Branchline and short line track

[Trainman203]

I've always liked branch  lines and short lines and their ramshackle trackwork.  I don't belive I've ever seen anyone else try to replicate it.

I made the mistake of using grossly oversized code 100 rail on this first serious adult layout.  After seeing how bad it looked, I decided to bury most of it in weeds and typically sloppy ballast work often found  on these marginal railroads.

I first painted the rails rust and the ties weathered grey with track paint marker pens, after the track was on the layout.  Next time will do it the easy way on the workbench before laying the track.  Then , buried much of the track up to raihead level  in a mixture of fine tan and fine buff ballast that replicates the pea gravel ballast formerly used in much of the Gulf South.  Then, on the lightly used tracks, covered with mixtures of various "fine" turfs, mostly "burnt grass." 

Care must be taken to keep flangeways clear and the treatment slightly below railhead height to avoid snagging engine pilots and coupler trip pins.

It came out better than ever expected.  I am going to try some low "static grass" between and around the rails next.

[the Bach-man]

Dear TM,
That looks really excellent!
Keep on Trackin'!
the Bach-man

[rogertra]

Looks good.

Roger T.

[electrical whiz kid]

Maybe make the weeds outside of the track a little taller so that they take away from the over-sized rails.  This is pretty effective.  Another little trick I'll suggest is to perhaps paint the rails a little darker "rust", and they won't call attention to them in a direct sense.  The whole scene looks really good!
Rich C.

[Len]

One minor nit to pick. Prior to the end of WW-II, 'Branch Lines' and 'Short Lines" were kept in operation because they produced revenue. Which meant maintenance would have been high enough to keep the trackwork from becoming "ramshackle". The places you would see tracks overgrown with weeds were mainly long spurs to businesses with sporadic deliveries, logging roads, etc.

It wasn't until they started losing money, mainly after WW-II, that Branch and Short lines started falling into major disrepair. Or even outright abandonment.

That said, looks real good.

Len

[rogertra]

With about 177,200 miles of track in service as part of the interstate railroad system, the railroads and the FRA have their hands full monitoring the system's condition. As part of its jurisdiction, FRA categorizes all track in six classes, segregated by maximum speed limits. They are:

Class 1: 10 mph for freight, 15 mph for passenger. Much yard, branch line, short line, and industrial spur trackage falls into category.

Class 2: 25 mph for freight, 30 mph for passenger. Branch lines, secondary main lines, many regional railroads, and some tourist operations frequently fall into this class.

Class 3: 40 mph for freight, 60 mph for passenger. This commonly includes regional railroads and Class 1 secondary main lines.

Class 4: 60 mph for freight, 80 mph for passenger. This is the dominant class for main-line track used in passenger and long-haul freight service.

Class 5: 80 mph for freight, 90 mph for passenger. This is the standard for most high-speed track in the U.S..

Class 6: 110 mph for freight, 110 mph for passenger. This is found in the U.S. exclusively on Amtrak's North-east Corridor between New York and Washington, D.C..  So not on your model railroad.    

Excepted track. In addition to the six numbered classes, FRA track standards also provide for something called "excepted" track, which carries a 10 mph speed limit for freight but cannot be used by revenue passenger trains. FRA permits excepted track under very narrowly defined conditions.

The above gives you a good idea of how your track should look depending on what you are modelling.

My GER's main line falls under class 4, 60/80 MPH but there will be, eventually, a class 2 25/30 MPH for a branch line.  The ballast will be of a lower grade, crushed shale in the region I model, not nice crushed rock as seen on the main track and the main track and right of way will be a little more weedy and the yard tracks will also show that they are not as well maintained as those in the main yard.

Now keep in mind the above refers only to the main track.  Sidings, yard tracks and industrial spurs can be and are maintained to much lower standards.  Your main track may be class 4, good for 60/80 MPH, but your sidings may only be class 2, good for 25/30 MPH and your yard tracks and industrial spurs only class 1. good for 10/15 and some industrial spurs may be excepted track, with locomotive class limits on them and speeds not to exceed walking pace.  All this is, of course, outlined in the appendices at the back of your timetables.  

