Here I go again.
This one I am pleased with, but I fell it can be better. If you all would please look and give me your opinions, It would be appreciated.
Gauge is ho and all turnouts are #6. Solo operation. Curves are 22 or better. Table size is 24 ft on top and 20 ft down the side, 2 ft wide. I plan on running 10 car trains usually. The island is the 12 x 2 layout that I have in the house now. Boss said she likes it, so I need to keep it
Industries will be a mixture, mainly manufacturing. Three sidings can be change to passing tracks in case I find an RDC someday. Or, I might just use a couple little Overton coaches for a daily passenger run.
Any questions or comments are more then welcome.
Oh, and to save room, the staging track will be in the yard, I plan on removing the engine when it is not running.
The interchange will be for that area only, which will have its own switcher. I figure the yard switcher can take cars to the interchange as part of its duties.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
I like it. I'm not sure if there is a situation on the prototype where they would have a small branch line without a connection to the mainline with a small turntable at each end. If the interchange where the branch comes off the main is the island leg, and we are actually looking at 2 small branches off the main in two directions, then it would probably work better if the track going to and coming off the island leg is a wye allowing a train to go out and return from either direction. By the way, I'm probably giving you obvious information here, but a #3 wye turn out is the equivalent of a #6.
Russ, thank you. If I understand you right, you actually see the island as a branch, and the shorter as another branch, with the big table being the class 1.
Is that correct?
I never thought about that. I was just going to run a train from the yard to the far turntable, switching industries along the way, turning on the table, go back to the yard, again switching out cars along the way. The interchange was to be for the island complex only, have its own switcher, and the yard switcher would swap out the interchange.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
nomad Wrote:Russ, thank you. If I understand you right, you actually see the island as a branch, and the shorter as another branch, with the big table being the class 1.
Is that correct?
I never thought about that. I was just going to run a train from the yard to the far turntable, switching industries along the way, turning on the table, go back to the yard, again switching out cars along the way. The interchange was to be for the island complex only, have its own switcher, and the yard switcher would swap out the interchange.
Loren
Actually I see just the opposite. It doesn't make sense to have a turn table at each end of a branch with no interchange, or mainline for the branch to come off of. I was thinking that you might make the island leg in the middle the mainline connection. You then put a wye off the island leg to both ends of the "L" which are now two branch lines going off in opposite directions. I'm not sure if it will work or if it could be made believable.
Ok Russ, I see what your saying now. I had the track going both ways off the island but then changed it. Don't remember why. Didn't even need a wye. But, I think I would have to make the interchange bigger to supply all the industries, which wouldn't be hard to do. Sounds like I need to do some thinking.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
OK, just a quick idea. If I move the yard to the left where that double track industry is now, I could put an interchange and hidden staging where the yard is now, and put that wye coming out of the island. Then a through freight could come from staging, switch the interchange and other industries, but then I would need staging at the other end or could he turn at the turntable and come back? :?
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
well, after lots of thinking I have decided to leave the track plan as is. I ordered the track today, and tomorrow I plan on getting the lumber and plywood.
I was operating the layout today with XTRK Cad and had a ball, so hopefully the real thing will be just as much fun. Usually I get to involved and forget to take pictures, but I will try to remember this time.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
I'm still not sure about having a turn table at each end of a branch line, but it does look like it would be fun to operate on. I'm wondering about eliminating the turntable on the upper right corner. Do you have room to put another table crosswise at that end of the layout, possibly by removing that turn table and shortening the top two track in that yard. This table would only be about 3-4 feet long and would not need to be more than 1-2 feet wide. Then run a track across that end with a track coming off the "main" into the yard becoming your interchange? If you put a city right there, you might hide the ends of the main in an urban canyon.
Sorry Russ. I have expanded as far as I can. You wouldn't believe the money I spent on flowers just to get what I have.
The best I could do would be to eliminate the turntable and extend the track to the end of the table and try to hide the end some how. Dead end the track at a tunnel or hide it with a bunch of pine trees ? And then call the yard an interchange.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
nomad Wrote:Sorry Russ. I have expanded as far as I can. You wouldn't believe the money I spent on flowers just to get what I have.
The best I could do would be to eliminate the turntable and extend the track to the end of the table and try to hide the end some how. Dead end the track at a tunnel or hide it with a bunch of pine trees ? And then call the yard an interchange.
