Damn Justin!!! You beat me to it... I was hoping to get my shelf up and track down last weekend.... WELL DONE!!!!!

How about a bunch of pics??

I will be posting pics tomorrow, I need to straighten up the layout area before I can take any pictures.

In the meantime I drew a map of the layout, I tried to make it look like the the maps that I have seen of various short-lines.

Red lines are SVT(Sacramento Valley Terminal) trackage

FCIN Wrote:Option 1 - Option 2

Great stuff, Sir. Thanks for the nice explanation which not only helps Justin, but many of the rest of us I'm sure.

I am pretty sure I am going to operate the layout using Ed's Option 1. I think it will allow for more operation.

Within the next few days I will be going to the hobby store to pick up a few pieces of flex-track and some insulated rail-joiners so I can finish wiring up the layout. Once I get the layout up and running I will be sure to take some pictures.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:I am pretty sure I am going to operate the layout using Ed's Option 1. I think it will allow for more operation.

Looking at your plan again, I think that the Option 1 I outlined might well be the more interesting way to operate it. Either way would be great. Have even got myself thinking about revising my track plan a little so that it could be operated as a separate company too!

Take your time with the track laying and wiring. Test things as you go along and be very sure you don't get any wires crossed. A couple of hours of careful work and you'll be up and running!

I have got all track laid and most of the layout wired!

But unfortunately I am having problems with the turnout leading to the interchange track, Here is how I have it wired currently:


The green and red dots are feeder wires, I have them set up to a switch so I can turn them on and off, The left feeder wires are fine, but the right ones cause a short-circuit, even when I cut power to the rest of the layout.

I think I fixed it!

It turns out I Literally "Had my wires crossed", Just for the heck of it, I tried swapping the polarity of the feeder wires on the part of the switch that was giving me trouble and surprisingly it worked!

I still don't know why it worked, but I not complaining, at least it works.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:I have got all track laid and most of the layout wired!

But unfortunately I am having problems with the turnout leading to the interchange track, Here is how I have it wired currently:


The green and red dots are feeder wires, I have them set up to a switch so I can turn them on and off, The left feeder wires are fine, but the right ones cause a short-circuit, even when I cut power to the rest of the layout.

Hi Justin

I'm glad to read that you seem to have sorted it now.

I'm not the most experienced in these matters, and I'm sure somebody will soon correct me, however, I believe that ALL points should be fed from the 'toe' end.
If your using 'insulated' crossings, additional feeds at the points you've marked are fine without the use of a switch - proviso: I know diddly squat about the new fangled DCC stuff so perhaps they might be required in this case!!
If you're using 'electro' frogs, then gaps are required in both rails just ahead of the 'knuckles' and in the rail forming part of the vee in the diverging direction. I'm aware that this is the way they're wired anyway for DCC so this should be okay.

Regarding polarity - if the problem returns, try a DPDT switch .........what do I know

Regards,

Jonte

I presume you've insulated the frog rails only....If so, the placement of the wires is OK. If you've insulated all four rails, the tail end of that spur will require jumpers to it...
I wouldn't put an on-off switch to these leads as they seem to power the whole layout. I would use a SPST switch on the spurs to the industries so they can be shut down and have locos parked there without having them powered-up all the time. Even better...On those dead-end spurs, you can skip the insulators on the tracks leading to them, so they will only be powered-up when the turnout is thrown for them...You have an on-off switch built right into the turnout...

Alright the layout is wired correctly!

After operating it for awhile I have decided to change the plan a bit:


I have moved the interchange track to the West end of the layout, and replaced it with a track leading to a steel mill that has its own switch engine. This makes the layout looks like it has more importance, as it now has two interchange tracks.

I don't know much about steel mill operations, but I am guessing it receives special steel mill cars, as well as Hoppers? And sends out Gondolas with steel, and maybe steel coil cars?

Even if I don't go with a steel mill, this off-stage industry could be almost any self-switched industry, It could be an auto maker, a large paper mill, or another short-line.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:Alright the layout is wired correctly!

After operating it for awhile I have decided to change the plan a bit ...

I don't know much about steel mill operations, but I am guessing it receives special steel mill cars, as well as Hoppers? And sends out Gondolas with steel, and maybe steel coil cars?

Very pleased to hear that you have the layout wired and can operate it some. Good way to find out what might need to be changed or as your case, deciding to change it a little for a slightly different theme. Going through the same thing myself.

No steel mill expert here by any means, but depending on what the mill is producing, they'd probably get coil cars, gons and flats and hoppers of coke. Any special steel mill cars would most likely be captive and never leave the plant.

A K Steel, Hamilton, OH, http://www.aksteel.com/production_facili...etown.aspx
[Map view http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qkh3qc7...ORM=LMLTCC]

I believe that the mill is served by both CSX and NS and AK Steel has its own fleet of SW1001's - 1500's, which you can see by looking around the area. NS runs a daily unit train of coil steel from that plant to Rockport, IN. Looking at the aerial view, you might see what sort of cars are on hand there.

Anyway, good going and have fun!

A couple of updates: I decided to change the Steel Mill into an Auto Plant since it fits my railroad's location better, I also decided to change the Railroad's name to the North Highlands Industrial Railroad. This way if I get bored with having the layout set in California I can easily Change location.

I also made a short history of the Railroad:

North Highlands Industrial Railroad
The North Highlands Industrial Railroad operates a short segment of track that was abandoned by Union Pacific after their takeover of Western Pacific. The NHIR is owned and managed by the parent company Patriot Rail Corp.

The NHIR has interchanges with both the Southern Pacific Railroad and a self-served Ford Auto plant. The NHIR also serves Consolidated Container, and has Trans-load and Repair Services avaliable.

Cool to see you're going forward Justin! Now enjoy it, and share some pics with us from time to time :-)

Koos

Final Track-Plan



The NHIR Serves two major industries, The Consolidated Container Company, and a Self-Switched Auto Plan.

Consolidated Container has two tracks, one for receiving paper and Starch. and one for loading scrap cardboard. The scrap cardboard is loaded onto boxcars from a platform across the street from the main building.

The Auto Plant has it's own GE 70-ton for switching the plant, the interchange a variety of products with the NHIR, Auto carriers, Plastic pellet hoppers, Auto-parts, and other materials are exchanged.

The trans-load track serves a few local industries including a lumber dealer, a food processor, and a propane dealer.


I will try and post some pictures in a couple of days, once I clean the layout up a bit.

Hey Justin,

How are things progressing, don't lose momentum!!?? There are so many helpful guys here and they all make it so much better to model... I think if it was not for this forum I would never have actually gotten started!!! Nothing like some helpful advise....

Callum