Since my basement is finally being readied, I figure I should work on my track plan. Not a lot new to what I posted a few years ago, just tweaked now that i have better measurements. Plus I got two branches done. Mainline is just roughed in, no sidings, no crossovers yet.
Mainline minimum 30" radius, most are larger. #8 crossovers, #6 for the rest. Branches are 24" minimum radius, many larger. #5 turnouts.
Short branch to right of stairs is for the sement plant. Very abbreviated version of my last layout. Probably actually be run by the plant switcher, picking up cars off the interchange with the main, instead of having the main railroad run up into the branch.
Branch that wraps around the helix and along the 'outside' of the layout area over to the door is more or less the S&L branch. Section just opposite the stairs in Kempton, one end of the line today and one end of a tourist line that uses the remainign bit of the old branch. That area will be single decked, more than likely just a lone operator out there running a train through mostly farmland with short trains, barely hanging on - if my modeled year is 1956, there was only 6 years left in the branch until it was sold to the group who operates the tourist railroad today, and it had already been cut wat back with service going no futher than Kempton. I fudge a little and run it a littl emore. One or two undecided industries , one right after looping around the edge of the wall, and one at the end of the line where the runaround is.
(yes still 1 foot squares!)
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I really like the plan. Its simple, yet there is a lot going on. IMO, when you have that combination, things are designed well.
Love the brach line going around the helix. That makes for a useful but attractive way of scenicking the end of the peninsula.
- Douglas
Yeah, I figure I can alternate the stereotypical retainign wall with blasted rock faces
At the very bottom will be the main yard, across the top of that aisle (opposite side of the wall from the branch) I will have some street running and a couple of industries, as existed in downtown Reading. Service facilities inside the left side curve. Nothing in front of the black 'wall' by the furnace - there's no wall there, but that section will need to be removable to replace the furnace or water heater. Upper right corner still has room for a few industries off the main.
Staging is a loop in the laundry, the whole thing is a giant dogbone. Upper level will have mostly coal handling facilities. Various size loadouts for smaller mines, and one big breaker. And whatever else I can think of.
I kind of want to put a sneak path off the S&L through the wall back to the main (and a similar loop at the top of the helix) so I can just loop trains on one level for demo purposes.
It looks good so far, but a couple of questions: Is the mainline really going to hug the wall/backdrop so closely for the entire distance? Could you add some slight curves in the mainline for aesthetic appeal instead of straight parallel lines following the wall? As an example, here is the middle level (without the spur/service track) where I added slight curves for aesthetic purposes so the mainline would not always strictly parallel the wall/aisle.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
No, it won;t be all perfectly parallel to the wall like that. It's just a ton easier to draw it. I don't plot out the full size track plan and lay the track against that, my plan is more of a sanity check that the turnouts and curves I want will fit in the available space. When I actually lay the track I make little attempt to keep it perfectly straight, other than a row of tracks that should be parallel like a yard or something.
Like a good part of the branch, it curves in and out from the backdrop.
rrinker Yeah, I figure I can alternate the stereotypical retainign wall with blasted rock faces --Randy
Or you could use several small tunnels. Alternating tunnels and rock faces. A long train passing through several small tunnels at the same time is a good look.
Except there are no tunnels around there. In fact, a good chunk of it in the area that woudl be runs in a fairly deep cut with multiple kingpost wood truss bridges carrying farm roads over top the tracks - a few still stand. Perhaps a photo backdrop wrapped around the helix, though it would be mostly sky, with a couple of bridges over the tracks, maybe one straight into the backdrop with a road drawn on, and the other at an angle just to make it more interesting.
Nice looking trackplan Randy. Where you putting the steel mill?
I like that idea of the blasted rock faces on the walls. I don't like the look of retaining walls.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
No steel mill, I'm not running to Bethlehem. I'm not changing my domain name and all that, PART of the lower deck will still be the East Penn, but over half of it won't be, and the upper deck is more the Reading main line north into coal country.
Perhaps it's a good thing the forum database crashed last night, as I ended up making a bunch more changes and also put the staging in when I couldn't post this last night.
I'm not 100% with the yard yet. Structures are standins - the one is the Walthers diesel refuling pad, the rectangle is the concrete coaling tower. The turntable, since they don't have the one I want as an existing object in 3rd PlanIt, is just a circle of track approximately the correct diameter.
Still need to throw in an industry or two in the upper right (maybe Caloric in Topton) and maybe another set of crossovers before you get to the yard.
Thinking about what to do to make the section in front of the furnace and water heater removable, I noticed that if I hing it in the corner just to the right of the end of the yard tracks and just above the incoming lead, and also slive it on the right side just above where the turnout for the yard is, the whole thing could swing out of the way into the aisle alongside the yard, and at both locations, there would only be straight track on either side of the gaps. Probably put it on wheels for easy swinging, like you do with an extra long gate. No need for complex electrical interlocks, this would ONLY be used to service/replace the furnace or water heater, there would be zero reason to be running trains with it swung open. Just some slack at the hinge side, and maybe some connectors at the open end if needed.