Loren
I think something like that would be workable. Focusing your operation on the branch would keep you very busy with all of those industrial sidings. Another possibility would be a car float at one end for an interchange. I don't remember what geographical area you are modeling. A car float on a cart could bring cassettes of cars on and off the layout. If your harbor was at the end of the peninsula, you could keep both turntables. If passenger service was by doodle bug, the turn tables could be used to turn the doodle bug as well as freight engines. Your interchange yard would then be the yard at the end of the peninsula. The cart could be pushed up to the end of the aisle between the left leg and the peninsula. If your location does not lend itself to a harbor, you could do a 2 foot by 4 foot "fiddle yard" on wheels that would align with the end of the peninsula. In effect, interchange would take place off the modeled portion of the layout. I think a wye at the end of the peninsula where it joins the main layout would be an asset for operation in either of those scenarios.
I like you ideas! The rolling fiddle yard sounds good. But let me get this straight.The way it sounds the yard could go away ( leaving the turntable ) and replace it with more industries ( or a town ) since it looks like that big yard is not needed. Correct?
And I do have a doodle bug or rdc in mind for later.
You know, I forgot to mention, I can use all the area out to the outside edge of the island.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
nomad Wrote:Here I go again.
This one I am pleased with, but I fell it can be better. If you all would please look and give me your opinions, It would be appreciated.
Gauge is ho and all turnouts are #6. Solo operation. Curves are 22 or better. Table size is 24 ft on top and 20 ft down the side, 2 ft wide. I plan on running 10 car trains usually. The island is the 12 x 2 layout that I have in the house now. Boss said she likes it, so I need to keep it
Industries will be a mixture, mainly manufacturing. Three sidings can be change to passing tracks in case I find an RDC someday. Or, I might just use a couple little Overton coaches for a daily passenger run.
Any questions or comments are more then welcome.
Oh, and to save room, the staging track will be in the yard, I plan on removing the engine when it is not running.
The interchange will be for that area only, which will have its own switcher. I figure the yard switcher can take cars to the interchange as part of its duties.
Loren
Here is a rough concept sketch showing one (of many) possible way(s) of fitting in a little staging on your layout - behind a low backdrop - shown in red in the drawing.
As you can see, with three or four hidden tracks, you can mentally label the two tracks that go through the backdrop as going to "other places" - e.g. "to the rest of the country via the class 1 RR" for trains that come from or go to the two hidden staging tracks along the left wall, or "to/from the mine branchline" for trains that go to or come from the hidden staging along the top wall.
Adding an interchange track with the class 1 on the modeled part of the layout allows a train from the class 1 to come onto the layout and drop off or pick up cars from your railroad, before heading back towards their own RR again. Or for you to take cars from your local industries and dropping them off at the staging track (or on one of the tracks in your yard), for the other RR to come pick them up to take them onwards to their (off layout) destination - maybe in Texas, or Maine or in Southern California or wherever.
In addition, you could do as Russ suggested - adding a carfloat somewhere on the edge of the modelled layout - so your railroad can receive cars from the mine branch or from somewhere else via the class 1, and send a couple of those cars on via the car float across the sea or across a lake.
nomad Wrote:I like you ideas! The rolling fiddle yard sounds good. But let me get this straight.The way it sounds the yard could go away ( leaving the turntable ) and replace it with more industries ( or a town ) since it looks like that big yard is not needed. Correct?
And I do have a doodle bug or rdc in mind for later.
You know, I forgot to mention, I can use all the area out to the outside edge of the island.
Loren
That is exactly what I am thinking. Is there extra "real estate" that you could temporarily encroach on when operating? I'm thinking that you could make that rolling fiddle yard a bit bigger if it is turned 90 degrees to the end of the island. As long as it is no wider than the space between the island and the leg on the left, it could easily be disconnected and rolled into that aisle to be out of the way when the railroad was not in use. It could even be a fully scenicked operational yard, that would be fastened to the layout with "C" clamps or other fasteners, and then unfastened for storage. If you extra rolling stock was stored elsewhere away from the layout, the car would be a handy way to transport rolling stock from the layout to storage or from storage to the layout.
No advice, here but a comment - I'm in the midst of designing my "big" layout and love seeing these discussions that involve switching. I have main line laid out, but get stuck on switching. Great ideas on this thread. The rolling fiddle yard is a little bit of brain candy.
Stein Jr, I like your ideas but it looks like I would have to crawl under if there was problems behind the backdrop. I am to decrepit for that kind of stuff now
But thanks for all the great ideas.
OK, everything seems to revolve around the island area. The island area is not written in stone. I can rebuild it if necessary. Just need buy more flowers. So, what if I put an interchange, yard or staging ( or all of them ) there? And industries or a city where the yard is now. And then wye the island like Russ suggest. The island can also be extended if necessary.
Fluesheet, I agree. This is turning into a very educating and interesting thread.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
or could he turn at the turntable and come back? :? 
![[Image: nomad2.jpg]](http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp124/steinjr_1965/nomad2.jpg)
