Neat...

I will have to add that!

to at least one of my towns.  Though I wonder if there was such an occurrence in western PA in the 1950s.  It would have to be a major boulevard or avenue, and in the mountains of western PA, would such a thing exist that would warrant all trains stopping. 

But it is worth investigating.

Ken L

Our style of railroad

That is just pure AWESOME, James!  We can have just as much fun on our slow paced laid back short lines and branch lines too.  And, solo if we wish.  You run as slow as I do.  :o)

Tom

Just right...

Thank you everyone for you kind words.

Adding a procedure like this to a layout is simple and straightforward. But you're right Ken. The key is to find the right road. You're looking for the baby bear of streets. Not too big... not too small... but just right!

James

Nice Video

What a great looking scene, James. You've done a wonderful job of fine tuning that loco- the slow speed operation, the timing of the bell rings, the volume of the various sounds. Very nicely done!

Tom Patterson

Flashing circuit...

Logic Rail GCP

Hi Jas,

I'm using Logic Rail Technologies Grade Crossing Pro for this, and all my grade crossings. Pretty bulletproof to install and setup and great customer service to boot. Their website has excellent documentation for a multitude of crossing situations.

Note: I'm in no way affiliated with Logic Rail, just a satisfied customer.

James

GAtes?

is the IAIS required to have gates for major roads like that or just flashers?

Crossing Gates

Good Video

Good video, nicely edited!

The Utah Central Railway (which is the inspiration of my freelanced Ogden River Ry) has a similar operation. The west end of their yard cuts right through a 4 way intersection. Instead of stop signs, there are two position dwarf signals on either side of the crossing which are tied into the traffic lights.

And yes, trains do block the intersection and tie up traffic while they switch the yard.

George

Crossings

There were plenty of crossings like that in W PA.   You could follow the Allegheny River heading North and you would see similar small towns without gates however, none of those crossings were mainlines.  I'm thinking specifically of the area from Oakmont PA up and through New Kensington where you had the mainlines running close to the river in many areas then coming through the town.  When it was a mainline the trains were really moving. You couldn't carry on a conversation when they were passing.

Now that I live in Georgia and where you see plenty of crossings without gates in the towns. In fact there is a small modest size yard close to Turner Field  (NS) without a crossing gate.  

I was really impressed with this layout. I found myself thinking about how some of your fine work would apply in my new layout.  I especially liked the backdrop and I might ask you to share some information about the design and where I could purchase some of the wall backdrop. It is really impressive more so because of how you blended it right into your tracks. You could see yourself standing on the corner watching the action!

The Union Pacific in Casa

The Union Pacific in Casa Grande, AZ, used to (2 years ago) had a stop sign for the locals, the trains on the main had gates come down. The local would not have the gates lower and would have to stop at each street.

Oh, and I love the modeling, looks great. I might need DCC and sound

Photo Backdrops

Hi Jim,

The backdrops are a custom photos I took of the actual prototype locations. I printed them out on regular paper, trimmed and mounted them to the backdrop. I detailed how I did this in a previous blog post, Backdrop at Clive.

James

..

Hi James, I was going through some of your blogs, and guess I hadnt watched this video. But I had to say I like that your headlight and ditch lights were on the front of the train even though the locomotive was pushing the car in a backup move. So many times I see dcc decoders programmed to switch the headlights on and off based on direction switch on the throttle. I understand they do this so they know what direction the engine is going to move, but is highly unrealistic. I noticed it, and its a nice touch.

Steven

Ditch Lights

Thanks Steven,

Working, independent ditch lights went from a "wouldn't that be cool" to a "I need to have this" status real quick on my layout. What I've noticed on the prototype Grimes Line is that locomotive seem to have both ends lit, regardless if there's a train/cars coupled to that end or not. Makes programming decoders a lot more straightforward.

James

When dcc first became main stream..

ditch lights were the coolest lighting feature I wanted to add to all my locos. Now with the group I hang with, they insist that every engine with ditch lights has to have them flash, even if that prototype didnt. Theres just something about seeing a UP heritage SD70ACe with flashing ditch lights that to me, just doesnt look right. But to each there own I guess.

Steven

" ditch lights were the coolest lighting feature "

   I recall the first time I saw ditch lights on the SP at Reno, then a few days later I saw a brand new GP60 with ditch lights pulling into Davenport leading the Santa Cruz local. I guess it was on a tour of the system as the train usually ran with a half dozen GP9's and SD9's .DaveBranum