Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
QUOTE: Originally posted by robengland I think that How to Operate book is Bruce Chubb's one, yes? Good book too but I felt he didn't break much new ground from Armstrong.
QUOTE: The thing with even the simplest yard is do you need and where do you put: switch lead, caboose track, runarounds, engine servicing, RIP track, MOW, escape track to engine servicing etc.... One lead to engine serving or two? How many yard sorting tracks? Do you need a separate arrival/departure track(s)? How many? You can either : - make it up and try it and hope it works and is efficient and fun - think through what is going to happen in the yard: there will be a morning train come up full of coal and a passenger run into the branch and etc etc then walk through the movements in the yard - copy the real thing - close as you can get to what you want - and figure they went through all this already cheers Rob
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
QUOTE: I've seen this, but haven't acted because I've never seen or heard of anyone that has subscribed. I'd want to see a sample and it bothers me that there doesn't really seem to be any interaction--is it more than a newsletter subscription? Is the newsletter worth it? What is your experience of it?
QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage Chip, Unlike an automobile switchback but more like a hiking one, your railroad switchback could have a short secton of flat track on each end - just enough room for your locomotive and a couple of cars - and a switch (turnout). You'd travel up the grade to the flat spot, throw your switch, travel the opposite direction up the grade to the next level, throw your swithch, and so on and so forth - till you make it to the top. t will still take you some room horizonally to do that but it would eliminate the need for a huge curve or helix. Probably best left for a logging route. It would definitely make for some interesting switching. Tom
QUOTE: Originally posted by douort Spacemouse, The Layout Design SIG of NMRA has a website that may offer you some guidance in your quest. http://www.emuck.com/~rufus/ldsig/index.html Doug
QUOTE: Originally posted by robengland Chip Have you read Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation. "Givens and Druthers", planning by Squares... classic guidance and rules of thumb. The only big thing I can think of that has emerged since he wrote that is Koester's LDE, Layout Design Element, which is about taking a piece of reality and copying it. This came up just the other day with a friend who is ripping out a wharf/yard complex and doing it again because it didn't work. Thios time instead of trying to think what he needs he is just copying an existing prototype. The assumption of an LDE is that they knew what they were doing when they designed it, or they refined it as they used it. I made the same mistake: I came up with a yard design from rules of what a yard needs - next layout I'm going to slavishly copy the schematic of a prototype. Joe Fugate has a good thread going on layout design too cheers Rob
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
QUOTE: Originally posted by selector Chip, so many mountain roads use switchbacks that I wonder if you could incorporate some of those. If carefully situated, they needn't take up too much flatland space and will keep your trains in view longer. You can even have little hamlets at each switch, just like in real life; you know, a little store, switchman's house with yare and swing set, a small warehouse or storage shack, whatever. Of course, if you intend to keep a strictly flat layout main surface, this is all by the way. -Crandell
QUOTE: Originally posted by CARRfan Also, I think it's wise that you're considering a prototype that interests you as opposed to what the kids prefer. As they grow, etc., their interests will likely change faster than yours. Also, you can run any kind of train on your "serious" layout, and it will be the same thing to them most likely. I saw a modular "serious" layout with thomas the tank running all over it. Kids dug it.