interesting track work

[pdlethbridge]

here is a photo of some very interesting track work. Do you know what it is and why?

[Jhanecker2]

Looks like the site of two roundhouses  of different length served by adjacent turntables.
John  II

[pdlethbridge]

and?

[jward]

there does appear to be a jumpover track on the far left side of the photo.

[pdlethbridge]

 Actually this is a double turntable / roundhouse in Hamburg Germany. When originally built, there were two small turntables side by side but as the engines got larger the turntables were enlarged as well. They overlaped and ran that way for years. There were circuits in the separate units to prevent them from colliding. This was a cheaper solution than to move the round houses and associated tracks.

[RAM]

they also have jigs for laying ties.

[Santa Fe buff]

*shacks head*, pdlethbridge, didn't we already have a topic about that photo awhile ago?

Joshua

EDIT:
jward,

I believe you forgot to mention about staining the ties and then coating them lightly with some paint... Preferably Tie Brown.

Interesting. Will a soldering gun work instead of an iron?

Again,
Joshua

[jward]

you are right, i did forget to mention staining ties. as for painting, they are already stained, why would they need paint?

as for soldering iron vs gun, the irons are easier to work with, being smaller and having tips that are more precise. i am not a fan of guns, though i do like the fact that they heat up rapidly when you need them to, instead of letting the iron cook in the stand.

[ebtnut]

Back in the days when your choices (in HO, at least) were flextrack with cardboard ties, or Atlas track with code 100 rail and oversize ties, hand-laying track made sense from an appearance standpoint, if nothing else.  I think overall, especially when counting in turnouts, that hand-laying is less expensive than pre-fab.  But, today's modern track selection, with code 83, code 70, even code 55 available with proper ties, makes the case for handlaying much tougher.  It comes down to how you want to spend you hobby time.  My current layout, in On3, was begun 14 years ago when the only thing available was some code 100 flex track from Precision Scale.  The visible portions of the track are all hand-laid, but I used the flex in the tunnels, and I also used flex for the loop of O standard guage.  For the turnouts, I bought HO point-frog kits, lengthed the closure rails and replaced the point tie rod with a wider one.  Today, I would probably use flex, and there are (finally!!) pre-fab On3 turnouts available. 

[Jhanecker2]

To pdlethbridge : Question . Is that site still a functional operations center ? Unfortunately I can not make out whether it is still in use do to the scale. John II

[BestSnowman]

"Is that site still a functional operations center ? Unfortunately I can not make out whether it is still in use do to the scale."

I found the location in Live Maps and the colors for their arial photography seemed a bit brighter. It appears that one of the tracks that led to one of the turn tables goes nearly to the turntable but has a bumper.

The turn tables are definitely gone, and it appears there might be some ties left from the other track leading away from the tables, but no rail and what is left is rubble.

[pdlethbridge]

no, its almost gone now.

[Jhanecker2]

Considering the bombardment during  WW II in & around Hamburg it would have been a wonder that something that large & complex would have been overlooked .

[pdlethbridge]

it was still servicing steam in the 60's