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IMG_8188IMG_8185IMG_8203IMG_8199IMG_8197IMG_8200IMG_8186IT's TEAM TRACK TUESDAY!!!  Share your team track photos here!  

Team tracks are a vital part of day to day real railroad operations.  Practically every type of freight car can be off/on loaded on a team track.  Some passenger train head end equipment and MOW equipment too.  Team tracks are found in remote rural locations, small towns, and large cities.  

I do find it quite challenging and fun to come with new team track scenes on a regular basis.  Today a Ma & Pa water car has been dispatched to a remote team track on the Mountain Division of the FSJR.  There is a forest fire raging on the other side of Mount Randolph and there are not many water sources nearby for fire trucks to refill there tanks.   Fire dept. tankers have been called in and the railroad was contacted by the fire superintendent who reqested  the railroad to  get water cars up on the mountain as soon as possible.  Realizing the danger at hand the FSJR scrambled to put together a string of water cars, fill them, and get them up on the Mountain Division ASAP!!   The switch engine has just left this team track with a string of water cars to be spotted on other team tracks located in the vicinity of the fire.  A volunteer fire dept. tanker has just pulled up to take on a new load of water.   A fireman sits on the side of the water car, ax in hand, totally exhausted.  He's been fighting the fire for over 9 hours.   Clouds of smoke intermittently billow over the team track and block the sunlight.  

Let's see your layout's team track photos.   Photos of real railroad team track operations are always welcome too!

Have a terrifically, fun and creative week!  See you next week on the TEAM TRACK!

 

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Your are certainly right Patrick. It is getting more challenging to come up with new ideas for the team track. Sometimes a good story is what you need to tell and yours is a great one. I wish I'd thought of that.

Arnold, I hope your guys don't have to go too far on that gandy dancer. That is a nice looking pic.

This week, the fall apple and pear crop is in and this shipment from the Pacific northwest is being divy'd up on the team track...

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Last edited by Mark Diff
coach joe posted:

Patrick and Mark, you are both so imaginative, you spin a great little tale and then set the scene to illustrate.  I look forward to TTT every week, I wish my layout was up and running so I could contribute.

Coach, would it surprise you to learn that I don't have a layout. I built this diorama specifically for team track Tuesday. I set it up on my workbench, take some pictures and set it aside when I'm done. It doesn't have to be elaborate to participate.

Blast from the Past
While doing some research I happened upon this creative topic. So, whatever happened to Team Track Tuesdays?

Jay

Jay- This was one of my favorite threads. I know that Patrick would start it each week and,  much like SWSat, we would all chime in. I had a lot of fun creating scenes each week. I'd often add photos of 1:1 scenes too but after the Great Copyright Crackdown, the thread lost some of the fun.

IIRC- he got busy and couldn't keep the thread going and if fell by the wayside. Thread burn-out is a thing.....

I actually built my team track scene after seeing this thread.

2018-07-07 08.20.35

Bob

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  • 2018-07-07 08.20.35

Blast from the Past
While doing some research I happened upon this creative topic. So, whatever happened to Team Track Tuesdays?

Jay

Jay - thanks for your interest in Team Track Tuesday!   To answer your question .... I began Team Track Tuesday  back in  August of 2016 because as both a kid and adult I found team tracks to be an intriguing component of real railroading.   The B&O team track in my hometown always seemed to have something different each time I visited it ... sometimes a single boxcar, other times a string of covered hoppers ... a couple of flat cars at another time, and another time a huge MOW crane & tender, and yet other times nothing at all.  I was always kept wondering as to what railroad equipment would show up on the team track next.   Over the year my hometown team track hosted tank cars, stored hopper cars during a national coal miners strike, boxcars of Christmas trees,  used as RIP track on occasion for bad order cars, and  for seasonal special passenger trains bringing tourists to view a Christmas ornament manufacturer.   Also called a "public delivery track", the team track has unlimited uses.  

The purpose of the TTT thread was to inspire others to keep their layouts looking fresh by creating new and changing  team track scenes on their layouts.  The thread encouraged OGR Forum members to participate by creating team track scenes on their layouts and perhaps changing those scenes out every so often and posting photos of their team track scenes.   TTT also could inspire ideas for anyone casually viewing the thread who were looking for ideas for scenes.    

TTT had a 2.5 year run.   During those 2.5 years I created a new team track scene on my layout each week and accompanied it with a narrative to enhance interpretation of the scene.   Each week I prepared the thread by devoted two to six hours ( sometimes more ) creating and photographing scenes.  At its' height TTT had many regular participants who created some extraordinary scenes and the thread drew several hundred page views each week.

Eventually my creative well ran dry of ideas, and by that point there were only 1 or 2 regular weekly participants plus the number of weekly page views had dwindled, so as the only permanence in life is impermanence,  I felt that TTT had run it's course and served its' purpose ...  inspiring  others to have fun with their layouts by creating their team track scenes and planting the idea that one can freshen up their layout by just simply changing out their team track scene on a regular basis ... just as the real railroads do, albeit the real railroads  have a different motivation LOL!     Additionally,  there were many folks, over the thread's run, who enjoyed stopping by just to view the visual manifestations of the creative imaginations of the regular and casual participants.  At the conclusion of the thread I invited anyone who wished to continue to carry the  thread forward to do so, however there were no takers at that time.  A couple years ago someone did resurrect the TTT thread idea and hosted it for a short time.   It was nice to see that!  

Speaking for myself during the 2.5 year run of Team Track Tuesday ... I built two new team tracks which increased my layout's team tracks by 200 percent.   Having to come up with a new scene each week really challenged my imagination which I really loved!   I think I came up with scenes depicting every possible use of a team track LOL!   And I'm sure there are many folks out there who could create scenes way beyond my imagination too!  

Last edited by trumpettrain
@RSJB18 posted:

Jay- This was one of my favorite threads. I know that Patrick would start it each week and,  much like SWSat, we would all chime in. I had a lot of fun creating scenes each week. I'd often add photos of 1:1 scenes too but after the Great Copyright Crackdown, the thread lost some of the fun.

IIRC- he got busy and couldn't keep the thread going and if fell by the wayside. Thread burn-out is a thing.....

I actually built my team track scene after seeing this thread.

2018-07-07 08.20.35

Bob

Bob that’s a nice scene. The detail in the planks and the weathered posts are impressive.

Jay

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