Brakie Wrote:PGR has a unique operation at Lakeville..They have facing point switches with no runaround..

What to do?

They simply keep one SW1500 to handle these industries with facing point switches on the far end of their track the conductor takes over the engineer's job and the engineer becomes the conductor while switching the facing point industries...

I discussed making a layout based on this industry park a few years ago with Jim Hedinger (who wrote an article about the park in Model Railroader Magazine), and Joe Fehr, who works for PGR, both very nice and helpful gentlemen. There is quite a bit of information on the PGR in the LDSIG yahoo group discussions at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ldsig

Among other things, back then they did interchange with the CPR in an interesting way:

First the PGR pushed their outbound cars a couple of train lengths north on the main, tied them down there, and then ducked back into the industry park


The CPR train arrived northbound, pulling cars for the industry park, pulling past the switch to the Airlake park:


While the CPR moved their engine from the north end of the inbound cars to the south end of the outbound cars, the PGR engine grabbed inbound cars:


Jim Hedinger further described what happened like this: "About a third of the cars were left on Prorail's lead track, and rest were pulled as far east into the park as possible.

The Prorail crewman that made the cut on the lead track now became the engineer of the west-end switcher, and his partner became the ground man as they began distributing cuts of cars from the west end, moving things around into the longer spurs to free the east-end engine.

Then they went about sorting and delivering the inbound cars one cut at a time. As they went, they¹d group cars for delivery in the opposite direction so they didn¹t have to change engines very often. They also grouped the empties and set them into spurs that had already been switched."

Smile,
Stein

Cool - Barry must have posted his information (which is first hand, not second hand like mine) at the same time as I was writing my reply.

Can you tell us more about the WN, Barry?

Stein

Sorry, I wrote so much.

Barry
-------------------
Berry don't be sorry since that is a wealth of first hand experience that could be a valuable lesson in operating a ISL...

Thanks for sharing for your experience with us..

I'm going to start building soon so here is "The Plan":

Looks good.

Very minor nitpick - decrease the capacity of your transload track from 4 to 3 and relocate the unloading shed one car length down (so all cars actually can be spotted in the unloading location).

Smile,
Stein

I think before I actually start to permanently lay down any track I should first get Lance Mindheim's book "How to build a switching layout". Your thoughts?

Justinmiller171 Wrote:I think before I actually start to permanently lay down any track I should first get Lance Mindheim's book "How to build a switching layout". Your thoughts?

Lance's book "How to Build a Switching Layout" is not exactly a step by step book on building the "Palmetto Spur" layout that he uses as the example in this book, but more of a collection of the methods he uses to construct layouts. It covers bench work, track laying, wiring and methods he uses for scenery construction and structure weathering. But also keep in mind that many of the tips and methods he uses can also be found on his web sites (see the Tip of the Month section on shelflayouts.com for many examples). Following some or all of his tips and methods should result in a nice smooth running layout.

Wouldn't hurt to also get his book "How to Design a Small Switching Layout" as it has some really good, though provoking chapters and covers things that you don't find in other layout design books.

I'd recommend both of these books for any one just starting to build that first layout.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:I think before I actually start to permanently lay down any track I should first get Lance Mindheim's book "How to build a switching layout". Your thoughts?

My standard answer would be "yes" but in your case and honoring your constrains I recommend to read his entire web page with all it's hints and tips. The photos and videos should be analyzed carefully. The books have not so much additional information if you take the time and read his web pages carefully. Don't miss the blogs. They are also full of his thoughts.

faraway Wrote:My standard answer would be "yes" but in your case and honoring your constrains I recommend to read his entire web page with all it's hints and tips. The photos and videos should be analyzed carefully. The books have not so much additional information if you take the time and read his web pages carefully. Don't miss the blogs. They are also full of his thoughts.

Reinhard said it much better than I did! Where I only suggested looking at Lance's web sites, I focused mainly on the content value of the book(s) and failed to take in to consideration the constraints you're faced with at this time. The money spent on one or both of those books ($30-$50) would be better spent on purchasing some materials that you need rather than on a book or two. Spending the time to look over Lance's web sites will in fact yield as much or more information than in the books, i.e.; tips on track laying, wiring, etc.

As Reinhard said, be sure to look through the blogs that Lance has posted. Among others, be sure and read the March 13, 2011, entry: "Capturing the Essence of Industrial Switching Operations". That one in itself will give you good feeling for how you'd operate your forthcoming layout.

Thanks guys!

Ed, I bought Lance's book on layout design awhile ago due to a recommendation by Stein, That was back when I was on Trainboard and I had grand Ideas about room-filling layouts with tons of turnouts and track covering almost all of the benchwork, Stein was able to convert me to the land of minimalist layout design.

Now, my next question is what should I get first? Track? Foam? Backdrop?
My idea is to get two turnouts and construct a small test layout using the upper right portion of the layout. This would allow me to do some switching while I accumulate the foam and the rest of the track.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:Now, my next question is what should I get first? Track? Foam? Backdrop?
My idea is to get two turnouts and construct a small test layout using the upper right portion of the layout. This would allow me to do some switching while I accumulate the foam and the rest of the track.

Well, I'd say get enough track to do what you're thinking about right now. Two turnouts and 5 or 6 sections of flex track should do the job nicely. Being able to do a little switching and keep your interests up while you acquire your other materials might be just the thing.

If you can find the foam, go ahead and get it and laminate it to your HCD's. Then you can temporarily pin the track down to that and move it around some if needed.

If you can't find the foam, then you can put the track down directly on the HCD using just little spots of white glue here and there - just enough to hold the track in place - say a spot every 5 or 6 ties. White glue will not actually bond with the plastic ties so you'll be able to pop it loose or use Lance's method of soaking the glued areas with an alcohol/water mixture. See Lance's tip pages regarding gluing the track down.

At least being able to do a little switching and getting the feel for prototypical operations should keep you inspired to continue on with whatever plan you decide to do.

Stein,With Berry's very informative reply base on his first hand experience and with your added information IMHO that would make a very interesting DCC operation on a larger ISL.

The PGR story was probably one of the better "A Railroad You Can Model" articles.

Just noticed that this thread has more views than Gary's layout thread hock:

Looks like this thread has outlived it's usefulness, I will probably start a new new one in a few days.

Justinmiller171 Wrote:Just noticed that this thread has more views than Gary's layout thread hock:

Looks like this thread has outlived it's usefulness, I will probably start a new new one in a few days.

I suggest you start your new thread with a photo of at least a turnout and three flex track on a bare piece of wood. That would be a dramatic shift from software to hardware...

I set up a mockup of the upper right portion of the layout, I tried operating it and I don't really know if I like it, I will try some different arraignments later.

I did come up with an Idea for a railroad: