats. Then again, I wouldn't have enough space for all their blast furnaces, LOL
 
CSX_road_slug said:
Interesting! If only I hadn't invested so much into all these B&O color position light signal masts, I'd be tempted to center my layout on Zug Island instead of the Cleveland Flats. Then again, I wouldn't have enough space for all their blast furnaces, LOL
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This is crazy I work from Willard OH now and I work the Cleveland pool on the old big four to Collinwood, The is alot of railroad stuff going on in the flats
 
I just realized I seem to have hijacked this thread!:eek::eek: Let's steer it back on topic: Your looking to do a shipyard, WWII era? Here's someone who's a bit more modern, but Monroe Stewart has this humongous N-scale layout with several harbor scenes on it. Here's a link to a brief photo tour: http://home.comcast.net/~potomac_nmra2/LayoutTours/MonroeStewart/album/index.html BTW I forgot to ask, what scale are you planning to do this in?
 
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CSX_road_slug said:
I just realized I seem to have hijacked this thread!:eek::eek: Let's steer it back on topic: Your looking to do a shipyard, WWII era? Here's someone who's a bit more modern, but Monroe Stewart has this humongous N-scale layout with several harbor scenes on it. Here's a link to a brief photo tour: http://home.comcast.net/~potomac_nmra2/LayoutTours/MonroeStewart/album/index.html BTW I forgot to ask, what scale are you planning to do this in?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link, and the scale is HO
 
I would like to make a concrete surface with the railheads even with the concrete can this be done using plaster and using some kind of tool like a scraper to clear the wheel flange are?

Anyone on here ever done anything like this, or is there a link available?

Thanks,

DEVLYN
 
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