Cheers

Roger T.  

[Trainman203]

Len, branch lines and shortlines began having trouble as soon as good roads, cars and trucks began to proliferate in the early 1920s.  And then the depression was another blow that many never recovered from. The 50 mile short line back home I'm patricularly  interested in, the New Iberia and Northern, discontinued its mixed train  in 1935. The only thing that kept it alive until 1982 was a salt mine that put out 20-50 carloads of rock salt a day, and when a floating oil rig accidentlally drilled into,it and flooded it, that did the railroad of my heart in.  It was a MoPac property by then, and it took them about 4 years to finally pull it up.

I dont think that even in the glory days of railroading around 1900 that all secondary lines and shortlines were immaculately maintained, like you see in some 1900s photos of big northeastern main lines with razor sharp ballast boundaries.  I have a 1943 MoPac Gulf Coast Lines track profile book that shows the NI&N still as originally built with 65 pound rail with pea gravel or sand  or even dirt ballast, with no tie plates.  Somehow I can't picture that line as ever experiencing the polished maintenance you imply.

Roger, the Deep South shortlines I am interested in certainly had no knowledge or interest in what class track they had.  They bought second hand rail, bought untreated ties locally or cut them themselves, used whatever they had on hand for ballast and never killed weeds on the ROW.  My favorite such line, the Reader in Arkansas which I rode in 1963, had track you couldn't see though the grass over the track. This is the look I'm going for.

[jonathan]

Great photo. I wish I had that scenery knack.

Regards,

Jonathan

[rogertra]

tenance you imply.

Roger, the Deep South shortlines I am interested in certainly had no knowledge or interest in what class track they had.  They bought second hand rail, bought untreated ties locally or cut them themselves, used whatever they had on hand for ballast and never killed weeds on the ROW.  My favorite such line, the Reader in Arkansas which I rode in 1963, had track you couldn't see though the grass over the track. This is the look I'm going for.

However, the track would still be categorised under one of headings I provided.  All railroads in the USA fall under the jurisdiction of the FRA, shortline or not.

Your favourite, when it carried passengers, would probably have been a class two, 25/30 mph, maybe dropping to a class one, 10/15 after it ceased to run a mixed train.


Cheers

Roger T.

[Trainman203]

Here's a picture of the Thunder Grove team track.  The area is paved with oyster shells that were commonly used for street and parking lot paving near the Gulf Coast.



I used fine light grey ballast for the shells.  They may be a little dark but the overall effect is good.  I could lighten it up with a little talcum powder but in reality they really weren't very clean anyway.  Pure white would be too bright anyway.

When I was a kid, you wouldn't want to fall off your bike on a shell road.

The Midland Western general office building is in the background.

[Trainman203]

Roger, the Midland Western track is 0.1 ! 

[rogertra]

Roger, the Midland Western track is 0.1 !  

LOL.  

Nice photo BTW.   Now, just a little weathering on that single sheath boxcar?

I had a look through your Photobucket photos, nice work.

Cheers

Roger T.

[Trainman203]

I'm getting around to everything.  I'm still working.  It's a crime at my age.  Plus I spend weekends on the actual Gulf Coast in MS.  No room for a layout over there.

There is a little club over there but they want a modern layout and are not very interested in my period trains or my services for buildings and scenery.

[rogertra]

I'm getting around to everything.  I'm still working.  It's a crime at my age.  Plus I spend weekends on the actual Gulf Coast in MS.  No room for a layout over there.

There is a little club over there but they want a modern layout and are not very interested in my period trains or my services for buildings and scenery.

You are doing a great job, keep up the work.

As for the club?  More fools them. 

Cheers

Roger T.

[Len]

Trainman - I'm not saying branch lines were maintained to the same standards as the main. Just that they weren't essentially ignored, at least around where I grew up, until after WW-II. I suspect the standards used on branch lines varied by road and area of the country. Decent, but not great, maintenance is what I saw growing up. Elsewhere may have been different.

Len