River or sea side dock/station


Maxitrains

Member
I have a place in the layout where I have to put a sort of small dock, where boats or small ships will unload their cargo, to be loaded on the train cars. this is a very narrow place, so I cannot afford large buildings, and also my layout will be approx in the 50's - 60's. I kept looking for some kind of siutable station with dock, but couldn't find any. This place that I am talking about can be seen on the plan at the top left corner. I will also try to place 2 rails at the end so I can park cars and switch them, if I will have anough space. bot for now I'm looking for a good freight station to put in that narrow valley.

Plan_1_exsm.jpg


And which are the most detailed building brands?


Any suggestions or maybe someone might have seen something similar to what I'm looking for?

Thanks
 
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Yeah nice dockside wall, and will use such thing for the place, but I wanted some kinda station, depot or platform for the place, I donno which goes more with the scene. That's why I need suggestions about the scene and building.

As I said I'll try to put 2 rails very close to each other so I can put more action, then just one rail.
 
There's a bunch of el-cheapo small buildings that will fit in a dinky location. Some will be named 'some sort of station', complete with a little loading platform.

They're not real detailed, but using painting and weathering techniques, they'll look a lot better than the toy-like shiny plastic that comes out of the box.

I'm suggesting these because some of the better, more detailed kits may be too large for the spot. Unless you decide to kitbash using the DPM modular stuff. That might work the best, since you can almost custom-fit. And, the detail is good. Another option is the Walthers Modulars; I have a bunch of packs, but haven't built anything yet.

Kennedy
 
Here I am with this again, since I'm almost near the finishing touches on the whole layout's rail system, the only place still to work on, is this river side station / depot. I did a rough sketch on how I am thinking of constructing it, but I would like a high response on ideas about it and how it could be made better, since the place is very small and restricted. According to the plan shown here, every square is 1 sqr foot, it also shows 1 line going in, but I will be trying to put 2 lines, maybe my sketch with station / depot in middle is not going to happen since the rails will be very near each other, that's why I'm asking for a feedback, since many of you have a good experience in this hobby. I would like to put 2 lines, so I can make it more interesting and add more cars to it.

Plan
Plan_1_port.jpg


Sketch
riverside-station_cargodetails.jpg


Layout (hidden place but still want it to be detailed)
Dock.jpg
 
I don't think you have enough room to be able to have two tracks and have any type of structure in the middle. You could get in the two tracks next to the river and then use a low-relief structure as your terminal. I'm thinking along the lines of something like this at http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3192 . This would give you the look of a shipping and receiving terminal without taking up as much space as a regular structure.
 
It looks very good but I doubt it will fit in the space I have, I think I have less then 12" of straight track in that part. Also the trucks will be then hidden between this structure and the hill, so when seen from the front you will see the river then that structure and a background of hills.

So far its not a bad idea at all, except that the structure is long.

Anymore ideas :) ?
 
OK, here's a closer look at the area in question. This is the place where this dick or whatever it will be, will be built, on the left side you can see a curve switch still packed as I try to check the positions of the 2 rails and where they will end.

dockside.jpg
 
Sure, just do a little kitbashing. You can cut up that background structure so it still fits in the space you have available. You can even turn part of it at the end of the track. Just do some creative thinking when you're jamming things in small spaces. :) The tracks won't be hidden if they are in front and the structure is blended in to the hillside.
 
OK lets say I put the building in teh background, and the rails are infront, should I put concrete platforms in between the rails or leave just ballast in between/ could it be possible to add a crane somewhere? or it will conflict with the box cars? I'm asking all these questions, cause over here I can't take a ride in the car and go look for soemthing similar since we don;t have trains.

Thanks for the ideas so far.
 
I'd build a dock platform of either wood or concrete, depending on your era. Have the tracks running so vehicles can drive up the tracks to get to the warehouse, e.g, the top of the tracks should be level with the dock and the spaces between the tracks should be filled in, kind of like a tramway.

If you're asking about a dock mounted crane, I don't think you have enough room. You can have boom cranes on the ships that offload the goods on to the dock and have forklifts that take the goods to the warehouse for transhipping by truck or rail. Portable conveyor belts can also be used for this with less space than a crane. River traffic usually isn't carrying much really heavy freight.

A common method used in the freight house days was to have all the track area paved so a train or truck could move around with ease. If a truck needed to pick up freight and the loading door was blocked by a freight car, they'd use a portable ramp from the dock through an empty car, driving a forklift through to load the truck. Your space is pretty tight but I think you could make this work.
 
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This is a much better idea, so far its the most plausable scene that would fit well, since I would get or build a backdrop warehouse, which won't take much space and I can fill an entire 14" lenght of space, and by making an entire concrete platform flush with the rail tops, I would have a big open space where to put lifters, boxes and all other shipping items without losing space. Then maybe I can simulate a tunnel in the side of the rocky hill, for trucks that come in the warehouse. the idea is already generating the picture.

Keep comming more details pls! :)
 
Simulating a tunnel is a good idea - I've done this in the past with excellent results. That would maximize your space for tracks and warehouse without needing an access road. I think you're on the right track. :)
 
I was wondering if Forklifts existed yet in the 40's to 60's era, and if not what was used to haul heavy boxes on trucks and lorries. I need to get some info about cargo and shipping, so I can work on this part of the layout and be sure I'll make it look good :)
 
Did anyone ever use or had in hand this building?

09330000003173.gif


I need to know the exact measurements of it, all I know are the over all measurements which are 12 5/8 x 3 1/4 x 6 1/8 tall , I would like to know some more details about it, like the dept of the building alone, without the platform/ramp and the height of the platform. I was going to use this building for my riverside freight station, but since I came to know the overall dept of this building, I doubt I have enough space for it, so I need the above details to make some modifications. I wonder if anyone can help me!!!

thanks
 
OK here's my work so far on this building, I will try to place this to see how the layout will be, if I can manage to continue building this and I can get it visually good, I will leave it in the layout, if not I will buy the original one, but first I wanna try with the one I'm making.

building_1.jpg
 
Maxi,
First, to your question about forklifts, yes , they have been around since the 1930's at least, and were common by the 40's. They are very durable machines and some from the 40's are still in use today. With the exception of certain safety appliances, a 1950 forklift doesn't look much different than a modern forklift.

That's nice artwork you've done for the background building. Are you planning on actually use the beaded foam as your building? If so, stop now and get some styrene. All the neat windows and doors you've drawn will crumble into nothing once you start cutting them out of bead foam. If you're just using this to test for space and clearance, that's fine, but it won't work for a real structure.
 
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Maxi, take this advice for what you will but you are going to regret putting this much work into beaded foam. You are never going to get a smooth surface for the windows and roof and, if you cut enough holes, it's going to break. If you are going to continue, at least the reinforce the back of the structure with some sheet styrene.
 
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Well to tell you the truth, I am going to apply a printed face to the structure for detail, and the whole structure itself is made up of 2" solid "beaded" foam. So far its still feeling solid enough :) we will see later on :)

I apriciate your advice and already took it in consideration earlier on, but I like challenges :p

Thanks
 



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