Have a look at this article:
http://www.housatonicrr.com/blobs.html
His original article from the September 98 MR is also worth a read if you have access to it. It's right on point for the blob discussion in your last thread.
Full disclosure... I'm using this technique myself so I may be a little biased. I actually thought I had invented the idea until I ran across this article. It's amazing how few truely original thoughts we have.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
CK
Good plan, not that I am any expert. I'm glad to see the 26" radii.
I agree with the suggestion to eliminate the double crossover in the yard. You would need to pretty much clear two yard tracks in order to use it. Where will you put the cars that have to be moved out of the way to use the crossover? It makes your yard capacity much smaller than it can be without it.
You are a bit limited in how many cars you can move in the yard without fouling the main line, but that's not a big deal. It may in fact make operating the yard more of a challenge.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
CK, this plan looks great! I really like how you have kept it "relaxed and realistic" rather than my track plan which is a bit busy. I really think you will increase operational and visual interest if you did a city scene on the bottom side of the backdrop with a station track and then a passenger stations at two other places On the layout.
One more big point is that when you do a closed loop, you have to define a beginning and an end- and hide some of that oval because otherwise it feels unrealistic. To me, the natural place to do this is to hide the top/right corner behind a tunnel and backdrop. Then move Dalhurst a little to the right from the top/left corner to where the siding is.
This will give you a route map like follows:
Dalhurst - (farmland) - Yard-town - Aderstown - Small Rural Town - Cole Mine town -- "world"
You could put a town there at the coal mine.
The trains would come and go from the outer, unmodelled "world" into your layout .. That tunnel in the top/right corner could represent the world. The large yard could represent an interchange with another road as well.
Now, I would say add staging that reaches the world. You could do this below Dahlhurst, 4" below.
one more poont to consider is make all sidings the same length ... Based on your max train length which for this layout i think is around 5 feet or ~10 boxcars
one minor nit- the double crossover in the yard looks little out if place. At a cost of anywhere between $65-$80, I don't see you using it so much. Actually, the only time you would want one is if you have a double track mainline; the prototype uses it very seldom even then.
Hope this helps ... I know I can use all the help I can get.
Hey all!
Well, I'm certainly not obsessed at all. :) Last week or so, I posted my sketched plan, and got lots of good feedback on it. Thank you all!
I've incorporated a lot of the suggestions, tweaked a few things and planned out the location of industries and towns. Plus it's now all plugged into AnyRail... rather than pen-n-paper. :)
Link to larger image: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/528/20288428438_de920c7568_o.jpg
I've refined the yard with a number of suggestions, added a looong passing track on the north wall, and the mushroom now has a 26" curve on it. Also added a smaller passing track on the south wall over the removable section (room entry). Also switched the grain elevator siding direction, and removed an excess siding to make room for the town of Addersfield.
Requriements/Notes:
Thoughts? I think I want to redesign Dalhurst, BC to be a little more cohisive... and I'm not sure if the double-switch in the yard is overcomplicating the track in there... but overall I'm pretty happy with this.
Let me know what you think! Cheers!