New track plan # 2

[Russ Bellinis]

Loren, if I understand your last post correctly, your wife wants the island layout to stay in the house, correct? You are building the new layout in a room in the garage, right? I would rejoice, it sounds like your wife has more than a passing interest in your hobby. I think I would start with a "clean sheet of paper" for the island. You can put your interchange track at the bottom of the island, or just put a yard at the end of the island to function as the point at which your mainline railroad drops off loads for the branch and picks up loads from the branch. I really think you should include a wye at the point where the island joins the "L". You may be afraid of wiring a wye, but If you don't put a wye in there, you may unintentionally create hidden reversing section that will really be difficult to find and fix.

[nomad]

Russ, you read everything right. Actually, I am glad to start over on the island part. I think that making it fit the rest of the plan was actually causing more problems.
I plan on leaving the class and storage yard on the bottom of the island and the interchange track where it is, I like that idea. All I really need to do is come up with some industry trackage for the rest of the island table.
I was really surprised by my wife though. I didn't think she had even bothered looking at it. Every time I asked here opinion on something I did, she said that's nice a walked away.
Ok, on the wye. Would that be wired like a conventional reverse loop?

Loren

[Russ Bellinis]

Russ, you read everything right. Actually, I am glad to start over on the island part. I think that making it fit the rest of the plan was actually causing more problems.
I plan on leaving the class and storage yard on the bottom of the island and the interchange track where it is, I like that idea. All I really need to do is come up with some industry trackage for the rest of the island table.
I was really surprised by my wife though. I didn't think she had even bothered looking at it. Every time I asked here opinion on something I did, she said that's nice a walked away.
Ok, on the wye. Would that be wired like a conventional reverse loop?

Loren

I think your wife is probably the "quiet" type at least concerning model railroading. She may not be all that interested in doing it herself, but it sounds like she is proud of the work you did on the layout or the result, and she may even see it as a piece of art.

[nomad]

Russ, I believe you are right. She likes doing craft stuff. Maybe I can get her involved in the scenery later.

Loren

[nomad]

Here is the next one. I know the yard is to big, but I can't help it. I have this thing about big yards
On this one, I could set up two interchanges. The south interchange coming into the runaround siding at the bottom of the yard, and the east interchange coming in from the top. But I am not sure this layout could handle two interchanges.
It is still ho and all turnouts are # 6. Min radius is 20 going into the sidings and the rest are 22 min.
So, what do you think of this one ?

Loren

[nomad]

I realized I would be trapped when I pulled into the east interchange, so I added a crossover.

Loren

[CandO7430]

Loren, I like the looks of this plan as well but I do have a few suggestions. This concerns the operation of the yard area. First off where you have the runaround siding on the south interchange I would add another turnout and extend the second track to the end of the benchwork just for extra capacity. Also now that you have a wye, I don't think you would really need the turntable at the end of the yard. You could remove the turntable and gain extra capacity in the yard. And trust me, you can never have too big of a rail yard. As an added bonus, it would make operation more interesting if the road power had to get clearance on the main to turn on the wye IMO. As far as the east interchange goes I think that you may want to eliminate the connection to the turntable and make this a hidden two track interchange/staging area like you had on an ealier version but leave in the crossover. Perhaps some building flats and trees could hide the interchange. I think that a train appearing or disappearing would help the illusion that a train actually goes somewhere off the layout to connect to an outside railroad.

I hope these suggestions help you in some way. Overall I like the looks of the plan, it certainly will keep you busy switching which seems to be what you want out of this new layout. Let me know if you have any questions about what I have written. Take care and good luck to you as you go forward.

[Russ Bellinis]

I agree about the turntable at the end of the leg in the center. With the wye, you can eliminate the turntable, and turn entire trains on the wye if need be. Are you planning on 3 yards or are the tracks connecting to the turntables at either end of the "L" industrys? Three yards would be too many for a small branch line.

[nomad]

Cando, good idea about the turntable, it will go away. I have the track running from the upper interchange to the turn table because I thought I would pull the interchange train in, drop the caboose, turn the engine, run around the train, then pick up the caboose and return to the yard. But if I remove that tt in the yard I would not need to do that.
I plan on hiding the interchange and staging tracks with the buildings to the three sidings and some pine trees.
Thank you for your help and if you see anything else please let me know.
Russ, I will have only one yard. The tracks I think your talking about, I am using the tt's as part of the runaround also. Any other tracks would just be industries.

I think this is the best one, so when the fine tuning is done, it will be built.

Loren

[nomad]

How's this ?

Loren

[ocalicreek]

It's interesting to watch the plans evolve but something has stuck in my craw from the beginning. Maybe I missed it, but what's the storyboard? These three yards don't seem all that far from each other to need entire trains heading out of the center yard onto either of the wings. It's like three vanilla yards, or at best, a neopolitan ice cream box with brown pink and white together.

