# Inspiration or insight



## jackpresley (Dec 19, 2017)

I wish I had better photos from my two trips on the rails. I also wish I'd take the time to stop and photograph interesting trackage when I see it. I thought I would share what I have and mention some of my self-imposed myths I've debunked. (real=prototypical)

Real track is straight and smooth. After taking photos of it, and riding on it, that's the furthest from the truth. Just not sure how I'm going to model this without creating derailments. Or maybe derailments are okay, one place in particular is the scene of numerous real derailments that I'm personally aware of, and probably more.

Multi-level train crossings are real.

Erector sets exist in the real world.

Train stations can be perfectly neat, just like a store bought model right out of the box (Denver/Dallas) or they can be dirty and be on par with the seedy side of town bus station.

90 degree junctions are indeed common and even doubles and quadruples are out there (Ft Worth & Pittsburg, TX), alone with the old towers/buildings that once controlled them. 

Weathering can be rust, graffiti, and fading. But on some it is just chipped paint.

Mixed road names are common. It's okay to mix up a consist.

Cabooses are still out there.

Your ballast really can be any color. You can't put on too much (within reason) or too little, because that's the way it is out there.

Real parallel track, main line or sidings, are scary close together.

Your track can't be too close to the river.

There are miles of short abandoned tracks out there.

Dirt is still used for crossings.

Apparently it is okay that your locomotive doesn't have someone in the cab.

[More photos in the next message.]


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## jackpresley (Dec 19, 2017)

*Continued...*

More photos...


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## Stan D (Feb 1, 2019)

That third from the last pic looks like it was out of "Unstoppable".


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

The "Unstoppable" bridge and viaduct are in Bellaire, Ohio -- across the Ohio River.

Photo Mike Tewkesbury, via Flikr:


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## leadsled (Dec 25, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your Pictures Jack!

I have also come to some of the same conclusions as you regarding railroads!


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Great photos.

I wish you could have seen how crooked and warped the track was near me where there was a UP coal train derailment last week after two days of heavy rain.

I knew sooner or later they were going to lose a train on this piece of track.


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## jackpresley (Dec 19, 2017)

MichaelE said:


> Great photos.
> 
> I wish you could have seen how crooked and warped the track was near me where there was a UP coal train derailment last week after two days of heavy rain.
> 
> I knew sooner or later they were going to lose a train on this piece of track.


I expect more of those types of derailments in the NE Texas area. The ground there is just soft as a wet sponge from all the rain.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

This stretch of track used all bolted rail too. No welds. I talked to a UP engineer I know and he said they won't fix anything until it breaks.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

jackpresley said:


> Real track is straight and smooth. After taking photos of it, and riding on it, that's the furthest from the truth. Just not sure how I'm going to model this without creating derailments. Or maybe derailments are okay, one place in particular is the scene of numerous real derailments that I'm personally aware of, and probably more.


Of course different tracks are maintained to different standards...



jackpresley said:


> Weathering can be rust, graffiti, and fading. But on some it is just chipped paint.


Or even just very light road grime. Newer cars won't have had time to get very bad yet (other than the possibility of run-ins with graffiti vandals). I've seen cars that are rusted to hell, and I've also seen decades-old cars in original "factory paint" that has held up remarkably well and also somehow avoided the "artists'" attention for 35+ years.



jackpresley said:


> Mixed road names are common. It's okay to mix up a consist.


Pretty much the entire North American rail system from Canada to Mexico is completely interconnected. This allows loaded freight cars to be transferred (interchanged) from one railroad to the next in order to get to its destination without having to reload the cargo several times when it get to the end of one railroad.

Because of this interconnectedness, there are also many ways to locomotives to travel around the system as well.

From "run-through" and joint operating agreements where entire trains are run directly from one railroad to another, to horsepower-hour repayment, where due to run-throughs etc. where railroad A has used more of railroad B's locomotives than B has of As, so A loans some engines to B to make up the difference, to straight up renting or leasing another railroads engines to make up for a shortage in locomotive power.

One of my favourite examples is the CN engine that was on loan to BNSF, which ended up on NS, and ended up on a particular NS train running on an old trackage rights agreement over CN rails - putting the engine back on home rails, but on another railroad's train...

Another is the CN train that when railfans got tipped off this particular power set was enroute was quickly dubbed the "NAFTA Express", having CN (Canada), KCS and CSX (USA) and TFM (Mexico) engines in the consist.



jackpresley said:


> Cabooses are still out there.


They're few and far between, and not used the same way though. They're generally actually just "shoving platforms" - used on local trains that have to do fairly long movements pushing a set of cars to provide a place for a trainman to safely ride the front of the movement.



jackpresley said:


> Your ballast really can be any color. You can't put on too much (within reason) or too little, because that's the way it is out there.


Ballast is rock. Different types of rock come in different colours, so ballast will vary depending on where it was quarried from. Chicago & Northwestern famously used pink granite ballast in some places. Grey granite will also be popular on many roads.

Historically railroads have also used gravel and lower grade ballast on minor spurs and yard tracks, and crushed slag (waste product from refining and smelting metal ores) has also been commonly used by some railroads, giving a markedly different look. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific for years used large amounts of slag sourced from copper-nickel refining operations in northern Ontario which has a certain amount of iron content in the waste slag leading to a very distinctive dark brown colour.



jackpresley said:


> Real parallel track, main line or sidings, are scary close together.


"Please keep your head and arms inside the vehicle at all times." 

I believe 14'-15' is a prototypical track center. (Center-line to center-line distance).




jackpresley said:


> Apparently it is okay that your locomotive doesn't have someone in the cab.


Many railroads are using remote-controlled locomotives in major classification switching yards. The trainman on the ground uses a remote-control throttle ("belt pack") to run the engine.


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## Stan D (Feb 1, 2019)

I saw a caboose about 10 years ago, idling up to a (since closed) coal power plant here in Alexandria Virginia. It looked to me like it was used in the traditional way. I find it hard to believe it was there because they didn't have any other way of signaling "end of train".


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