Liberty Industrial Spur

[Justinmiller171]

Going back to your latest idea - the New Haven in New England. Are you sure that this is what you really want? Or would you like a little more time to think about why (and if) the New Haven would be better than the SP, the WP, the Milwaukee or the BNSF for you? What is it about it that makes you feel more enthusiastic about this railroad than about the railroads you have already listed?

Well, I like the equipment, I like the scenery, and I like the era.

How big do you want to make this layout? Be realistic this time. Have you looked for scenes you would like to model?

Max size is 14"x8', scenery would either be an end of a branch-line or a semi-urban industrial area.

The track-plan I am currently thinking about is one of fluesheet's earlier designs based off of one of Stein's designs:


Some changes I would make would be to make warehouse 1 a non-railserved background flat, make the Rip track a diffrent industry, and make the track end on the left side, trains would be stages on the middle-right track, I would also make the layout a few inches deeper to allow for some scenery up front.

[steinjr]

Going back to your latest idea - the New Haven in New England. Are you sure that this is what you really want? Or would you like a little more time to think about why (and if) the New Haven would be better than the SP, the WP, the Milwaukee or the BNSF for you? What is it about it that makes you feel more enthusiastic about this railroad than about the railroads you have already listed?

Well, I like the equipment, I like the scenery, and I like the era.

I am not asking if you like it. You like a lot of different things. As do I, and lots of other people who like trains.

I am asking why you think it would be a *lot* more likely to *stay* interesting than your previous layouts.

How big do you want to make this layout? Be realistic this time. Have you looked for scenes you would like to model?

Max size is 14"x8', scenery would either be an end of a branch-line or a semi-urban industrial area.

The track-plan I am currently thinking about is one of fluesheet's earlier designs based off of one of Stein's designs:


Some changes I would make would be to make warehouse 1 a non-railserved background flat, make the Rip track a diffrent industry, and make the track end on the left side, trains would be stages on the middle-right track, I would also make the layout a few inches deeper to allow for some scenery up front.

What makes this highly generic track plan the New Haven in New England in the transition era, and what makes you think you will *stay* interested in this one, compared to all the other track plans you have already started on?

Not trying to hound you - I am just trying to make you think about *what* your goal is, and *why* you want what you want.

Btw - if you just wanted a generic 8 foot by 14" (mostly) layout, at least fix the mistake I made with the runaround in the plan above - putting the runaround up against the industries and centering it instead of offsetting it to one side. Maybe something like this:



Smile,
Stein

[Justinmiller171]

I am not asking if you like it. You like a lot of different things. As do I, and lots of other people who like trains.

I am asking why you think it would be a *lot* more likely to *stay* interesting than your previous layouts.

I honestly don't know, I was just looking through some old books and saw a picture of a New Haven Alco and realized that I liked that better than most other things.

What makes this highly generic track plan the New Haven in New England in the transition era, and what makes you think you will *stay* interested in this one, compared to all the other track plans you have already started on?

Hmm.... well I figure I will inevitably will change my mind at some point as far as what I will want to model, so I think a generic track-plan would work good, It would take little more than a scenery change for it to go from New England to wherever.
I have always liked layouts where multiple railroads could run on one layout, such as Jon Grant's Sweethome Chicago layout.

[faraway]

...I was just looking through some old books and saw a picture of a New Haven Alco and realized that I liked that better than most other things....

Justin, that is not what I call an emotional relationship. Looks like there is none. That might be a goody. Just take your last track plan, build it and run a generic operation. It is your layout and you decide each day in your imagination what it is all about. Refrain from items that pin you down to much (like the old water tower or very slick concrete buildings) and you can run anything between 1945 and 1980.
But it might be you have an other passion? Do you really like to build a layout with your hands or do you like to plan and dream a layout in our imagination? My brother in law is planning and dreaming since 40 years of his layout. He got a house and gray hair in the meantime but no layout (and he works for the 1:1 railroad on a signal tower). May be you both share the same hobby hock:

[Justinmiller171]

. Just take your last track plan, build it and run a generic operation. It is your layout and you decide each day in your imagination what it is all about. Refrain from items that pin you down to much (like the old water tower or very slick concrete buildings) and you can run anything between 1945 and 1980.