Not to throw too big a wrench into the works, but how about this:

Your center peninsula, unless you put up a backdrop, is a great place to show off some 360 detailed structures, even small ones. So many times our model structures are 'missing' one or more walls, as they just are never visible. A peninsula is a chance to show a couple dynamite forefront structures, like an FSM diorama, (not necessarily era/style-wise, but detail & character-wise).

Let's add some operational challenge & interest by putting the leftmost wing a couple inches lower than the peninsula. Then put the right side wing even lower. Here's your chance to use a carfloat, if you're so inclined. I know you'd make Russ happy

Anyway, here's how it works. Get rid of the top and right legs of the wye. Leave only the track from the center to the left side and the upper right staging to the center. That upper staging can be hidden behind buildings or cliffs or trees or whatever. Keep the turntables on the Left side and center peninsula, lose the one on the right.

Stay with me, now. Trains come out of staging on the right, rolling down into the center yard. The staging is only slightly higher than the center yard. The road engine is cut off and sent to be serviced before the return trip back to staging. The yard goat goes to work breaking down the train and making up the switch job for the day. That engine is coupled on and runs its train over to the left yard, drifting down a slight grade.

At that yard lives a shay (or heisler or climax, you pick). The geared power is to get the cars down the steep grade to the dockside switching section on the right wing. The cars for that area are gathered and the engine backs them down the hill, passing under the tracks from staging. This can be accomplished by means of a deep cut and bridge for the staging track, or a short tunnel, etc. After the work is done, the shay is positioned on the downhill side of the train and shoves the cars back up to the left side.

What this acheives is mental distance between three zones. Your center section has one type of character, either a big city feel, a gritty yard, etc. It is higher than the other two, affording a good close look at those detailed structures, cars, locos, etc. All the neat loco servicing facilities, the storage track for the MOW equipment, that neat yard office made out of an old open platform combine, whatever.

The leftmost wing can have a different feeling. It can be a switching district in a not-so-nice part of town, or mebbe a little nicer on the edge of a suburb. With a signature industry back in the corner (even one not modeled but from which alot of traffic is generated...more on that below) that can flavor the area. Having a little single-stall engine shed for the geared power is a good opportunity for detail and interest.

The right side can be the docks or just another industrial area, but why not give it again, a third 'flavor', a little different from the rest. If that major industry is a lumber mill, then perhaps the finished lumber is shipped out by barge? If it's a gravel pit (modeled off stage by a short hidden track behind a hill) then a nice big rock bunker/crusher/cement plant, something, can be down in the lower yard on the right. Personally I like the dockside idea because I just like that waterfront look. But that's just me.

Traffic cannot go from the center yard or even staging into the right side area. Trains must first be processed in that peninsula yard before being sent out to the left side and on down to the right. Of course some traffic is destined for industries in each of the yards. Not all is through traffic, but to watch a loaded reefer come out of staging, get iced on the peninsula somewhere, then get expedited over to the left and quickly rolled downhill to the docks OR reverse it and let the cannery fill that reefer with fresh fish and you'd better hurry to get it back on the road up the hill before that goes bad! That's exciting, not just switching.

I'm nowhere near my sketching stuff up here, but gimme a week and I'll crank out a sample plan, if you'd like.

Galen

[nomad]

Galen, I would really appreciate any help and advice you can give. That would be great. There has been something about these track plans that has bothering me, maybe that's why I drew so many. Your ideas sound good, but I don't see me being able to afford a shay within the next century or two.
P.S. I will send you a p. m.

Loren

[ocalicreek]

Loren,

It doesn't have to be a shay, but depending on the grade it may limit train length. So you have to make two (or more) trips - double the operating time, double the fun, right?

A little docksider or small rod engine would work; Bachmann makes a nice one, as does Mantua. There's always the Varney classic 0-4-0T John Allen made so famous, if you can track one down on ebay. I was drooling over the Bachmann 45-tonner (with the neat side-rods) the other day at Tacoma Trains & Hobbies.

The other nice thing about this approach (or even the current plans) is that you can build this layout in stages, to get one operating then work on the others. Do scenery on one, a structure on another, trackwork, etc., you get the idea.

I was rereading my last post and I hope you don't think I was saying it was boring by calling the plans 'vanilla'. I mean to say that the yards seem technically 'correct'. That is, all the proper elements are there - drill track, arrival/departure tracks, runaround, turntable, etc. It can be hard to see a layout's character from a 2-D or even 3-D plan. But for me, that character is always a big part of the planning process. What story do you want this layout to tell?

Galen

[nomad]

Galen, not to worry. I knew the track plans need more work, but I am stuck in a rut. Everything I draw is the same. I am looking forward to your help and what you can do. Your ideas sound great.

Loren

[viperman]

Galen, not to worry. I knew the track plans need more work, but I am stuck in a rut. Everything I draw is the same. I am looking forward to your help and what you can do. Your ideas sound great.

Loren

Galen will come up with something for you, he did for me!