Florida ISL - Ocala

[Brakie]

Larry,If I may interject a prototype operation thing here..

As a student brakeman I soon learn how we avoided any runaround moves if at all possible since these things takes time.

Heres why.

You got to unlock both switches,set at least 2 or more handbrakes(depending on train length)but,never less then two on a short local,close the air valves,uncouple and make your move,relock the switch,run around your train,couple up,connect air hoses,open air valves,release the handbrakes..Pull out.stop,close and lock the switch..

You will need to repeat the above steps after you finish the required switching work.

Better method.
Reverse move into the industrial lead and when finish switching the industries and upon reentering the main all that is left is to reverse move back to the yard or continue your run..

You will save around a hours time by eliminating the unneeded runaround.

[Mike Kieran]

Chris,

If you flip the layout and have the yard on the bottom of the plan, like you had on your Florida Highland, then you could have a drop down leaf on the end for some room to push the cars up the branch. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.p...-railroad/

[Mike Kieran]

Here's a rudimentary design:
   

[Mike Kieran]

The drop down leaf in the lower right corner is 30 inches long, that way the entire lead is 48 inches long. I would suggest scenery on the drop leaf to be about an inch above the rail head so that your engine and cars don't become part of an experiment on gravity.

[Brakie]

Mike,Sorry but,IMHO the original plan looks much better.

[Mike Kieran]

We can also add an engine house:
   

[Brakie]

Mike,I'll bite.

Why a enginehouse on a industrial lead?

A small short line would have no need for a engine house since the engine can be kept outside maybe even parked on a industry track so security can keep a eye it when they make their security clock rounds.

I knew of one such operation..The short line kept their engine near the dock and there was a security clock key on a metal post next to the engine..There was a small shed for bagged sand and a preheater cord.

That would make a Interesting detail for a small one horse short line..

[Mike Kieran]

I agree with you on that. I would have the engine and caboose/shoving platform on the curve by the yard.

I just put it in for an option (Chris may want to have more than one engine) as the line is a truncated branch line. I would store the 2 engines and caboose/shoving platform on the top yard track, but it may be CSX property, so storage may not be an option.

[jeznew]

I like what you have done with Chris's plan Mike, but rather than an engine house, perhaps have a couple of open air sidings/roads for engine and caboose storage - thats what i did on a previous layout, Lawley Street:


Lawleystreet.com

Jez

[Mike Kieran]

Another good idea. Like the Flats Industrial Railroad does. We could also put a small building on the end of the spur so that maintenance can be performed out of the inclement or hot weather.    

[Brakie]

Strictly food for thought.

My method would follow a small short line operation..I would simply park the caboose on the "main" and shorten the engine track so I could add the combination General offices/yard office.

I might add a small fuel storage tank and use a regular gas pump for fueling the engine with a small shed for sand,engine coolant etc...A backhoe would be needed to lift the bags of sand.

[Mike Kieran]

If we put a small Pikestuff engine house on the end of the engine storage track, we would have the offices with the engine storage facility.

[Brakie]

If we put a small Pikestuff engine house on the end of the engine storage track, we would have the offices with the engine storage facility.

Could do that or maybe have the crew room there and a stand alone office building much like BLMA yard office.

Small layouts like that can be a ton of fun to plan and operate as a "job".

Example..
Your crew signs in at 6 AM the conductor looks over the day's work while the engineer fires up the (say) Alco S4..

They proceed to the interchange track to pick up the inbound cars and they switch them into setout order.

They proceed to pick up the caboose and off they go..

Upon returning to the interchange they drop the caboose and proceed to place all the outbound cars on the interchange.

They then proceed to the engine house where they fuel and then shut off the S4 turn in their paper work, sign out and go home.

That should help the operational enjoyment and probably take a 1- 1 1/2 hours to do at scale speeds and allowing time for the conductor to do his ground work.

The more I think about it the first plan with the engine house is the better if operated like a small 3-5 mile short line-fun miles between interchange and end of track.
----------------------------------------

What on earth is a "fun" mile?

A "fun" mile is whatever the modeler wants it to be as long as it stays believable..

Example:

A single loop made by a train on a 4x8 foot layout can be a mile or as per your plan it can 3-5 miles or whatever the modeler decides.

[Mike Kieran]

EXACTLY!!! In fact, that's the operational plan that I envision for my Penvan Railroad. The only difference is that you can arrange the cars using the yard to make up your train. Operation doesn't have to be difficult. I added the engine house at the end of the storage track because of something that you said in another thread about maintaining equipment while exposed to the elements.

[fast car]

Larry,If I may interject a prototype operation thing here..

As a student brakeman I soon learn how we avoided any runaround moves if at all possible since these things takes time.

Heres why.

You got to unlock both switches,set at least 2 or more handbrakes(depending on train length)but,never less then two on a short local,close the air valves,uncouple and make your move,relock the switch,run around your train,couple up,connect air hoses,open air valves,release the handbrakes..Pull out.stop,close and lock the switch..

You will need to repeat the above steps after you finish the required switching work.

Better method.
Reverse move into the industrial lead and when finish switching the industries and upon reentering the main all that is left is to reverse move back to the yard or continue your run..

You will save around a hours time by eliminating the unneeded runaround.

Brakie,

Thank you for the lesson on switching. I don't claim to know much about it and any information helps. However, that being said, I have to agree with Chris that a runaround maybe located in the woods. Its obvious that Heritage Propane was once served by rail. The turnout that served this industry is in plain view. The rail that serves the scrap yard can be seen maybe twice through the trees and appears as a straight line. If you follow line to the west it matches the track that the scrap cars are occupying.

There is no reason not to believe that the track servicing the propane tank business, continues on into the woods and ties in to the scrap yard track under the tree canopy. After all, the track shown in the Google Mapping totally omits the turnout at Heritage Propane so it cant really be deemed reliable.

Switching industries to the west of the scrap yard would be a hassle in itself only because work would have to stop at the scrap yard while the partially filled scrap cars were pushed west with other cars. It might be feasible that a train delivering cars to industries west of the scrap dealer first grab on to the scrap cars and haul them into the trees, uncouple and then take the runaround to get ahead of the scrap cars and either leave them in the trees, or move them back to the scrap yard area. When heading back east with cars the train would once again take the runaround and then push them back to the scrap yard.

While this is all speculation, we don't know what happens under the tree canopy nor do we know what arrangements are made with the scrap yard owner about car movements.

As for the overall plan, I think its good. The problem that you and Mike point out concerning the exchange tracks deserves some thought. Not sure if #4 turnouts would give much more room to move more than two cars at a time. I would probably attempt to move the exchange tracks to the area nearest to the door if possible since you are entering the exchange tracks from the top of the layout. As for being prototypical, that ship sailed when an engine house was proposed with a flipped layout that Mike suggested. Flipping the plan makes the new layout look like the Central Florida layout that Chris already had.