# how does one create a street running section of a layout?



## sedfred2 (May 16, 2015)

i have plans for a small switching layout, it will be a small station yard but i want to expand on it later, eventually i want the tracks to lead to a busy street. how do you actually build this? do you have to get regular track and cover it? i dunno, i'm a newbie and have no experience with actual modelling. help!


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*road representations*

I have found that Ever Green styrene plastic is an excellent road fabricating material/ technique. Using an airbrush and paint to represent cement, or blacktop is an indispensable tool too. Road widths are ok around 31/2".
Regard's,tr1


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Paving streets*

Sedfred;

How you make a street depends on the material you're using to make streets and roads on your layout. Styrene is good ; some folks use plaster, some fine grain sandpaper for the top "asphalt". Whatever material you prefer can be "paved right over regular track, as long as you have groves in it, just inside the rails. The wheel flanges will ride in those groves. If using plaster, small plastic strips can be put against the inside surface of each rail. Grease these strips with Vaseline so they won't stick to the plaster. You can remove the strips, after the plaster hardens. This will leave a grove for the flanges.
If using styrene, you can simply cut the piece that goes between the rails narrow enough to leave "grove" spaces on both sides. Be sure to keep the street pavement just below the rail tops. Otherwise your trains may not run, or might derail.

Traction Fan


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Use dry wall paste as suggested by traction fan. I use
removable balsa or basswood strips against the rails to create
the flangeway. If your street will be ashphalt, Walmart
craft section has paint they call pavement color. If it's
to be concrete, a paint mix of white, a touch of green and also
gray will give you a good representation. Or the hobby shop
has W/S paint 'Concrete'.

Don


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

This will make you drool if you like street running. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzMcgGqnr0


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

I've seen that City Edge layout before, really stunning.

If you want a really good rundown on making realistic roads and embedding rails check out this years August edition of Model Railroader. You can download it from the App Store if you can't find a paper edition. They use plaster.

Model Railroader Magazine by Kalmbach Publishing Co.
https://appsto.re/gb/qz9aI.i


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## sedfred2 (May 16, 2015)

i will have to wait until i have my own house someday to really start building a layout, i can only build a small portion of it right now. (by the way i am a teenager so i am not old enough to own a house). i was very curious about street running though and i want to learn now. the reason i am a street running nut is because i live in a town with it. here is a video of it on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CiXU6iW_oE, skip to 3:02 for the street running, it is a smaller example of street running, it is on the side of the street for about 60 to 70 feet and then it becomes "sub street running"


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Thanks, nice video sedfred. I've always been very intrigued by street running as we don't have it in the UK. Are there any accidents? It doesn't matter if you don't have much space for a layout you can still create something that will keep you occupied for hours with switching and even street running. All my layouts are portable until I get space for a permanent one. Check out this site for some great examples and ideas. 
http://www.carendt.com/category/small-layout-scrapbook/


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Very interesting. What did the crewman do when he opened a box on
the street pole? Do the trains trigger the traffic lights? I noticed that
there was no whistle as the train approached the cross street. I noticed
in a Google video, that a South Shore freight doing street running in Michigan City, Indiana
did blow the horn at every cross street. 

I forget now which California city it is, but there is a video of a passenger train,
possibly a commuter, that is street running. There are several videos of
street running you can find on Google.

Don


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## sedfred2 (May 16, 2015)

DonR, i'm pretty sure he was controlling the traffic lights to stop cars from turning so the train could get through. Cycleops, they do blow the horn at all crossings but only when the train is coming the opposite direction and the locomotive is leading, no point blowing the horn if it's all the way at the back of the train, i haven't heard of any accidents so far but there have been a few close calls,


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Somehow, I failed to mention that there is a type of track designed for
streetcars and street running railroads, it's called Girder Rail. The difference
is that there is a addition to the inside of the rail that forms a valley
as the flange way. The reason is to hold pavement back from invading
the flange way. Look closely at the example HO streetcar tracks in
these photos and you can see the flange way.

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=6623

I used this track for an HO streetcar layout I had several years
ago. The hand laid track was made by the late Robert Orr of
Omaha, Nebraska. I believe the Orr track is still made by another
firm.

Don


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## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

*street running is a coal town*

This thread brings back memories of my hometown in SW PA that had daily runs of long freight trains carrying coal and slag to and from the coke ovens and power plants in the region. The town was small (population ~ 10,000) but had several lines through it. Somehow the trains cut across every street and ran down the middle for the full length of a main street. I recall folks filing up baskets of coal that fell from the hoppers on the several bends in the line.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Here are a few of the South Shore. I can remember street running when we would go to visit relatives in northern Indiana. We would take either the North Coast Limited or the Hiawatha from Montana to Chicago and then take the South shore. 



















This is still done today.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Nice pics Chet.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

The South Shore and South Bend in your pics no longer runs the
downtown streets of South Bend. They terminate now near the
City limits the way I've read.

Don


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

DonR said:


> The South Shore and South Bend in your pics no longer runs the
> downtown streets of South Bend. They terminate now near the
> City limits the way I've read.
> 
> Don


 I believe that there is still a bit of street running in the Michigan City area, but not sure. Growing up out here in Montana, I couldn't believe that this would happen. I thought it was cool. At the time, I thought the the Milwaukee Road was the only railroad operating the Little Joes. I spent many hours riding in them when I was growing up.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Here is a photo taken in Michigan City, IN. Not sure of the date, but it can't be too old. 










I haven't been there in many years. Here's another cool picture of street running. This one in Syracuse, NY.


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