place. While this makes for slower going, the results are well worth the effort. We used Pennsylvania Heritage Models’ HO scale street inserts to accomplish this. These inserts consist of a center tray in which Atlas Code 100 flex track is placed, two outer road sections and a center paved overlay. While they require care- ful fitting they greatly ease laying HO scale street track. Installation began by laying a 2’x6’ sheet
of ¼” birch plywood on top of the city cen- ter bench work. Next the street insert sec- tions were placed over the plywood. To get proper alignment of the oval the in- serts were fitted by sanding to minimize any large gaps between sections. When we were satisfied with the street insert oval we marked the top sheet of plywood with the out line of the track oval. A saber saw was used to cut along the marked lines and the section where the track would be placed removed. The plywood section that formed the
outer outline and the inner center were then given two coats of Rustoleum Dark Gray Automotive Spray primer. When dry, the outer section was glued in place over the top of the bench work and the Pennsylvania Heritage street inserts in- stalled using silicon sealer and counter sunk screws. The our oval used four sec- tions of Atlas code 100 Super-Flex flexi- ble track glued into the center tray pieces to complete the oval. Two feed wire were soldered in place to the bottom of the rails and then run beneath the bench work. Installing the outer sections and the center overlay completed the track work leaving only the center plywood section to be fitted and glued in place. One the last piece was glued in place we tested and trouble shot the track with an assortment of different streetcars.
Tying Together All of the Elements
Concrete Canyons — Concentrated ur- ban scenery is not often attempted by most modelers. Model railroaders tend to gravitate towards mall towns and rur- al scenes, rather than large cities and towering buildings. While rural scenes use differences in the topography in the form of hills and mountains, a city scene substitutes man made walls and build- ings to create its unique urban landscape.
Model Rectifier Corp.
modelrectifier.com/train-controls
Atlas Model Railroad Company
www.atlasrr.com
Atlas RTS 10.0 FREE Track Planning Software
www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm
With this in mind we obtained four of
Bachmann’s large Cityscenes building kits in addition to four of Woodland Scen- ics’ pre-built urban structures. When placed on the streetcar level these eight buildings would serve as the core of our Center City scene. Woodland Scenics’ of- ferings are ready to install, fully assem- bled, detailed and decorated buildings. Bachmann’s Cityscenes line is easily and quickly assembled plastic kits despite their large size. While molded in color we decided to paint these buildings. Stan- dard flat spray paints available from the local home improvement store were used to vary the colors and add even more eye- pleasing texture to the scene.
City Planning – Cities are more than just groupings of structures; they require streets and sidewalks as well as all of the many details that are found in the urban environment. To provide two way travel and curb side parking our streets need to be at least four inches wide for HO scale, and at least six inches wide if more than two travel lanes are being represented. In addition an inch and one half on either side of the street needs to be allocated for sidewalks. With this in mind the Center City scene became a chess board as the buildings were placed, moved around and then placed again before a final lay- out was reached. The only limit is your imagination and personal taste, there are no rules for placement. The next step was to lay out the side-
walks, some of which were provided in the Bachmann kits. A few .030x.256 styrene shims were glued to the under- sides of the sidewalk moldings so that they would sit level as well as to provide a gluing surface. The sidewalks were painted with Floquil Aged Concrete paint and fixed in place with Loctite clear sili- cone sealer. Once the sealer had set the sidewalks were rubbed down with Van Dyke brown oil paint to impart a patina and accentuate the expansion joints. Even the “Concrete Jungle” has a few
open spaces with greenery. A cover of earth followed by static grass filled in several of the empty lots on the streetcar level. One of these lots across from the municipal building is now a park sport- ing an old cannon and flag pole. Another
behind the Cobbler’s Store is frequently used by the neighborhood kids for alter- nating games of stickball and touch foot- ball. The marshy ground around the sub- way maintenance yard and in the open cut is covered with spongy earth and tall grass. It won’t be long before the weeds start springing forth and trash starts to pile up in these unused city margins. Adding street lights, phone booths, benches, parking meters along with the rest of the details that bring life to the city could be a story onto itself. We began the detailing by adding several Woodland Scenics figure and detail sets along with about a dozen vehicles. With careful groupings we begin to tell some of the many stories here in Empire City. Here is where one can use their imagination and have fun!
Next Stop… Thirty Third and Third Empire City Transit was developed as
a small four foot by six foot stand-alone layout for which most modelers could easily find space. Far from being an end to itself, this layout can easily be expand- ed as time and space allows or can be used as a feature with in a larger layout. Just adding the numerous details found in any city scene can provide hours of en- joyment and entertainment. By carefully choosing equipment that
will operate on either line’s tight curves one can add additional action and ani- mation to the layout. Naturally we se- lected several streetcars from Bachmann, Con-Cor and Bowser to run through the city and a couple of sets of Walthers’ Life-Like Transit Cars for the subway. A small diesel switcher with a collection of hopper cars and some of Bachmann’s self propelled track maintenance equipment rounds out the operating department needs on the transit line. In Empire City you can “Take the ‘A’
Train” or catch a trolley uptown; the choice is yours. To learn more about the many aspects of electric traction and transit modeling visit the Carstens Book Store (
www.carstensbookstore.com) for a copy of Paul Mallery’s Traction Hand- book and Carstens Publications’ Traction Planbook. Both are valuable resources that will help you along your journey in this exciting hobby. — George Riley
Pennsylvania Heritage Models
www.paheritagemodels.com
Carstens Book Store
www.carstensbookstore.com
Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine
www.rrmodelcraftsman.com
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN MAGAZINE • 2011 TRAIN SET GAZETTE S11
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