help with track plan

[Anonymous]

In the new MRP 2005 there is an article about this modeler who was in the same sitaution your in, but the way he solved it was by using Adobe Illustrator to enlrage the track plan to fit his benchwork in 12'' sections. He had found valuation maps for the railroad he was prototyping and the Val maps were exactly 1:160 scale (N scale) If your protyping it would be a great idea to try and find val maps, but if your just freelancing, it would be much easier to use a program like Illustrator or one of adobes programs, but they are expensive and aren't designed with modelrailroader in mind. Quickest thing to do would be to scan it in and enlarge it, and maybe sction it off so you can just slap it to the board and then just lay your track out on it for perfect resemblance. I hope I helped, if not , I tried. Good luck and Have fun, that the whole point of the hobby.

[dbrovelli]

The layout that I am building is the Wisconsin Central layout that was featured in the later months of 1997 Model Railroader. It was featured over a 6 month period that showed the various stages of being built. I really like the track plan they used. I would like to know if anyone else has built this layout?

[Anonymous]

I am presently building a 9x16 HO lawout that I took from the book 101 track plans by Linn H. Westcott published by MR. That book tells you everything you want to know about laying out your layout ,It was well worth the $14.00
puffinbilly99.

[Anonymous]

Atlas sells components of their track (to scale} for $3-4US. This may help.
As for an engineering or grapics Co. I think it would be pricey.
I know a fellow that has the capability to plot something in picture quality at about 3'x10'. I thought it would be great for backdrops but cost finished that idea. I believe a 18x36" is $29.
Ken

[dbrovelli]

I did some experimenting on my computer with this and might have found something that will work. The drawing in the magazine had grids dividing the layout up. They were 3/8" square which equals one foot. I have a program that I scanned the track plan into and then was able to crop each grid to work with each of them by themselves. I then resized them to 12"X12" and used a feature my printer has to print posters. It will print that foot square section on four pieces of paper. You then join the four pieces together to form your picture. After trimming the unused portion I was left with a foot square diagram. I will try to print some more sections and see what the results are. If this dont work it wont be the end of the world. I'll just have to go back to the old fashioned way of doing it.

[SpaceMouse]

I'd like to jump in here. The fact is that you have really no way of knowing if the scale is accurate in the magazine or if it was altered to fit better. Also, you don't know what brand of turnout, etc. was used or if the turnouts were cut-down or altered.

I think no matter how you look at it your going to have to give it your best guess and improvise.

[dbrovelli]

You guys have been very informing and I thank you for that. I will use the ideas and come up with something. I am trying to achieve perfection which I know is hard to do. I just dont want to make the mistakes I made on past layouts. Thanks again. Dave

[Adelie]

16 x 9 isn't going to plot on 1 or even 2 sheets on most plotters. That's the bad news, but the good is that is a good size for a layout.

I'm with Wayne. I use CadRail to design the layout and have built easement templates on sheet styrene for the radius I use on most mainline curves. I follow the plan fairly strictly on trackwork that must fit in a particular space (the reversing loops of the dogbone, for instance) and the corner curves. I follow the plan for the rest, but improvise. I keep at least one of every turnout I use (Atlas and Peco, in my case) around so I can lay them on the places I am going to use them and draw the curved end on the correct angle. You could just as easily make turnout templates.

While I built my staging level pretty tightly to the plan, I'm finding that I am changing my thinking on the sections that will have scenery. Instead of drawing out a bunch of sections on the plywood subroadbed, cutting them, laying the roadbed, laying track and moving on to the next section, I'm now working strictly on subroadbed and not doing that a sheet at a time. I may waste a little plywood that way, but the cost of that is fairly minimal.

The advantage is that if I decide to change something in the interest of scenery, pulling out a section of plywood is easy and even if it is not useable anywhere else, the loss is minor. I can decide to put a river in where the plan didn't call for one. As far as industry spurs, they generally look like what is on the plan, but I change those at a whim.

It's a lot easier for me to envision scenic features in the 3D aspect of plywood subroadbed mounted on benchwork than it is on a plan. Not to say the rivers and mountains planned in aren't going where I thought, but I think I am going to make better use of my space this way. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I also think I will wind up with a railroad that was more built around the existing terrain than the other way around.

One caution in doing this, I am very careful not to compromise my minimum radius on the mainline and other "givens and druthers" in this process. Worst comes to worst, I just build a section exactly as planned.

I guess that means I will have a ton of roadbed laying and prep later on, then a ton of tracklaying. Although, I will probably wind up starting those in sections, too, once a given section of subroadbed is down and I'm happy with it. Sort of like building a bunch of diaramas.

Hope that helps in some way.

-Mark

[Anonymous]

You might consider this idea: Put a grid on your trackplan in its small scale sheet and use those dimensions to layout a flexible paper plan on the layout benchwork if you must have paper. Make paper templates the exact size of the switches you plan to use, lay them out according to your plan on the benchwork you've already constructed & connect them with thin strips of paper or tape.

The advantage of this is that you've saved big costs in printing engineering sized sheets that, in all likelyhood, represent a plan that will change as track is layed. In my experience having designed layouts in AutoCAD with dimensions to the 1000th of an inch, the drawing always ends up being used only as a guide anyway.

A perfectly thought out curve might start where planned but on the layout seem too small a radius so it shifts a bit. Or the factory siding just looks a little short now that I've placed a few boxcars on it so lets lengthen it a couple of inches. You get the picture.

Even though I have a CAD system and could print these full scale templates, I don't. I end up just laying out the actual turnouts according to plan and connecting them with flex track.

You might spend the money you would spend on enlarging your track plan and buy a pantograph and use it to trace your plan into a full scale drawing on your benchwork if you need such preciseness and lines on paper..

Wayne

[dbrovelli]

good idea biker. How can I print 1'x1' grids though.

[Bikerdad]

Since its already gridded, all you would need to do is enlarge the plan so the grid is physical 1'x1', then place the resulting pieces onto the layout and go at it with the pouncewheel. Enlarge the plan 3200% (32x) and you're all set.

[dbrovelli]

The plan that I have is 16x9 and L shaped. The plan that I have is divided up by square feet. The scale of the plan is 3/8" = 1 foot.

[Anonymous]

It might be easier to have the plan enlarged, at a print/copy shop that deals with blueprints, to the size of a typical house blueprint. Draw one foot square grids on the foam. Then draw one foot square grids in the proper scale on the blueprint and use it as a guide to draw your plan on to the foam, you can even use actual sections of track as a guide. Doing small sections at a time can make it more fun, less frustrating. Woodland Scenics makes special foam markers for just this purpose. Hope this helps.

[Adelie]

Well, I guess you could scan the plan into your computer, then find somebody with a plotter and have them print it out to the size you want. How big is the full-size railroad going to be?

The types of places that would have plotters are engineering/architectural companies, printers that do plans and blueprints might, and places that create banners.

Somebody else may know of a better way.

[dbrovelli]

This is my first post so forgive me if this topic has been covered before. I am building my first large N scale layout after experimenting with a couple of smaller ones. I came accross a track plan that I really like in Model Railroader some years back and chose to build it. The bench work is all done and ready for the track plan to be drawn. I would like to know if there is a way to take the drawing in the magazine and enlarge it to scale. My intentions are then to print it and then use it to transfer the track plan. My idea is to tape the plan down and then use what is called a pounce wheel to transfer the track plan to the foam on my layout. Then I will remove the paper and then draw the track out. I dont know if anyone has tried this or not. I feel it will work . Any input would be greatly appreciated.