06-10-2010, 10:11 PM
Hi guys,
A while back I had come up with a plan for a multi-deck steel mill layout. I hope to someday actually build this layout, and I designed it to fit into a space that is 20'x10' (a single car garage or half of a 2-car garage).
When I first designed the plan all 3 decks were separated, and not connected. At first I had originally thought that would be no big deal, but looking back on it now I see that I would like to be able to run a train(s) between decks without physically picking them up and moving them between decks. A Helix was thrown out of the question because of the large amount of space it takes up. This left me with a single track grade (thanks to everyone who provided feedback and help in my grades thread).
First off ill provide a few specs for this layout
**All turnouts are Central Valley #8's or larger.
**All mainline and yard tracks have a minimum radius of 26" and 28" on the grades
**All other tracks have a minimum radius of 18"
**Curved Turnouts are all #7's or larger
**Double Crossovers are #8's
**All Grades are 3%
**The Top Deck will sit 64" from the ground
**The Middle Deck will sit 21" below the Top Deck at 43" from the ground
**The Lower Deck will sit 14" below the Middle Deck at 29" from the ground
**Grid Spacing is 6"
**Door placement is just placed in at random, would have to change plan depending on where the door would be located. 2-Car Garage would not have a door and just liftouts
**Each time a grade crosses the door, a liftout will have to be built to cross the path
The Upper Deck
The Upper Deck sits at 64" from the ground. This is at eye level for myself, and is the main focus of the entire layout. The Top Deck houses the Blast Furnace Row, which contains 4 Blast Furnaces. At 64" from the ground, you will be looking at ground level onto these MASSIVE Furnaces, seeing them from the eyes of the workers and the train personnel. The Blast Furnaces will tower in the sky, and you will have to look up at them, thus giving you an idea of the shear massive size of these impressive structures.
Yes, it WILL be difficult to reach and there will be reach issues getting to the back of the top deck. That is where a step ladder will come in....
The White Tracks on the Upper Deck are yard tracks. The yards are not very large, but they will only hold a few cars for a reason. The main stagging for the layout is located on the bottom deck of the layout.
The Red Tracks are the Mainline, which makes a full loop around the Upper Deck.
Black Tracks are just regular Steel Mill Tracks. 2 Liftouts will have to be built for the Upper Deck. The Top Liftout is simply the connecting tracks for the mainline loop. The Bottom Liftout is the access track that leads down to grade which will go down to the Middle Deck, 21" below the Upper Deck.
The Blue Track is the grade that connects the Middle and Upper Decks. The Grade is a 3% grade which wraps around the entire plan and then back on itself to get down the full 21" to the Middle Deck. You can see the numbers that run along the bottom of the picture for the Upper Deck. These numbers show the elevation of the track that comes up from the Middle Deck. Ive only included the last few measurements on the upper deck plan. As you can see, the grade will come up to the Upper Deck Level mostly behind the structures, which will hide a train coming up out of the ground...
If you will also notice, there are numbers on each of the structures. Those numbers correspond to the list below:
3. Gas Storage Tank
4. Dorr Thickener
5. Water Treatment Plant #1
6. Pump House #1
7. Blast Furnace A
8. Filter House
9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
11. Settling Tank #1
12. Mechanics Office
13. Blast Furnace B
14. Blower Engine House
15. General Office
16, Locker and Washroom
17. Blacksmith Shop
18. Blast Furnace C
19. Highline Raw Materials Trestle
20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
22. Central Steam Plant
23. Settling Tank #2
24. Blast Furnace D
25. Machine Shop #1
26. Water Treatment Plant #3
27. Pump House #3
28. Machine Shop #2
29. Store House #1
30. Power Plant #1
31. Broiler House #2
32. Utilities Building
33. Broiler House #1
34. Water Treatment Plant #2
35. Pump House #2
A while back I had come up with a plan for a multi-deck steel mill layout. I hope to someday actually build this layout, and I designed it to fit into a space that is 20'x10' (a single car garage or half of a 2-car garage).
When I first designed the plan all 3 decks were separated, and not connected. At first I had originally thought that would be no big deal, but looking back on it now I see that I would like to be able to run a train(s) between decks without physically picking them up and moving them between decks. A Helix was thrown out of the question because of the large amount of space it takes up. This left me with a single track grade (thanks to everyone who provided feedback and help in my grades thread).
First off ill provide a few specs for this layout
**All turnouts are Central Valley #8's or larger.
**All mainline and yard tracks have a minimum radius of 26" and 28" on the grades
**All other tracks have a minimum radius of 18"
**Curved Turnouts are all #7's or larger
**Double Crossovers are #8's
**All Grades are 3%
**The Top Deck will sit 64" from the ground
**The Middle Deck will sit 21" below the Top Deck at 43" from the ground
**The Lower Deck will sit 14" below the Middle Deck at 29" from the ground
**Grid Spacing is 6"
**Door placement is just placed in at random, would have to change plan depending on where the door would be located. 2-Car Garage would not have a door and just liftouts
**Each time a grade crosses the door, a liftout will have to be built to cross the path
The Upper Deck
The Upper Deck sits at 64" from the ground. This is at eye level for myself, and is the main focus of the entire layout. The Top Deck houses the Blast Furnace Row, which contains 4 Blast Furnaces. At 64" from the ground, you will be looking at ground level onto these MASSIVE Furnaces, seeing them from the eyes of the workers and the train personnel. The Blast Furnaces will tower in the sky, and you will have to look up at them, thus giving you an idea of the shear massive size of these impressive structures.
Yes, it WILL be difficult to reach and there will be reach issues getting to the back of the top deck. That is where a step ladder will come in....
The White Tracks on the Upper Deck are yard tracks. The yards are not very large, but they will only hold a few cars for a reason. The main stagging for the layout is located on the bottom deck of the layout.
The Red Tracks are the Mainline, which makes a full loop around the Upper Deck.
Black Tracks are just regular Steel Mill Tracks. 2 Liftouts will have to be built for the Upper Deck. The Top Liftout is simply the connecting tracks for the mainline loop. The Bottom Liftout is the access track that leads down to grade which will go down to the Middle Deck, 21" below the Upper Deck.
The Blue Track is the grade that connects the Middle and Upper Decks. The Grade is a 3% grade which wraps around the entire plan and then back on itself to get down the full 21" to the Middle Deck. You can see the numbers that run along the bottom of the picture for the Upper Deck. These numbers show the elevation of the track that comes up from the Middle Deck. Ive only included the last few measurements on the upper deck plan. As you can see, the grade will come up to the Upper Deck Level mostly behind the structures, which will hide a train coming up out of the ground...
If you will also notice, there are numbers on each of the structures. Those numbers correspond to the list below:
3. Gas Storage Tank
4. Dorr Thickener
5. Water Treatment Plant #1
6. Pump House #1
7. Blast Furnace A
8. Filter House
9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
11. Settling Tank #1
12. Mechanics Office
13. Blast Furnace B
14. Blower Engine House
15. General Office
16, Locker and Washroom
17. Blacksmith Shop
18. Blast Furnace C
19. Highline Raw Materials Trestle
20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
22. Central Steam Plant
23. Settling Tank #2
24. Blast Furnace D
25. Machine Shop #1
26. Water Treatment Plant #3
27. Pump House #3
28. Machine Shop #2
29. Store House #1
30. Power Plant #1
31. Broiler House #2
32. Utilities Building
33. Broiler House #1
34. Water Treatment Plant #2
35. Pump House #2