Hey everyone, relatively new to doing a full-scale model railroad, but I have made a couple of 4'x8' double oval tracks. I currently live in Troy, AL, but was born and raised in Montgomery, AL. I'd love to be able to model the CSX tracks that run from city to city, but you'd be looking at 50+ miles between locales with no real industry between. Now once you're in Montgomery or Troy, you've got industry with things like the Hyundai car plant in Montgomery, to KW Plastics, (they make and test plastic bead mixes) and Wayne Farms (chicken and agricultural feed production), and Troy has the benefit of having its own short line to run between industries before getting on the main CSX tracks in Troy. Montgomery, I'm not really sure if the actual main line loco moves the cars into the auto plant or not. All I know is that I'd love to be able to prototypically model the area, but I also am willing to live with the fact that I doubt seriously of ever being able to have the room. Any ideas?
I guess that I should also add that I plan on doing this in HO and I don't have a room size currently available since I really plan on building a separate "storage" building for my railroad (insulated, heated/cooled, electrical, the works, I guess it could be called a "hobby building"). I also guess that I could basically proto-lance the whole thing and combine the industries from both Montgomery and Troy and tie them all into one area and still have a primary CSX line. At least that way I could have a somewhat dedicated switching group and then also be able to run some full-length and planned main-line trains too.
You have discovered one of the Great Truths of Model Railroading - prototype railroads have small (by 1:1 scale standards) clumps of interesting activity, separated by miles and miles of nothing in particular. If those miles are across the Mojave Desert, or agricultural flatlands, they don't really offer much to the modeler (one greasewood bush looks pretty much like every other greasewood bush.)
One possible solution to your dilemma would be to model Birmingham on one level, Troy on another and the intervening mileage as a helix connecting the levels. Then you have to consider that the rails continue beyond both places...
Another complicating factor is the real size of even small prototype places. My neighborhood industrial park, if modeled to exact HO scale, wouldn't fit on my lot, never mind in my garage - and it isn't even particularly large...
One possible approach is to work up a rough approximation of the prototype's track plan and operations through on-site observation. Then you will know what you have to distill (aka selectively compress) to fit your space while retaining the spirit of the original. It's time consuming, but you'll learn all kinds of useful things.
Chuck (modelng Central Japan in September, 1964 - from my own notes and photos)
Well, I guess you could say that I've done some basic ground work, using GoogleEarth and MapQuest aerial photos of the area so I can get a rough idea of where the tracks are and what they do. I've also got XTrkCad, I just haven't had a chance to really use it much, but I'm thinking of doing an Around the walls layout, probably in about a 12x12 sized room, with at least 3' of walk-in area throughout the layout. That way I can come in through the door without a duck-under or a lift out section, but right now I'm just doing preliminary stuff, you know?
You maybe want to pick up Koester's book on "building blocks" (or whatever he called them) - choosing interesting sections of real railroads and modelling them pretty accurately, then connecting them with rail lines. If you get the sequence in order of cities, industries etc., then operationally it doesn't matter too much if they're 30 feet apart or 3 feet apart.
Part of me thought that too, that I could kinda model Montgomery along one wall, then use the center section for the area between the two cities, then use the other wall for Troy, just kinda compress the distance between the two.
I have Moncacy Junction off the B&O on one end and towards the WM Near Plainview PA on the other. It never existed in real life but roughly follows the edge of the mountain range between Frederick and Gettysburg.
The actual layout distances between the two would be one room for Moncacy and 14 feet on the other side room wall would be Plainview. As long as the train travels the track and clears one town totally before reaching the other Im happy. I happen to start with a make believe industrial branch between the two to increase track distance and have a starting point to begin work.
My only peeve outside of the club is entering town two with the locomotive while the caboose for that train is still back in the town one it's leaving LOL.
I wouldn't be able to stand that either considering that in my heart I would know that there just WOULDN'T be a 50+ mile long train.... Actually I really think that I'm going to do what originally talked about, taking Montgomery along one wall, modeling in the industries there, followed by lots of heavy forest area along a center wall, then have Troy come in along the second wall, at least giving the illusion of there being some fair distance between the two cities (and of course "continuing" past each city to the North and South respecitively), who knows, maybe I could throw in a small logging industry in the center section to keep things interesting.
If anyone could give me a hand, I'm having a little trouble with XTrkCad, what I've got envisioned in my mind isn't exactly easy to translate into what the cad program will allow, any/all help would be outstanding!
Well, there's a change of mind/plans when it comes to my trackplan and railroad. I think that I'm just going to model the Troy, AL area by itself since there is a shortline/industrial road, PLUS the CSX mainline running through and with the mainline there at at least 12-18 trains per day coming through here. I've also got a pretty basic (albeit cruddy) design on XTrkCad, but I might be better off to actually draw the trackplan out on paper then get a picture of it up, rather than try to use XTrkCad, which is an awesome program, I just don't have the CAD skills to make the most of the program. So I plan to get at least one good drawing up by the weekend. Y'all wish me luck!
Good luck!
I sat drawing plans for many years. I got up one day went into a empty room and started flopping track down. That was a start for me.
However, you have one advantage most folks have yet to see. You have an idea of place, time period and operations of the railroad you picked to model. You will never be able to recreate it in all it's glory, but you will be able to do alot with careful use of your room.
I recall one person on this forum some time ago who had a shelf road based around a tower with a several track line past it. His train traffic both ways of different kinds was pretty intense railroading for his space. With that in mind, anything is possible.
The main reason that I'm just drawing out plans right now is because I dont' have the space to actually build a railroad at this time, but I know that if I make plans for it, I can then make the space for the railroad once some other, more pressing matters (like remodelling the house) finish up. Actually that is the only real thing holding me up is that we're completely remodelling our house room by room, and it takes time, which takes time away from building my own little "hobby" building outside the house to put my railroad, and other hobbies (model cars, trucks, and airplanes, things like that) in.
"We"? Remodeling the house? Why that is a wonderful time to look over the place and talk with spouse and figure out which room can be your room for trains.
Once you hammer that out, everything else is a journey.
"I'd love to be able to model the CSX tracks that run from city to city, but you'd be looking at 50+ miles between locales with no real industry between."
Two thoughts: Scenery & Operations.
[1] Trestle over a river. Tracks bridged rivers more than once as the river can meander around a layout.
[2] 2-track or 3-track mainline instead of 1-track mainline.
[3] 2-track mainline on a hillside with one mainline ten scale feet higher than the other mainline.
[4] Mainline snaking along the side of a river.
[5] Rock cliffs at one side of the mainline.
[6] Provisions for passenger operations even if only a Budd Railcar or Doodlebug (gas electric).
[7] Two parallel mainline tracks (ex: CSX & NS) with a common interchange junction.
There can be a lot to look at between modeling scenery effects, and; especially heavy mainline operations due to more than one mainline track.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
That's a great idea, and there are a few rivers/streams that my line does cross here and there, but again I think that I'm just going to do just around the Troy area. My main reasons are that I can more accurately model just the Troy area, and possibly continue down to the town of Brundidge, which is only about 10 miles south of Troy, which gives me access to a feed plant that has its own individual GP unit for work, and then there's an actual pulpwood yard and a mayonaise plant.