Coxy's N Scale and Railroad Blog

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While driving home from Oakland Airport, I took a little detour through Jack London and the Port of Oakland. I caught this sole UP SD40-2 that has seen better days, lugging a long string of autoracks, probably to the old SP yard on the other side of the freeway.

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The UP tracks pass under 1-880 which is making a curve to the left as it heads south. The freeway then runs parallels the west side of the yard for about a mile.

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This insignificant secondary extends to some industries near the the Park Street bridge to Alameda. The tracks are no longer used to get to them though. This track eventually joins back up to the UP main a mile or so further south near Fruitvale Ave. The industries are reached using the Fruitvale connection. There is some interesting street trackage as well as the typical tight squeezes and interesting track arrangements to get there. I should get some pictures while I still can.

UP occasionally stores cars on this secondary, such as ballast cars, but not for very long. There is an effort to redevelop the area along the water so the UP appears to be playing along and limiting use including using it to access the industrial area. The rails are in place but have signs between the rails.

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Looking south along the UP tracks. That is a grade crossing on 5th Avenue under the Nimitz freeway. It’s definitely not the 5th Avenue that’s famous. This is a somewhat crappy area so keep your wits about you.

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Detail view of the support for the freeway. Note close clearance between the top of the autorack and underside of freeway. Notice also the wall on this side of the autorack that reduces the possiblity of any errant rolling stock from taking out supports for the freeway by providing a surface to slide against (compare the wall to a series of poles which could be knocked down in the direction of the track by the forward movement of the vehicle).

Concrete is NEVER one color, rather is has a base color and a series of overlays from grime, soot, stains, rust etc. as well as subtle variations in color of each pour of concrete since few structures are poured in one single shot.

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Autoracks are generally free of graffiti, though this is changing. Most graffiti is on the lower few feet of the car above the side sill. Occasionally, the whole side of the car has been painted. Graffiti guys must show up with ladders to do their painting!

Rails on the secondary track are very rusty. There is very little ballast on the secondary and no raised profile to speak of.  Ballast is certainly not in a tight band along the track. Ballast appears to have been haphazardly spilled and spread on the secondary. Sometimes tops of ties are covered. Ends of ties are mainly buried.

Color variation on the concrete includes painted out graffiti. Usually there will be multiple overlapping patches.

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View looking south under the Freeway overpass. Note washes and stains on the concrete supports under the freeway. This bridge bearly clears the top of the autoracks suggesting the overpass was primarily designed in order to clear the tracks. Note painted out graffiti onthe concrete surfaces up to about six feet from the ground.

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Secondary line to industries at Fruitvale Ave. Note that these tracks are basically out of service. Many ties are in bad shape, though there are a few younger ones in the mix. Ties are very uneven with at least six inches of variation in the tie ends. Many ties cracked or split, especially at the ends. Ballast is very fine 1”-2” in diameter often a lot lower than the top of the ties. Weeds unchecked but not overwhelming the track.

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Note line of greenery probably from seed or grain escaping from a hopper car. Plants are only growing from the ballast, not from the ties. There are also some dead or brown plants near the track adding contrast to the green ones.

Ballast is thinly spread on a footprint wider than the track itself. Lots of subtle color variation in the ballast rocks.

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Another view showing the state of ballast and vegitation on this track. Trash is often found along the right of way but is seldom neat shapes or pure colros such as white. Everything weathers out to a dingy grey or tan color.

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Tie spacing is uneven. In places there are 1.5 tie widths between ties. Ties are about 8” wide.

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Here’s a view of the joint bar. A fairly heavy feature that could be modeled even in N scale prior to painting the rail a rusty color. Decals made from photos of the joint bar could perhaps be applied to brass or styrene strip to give a nice nut-bolt-washere effect without the anguish of having to make them in N Scale.

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Here’s a slighty closer view. Note also the rod on the left side of the shot that is holding the rails in gauge. The mesh plates on the ends of the ties might be a nice detail where the ends are exposed on newer ties. The area is pretty small on an N scale tie though - about a mm square.

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View down the secondary track as the last car of the autorack move glides behind the support wall. Note how the freeway supports behind the autorack could easily be a photo backdrop. You might have to wrestle with visual perspective a bit, depending on your viewing angle and it would be very important to get your lighting correct to match the deep shadows under the freeway.

From a modeling perspective the real area of interest is close to the track, everything else, particularly backdrop puts the track scene in context adding drama, interest and flavor.

The scene is basically flat but there are many colors and textures in this simple scene. In modeling a flat scene, there has to be variation in color and texture, without it, the scene will always look like colored plywood. Note how there is no actual road next to the track but it is clear that vehicles have been driving beside the track from time to time.

The noticable ties, i.e. the ones your eyes are drawn to and will examine, are the dark ones. These happen to be newer ties though all ties were pretty bleached on the top. The newer ties had less mud accumulated on their sides too, so generally appear darker than the older ties.