Model Railroad Blog

Harbor Sub. Ops. Plan

A very recent (April 2025) Google Streetview image of Arrow Reload Systems. Note the variety of car types. YouTube videos filmed on other days show a large volume of flat cars carrying steel products.

Prompted by a recent email from a blog reader, I thought now would be a good time to discuss operations on the Harbor Sub. (north end). Let’s start with the lay of the land i.e. an aerial of the prototype, and the layout track plan.

The old Harbor Sub was split into several sections. I’m modeling the northern piece shown in the map above. Splitting off from the main at Harbor Junction, it’s about a thirty-minute walk to Malabar. There isn’t really anything noteworthy south of Malabar; the line runs a mile or so and then ends in the dirt. BNSF’s massive Hobart Yard is about a mile to the east of Harbor Junction.

Now, getting to the heart of the matter, operations, blog reader Mark H. recently emailed me with the following questions about the operating plan for a future Harbor Sub. layout:

” I would appreciate some insight into your operating plan.  Would the incoming freight train be staged straddling the main line/entering the Harbor Sub, then proceed to Malabar Yard to drop cars and pick up outbounds and return to the Junction, with a local servicing the industries with pull and shove moves? Or would a train be staged in Malabar Yard to service local industries, with the main/Harbor Jct. functioning solely as a visual display? I would also be interested in knowing contemplated train lengths and whether trains would feature one or two units.”

I’ll start with the easy ones first before delving into operations. I would run two locos per the prototype. In reality, the trains are quite long. I don’t have that much space, so I’d probably limit them to five to eight cars or so. In most (but not all) cases, I’d probably start a session with a train incoming from Hobart staged on the bridge. Now getting to the bigger question on ops.

I classify industries on a branch like this as follows:

-Massive industries that are frequently switched (often daily…or more). These provide the bulk of the revenue for the branch. In the case of the Harbor Sub, that would be Exxon/Mobil.

-Mid-size industries that are fairly regularly switched and often have the added interest of being car spot dependent. That would be Arrow Reload.

-Small industries that see fairly consistent service such as Dar Pro.

-Small industries that get some switching but rarely, such as Pabco.

Getting to Mark’s question, most of the activity on this line appears to be related to moving cars between Hobart Yard, Exxon/Mobil, and Malabar. I’m not up to speed on how cars are spotted at Exxon/Mobil nor am I clear on what’s going on with incoming/outgoing loads vs. empties. (If anybody knows, drop me a line).

A typical op. session would start with a train spotted on the bridge heading south. Dar Pro would be worked first. The next trailing point would Exxon/Mobil where I would expect some form of load-for-empties swap. After reaching Malabar, the units either tie up for the day or run around the train and perform some significant blocking, the nature of which I’m not clear on. There are also frequent back and forth transfer runs to Hobart the nature of which I’m not clear on either. Certainly, Hobart is the eventual start or end point for every car.

On a separate day, cars for Arrow would be blocked in the yard and the shoved down to the facility to be spotted. On rare occasions a single car might be spotted at Pabco.

Here’s a timeline from my recent trip that might help.

I arrived at Malabar at about 3:45 pm on Wednesday, May 28th, and things were totally quiet. The two units weren’t even idling. I gather they are semi-permanently stationed in Malabar to work the Harbor Sub. Note the long strings of tank cars related to Exxon/Mobil. I spent an hour documenting the area and then drove to the north end of the line.

At end of the day that day, Wednesday the 28th at 4:45pm, I went back to Malabar. Both locos were gone! A few minutes later, I saw them heading back to the yard with a cut of cars from Exxon.

I returned to Malabar at about 9 am the next morning (Thursday May 29th) to find the Malabar yard units working hard at classifying tank cars. Why were they sorting them? It was a pretty extended sequence that blocked several busy intersections for long periods of time.

Shown above is a Bing Birdseye image showing a lone boxcar spotted at Pabco. Google maps shows the same. I’m not sure if this industry is still active, but the switch is still there. It took some digging but the Google aerial time stamp was February 11, 2024 which wasn’t that long ago.

A Google aerial view of the Exxon/Mobil facility. I’m totally ignorant as to the nature of the place and the car flow. Whatever happens car blocking at Malabar seems to be a crucial part of their operational scheme.

Time For A Change?

For some time, I’ve had the nagging feeling that it’s time for a new adventure, a new primary layout. The question is when and how to go about it. The theme would likely be BNFS’s Harbor Subdivision, shown above.

I’ve been wallowing in modeling limbo the past year or so. It’s a place I don’t particularly like. All three of my layouts are stick-a-fork-in-them “done”. My main railroad is The Downtown Spur. I could find a few “make work” projects, but there’s really nothing that motivates me that much. I love photography and at this point I’ve shot things from every conceivable angle. I switched eras on the LAJ and had fun with that but have no interest in doing so with the spur. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Self-awareness is the foundation of a great design. We need to know what we want the layout do for us if we have any hope of coming up with satisfying plan. Unfortuantely, very few of us, certainly not me, know our true interests as well as we think we do. Complicating things is that our interests change over time. Do I want to “have” a layout or do I want to “build” a layout? I tend to get into mission mode and lose sight of the fact that I want both. By pushing to finish the layouts, I’ve essentially worked myself out of a job.

