Along the idea of expanding operations, I thought about the available space I have, and how easy it would be, once I get the layout up to it's full viewing height of about 56" by adding in longer legs, I could add in a second, lower level of the layout, almost doubling the mainline run and giving trains to and from the interchange yard down the main line something to do.

It would take very little effort to do and I see nothing but benefits to doing it. It will allow me to progress the layout to a much larger scale in the future and add opportunity to get some true Louisiana scenery in there.

As it stands, the track plan for the layout I am currently building is this:



The idea is to add in an addition switch on the mainline beside where 16 is on the plan, and have a new route on a descending run down the board edge and across the duck under where the bayou is between 15 and 9 on the existing plan. It would then run around the whole length of the layout again into a storage yard underneath Planters Rice and Farmers Favourite at 13, 14 and 15.

I mocked up a quick sketch of the plan, you can see it below:



With this in mind, I can truly start looking into operations for the layout, now I know what traffic will come in and out of the hidden staging loop at the top of the original plan. To begin with, until the bottom level is in place, the main line will simply allow me to have continuous running should I want to just sit back and run trains.

The original plan has always been to operate the shortline from the KCS interchange yard down to Planters Rice and back again as the main level of operation interest, but once the lower level is in place too, it will allow for full, interesting operating sessions representing traffic from Shreveport to my fictional Nachitoches Interchange yard and back again.

Additionally, with the Mansfield branch to the power plant set up the way it is in the proposed lower level plan, coal trains from the Shreveport storage will have to come into Natchitoches yard to allow the power to run around the train and take it back down the main to the power plant. This will of course represent Northbound traffic from the south of Nachitoches, which I cannot represent in the plan as the interchange yard obviously stops at the highway overpass at 11 on the trackplan.

The idea of the "real" railroad is that the interchange yard continues beyond the highway overpass to the south to Alexandria and beyond.

So coal trains to and from Mansfield would likely be the first and last train of any operating session, with empties coming from Mansfield and stopping in Nachitoches, fulls coming from Shreveport to Natchitoches, and then ending the session with the fulls going down the Mansfield branch, and the empties returning to Shreveport.

That way at the end of a session I can swap the fulls at Mansfield for the empties in Shreveport storage ready for the next session to begin.

I am hoping the below will help better explain the idea of the downward gradient into the lower level:

Firstly, here is the top level track plan with the red line added in to represent where the switch with the gradient line will be located:



Next is a cross section of the proposed layout including the lower level, so it will show an idea of how the gradient will work: The clearance between the top deck and the lower deck at the end of the duck under only needs to be enough to allow for a loaded double stack well car to fit through. Black on the image represents track, the rest is pretty self explanatory I hope:



Finally, here is a photograph of the boards for the top level (minus a layer of pink foam which they will have when the scenery begins) with a red line drawn on to show where the descending line will be. More than likely there will be a backscene along the board here which the descending gradient will be hidden behind on a small shelf.



The lower level scenic section will be a slowly descending grade pretty much all the way around on the main line, and with a steeper grade on the Mansfield power plant branch line, as it will only ever see about 8-10 car coalporter trains taken down it as that's about all I have room for in the storage yard.

Have you figured out what percentage the grade will be?

Not yet, but it shouldn't be a problem. If it would work out at too sharp a gradient then I will simply start the gradient on the rear track of the hidden siding at the back of the top level.

That will give the gradient an extra 10 feet of run.

danielb Wrote:This afternoon I've been reading up on waybill and car card systems for the layout, and I can see that there's a lot of potential traffic for my layout. So I've put together a list of car types that the various locations will need. But now what to do with this information?!....

There are a number of options. I don't know if you have seen this article but it outlines some of the more common approaches. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gatewaynmra.org/2004/essence-of-model-railroad-operations/">http://www.gatewaynmra.org/2004/essence ... perations/</a><!-- m -->

I use a modified simpler system than some modelers that I describe in this video. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2qKciGRDk&list=UUs9oXYr6sKYwwpI4dqfn5bA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2qKci ... pI4dqfn5bA</a><!-- m -->


Ralph

Thanks Ralph, I'll have a read through those in a quiet moment here.

I had a go at mocking up the gradient to the lower level on SCARM today (the great thing about having the administrator password for our corporate network - can install whatever I want on my PC! ) and from the looks of things I have the space available, if I start the gradient on the opposite side of the layout instead of my initial idea for placement, I should be able to get a difference between the lower level staging and upper level staging of 10".

That should give me about 7" of scenic height to work with for the lower level. More than enough, considering it is only going to have trees and bayou on it.

The gradient required is around 2.7%, however SCARM seems to think that this is absolutely fine for the run I have for the gradient track, so I am not too worried. I will be test running everything before any track gets stuck down permanently anyway, so I should be fine.



I've ordered a new power drill with speed settings on it such that it can be used as an electric screwdriver too, and it comes with 120 different bits with it, including screwdriver bits, so once that arrives at the end of the week I should be able to get started on the benchwork.

The idea is to cut some shipping pallets in half down the center and reinforce them with screws and wood to form a solid frame for the layout which will increase it's height from the floor.

I have a couple of cheap computer desks I currently use as the benchwork for the layout in it's present form, these will be sandwiched between the cut down pallets to make a solid frame for about a 6' run. The present layout will be placed on top, with a shelf added 10 inches below the bottom of the baseboard to form the base for the lower level. Below that, the two desks will form a workbench and a temporary rolling stock storage space, respectively.

A sketch of what I plan to do:


Once this is done I will continue to add cut down pallets to either end to form the framework for the layout extensions to both levels until the full circuit is complete, upon which point I will start work on the gradient linking the two together.

Today I've been working on a new section to replace where the fiddle yard cassettes used to go, which will also be removable for if the layout needs to be exhibited in it's present form.

It is the start of the street running section as shown on the upper right corner of the plan. The surface is made in the same way as the removable section which contains the scrap yard and team track. Hopefully this will give an idea of what it will look like when done.

Track is placed on the new module and the base for the road and sidewalk has been glued down.

Tomorrow I'll be working on the buildings.

My new power drill turned up today, giving me everything I need to push on with the benchwork.

Tonight I had 30 mins, so I cut up the pallets I have and mocked up the idea I've had for the cheap and cheerful double deck layout.

This should give you an idea of what I am trying to achieve.

Between each of the two upright sections of pallet I intend to have a desk, with the pallets screwed securely into the desks to form a sturdy frame.

What's handy is that, when the two offcuts of the pallets are stacked on top of each other to form the shelf for the lower level and the support for the upper level, from top of the bottom level to top of the top level is exactly 10" - the exact distance I have calculated for the space between levels that my full gradient run can support!

This should reduce the amount of modifications I will need to make to the pallets to suit my purposes. More to come as things develop.

One last thing - these are just placed atop each other, with no fixings at all yet. Just to make it clear!

Very small update for now - I've been working on getting the warehouse up to scratch though granted for now it is VERY rough.

Hopefully I can neaten it up as I go.

Another hour of work completed today on the warehouse. It's getting there. Slowly but surely.

Today's progress:

Slow but steady progress.

I like the unusual shape of the building. What did you use for windows?

The windows were stock images included in Model Builder.

Great software for making your own buildings.