Loleta & Mad River

[Anonymous]

Has anyone built the Loleta & Mad River layout featured in 8 great track plans?

[Anonymous]

No, not me. best of luck anyway

[Jetrock]

Not that I know of...it is vaguely based on the Arcata & Mad River Railroad in Humboldt County, CA (although there was not mining at the same time as logging--not sure why people do the combo mining & logging thing) but very vaguely indeed. It definitely has some access problems, although it is a cute plan.

[Anonymous]

just wondering if it would still be a "cute" plan if I took the main harbor section and pulled it down so to speak to make an L shaped plan. Then I could get to the fishing harbor to manually throw the switches..any suggestions?

Also there would not have to be mining..some other business could be located at the harbor spur.

[fwright]

It's a "cute" plan and really appealed to me - I wanted to use it as a basis for my HOn3 termination at a small harbor along the Northern Pacific Coast. But the more I tried to think of how I would actually build and operate it, the more flawed the plan became in my mind.

As you mentioned, access is a huge issue. I'm only 5' 10", and I like to view my layout at eye level when seated, so 30 inches is my max width. Pop-up hatches are evil beyond belief to me - even if I'm feeling limber enough, there's nowhere to set the hatch when I pop up. The L&MR is designed to be viewed from one side only to "hide" the staging, with a backdrop behind the staging. That means the layout has to be able to roll out from the wall and backdrop be easily removed for construction, maintenance, and re-railing. Too much trouble. Even removing the main harbor to an L extension down the right side still leaves greater than 36 inches to reach across to the staging track.

If the layout is built high for viewing, so that the backdrop makes sense and the staging is hidden, the higher track in the foreground that is climbing to go over the bridge will block my view of the lower fishing harbor - and to me that is the finest scene in the plan.

The bridge over the waterway that separates the 2 harbors doesn't make much sense. The only place I've ever seen that even comes close to that is Highway 1 over the harbor at Fort Bragg, CA. To be realistic for when there was enough commercial fishing to justify rail service, you would need at least 40ft elevation for boat masts and rigging to clear. The inner harbor isn't big enough for even a 40ft salmon trawler to turn around in.

The ore loading spur cannot be accessed by a train "passing by" because the turnout is on a heavy grade. Breaking the train to switch the spur will cause the train section left on the main to roll down the grade. To switch the ore loading dock requires a dedicated train, or putting the loaded ore cars in front of the locomotive or after the caboose, depending on direction of travel.

A much better Iain Rice 4x8 plan IMHO is the Lilliput Logger featured in the early 1990s in MR. It has problems in that providing adequate vertical and horizontal clearances between tracks and the advertised 18 inch radius curves will take more space than 4x8 - needs to be 4 1/2 to 5 ft wide at a minimum. The Lilliput Logger also has a useless mining spur in the middle of a heavy grade. But the center backdrop on a table layout is much more practical, as is the operating scheme.

yours in planning
Fred Wright

[Jetrock]

Some good thoughts, there--having the highest feature on the layout right out in front definitely seemed odd. I think jazzdrummer is onto something, though, with his idea to bend it around to make it all accessible--it's point to point anyhow, and would make a nice shelf layout. Eliminating the bridge over the bay would also reduce the need for that sharp incline.

Personally I still want to do a plan that does more prototypical justice to the Arcata & Mad River Railroad, a lovely little line with an absolutely oddball gauge--if I ever do model it, I may model it in 1/76 HO/OO in order to accurately capture the feel of the funky 1890s equipment and Humboldt County's woolier logging days.