John, glad your feeling better. I do much better looking at your pictures than layout diagrams. Much easier to visualize for me as far as elevations and such. Your bascule bridge I’m guessing is ground zero and level with the yard area. The MTH bridge is raised on piers and the reason for using the bascule bridge in the foreground now makes sense. Ships coming under the elevated bridge need the same clearance so the bridge has to rise.
I think your plan is fine as is. Most layouts have some restrictions as to what you can run. Not always a bad thing to having to limit your purchases.
John, I am also glad your feeling better! If it was me I would just take one of your longest cars and then one of your tallest cars and just had roll them into the bascule bridge to check for clearance. The only concern I would have is the front swing from a steam engine! I found a problem with my UP 4-8-4 where one way the front would hit a support beam and then the other direction the rear of the cab would drag on the beam and would never be able to back it up in that section!
Either way take it easy and enjoy what your doing, just like your 3D track spacers, it will come to you and I know it will be great!
@Dave_C posted:John, glad your feeling better. I do much better looking at your pictures than layout diagrams. Much easier to visualize for me as far as elevations and such. Your bascule bridge I’m guessing is ground zero and level with the yard area. The MTH bridge is raised on piers and the reason for using the bascule bridge in the foreground now makes sense. Ships coming under the elevated bridge need the same clearance so the bridge has to rise.
I think your plan is fine as is. Most layouts have some restrictions as to what you can run. Not always a bad thing to having to limit your purchases.
Hi Dave,
Yes your observations are correct as shown and I agree on your suggested limitations, the trains will have to navigate the bridge as is for starters. (maybe permanently) You are correct about the stationary bridge being higher, although I plan on having it a bit lower than shown when the section gets cutout for the river. It will be higher than ground zero (bascule bridge) but not full height to accommodate a lower grade going to yard. And if I find one more place to access the yard then for myself this is a non issue. Just need to know engines and cars longer/higher or wider than the bridge need to use a different route.
Thanks John
@mike g. posted:John, I am also glad your feeling better! If it was me I would just take one of your longest cars and then one of your tallest cars and just had roll them into the bascule bridge to check for clearance. The only concern I would have is the front swing from a steam engine! I found a problem with my UP 4-8-4 where one way the front would hit a support beam and then the other direction the rear of the cab would drag on the beam and would never be able to back it up in that section!
Either way take it easy and enjoy what your doing, just like your 3D track spacers, it will come to you and I know it will be great!
Thanks All for all the get well wishes!
Mike, your suggestion is great, however that means unpacking many boxes (which should have been done by now lol ) And inventorying what I actually have for cars, engines and see what fits and what doesn't fit. I have been pretty old school and I'll guess 90% of cars are postwar, four passenger car set silver dawn is one I recall that are 18" long I believe are the longest cars I have for sure. There is one set I got on a auction that has a larger NYC engine and heavyweight cars. If they don't make it they can be sold. Great idea to check things out and see what the immediate problem or lack thereof, that need to be handled.
Covid update: Still test positive but feeling better, hoping for a negative test tonight!
Thanks John
Today I will start to finalize (at least I hope) the main street pavers. First prints were to see if the idea was a good or bad one. Then, since the commander (my wife) suggested it, it is now a must have. 
After looking at the street pavers compared to some of the brick buildings the street pavers seemed to be on the large size (not to O scale) Anyone have suggested size of city street pavers? I know growing up in Brooklyn New York I played on what was called cobblestone streets. (rubber balls took wild hops playing stickball also steel skate wheels had difficulties to say the least) LOL I will look to see if there are any dimensions given for these anywhere so I can scale them down to 1:48 Any suggestions are always welcome.
Thanks John
@Aegis21 posted:Today I will start to finalize (at least I hope) the main street pavers. First prints were to see if the idea was a good or bad one. Then, since the commander (my wife) suggested it, it is now a must have.
Thanks John
Hi John, there is a scale chart in the OGR 3D section. I don't know if it will help.
I know when we had to do maintenance on one section of brick road left.in our county the bricks were 2 1/2" thick 3" wide and carried between 5" - 6" long.
