Table is 36" x 81". Will add a second identical table later.
Particulars:
Steam era (no particular dates)
No town, just an old highway through countryside "between towns".
At least one farm on the hills or flats at the base of a mountain.
One industry with appropriate siding tracks for a slaughter house & meat packing plant.
The abillity to run two trains continuously if at all possible. (upper & lower track lines)
OK, this all sounds doable, right? Now for the Challenge: This layout needs to include the tressel pictured below.
26" long x 10 1/4" high, base is 17"
Because of the size of this tressel, two track levels is going to be the only way to go. You can see why I am having trouble with this. The second table "could" contain a helix to bring the upper level track down to the base level main-line(s), so keep this in mind if it helps.
Thoughts and help with working up a track plan will be GREATLY appreciated. I've been getting nowhere on this so far. Thanks for any help. Rob
N scale? Door?
If you want two separate levels you can, but that limits your siding/industries. You can use the trestle by dropping the benchwork as oppied to making a mountain.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Rob, if you use a helix will it be on the end of the door, or are you confined to not exceeding the door space? Do you have enough room to add another door to make a "L" or "T" shaped layout?
Lee
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
As i said in your other post on Trains.com, there is no clearance under the bridge to put another rail line so you don't need multiple levels, you only have to have them if you want to. And then nothing says the other line has to be ALL the way at the bottom. the two levels can be separated by 2" or 12" your choice on how difficult you want to make it.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Lee, a helix would be on the second door. As for the two doors/tables, an "L" is what I forsee.
Dave V., I suspect you are thinking along the lines of a point-to-point/operations type layout? What I am actually looking to do is create a layout with only minimal hands-on (at the slaughter house & meat packing facility) with the option to watch trains run. Hope this helps clarify the basic idea?
As for the bridge, perhaps a box canyon? I don't really know how to work it in. If I built a lower section of table to place between the two doors, this would provide a space for a small canyon, negating the need for a helix. But the more complex this project becomes, the less likely it will ever happen. It has taken me 45 years to get around to building one table and I still haven't a plan for it. I like my (N) train collection, but would like it even more if I could one day run them. Not enough time, money or energy to get too complex with this. I would prefer to use the bridge, but if not at all practical, it is not as important to me as having the other things mentioned in my first post.
Rob
Terry, Elmer, that is a good idea. If I keep it simple enough, that probably solves the problem (even if it is another few years before I get that far). So, thoughts on a track plan for this, that would allow for some "running of trains" on the initial door, leaving ends for expansion & the bridge?
What would be basic track work (leaving a mainline to the facility previously mentioned) and how would you set up the switch wrok for them? Thanks for any help or even links to such plans.
-Rob
gandydancer19 wrote:When you add the second door later, build a special deep section that would hold just the trestle. Then use that section to join the two doors/tables together. Of course you should plan the trackwork on both doors first so you know where the trestle will fit into the plan.
If the trestle is to be placed at grade + foam height, the frame should surround the structure for stability, A cutout into the door edge as a V or U shape. Additional framing may be nec to stabilize the integridy of the door that has been compromised, I wouldn't try to place a fragile trestle between two separate layout bases (doors). Any movement or shift can cause damage of track misalignment.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Rob:
http://www.trains.com/mrr/objects/pdf/mr_mar_staffordtown_t.plan.pdf
This layout is not too far from your door and it may give you some good ideas.