Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
- Mark
QUOTE: Originally posted by ereimer 1) LOL this is becoming the railroad that ate the basement ! 2) don't put the brick factory next to the clay mine , they probably wouldn't use a railroad if they were that close 3) 2x4 is very small for a yard , turntable and engine house . i suggest looking at manufacturers websites for the size of the turntable and engine house you're considering to see how much room they actually require . even better , if you've decided which ones you want to use , buy them and mock it up
QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse I've been studying your plan for a little while. I think the biggest improvement you can make is to add three passing sidings. If you were to ignore your bridges, you could put two of them in the long straights at the top. I said that as a point of reference. Now slide the bottom one to the right and around the corner. Slide the top one left around to the middle of the loop. The third could go to the right of the bottom loop and curve around the bottom. This will increase your operational abilities and give you runarounds for setting out in your industrial sidings. In addition, if a couple of your pards come over, you can set them up each with a train, two running one direction and the other going the other direction and have fun working your way around the track. Besides you can park your trains there. [swg] If I was really ambitious, I'd put a turnout on the top of the upper left loop and drop down through the hills, under the coal mine loop around under the town back around along the front of the layout, under the clay mine to a staging yard. I would enter from under the coal mine side and exit back up under the clay mine forming a reverse loop. You'll increase your operations significantly without a lot of work or floor space. Sounds like a lot of extra work, but remember there is no landscaping structures or scenery.
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
QUOTE: Originally posted by Adelie I don't think you will be able to add much of a yard in the 2x4 section. Engine servicing facilities, including the turntable and roundhouse could work, if they are placed right. However, using it as a dock or industrial area with some tight curves (the land that only switchers roam) might create some possibilities. Another thought is to switch the town and yard with the power plant and clay mining area. You could then move the back mainline track on the 16' side back a bit and fit a larger yard between the two mains, leaving room in the loop for the town. That may mean relocating the river slightly to one side or the other to free up space for the yard. Don't apologize for simplicity, Jarrell. I'm a fan of simple. It gives you more scenic possibilities, prevents you from cramming too much track into the plan than will fit in the real thing and usually winds up more reliable. I've got a huge space I'm building in N-scale, and I kept the plan reasonably simple to avoid 1) clutter and 2) creating a maintenance monster.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12 Chip, do you mean the passing sidings would be 'between' the two mains, or one on the upper and one on the lower outside? (up on the 16 foot section) I can't see where I'd have room to go to the outside of the loops with a siding but inside yes.
QUOTE: But.. I've never put a turnout on a curve... don't even know where to buy one. Are they more 'accident prone' when on curves or does it matter? Jarrell
QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse On the subject of staging. I was extremely lucky. My first space for building a model railroad changed and all my plans were no good. Why was I lucky? I didn't plan for staging. And the whole time I was thinking about my layout and running it, in the back of my mind I was thinking that it won't be long until this is boring. Going around the same old track, doing the same old things. To the casual observer, staging just isn't that important. Just a place to store trains. True, but it is the conceptual part of what staging represents that makes it important and changes a train set into a model railroad. Lets take a brewery as an example. Without a staging yard, you can pick beer up, and you can bring back empties. Just like the liquor store--it magically appears. But in the real world, the brewery needs hops, barley, preservatives, fuel, glass, aluminum, etc. etc. Without a stating yard where do these things come from? You could add a hops farm. But then where does the fertilizer come from for the hops. You just can't make an enclosed system that works like the real world. You have to suspend a lot of reality and give up a lot of operabilty. With a staging yard, the hops can come from somewhere else. The diesel fuel needed at the coal mine can come from somewhere else. The town's factories can be suppled raw materials from somewhere else. And all their goods can be shipped somewhere else. In other words, what you can do with your layout is expanded exponentially. Even if all you can do is get a track or two under your "low hills" you are opening up a world or possibilities. [soapbox]I'm done[soapbox]
QUOTE: Originally posted by selector Jarrell, I, too, saw immediately that you need a passing capability, a run-around if you will, and maybe you could effect that with a couple of cross-overs. Think about it, will you? I also agree that a yard***turntable/roundhouse complex will take up a chunk of space, but am less certain that you won't get it on your new space. Just to help you for planning purposes, my 90' table and three-stall house take up a space roughly 30" X 15", excluding the approaching track. If you elect to have a yard adjacent to that complex, then you'll need that much more room. Just a personal opinion, if I may. I feel that the symmetry imposed by the dual loops, one at each end of your layout, makes it look a bit contrived as opposed to a miniature railroad. Could you forego one end and make THAT area a sizeable yard and so on? If you do, you may free yourself to do many other things elsewhere.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12 [brRight now I'm just [%-)]and trying to sort it all out. Jarrell