John, there are lots of brick streets here in Butler. I live just outside of town, but I do walk with the dog onto some of those streets. Our older daughter lives on the old road that leads into Butler from Pittsburgh which winds down the hill, all brick still, as is The Diamond at the court house. They are all normal sized bricks you would use to build a house. These are all now over 100 years old. I can recall going to Penn Tech in Downtown Pittsburgh, and their street pavers were stone and a little larger than house bricks, but not a lot.
John, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I’ve had Covid twice but, fortunately, they were mild cases and I am fine.
I also grew up in Brooklyn in the 50’s and 60’s ( Midwood High School and Brooklyn College, class of ‘74) I don’t recall anything in that area that had cobblestone streets but they definitely were present in parts of Williamsburg and elsewhere.
Do you remember the electric buses which were powered by centenary in Brooklyn? As I recall, the part of Roebling Street on which they ran had cobblestone streets, but I may be wrong.
I seem to recall that several of the scenery vendors like Vollmer made plastic sheets of stone streets that would be very useful. You could lay down parts of the sheets, cover the rest of the street with whatever you’re using, and create the look of an old cobblestone street which has been paved over but whose pavement has worn away in some areas, exposing the cobblestones of the past.
Rubin
@Mark Boyce posted:John, there are lots of brick streets here in Butler. I live just outside of town, but I do walk with the dog onto some of those streets. Our older daughter lives on the old road that leads into Butler from Pittsburgh which winds down the hill, all brick still, as is The Diamond at the court house. The are all brick, normal sized bricks you would use to build a house. These are all now over 100 years old. I can recall going to Penn Tech in Downtown Pittsburgh, and their street pavers were stone and a little larger than house bricks, but not a lot.
Thanks Mark,
I will be trying to make it as close to large house bricks that my 3D printer will do a good job printing, and looks close to authentic. It is looking like a 3mm x 6mm brick is the most pleasing, although large, not as large as my original 4mm x 8mm. Smaller looks too busy and detracts from the scene ( IMHO ) I'm printing some test pieces to get a better idea of scale and size.
Thanks for the input.
John
@RubinG posted:John, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I’ve had Covid twice but, fortunately, they were mild cases and I am fine.
I also grew up in Brooklyn in the 50’s and 60’s ( Midwood High School and Brooklyn College, class of ‘74) I don’t recall anything in that area that had cobblestone streets but they definitely were present in parts of Williamsburg and elsewhere.
Do you remember the electric buses which were powered by centenary in Brooklyn? As I recall, the part of Roebling Street on which they ran had cobblestone streets, but I may be wrong.
I seem to recall that several of the scenery vendors like Vollmer made plastic sheets of stone streets that would be very useful. You could lay down parts of the sheets, cover the rest of the street with whatever you’re using, and create the look of an old cobblestone street which has been paved over but whose pavement has worn away in some areas, exposing the cobblestones of the past.Rubin
Hi Rubin,
Glad you made it through your covid bouts, mine bout is not a severe case but not really all that mild, especially with the rebound aspect (gets mentally challenging) But I seem to be coming out of it ok. Now I am praying my sweet wife doesn't get it!
Brighter topic, SMALL WORLD lol I did grow up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, 676 Grand Street, attended grammar school at St. Mary's Immaculate Conception across from PS18. Then Bishop Laughlin M.H.S. and CCNY for engineering class of '74. I don't remember the electric busses, just the black smoke from the ones that ran on Grand street to middle village. Some of the cobblestone streets were being paved over while I was growing up there, we moved to Queens when I was in 7th grade and took public transportation to finish grammar school in Brooklyn.
Thanks for the idea of using the sheets of stone to simulate cobblestones peaking through the asphalt.
Thanks for the tips and trip down memory lane.
John and Rubin, those trips down memory lane are always the best! I always find it neat when Forum members find that they have a connection from their past, especially childhood.
John, I thought I would mention the brick streets in Butler since we now live in neighboring counties. I went to a rural school in Butler County, and was the country boy in the ‘big city’ going to Penn Tech, graduating in ‘76. They were still running the cream and maroon PCC cars all over downtown and the rest of the city. Lots of the streets still had the stone pavers with lots of tracks for the PCC cars. You had to be careful waiting at corners for the light to change, because the center of those cars would overhang the curbs at the crazy triangular corners mostly on Liberty Avenue, since Downtown Pittsburgh is a triangle.
