Morgan St. freight house and yard, Hartford, CT, June, 1941, Marion Post Wolcott, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress, Call no. LC-USF34-057575-D
Many of us, yours truly included, began our layout dreaming, planning, and conjuring visions of 20' x 60' basement empires with 48" radius curves (HO scale) and legions of crews handling timetable and train order operations. For a variety of reasons, many of us abandon these dreams quickly, and, unfortunately, do not replace them with something more in keeping with our individual abilities and constraints. I personally determined that what I actually wanted was a far more modest showcase for what really interested me: freight cars (a link to some of my thinking on that topic - I have refined things further and am midstream at building the foundational elements.) Many of us would do well to start somewhere more in keeping with our circumstances and have something as opposed to nothing; there's no time like the present.
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| courtesy of Charles Dunn |
While I settled on something based upon the Medford, Oregon area, I always loved this image* and thought that the subject of this photo would be a great standalone switching layout as an end or a first phase to a larger layout based upon the Hartford area as time and space permit. I am planning a more detailed analysis of this idea for any interested parties as a future, more in-depth writeup, but this is intended to whet the appetite. This image from a Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. map ca. 1950 should furnish some basic details for those who can't wait.
*I grew up in the Hartford area and that affinity combined with my love of freight cars made this image particularly appealing. So much so that I have a very large print from the Library of Congress framed and hanging in a place of prominence!
Ted,
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting that a year and a half after Santa Fe adopted their map and slogan scheme that nary a one seems to be present among the multitude of SFRD cars present.
John
That is interesting John. I wonder if it's just the small size and randomness of the sample!
DeleteAfter several op sessions on my 10 x 16 HO scale Wheeling Freight Terminal layout, I realized the freight house and team yards have been sorely underexposed by the hobby press. There is a wealth of layout and operating opportunities in adding proper size facilities or even as a stand along layout, as you are considering. Here's another example on the Lackawanna in Orange, NJ.
ReplyDeletehttp://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/2017/01/06/whats-in-the-yard-2/