Need to develop container yard next to railroad. First we need a little reference material.  I want to have a large crane, and railroad cars with containers on them. I will also need to expand my rail road to have multiple tracks and one that goes under the crane.

Reference Container Yard

Beginning to develop my virtual containers. Need the top front and sides to all match and I don’t want to have lots of cubes individually mapped. A few good block and then vary the blocks will be the most efficient for the allusion.

Container Mapping

OK I went with three variations. 6 x 3, 4 x 4, and 3 x 3. I also was able to use the slice tool and get a few other variation by cutting off the top stack etc. I still have plenty of room for the buildings and the crane. I will treat the parking layout on a separate map.

Container Replication

A nice detail will be the crane. I choose to use an alpha channel here for the hanging crane.  Here I am knocking out the image. I like to use a high contrast alpha mask.  Black and White only

yard crane with alpha

Container Yard coming along and working on the crane. There are many types of cranes.  I found a great reference from a model railroad model. Its nice because models tend to simplify and photo well.

Virtual Container Yard Progress

Here is the photo of a model crane

Crane Model Reference

Placement of the Container Yard.  Some trucks and and tractor vehicles around would be great. Still have a railroad car to make and put the marking on the pavement etc..

Container Yard Placement