It’s important to me to have a layout that sustains prototype operations. Complicating things is that sometimes I feel like operating, but often I don’t. If I were a diehard operator, I wouldn’t have a problem and could just run the Spur weekly for years. That’s not the case, though.

I strongly suspect the days of the spur are limited. I’ve already decided on the replacement, BNSF’s north end of The Harbor Subdivision, probably no surprise to anybody. I took the new plan into the layout room to visualize the sight lines. As I looked at the Downtown Spur layout, all of the work, the great times associated with it, I realized I…..just…..can’t….pull the plug yet. Which brings me to the dilemma of wallowing in this no man’s land.

Shown above is the conceptual sketch for what I’d likely do for a new layout. It represents BNSF’s Harbor Sub. from Harbor Junction to the terminus at Malabar Yard, about a mile and a half to the south.

Looking at the new layout, I’m placing a strong emphasis on sight lines and vistas, especially when you walk into the room. A primary goal for the layout is to feel transported, to be in LA. I’m okay with it serving as 3D art for long periods of time. As far as operations go, I now realize that frequent “formal” sessions with friends that share my interest in industrial switching just aren’t realistic. The interest just isn’t there locally, at least not on a consistent basis. That leaves solo sessions. Few people will consistently run solo for hours at a time. The above plan will easily support my attention span of 45 minutes.

If and when the time comes to take down the present layout, the question becomes how that will unfold. I would certainly sell it if somebody would assume the responsibility of dismantling it and hauling it off. However, having such a person appear on the horizon seems unlikely. The bulk of the labor hours are tied up in the structures. I have no stomach for doing the ebay thing to sell those off. I would certainly sell them individually or in groups to somebody that was willing to drive to Maryland to pick them up. Again, past experience leads me to believe this is unlikely as well. What I’ll probably do is pitch the bigger structures and pack away a few of the smaller ones that are my favorites. Stay tuned.

Tom Johnson’s Weathering Method

Tom Johnson just posted an exceptional weathering tutorial on his FB page. He was kind enough to let me share it here. Thanks Tom! (Tom uses a Paasche model H airbrush. Fifty bucks on Amazon)

Here are some weathered Incentive Per Diem boxcars for my mid 80’s Cass County and will be spotted often on my new team track. I researched all of the Athearn models I have and they all were found as far as the late 80’s with original reporting marks so all of mine fit. Plus, the weathering would still be fairly medium at most. They are mostly air brushed! This is my standard procedure for a moderately weathered car. I use flat Testor’s enamel paints I find at Hobby Lobby. I still like enamel paint thinned with a 50/50 mix of Testors Dullcote and Lacquer thinner. I fill up a one ounce jar and add just a few drops of the colors I use for weathering. I always build up the air brush layers until I’m happy.

For most colors of cars, I start with a thinned white for fading. I spray the thinned white overall and then spray several spots from top to bottom between ribs that represent the rippled effect in the sheet metal. Keep this very light!

Spray a layer of Dullcote.

Dry brush a grungy oil paint color along both sides of every rib and around the doors and its detail. I use a small brush and this is DRY BRUSHING! Scrub most of the paint out onto a rag or paper towel. I also add this shade along the edges and inside some of the detail on the roof and ends. I follow by cleaning up using a Q-Tip soaked with some Turpenoid. I run the Q-tip up and down on both sides of every rib and around the doors to get rid of excess oil weathering. I want to keep it close to the ribs and door edges and detail.

Add another coat of Dullcote.

Mix another very thin solution of a grungy color using the Testor’s flat paints and the full one ounce jar of 50/50 thinner and Dullcote. I mix flat black, flat rust, and flat gray. That gives me a nice color that is similar to the old Floquil Grimy Black. I lightly spray this shade up along the bottom edges on the sides and feather out moving upward between the ribs. I sometimes like to feather a tiny bit of this color from the top down. I also spray this color across the roof and feathering out from the outside edges inward. The ends are pretty straight from one edge to the other and top to bottom. I’ll finish by doing more very light dry brushing with a bushy brush around the door detail, door runners, and sometimes I’ll scrub them in just a bit between the ribs to bring out even more of a rippled effect. I like using Burnt Sienna for this that gives you a more lively fresh rust look but it will be very subtle. You may not even notice it in my photos.

Another coat of Dullcote to finish. I actually like about a 50/50 mix of Glosscote and Dullcote. It will give the car a sheen and not dead flat. No piece of rolling stock is dead flat.

I mix a thicker version of my grungy color and spray the under frame. I don’t spend a lot of time in this area because you can’t see it on the layout. It’s a waste of time weathering most under frames. I spray my thicker grungy color on the under frame and call it quits.

I use the same thick grungy color for my trucks and wheels. I then highlight with a brighter rusty color of oil paint around the bearings and the springs.

Finish once again with straight Dullcote for the trucks. I do want them dead flat.

