Need some layout help???

[rrinker]

If I had a functioning digital camera, I'd grab a few shots next time I get down there. I did a quick look at a few Reading railfan sites and didn't come up with much, but I didn't do any in-depth searching. You can see where all this is on Yahoo Maps or Mapquest, just look at Reading, PA. The tracks are on those road maps as well. You're looking for Spring Street, or the other one, which I am having a serious mental block and can't think of the name, even though I went there fairly often as we had a client who's business was located on that same street.

--Randy

[jlcjrbal]

Any chance you guys may have a photo??? The more I think about it , the more I like it Jospeh

[BRJN]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker
And there even is a prototype for a bunch of yard tracks briding over something, at Spring Street in Reading, PA the yard passes over the street, and it's a bridge, not a tunnel.

Ft Wayne IN has something similar. The former entrances to the PRR shops involved about 6 tracks (plus a double-track main line) by the time you get to Lafayette Street. The road was depressed to go under the elevated tracks. This created a very long tunnel. Since then the shops have been completely abandoned, sold, and redeveloped, so the extra tracks were taken out. Then the City decided to remove all the extra concrete. We now have a road that goes down, underneath the tracks, stays flat down in a trench for half a block, then rises back up to ground level. If you get a chance to drive through my town, check this out. Lafayette is the primary road into downtown from the south.

[rrinker]

Well, here's the catch - using foam for your base means you would need a much steeper grade to provide the clearance. So your 'canyon' idea is a good one. And there even is a prototype for a bunch of yard tracks briding over something, at Spring Street in Reading, PA the yard passes over the street, and it's a bridge, not a tunnel. As you drive under the tracks you can see the row after row of steel beams set on to the piers on either side of the street. The tail end of the yard also passes over another street further North on a wide bridge, the road passing under it is too narrow for modern cars to pass each other so you have to take turns. But that one even looks like a regular bridge.


--Randy

[jlcjrbal]

I am a little unsure about the grades as well as the tunnel under the yard part. my foam is only 1 1/2 inches. I thaught about doing a canyon and having each yard line with a bridge to go over the canyon or mabey I should just do another layer of foam??? J

[rrinker]

That's a lot of track in a small space - be careful when you go to actually build it, if you are using commercial turnouts and track pieces it might not fit exactly as shown. The turnouts on the plans are drawn to exact NMRA sizes - most commercial ones vary from this exact dimension. Biggest offender is the Atlas Custom-Line #4, it's really a # 4 1/2! One one hand, this is a plus, because they aren't quite as sharp, but on the other hand, when a plan is drawn to fit an exact #4, they won't fit exactly the same way.

My first stage of my layout that I am building now also comes from 101 Track Plans, #56, except I expanded it to 8x12 and altered the siding arrangments and yard lead.

--Randy

[jlcjrbal]

I picked up 101 Track plans by L. H. Westcott and plan # 27 is just what I have been looking for. . If anyone else has this book and could give me a few isights on this plan please let me know as i have a few questions. Email me if you like.. Thanks a bunch for all the help you guys have given me.. Joseph