we store 6 of our passenger car sets on six parking tracks. There is about a 3 inch space between each parking track. Would most storage yards for these cars have grey ballasted track or or black cinders or dirt and grass in the space between each of the 6 parking tracks. So far, I cant find google pics with enough visible detail to see how these areas should be modeled. Gary
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Many yards do not have ballasted tracks. Follow this Google Image Search 'Railroad Freight Yard' link and you'll see what they look like. Note that most are flat with very little ballast.
Back about 75-100 years ago...in the heyday of trains as a primary means of transportation...and particularly in large cities that were terminal destinations for multiple flags...passenger train yards actually had a significant amount of concrete platforms between tracks with greater-than-minimum spacing between tracks.
Trains at rest created no revenue. Passenger trains needed a HUGE amount of cleaning...inside and outside...to get them ready for the next assignment. Those platforms were a beehive of activity...people, equipment, vehicles, cleaning out the remnants of garbage, laundry, linens, trash, etc., and restocking fresh food, clean linens/bedding, headrest napkins, water, washing windows, vacuuming carpets, sweeping linoleum/tiled floors, cleaning bathrooms, etc., etc., etc., etc... Even some light repairs of equipment...mechanical, electrical, lubrication, etc....were part of the hustle/bustle.
Just think about it for a while.
And all under the pressure of time.
And, yes, there were other yard tracks of cars having fewer time demands. Significantly less ongoing activity, but ready to fill in if called to duty...or handling the local/commuter runs.
So, if your 1:48 roster is anything like mine, those passenger trains represent the best of travel, the pride of the fleets, and very quickly must be ready for the next run. It's more work than a ho-hum ballast of cinders, dirt, and puddles of stagnant water, but I'd put some lighted platforms between the tracks, lots of workers, various pieces of equipment, etc., etc., etc., blah, blah. In fact those lighted platforms are another way of celebrating those gorgeous trains at rest.
Passenger trains are a lot of eye-candy in motion or arriving/departing from a grand station. But they can be just as interesting to the viewer in the 'yard' for all they must deliver on their next trip!
Just MHO, of course.
KD
You'd probably be better to google a particular road like "New Haven or Boston or New York or XX Passenger car yards" to get better google results. Others are right tho, little rock ballast, more likely cinder ballast, oil soaked dirt, and depending on the era, weeds or no weeds. The earlier the era, the neater it is, hit the 60s and hit the skids. Dont forget standpipes and hoses for water, supply trucks or wagons for the linens in the diners/sleepers, etc etc.
Dad took this pic of a coach yard from The Columbian approaching Chicago c. 1960-64. Note the extensive pavement (and even wood boardwalk) giving access for cleaning/prepping between runs. Looks like North Coast Limited equipment in the middle ground. Not sure what trainset the Budd Domes in foreground belong to.
Go to Google maps and look up the aerial view(s) of Washington Terminal.
Black cinder with some weeds, dirt, gravel, etc. in a combined passenger and freight yard.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Many yards do not have ballasted tracks. Follow this Google Image Search 'Railroad Freight Yard' link and you'll see what they look like. Note that most are flat with very little ballast.
We used love pics of PCC yards, we would marvel at the fact you could not find a sleeper anywhere…..
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