Boots On The Ground

When doing prototype research for layout design, we all rely heavily upon online aerial photos. Such imagery is invaluable. However….it’s crucial to understand the limitations of this approach. You miss a lot. The above shot, taken in Vernon, CA shows where the Harbor Subdivision splits off of the main near 25th and 26th Streets. At first glance, there really isn’t anything that noteworthy, right? Actually, that’s not the case and therein lies the problem.

As deep dive, model railroad writing goes, I’m not sure anything will ever eclipse the quality and depth of the seven-part V&O series written by Allen McClelland and Tony Koester in the 1970s. Within the articles, a constant theme emerged. In order to pull off a plausible representation of Appalachian railroading, it was crucial to visit the region and visit it often….and so they did. Wiser advice was never written as it applies to layout design. It is simply impossible to capture the vibe of a place without visiting it. Relying solely on sitting on one’s rump in front of a computer screen will most certainly result in missing crucial key pieces. It will limit you from experiencing your theme to the extent that you could. It will limit the quality and success of your design.

This reality was brought front and center on my recent trip to LA. If you look at the lead aerial, nothing really jumps out at you. The problem is this: there is a LOT there that doesn’t stand out in the aerial.

I’ve taken the lead photo and highlighted areas that don’t stand out in the aerials, but are fairly impressive in person.

26th and Minerva Avenue facing south towards Reliance Steel. You’d never guess from online photos there was so much of value from a modeling standpoint in that area.

It’s difficult to capture the towering mass of Reliance Steel in photographs. It…is…gigantic!

The above three images were taken in the vicinity of 25th, 26th, and Minerva Avenue. This several-block area is loaded with texture that would be easy to overlook.

Like everybody, I had spent dozens of hours studying aerials of the Harbor Subdivision in contemplating it as a theme for a new layout. After visiting it in person, I was taken aback by how much I’d missed….the model worthiness of Harbor Junction, the 25th/26th/Minerva scenes, I could go on and on.

Most of my readers are very immersed in the hobby. It brings them immense satisfaction. Given the importance it plays in our lives, it makes sense to invest in doing it right….and that means buying playing tickets, and putting boots on the ground. Seeing our subject in person. Making discoveries. Gaining a sense for its size, vibe, and geographic relationships. It’s one of the best experiences life has to offer, I promise.

Going Back In Time

A pair of CF7s toil away on The Palmetto Spur, a layout designed for acquiring the most crucial asset we need to embark on a model railroad layout: basic skills.

Going back in time and getting a redo on some of our past life decisions, the thought crosses all of our minds. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is you can’t. You have to live with the consequences of those decisions, hence the topic of today’s post.

We’d all like to think that we are unique in our life circumstances. Surprisingly, less so than we think. We have a lot more company, more folks in the same boat than we realize.

There’s a pattern I see over and over, among modeling enthusiasts. It’s a series of subtle decisions made over decades. They are inconsequential in the short term. That makes them all the more dangerous because, added up over time, they are consequential in the long term. There is no recovery. There’s no recovery because you simply can’t go back in time and get that redo. It’s the decision not to do anything. You can’t recover those lost decades.

Here’s what happens. You have a smart individual, professionally successful, professionally driven, and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of railroading. Career and life being what they are, this individual puts off building anything until “some day”, usually retirement.

Someday does arrive. Time is now available, as are ample financial resources, and a nice home. As it turns out, these guys were sincere all along. They are now ready to start that dream layout. They begin the planning process. They have everything they need….finally….right? Nope.

They don’t have the skills to build it, not even the most rudimentary ones. Of more importance, and more subtle, they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t have a gut understanding of how much work is involved in building X square feet of layout. It’s often much, much than they realize. They don’t have a gut understanding of how many square feet it takes to make them happy (often much less than they think). Because of this benign ignorance, they often assume they need a multi-deck monstrosity to spin off the level of satisfaction they’ve been dreaming about for decades. Without the requisite skills, however, this never ends well.

Then it hits them, and hits them hard, the “Holy shit, I’m screwed” epiphany. True, you can start the skills-building process at retirement, but you’ve lost decades, and you’re at the bottom of the mountain.

Sadly, this mess could’ve been avoided simply by seeing into the future and planning for it. Sure, many people are truly swamped with life. I get it. However, every person has time to build at least a simple one turnout plank, throw it on the wall, and use it for one reason, and one reason only, to build the basic skills. To gain a gut understanding of the relationship between how much layout spins off how much enjoyment, how much work is involved in building and maintaining an X size layout. (Still short on time? Reduce screen time by 30 minutes a week, and there you go).

Many years ago, I wrote an article on this very subject for MR, All You Need to Know in Four Square Feet. I also wrote a book on the subject that could serve as a road map. I caution you against falling into the avoidance behavior trap of spending much time on design specifics. At this junction, the design format doesn’t matter other than keeping it very simple. The key point is to get something simple up on the wall and start thrashing around. Will it look like a crude soap carving? Probably. First efforts generally do. There will be mistakes, likely many. It’s out of those mistakes and slogging in the mud that the foundation of skills you’ll need down the road will be forged.

That day you’re looking forward to will arrive, the day you can FINALLY have that dream layout, of this I’m sure. Prepare for it now so you can make the most of it.