A journal following the history, design, construction and operation of Bernard Kempinski's O Scale model railroad depicting the U. S. Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia-Falmouth line in 1863, and other model railroad projects.
©Bernard Kempinski All text and images, except as noted, on this blog are copyrighted by the author and may not be used without permission.
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January 25, 2018

A Mystery Track at Aquia Landing?

In studying the few photos I have of Aquia Landing for ideas on construction details for structures, I noticed some freight cars in one photo in an odd place. I had noticed those cars before, but I did not fully realize that the cars are on the north side of wharf adjacent to the warehouse closest to the shore. I base this on the fact that the cars are in front of the warehouse. But it is hard to tell exactly, as the edge of the freight car is right on the line of the corner of the warehouse. Is it in front or behind? That is the key question.

The yellow circle shows the cars to which  I am referring.    This appears to be a single track.

The next photo shows the double track running down the full length of the wharf.   I had always thought the cars in question were on the double track siding. But then they couldn't be on the obscuring the north side of the warehouse, as the double track is on the south side of the warehouse.

Could there be a third track on the wharf, a single track on the north side of the closest warehouse?

The photo at the bottom shows where I think this track could be.

So if there was, what to do about it? In looking at my track plan, I concluded that I might be able to include this track by extending the current track I call the bakery track onto the wharf. I would have to widen the wharf a bit, but it is possible.

The revised track plan below shows how it might be implemented.  The other thing that is becoming more apparent to me is that the wharf has much more of a L shape than I planned. It may be possible for me to make my L shape larger. We'll see how that works out.






Is this the site of the mystery track?

4 comments:

  1. FWIW, looking at the clutter on the wharf piled in front of the warehouse I don't see enough depth for a track. Also, consider that the end of the boxcar appears to be catching the light whereas everything in front of the warehouse is in shade, which make sense if this is the north side of the wharf. Lastly, there's no roof overhang showing on the far side of the boxcar, suggesting the edge of the warehouse is cutting it off, and not vice versa.

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  2. Berni. Looking at the photos I would say that the track is behind the building as the dock jogs in at the end of the building on the right there is no way for the cars to get to the position they are in unless they passed behind the building. Hope to meet you in Vancouver in May.

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  3. I think you both are right. So my original plan is ok. Whew!

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  4. Plus the car would be in the shade if on the north side of the building. However, it also doesn't look like it is behind. Could it terminate in front of the building?

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