John,
Not exactly what you are looking for... but, take a look at Ray's (sidehack) Stone Foundation .stl., in the 3D catalog. They are 3.64mm x 6.76mm with a nice depth of field for that granite/cobble look. I thinned the backing down to use as a veneer for the foundation of my engine house.
@Mark Boyce posted:John and Rubin, those trips down memory lane are always the best! I always find it neat when Forum members find that they have a connection from their past, especially childhood.
John, I thought I would mention the brick streets in Butler since we now live in neighboring counties. I went to a rural school in Butler County, and was the country boy in the ‘big city’ going to Penn Tech, graduating in ‘76. They were still running the cream and maroon PCC cars all over downtown and the rest of the city. Lots of the streets still had the stone pavers with lots of tracks for the PCC cars. You had to be careful waiting at corners for the light to change, because the center of those cars would overhang the curbs at the crazy triangular corners mostly on Liberty Avenue, since Downtown Pittsburgh is a triangle.
Hi Mark,
Excellent info on the area to help with my kludge of Pittsburg, Brooklyn and Conn. There will be little overall prototypical cohesion for sure. However it is more about my wife's memories and mine than it is to be a replica of a certain area/period so to speak. It may not be totally to scale, however 3mm x 6mm brickwork seems like it gives a real paver look without distracting too much from the overall scene. I'll cobble together some 3D printed pieces (yes pun intended) to get a final look.
Last night I tested negative for covid (finally) so I am hoping to make some progress with these projects. I still need to finish the layout on the yard side. With Daves' fantastic diagrams on yard switches, I have a good reference to use for that planning. Now if I can only find that fountain of youth, I'd get some energy back!
@Dennis-LaRock posted:John,
Not exactly what you are looking for... but, take a look at Ray's (sidehack) Stone Foundation .stl., in the 3D catalog. They are 3.64mm x 6.76mm with a nice depth of field for that granite/cobble look. I thinned the backing down to use as a veneer for the foundation of my engine house.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for directing me to Ray's tremendous contributions to the 3D world! His work is great! I will certainly look and use his work for building foundations and all the other items he has generated. This forum not only has tremendous talent, but even more importantly members who truly enjoy helping others in this hobby. I will have to look at all the new items in the 3D area again, so many additions since I have last looked.
Again Thanks Dennis!
John, yours and your wife's memories make an excellent theme for your layout. I had to convert millimeters to inches to get an understanding of you pavers size. 
I still have trouble thinking in metric. 
Yes, that will be a good size for your cobbled cobble stones. 
I'm glad you tested negative. That fountain is as elusive now as it was for Ponce de Leon. Hopefully, you will get energy back soon!
John glad your feeling better and back working on the layout! I think it's a great idea to make things closer to your wife's and your memories!
I have been searching the net and there are many 3D sites with free file downloads.
Thanks Mike for the support, the first area to check out 3d files of model railroads is here OGR
I need to get sometime and review again all the offerrings on this 3d file forum. Extremely talanted members and they give their work freely.
@Mark Boyce posted:John, yours and your wife's memories make an excellent theme for your layout. I had to convert millimeters to inches to get an understanding of you pavers size.
I'm glad you tested negative. That fountain is as elusive now as it was for Ponce de Leon. Hopefully, you will get energy back soon!
Thanks Mark for the feedback, your work on the your hotel and coffee building is outstanding. I hope I will do half as well when and if I get to that point. lol
Does anyone know of a model of the Duquene incline in Pittsburg ???? That maybe a huge scratch project I can work on down the line. Need to find layout space first.
sidemote, energy is coming back slowly, I usually push recovery faster than I should, so this time I am taking it slower than I may need to, I wrooy about my wife getting sick if I relapse again.
John, if you have a FB account, you can see some great photographs of the cobblestone streets at “Remember When: Pennsylvania” “Pittsburgh”. One I saw is the two lane (narrow for two lanes) 4th Avenue, which is where my former employer’s Pgh telecom hub is located. The stones are slightly larger than kiln fired bricks. Yes, 4th Avenue and others are as narrow today as in 1900 when the photographs were taken.
Have been working on everything but the layout. Honey do time out for sure. I am about to attack the backdrops and how to do them... It would seem that they would be last to do, to carry the scenery and roads, rivers, buildings into the horizon. However if I am painting them, all the scenery would be in the way of painting. (my head hurts lol) Getting hog tied again with over thinking, I think..... pun intended
