06-09-2010, 12:16 PM
Hi guys,
I started looking at my Steel Mill Trackplan I made a while back. I made the plan to fit into a one car garage, 10x20' or half of a 2-car garage. This plan is just for the future, and I will not be building this layout anytime soon. Just one of those that I was bored and I got to making a plan for the future when I have a house of my own. The door placement is obviously going to vary, and I have only placed it where it is on the plan to show where a door might be... In a 2-car garage, there would be no door and just liftouts
This layout consists of 3 decks, the top deck being at eye level (62-64" from the floor; yes im a pretty short guy LOL). This should make it pretty realistic, seeing as how the Blast Furnaces are on the top deck, and they are very tall and large in size... Looking them dead on from the eyes of the workers should give you a scaled perspective at just how large a steel plant is and just how massive some of these structures are.
The middle level will be at 40-42", so about 20" below the top deck which should be plenty of room to not only work on the deck but to also have enough "sky" room and provide enough of a valance to conceal some lights for the middle level.
The lower level will be very low to the ground, around 20" off the floor. I still have not decided if I would want to this third level, but there is no way to go any higher with it. Right now I have a workbench that is 26" off the ground, I can sit at it and work comfortably, so 6" lower would not work and I would have to sit on my knees while working on the lower level. While I wouldnt necessarily mind doing that, it might be rather difficult to see without sitting down on a chair and looking down onto the lower level. The Lower level is just basically an Iron Ore Mine with 2 large Open Pit Mines and a one MASSIVE Single-Sided Ore Dock. Ill have to do some thinking about the lower level. I REALLY want to model the mine and Ore Dock, so that is the only reason I still have the lower level right now. I might do some revising to the lower level and make it smaller and more compact, Maybe try and get it down to a single wall instead of a full lower level...
Now to my questions....
I want to connect all 3 levels so a train can run between them. I had originally designed this plan so that all 3 levels were separated and a train could not run on all 3 decks. I was originally fine with that, but now im thinking that it would be nice to move the cars throughout the decks to different buildings and yards so that they are not restricted to just one deck without me physically picking them up and moving them to a different deck.
A helix is pretty much out of the question I think, and if I did do a helix, I would want a minimum radius of 26" which takes up ALOT of space and I would have reach issues in the corner the helix is in. I am thinking that a single track hidden behind a backdrop that could run up the 20"s between the decks would work. I would have to make access hatches every so often in case a derailment occurred inside...
Now im not good with math and calculations, so what kinda grade should i do if i need to travel up 20-22" between decks? I dont want a steep grade, and it doesnt really matter how long it takes to travel up 20-22", there is about 60' if need be to go up that to the next deck....
Any help, questions, comments, concerns are appreciated
BTW, sorry for the large pictures, it usually doesnt go off the page and usually just puts the picture in a scroll box, but it seems like every once in a while they do go way off the page LOL
I started looking at my Steel Mill Trackplan I made a while back. I made the plan to fit into a one car garage, 10x20' or half of a 2-car garage. This plan is just for the future, and I will not be building this layout anytime soon. Just one of those that I was bored and I got to making a plan for the future when I have a house of my own. The door placement is obviously going to vary, and I have only placed it where it is on the plan to show where a door might be... In a 2-car garage, there would be no door and just liftouts
This layout consists of 3 decks, the top deck being at eye level (62-64" from the floor; yes im a pretty short guy LOL). This should make it pretty realistic, seeing as how the Blast Furnaces are on the top deck, and they are very tall and large in size... Looking them dead on from the eyes of the workers should give you a scaled perspective at just how large a steel plant is and just how massive some of these structures are.
The middle level will be at 40-42", so about 20" below the top deck which should be plenty of room to not only work on the deck but to also have enough "sky" room and provide enough of a valance to conceal some lights for the middle level.
The lower level will be very low to the ground, around 20" off the floor. I still have not decided if I would want to this third level, but there is no way to go any higher with it. Right now I have a workbench that is 26" off the ground, I can sit at it and work comfortably, so 6" lower would not work and I would have to sit on my knees while working on the lower level. While I wouldnt necessarily mind doing that, it might be rather difficult to see without sitting down on a chair and looking down onto the lower level. The Lower level is just basically an Iron Ore Mine with 2 large Open Pit Mines and a one MASSIVE Single-Sided Ore Dock. Ill have to do some thinking about the lower level. I REALLY want to model the mine and Ore Dock, so that is the only reason I still have the lower level right now. I might do some revising to the lower level and make it smaller and more compact, Maybe try and get it down to a single wall instead of a full lower level...
Now to my questions....
I want to connect all 3 levels so a train can run between them. I had originally designed this plan so that all 3 levels were separated and a train could not run on all 3 decks. I was originally fine with that, but now im thinking that it would be nice to move the cars throughout the decks to different buildings and yards so that they are not restricted to just one deck without me physically picking them up and moving them to a different deck.
A helix is pretty much out of the question I think, and if I did do a helix, I would want a minimum radius of 26" which takes up ALOT of space and I would have reach issues in the corner the helix is in. I am thinking that a single track hidden behind a backdrop that could run up the 20"s between the decks would work. I would have to make access hatches every so often in case a derailment occurred inside...
Now im not good with math and calculations, so what kinda grade should i do if i need to travel up 20-22" between decks? I dont want a steep grade, and it doesnt really matter how long it takes to travel up 20-22", there is about 60' if need be to go up that to the next deck....
Any help, questions, comments, concerns are appreciated
BTW, sorry for the large pictures, it usually doesnt go off the page and usually just puts the picture in a scroll box, but it seems like every once in a while they do go way off the page LOL