my new track plan
#16
nomad Wrote:Ok Stein, here's more.

combination of rural area with trestles across rivers, passenger traffic with Budd RDC (Rail Diesel Cars) and local switching with maximum car length 40 scale feet may indicate something like "branchline somewhere in Washington State or Oregon sometime between 1940 and 1960s or so" ?

That hits it right there !

Defiantly smallish towns, if I interchange with a class 1 I would pick the Union Pacific. I have never been interested in waterfront scenes, but like the idea of cold storage and icing platforms, maybe livestock handling? And as I mentioned earlier, I like switching industries. Not big ones where you set out and pick up 10 cars at a time, but many 1 or 2 car industries so you do a lot of setting out and picking up along the line.

Loren

Hmmmm - I am thinking maybe something a little similar to the Walla Walla Valley RR - modelled very convincingly by e.g. Blair Kooistra - he has a very neat web site - he models the UP and the WWV ca 1960 or so.

Might provide some inspiration for the Nomad Valley RR: http://www.wwvrailway.com/

Smile,
Stein
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#17
Hi Lynn.
Your right. My computer desktop is full of pictures and track plans I have found on the internet. I have quite a few pictures from your thread Big Grin . I was going to print up my favorites and see what I came up with, and then the printer crashed and burned, so now I am waiting to get a new printer. Sad
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
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#18
nomad Wrote:Hi Lynn.
Your right. My computer desktop is full of pictures and track plans I have found on the internet. I have quite a few pictures from your thread Big Grin . I was going to print up my favorites and see what I came up with, and then the printer crashed and burned, so now I am waiting to get a new printer. Sad
I'm so glad I was right after betting my life Icon_lol How are you with photoshop I've often put several pictures together , resized of course for correct perspective to get an idea , I did this just recently for my new hill area. I think this is often what takes me so long to move forward. You want to check out something else , this is my buddies layout <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dougcoffey.com/html/port_thunder.html">http://www.dougcoffey.com/html/port_thunder.html</a><!-- m --> he has quite a bit of operation as well as scenery.
Lynn

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Great White North
Ontario,Canada
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#19
Thanks for the link. Great layout !

Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
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#20
Stein, I have looked at those track plans many times, but never really looked at them, I guess. There are some good ideas there that I can try to use.
Thanks.

Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
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#21
Loren, I have read through this thread to this point, and you may have moved beyond the plan you posted at the very beginning, but it would appear that your original plan was to have the turn back curve in the lower left corner a grade transitioning between the lower level and the upper level, is that right? I'm also thinking that the yellow line that appears to be some sort of divider is actually marking the edge of the upper level bench work, is that correct? If I am right so far, you will need to start your climb just past the switch going into the turn back curve at the bottom. Because of all of the switching on the upper level, you will need to complete your climb before the first switch on the lower left corner of the top and level out so that your switches and sidings will be on level tracks, correct? Doing some very rough calculations, with the emphasis on "very rough", I come up with a distance of approximately 168 inches of run to gain 7 inches elevation. You will also need to transition into and out of the grade to keep trains from uncoupling at the top or bottom of the grade. Those transitions will take away some of the linear run you would have available for the actual climb. I get a 4.16% grade by dividing 168 into 7. I'm not sure how much space to allow for the transitions, but I suspect you are looking at needing somewhere around a 4.5% or even a 5% grade to get the full 7 inches. If you move the crossover track from the main to the sidings on the beginning of the upper level from where it is shown coming right out of the curve to a spot between the trailing & facing point switches at about the 8 foot mark (I think, it is so light it is hard to read the foot marks on the bottom and side) then you can continue the climb to just before that switch. I think that would give you an additional 60 inches to gain elevation and reduce the grade. That would shorten the run around track, but I'm not sure you need one that long if you are aiming to operate a branch line in Washington or Oregon.

Another option for your layout instead of an interchange track would be to simply change what railroad you are modeling by changing locomotives and cabooses. Any bridges or structures that would have the railroad's name could be either so heavily weathered that the name/logo is invisible, or simply left off. If you do enough detail on the scenes to distract the eye, probably no one would notice that a station had the name of a town on it, but no railroad logo.
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#22
Hi Russ, thanks for the reply.
You are right on all points. I also rechecked the grade and it comes out at 3.5%. The curve from turnout to turnout measures 243 inches.
I have sweet talked the wife into a little more room, so I am redrawing my track plan. I should be able to re post today or tomorrow.

Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
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#23
nomad Wrote:Hi Russ, thanks for the reply.
You are right on all points. I also rechecked the grade and it comes out at 3.5%. The curve from turnout to turnout measures 243 inches.
I have sweet talked the wife into a little more room, so I am redrawing my track plan. I should be able to re post today or tomorrow.

Loren
Amazing what we'll do for just a couple more feet. Icon_lol
Lynn

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Great White North
Ontario,Canada
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