Yellowstone stub end passenger terminal

[RioGrandeJim]

I'm trying to come up with a suitable track plan that will have the look of the UP's West Yellowstone, MT passenger terminal.  My space is basically 7'X10.5'.  What I'm struggling with is the stub end look of the terminal which can be seen here:

The prototype ran right up to the park boundary and stopped.  That's the look I'm going for, but I need to have some continuous running to put some mileage on those trains.  So far, the most acceptable track plan I've come up has an outside oval going around the full 7' width of the room with a line coming off the oval terminating in a 3 track yard that goes down the 10' side of the room and then makes a slight curve down the 7' side before terminating.  About half of the continuous run oval is hidden.  How would you attack this design?  I'm doing it in HO scale and have some large steam and passenger equipment.

 

[7j43k]

If you're running large steam and passenger equipment, your curve radius is going to be roughly 36".  

I don't see how West Yellowstone can be anywhere but on one of the long sides.  This will give it a length of 7 feet.  I don't think it will look very nice if it's shorter.  I recommend you think about making the West Yellowstone trackage as a semi-module.  That is, it can be saved when/if you scrap the layout.

The room is small.  One approach would be to do a multilevel layout.  The continuous running trackage is on the bottom--a big loop.  On one side, there's a junction where the Yellowstone branch takes off.  The branch circles over to the other "side", climbing the hillside that COVERS that side of the continuous loop.  It keeps climbing until it reaches West Yellowstone, which is situated over the junction trackage mentioned earlier.  A problem arises in that, if there is an 18" separation between trackage on the two levels, you get a 7 1/2 % grade.  BAD.  A "twice-around" would likely solve the grade problem (sort of), but that seems like a LOT of concealed trackage.  Well, hard-to-get-to trackage, anyway.  THAT is a problem needing a solution.

I do like the layout above, though, as it gives you West Yellowstone, a nice climb up a hillside which you get to cover with HUNDREDS of evergreens, and a junction with the main line.

 

It could also be done with a semi-single level design, I think.  You'd have West Yellowstone on one side, and the junction on the other, but no beautiful run up the hillside.  The loop track would be, maybe, just in front of West Yellowstone, and lowered a kupla inches and maybe "roofed" over.  You'd still be able to easily reach the trains, 'cause they're right in front.  A 3" lowered track would give a grade of about 3%.  Not great, but not horrible on such a small layout.  Actually, if you go down on the main and up on the branch, it becomes more like 1 1/2 %.  Very nice.

The loop would be shoved over to one wall, the wall away from W.Y.  That will bring the main out in front of W.Y.

Of course, a loop with a switch going up to West Yellowstone is kind of minimal.  I think I'd put a curved switch at each end of the straight section on the junction side.  This will give you 4 1/2 feet of straight.  I think I'd also have a kupla stub yard tracks off of the inner track, and have them curve around inside the main curve.  On the end opposite the curve going up to West Yellowstone (probably, not fer shure).

There should still be plenty of room for evergreen growth in the end curves.

 

Again, this is a small space for running big steam and passenger.  You could get a lot more in with an industrial railroad.  But it's your space.

To me, West Yellowstone is little/big.  It's little because it is kind of a railroad backwater.  The end-of-the-line.  There's maybe half a dozen switches.  But it's big, too.  The dining hall, for example.  In HO, it's very roughly a foot long.  If you make it much smaller, it's not going to ring true.  The station itself probably should be at least that big.  But, in addition, the SPACE is big.  There's plenty of room between everything.  Notice, for example, the spaces BETWEEN tracks.  If you don't have that, also, you don't capture the feeling of the space.

The buildings and the cleared space in the photograph occupy about 4 x 20 feet in HO.  Shrinking it down to 1 1/2 x 7 should still preserve the "feel".

 

 

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

[wjstix]

Not sure how dedicated you are to UP, or modelling this specific site, but Northern Pacific's line to it's Yellowstone Park station (Gardiner MT) ended with a reverse loop. That would be easier to work into a continous run situation than a stub-end terminal.

http://ctr.trains.com/railroad-reference/operations/2001/07/summer-tours-and-western-travel

[7j43k]

Reversing loops take up a LOT of real estate.  And 7 x 10.5 is NOT a lot of real estate.

 

Ed

[RioGrandeJim]

Thanks!  Good ideas for sure.  I'm actually modeling a fictional terminal on the other side of the park, just looking for the feel of the place.

[7j43k]

RioGrandeJim

I'm actually modeling a fictional terminal on the other side of the park...

 

 

Sorry.  That just doesn't work for me.  You'll have to do the real thing:

 

 

 

Ed

[RioGrandeJim]

I like how you think!  :-)

[7j43k]

Good!

 

I was worried as I was falling asleep last night that you might not appreciate my semi-attempt at humor.

And I also recalled that there surely does appear to have been a wye there, too.  And my problem (mentioned earlier) with a balloon track applies about equally to that wye.  Which DOES bring up the question of how you're going to turn the loco/train up at W.Y. to come back down the hill.  It's a VERY long run down, backwards.  You might consider a turntable.  I guess you HAVE to consider a turntable. 

And I also also recalled that some MOW cars I saw in a photo at W.Y. were lettered OSL, not UP.  Interesting.

I was just pokin' around on the internet thingy, and found this link that should interest you:

http://wx4.org/to/foam/big_rr/up/victor/victor.html

 

I also found this book:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Branch-Union-Pacific-Special/dp/096577290X

 

The above and more showed up with a search term of "west yellowstone union pacific branch".  Who knew?

I do look forward to hearing/seeing how you handle the space you've got.  Puh-leaz.

 

 

Ed

[RioGrandeJim]

Thanks!  I just so happen to have a turntable.... great big one!  :)

[7j43k]

I ordered and just received my copy of Thornton Waite's "Yellowstone Branch of the Union Pacific".

It is FULL of useful information.  Photo reproduction is not very good.  Sadly.

 

Ed

[BroadwayLion]

NYCT, back in the days of little Forney steam engines would pull a train into the south stub terminal. The engine of course would then be trtapped at the wrong end of the train.

But never fear, the engine from the previous train would run around to the north end of the train and would lead it out again, albeit with the loco backwards.

The previously 'trapped' locomotive is now free to lead the next train out.

 

On your plan, this looks very doable. The theory is that the run back to the mane lion will not be all that long, and even if it is 50 miles, so what. There it will hand off the consist to a mane lion train.

 

ROAR