Ballard Terminal Railroad
A Modeler's View
On Tuesday, April 20, I took my mountain bike down to the Ballard Terminal right-of-way, planning to ride the entire line. The mountain bike could handle riding the ballast, but it couldn't handle all the broken glass. I ended up abandoning it with flat tires at the Salmon Bay Cafe. I walked the rest of the line. This trip resulted in some 100 photos of features and buildings along the right of way. It's been a monster job processing those photos... resizing, cropping, focusing, enhancing light, etc., but I finally finished it. I also made up a set of track plans, dividing the line into eight sections. I apologize for the fact that I am neither a draftsman nor an adept with computer CAD programs. I simply sat down and tried to diagram the track as I observed it, using a basic word processing program with simple lines and slash bars. I think it gets the picture across, though I couldn't get the curves that are there in. I will try to describe each section as it is pictured. Using this set of track diagrams and pictures you will be able to take a virtual "Walking Tour" of the railroad, following it photographically. The whole package should provide a real treasure trove of information for anyone wanting to model this short line railroad, in either it's heyday of 1930 to 1950, or as it is now. I got shots of the old spurs... where they went and the businesses they served, as well as everything there now.
There are actually no sharp curves in the BT. It starts out basically running east to west, and has a couple of gentle minor swings to the northwest. As far as modeling goes, it would be perfect for two shelves in the corner of an average room in one of the smaller gauges, N or HO. In N you could really do a bang up job. I am in On30, so my version will pretend that the line used to be a narrow gauge. I have a 14' x 14' room with shelf support all around, 30" deep on two sides and 12" deep on the other two. It's gonna be fun. There will be a link from my main railroad page to progress pages on this new layout.
As noted, the tour is in eight sections, and I am setting them up as separate pages so that download time can be controlled. I am providing individual links here, for convenience, but there is also a link to the next section at the end of each segment. Remember that the entire line is only 3 miles long.