Railworks America

I thought a city the size of Waterton merited a major freight handling facility. Here's what I came up with:

The facility is squeezed in between Main street and the RW&A tracks.



The structure is a Paul Charland MSTS model modified for Railworks.



Truck loading bays are on the north side. Some of the vehicles are MSTS conversions by Tim Muir and Frank Musick.



The team track area has a raised driveway to bring the truck bed height up to the same level as the freight cars.



Here's the overall plan

The facility is located across the main line from the Waterton yard. I moved crossover A west of its original location to improve access to the freight shed tracks. I haven't found any detriment to this change so far, although it shortenned the arrival/departure track a little. Moving cars from the yard to the shed requires a runaround move. This adds a little interest to switching that area. There are three possible runaround locations available. The smallest one is on the yard ladder between approximately Crossover A and Crossover C. Then the arrival/departure track can serve as a runaround for very long strings of cars. And with Crossover A moved, it now provides a medium sized runaround between it and Crossover B. I find myself using this one the most.
Its been a fun project and keeps me busy switching the new location. I have a few other projects planned for my customized version of the RW&A ( I call it the RWAC ). Once I get enough done to be worthwhile, I'll release it here.

I like it Wayne.

Fantastic. Look forward to enjoying your work "again"

I like this change.

Looks Great!

That is nice.

Very interesting. How will this be packaged? That is, as your version of the route?

Thanks all for the kind comments.

OldProf wrote:Very interesting. How will this be packaged? That is, as your version of the route?

Since I have a different track layout, my scenarios are not compatible with the original RWA route. So I created my project as a clone of the RWA. My version has a different name, RWAC, and installs to a different route folder. That way it can be installed beside the original RWA, not effecting the original at all.

The freight house is stunning, but I especially like the village. Very nice work.

Wow! That looks great. Trans-load buildings for less-than-car-load freight generated a lot of traffic in the time frame modeled. This place probably would get switched all day as needed by the yard crew. Awesome addition.

Its proven to be a good source of traffic. I wrote a small program to create random switching activities for the route. I was pleasantly surprised to find these army trucks at the unloading ramp one day.

Now just the tanks :)

Excellent work Wayne

I'd like to offer a scenario-writer's brief suggestion. Since you have sidings on both sides of the mainline, please consider placing some hidden signals, such as those found in yard areas on the VNHRR. If you're not familiar with the concept, that route contains numerous signals with their heads underground (perhaps they should be called "ostriches"?) and a few barrels to mark their locations above ground. Handled correctly, as they are on the VNHRR, they allow more than one train to work a yard area simultaneously. Our friend the "dispatcher", who all too often behaves like Foreman Dan Hernandez after being banned from cabs, has to be coaxed into understanding the situation, but he does accept bribes -- er -- homages.

I'm looking forward to switching around your version of this fabulous route!

OldProf wrote:...consider placing some hidden signals...

Good idea.