The engine terminal on the layout I am s-l-o-w-l-y building is a central feature of the layout. It's really the thing I wanted most in my layout--a detailed engine terminal with roundhouse and all the trimmings. Over the past year, I have studied all the planning resources I could find, both prototype and model. I always felt that I never had a full picture though....until the other day.
Purely by accident I ran across the Kalmbach reprint of John Droege's old book Freight Terminals and Trains. It's a 1998 reissue with a good intro by John Armstrong. Turns out that it has a WONDERFUL section on engine terminals with diagrams and pictures of various prototypes. In one fell swoop I had the resource I had been looking for. The coverage of terminal designs is really meaty with so many good ideas for modelers.
Anyway, maybe this fits into the category of "stuff everyone but me already knows". But if you are designing an engine terminal or just want some details like placement of water hydrants for watering down the burning the cinders in the ash, then this is for you. It's not a novel and the writing is what I call "engineer-dry". But the info is pure gold. Used copies are cheap on Amazon.
Don Merz