That's what I am thinking, what I think was happening was that when I would pick one road I would end up seeing a good picture of another railroad and change my mind. Perhaps a generic track-plan would work better.

[shortliner]

Now we have got to the heart of the matter - Justin has no particular allegiance to any road or rail system - he just likes pictures and wants to run trains. I have the solution to his problem. I was in my local electronics store yesterday and saw the ideal thing, for both his college dorm layout and his home layout , that all fits in a small box. It is a PC CD called "Model Railroad Simulator" and he can build and change his layouts to his hearts content . Run it on a laptop and he has all the space he needs -I was tempted to buy it and send it to him!

(Slightly tongue in cheek - but only slightly!)
Jack

[Justinmiller171]

Now we have got to the heart of the matter - Justin has no particular allegiance to any road or rail system - he just likes pictures and wants to run trains. I have the solution to his problem. I was in my local electronics store yesterday and saw the ideal thing, for both his college dorm layout and his home layout , that all fits in a small box. It is a PC CD called "Model Railroad Simulator" and he can build and change his layouts to his hearts content . Run it on a laptop and he has all the space he needs -I was tempted to buy it and send it to him!

(Slightly tongue in cheek - but only slightly!)
Jack

I have "Trainz Model Railroad Simulator", it is quite easy to use, however I prefer to build layouts the old-fashioned way

[steinjr]

. Just take your last track plan, build it and run a generic operation. It is your layout and you decide each day in your imagination what it is all about. Refrain from items that pin you down to much (like the old water tower or very slick concrete buildings) and you can run anything between 1945 and 1980.

That's what I am thinking, what I think was happening was that when I would pick one road I would end up seeing a good picture of another railroad and change my mind. Perhaps a generic track-plan would work better.

Well, that is one way of doing it.

But then I would strongly suggest that you pick a different generic track plan than the last one you considered. Matt (fluesheet) can pull that one off because he is a builder and a most excellent detailer of track, more than a runner. But that track plan is pretty bad for switching. It also does not have the visual variation you wanted, and it has very little room for scenery.

Matt needed it to be very shallow because of space limitations. You can go deeper (without getting excessively deep), and create more variation, while still having a layout where you can swap out scenery and buildings and locomotives and rolling stock.

Smile,
Stein

[Brakie]

Justin,Here's a thought that been around for years..Build a generic switching layout and buy the locomotives and freight cars that fills your desires and use them as you see fit without worrying about the clash of eras-in other words just enjoy the hobby without limiting yourself to a certain road or time frame..

[Green_Elite_Cab]

My favorite part about this topic is that it spans two VERY long threads, with hardly any movement.


Anyways, Brakie is right. Just build a layout with warehouses.

Make sure its a branch off a mainline. Make sure one of the warehouses has a open loading dock or maybe a crane of some kind to justify flat cars or gondolas. Pick nice big buildings like George Roberts Printing, or that "Heritage Furniture" background building, and slap it on to the back ground. Make sure the horizon also has industrial buildings, since NO ONE will be able to tell where it is.

Pick the most generic trees you can find, and use that semi-dead industrial grass lawn type ground foam.

There, now you are done. You have now replicated nearly every industrial park from the 1930s to whatever has survived to the modern day. Little details aren't important. swap the automobiles if you want a time change. People's eyes will subconsciously fill in the rest.

You can run a BNSF GP38, and a Milwaukee MP15, a SP SW7, or a Pennsy 44 tonner, and NO ONE will question it. Everybody will probably love it.

[Ralph]

Actually that's a pretty good idea. You can build a layout that could fit several different railroads giving you freedom to start building sooner than later, and it can handle any changes in railroad preference you might make later. You can personalize it to your preferences with rolling stock and details such as billboards that reflect region and time period.
Ralph

[radivil]

Why bother settling on something?

Unless I missed something, you're not terminally ill or very old. When I was a teenager, I had a BN layout set in the Montana Rockies. For the last few years, I've been working on a freelance layout set in present day Pittsburgh. A breakup and a move took away my layout room so I'm sans layout right now. But when I have space again, its back to Pittsburgh.

But later in life, I'll probably entertain the idea of a steam era Pittsburgh. I might even make the scale jump and toy with an N scale Alexandria VA 70s/80s layout. The scale change is so I can give Potomac Yard some justice and for all the passenger trains. PIcasso didn't do Cubism his entire life.