Structures for steam era railroad yards

AMW makes great yard kits

Crescent Locomotive Works has a lot of nice Yard structures at very reasonable prices. I have the Cinder Hoist and Yard Office. I'll be picking up a couple of Water Columns this year.

CLW

Gilly

Try and scale your facilites to your equipment.  Big engines require different services than smaller branch style engines.  Also the era and locale will help determine the rest.  Google images is your friend!  Russ

Nick,

I have the platform up topped with 2" pink foam that has been painted a dark brown color. I'm waiting for my track from Ross so pictures will not be for awhile. But the platform is from Mianne bench work that I used on my last layout.

My unfinished Service Yard.  Six towers:  Switch Tower, Water, Coaling, Sand, Diesel Fuel and David Duhumel's[Crescent] Ash & Cinder Drop and small Oil House[both not shown].

Anchored by two stall Engine House at one end.

Coaling and Water Tower decoration/weathering and Sand House construction by Harry Heinke

Dave.....I have found this book very helpful

Peter

Two kit builders I was not familiar with...had HEARD of Crescent....are theirs kits or

built up...if built-up prices are believeable...who is AMW?  I like that engine house,

if it is big enough for more than tank engines.  Some of the engine house kits offered for On30? are tiny.

Thanks Peter, looks like a book I should get. I'll look it up.

Colorado Hirailer, AMW is Altoona Model Works.

HI Dave,

27' will make a great yard. I don't have a yard in my new layout, but here are some pictures of structures in my last layout's engine/industrial yard ~ 10' long. I used IHC engine houses, MTH factory, and Lionel oil drum loader, backgrounds were Korber kits - everything was weathered. My suggestion is to make the yard double-ended so that you can pull into and out in the same direction.

We've installed the Crescent Locomotive engine house (converted to a diesel/electric shop building,) the ash hoist, and the coaling tower from GGD detailed by Harry Henkie.  Waiting on Crescent to complete our five-stall roundhouse ...

And the weathered brass water tower from Weaver.

Our engine facility has a lot of real estate as we didn't go for the crowded feel.

David:

As Chiloquin Russ mentions, a lot depends on your railroad, i.e. mainline, branchline, etc.

For steam locos, they needed facilities for fuel (coal, oil), water, sand, lubrication, and an ash dump (coal burners) as a minimum. Many lines had coal and sand combined in a larger tower. Water tanks could be trackside (spout attached) or in the distance with a stand pipe for watering the locos. Trackside sheds would house lubes, kerosene (for lanterns), fusees, flags, waste packing, and perhaps something needed that was totally local.

Engine houses ranged from one-stall houses with no equipment to multi-stall affairs that could do everything but the most difficult repairs.

Pick your operating scheme and choose your structures accordingly. It's been frequently mentioned that you can find a prototype somewhere for just about anything. You're the CEO/COO...have fun!

Almost forgot the call boxes (for sure) and a scale house at the modest-sized yards.

Neil  

Here you go David. I noticed that several photos include the GGD Coaling Tower. If you can find one, I highly recommend it as every steam era yard needs one and the GGD model is one of the best.

I love the Honeywell thermostat on the wall. My uncle worked there. Plus... it looks like a UFO checking out the trains.

Lots of stuff to digest here, I appreciate all the posts, thank you.

dave

This link should help:

http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/historical.html

Dunsmuir, Ca serviced the Southern Pacific. Located in a narrow valley the layout would mimic your proposed space.

Plug Dunsmuir, CA into google earth and you can get a better perspective of what was. The turntable and mallet sheds still exist.

Pete

They are built-up. And yes, in my opinion a very good value.

Gilly