Let me throw a layout design by you guys...

[Anonymous]

Jeremy,
Those long sidings are going to be under a custom built roundhouse.

Let me explain a bit of what the railyard is modeled after.

I had lived in the Pittsburgh, PA area for most of my life and I lived very near the Conway Yard.  The Conway Yard was the largest railyard in the world for most of its life.  It was the first place I had ever seen a working turntable with roundhouse, and it is still in operation today.  If you are travelling along the Ohio River you can see the railyard and the town of Baden, PA behind it (the Railyard stretches from Conway, PA at its Eastern end, and Freedom, PA at its Western end), if memory serves me correctly it is nearly 5 - 10 miles long, and is some 20 tracks deep!  This yard has seen everything from old steam engines to modern diesels, and its construction still reflects its history.  Gone are the huge water towers and coaling stations for the steamers, but they have been replaced with one of the largest sanding tower complexes in the US.

I'll post pics when I get back and have a chance to post them!

Brent

[Anonymous]

Jeremy,
Those long sidings are going to be under a custom built roundhouse.

Let me explain a bit of what the railyard is modeled after.

I had lived in the Pittsburgh, PA area for most of my life and I lived very near the Conway Yard.  The Conway Yard was the largest railyard in the world for most of its life.  It was the first place I had ever seen a working turntable with roundhouse, and it is still in operation today.  If you are travelling along the Ohio River you can see the railyard and the town of Baden, PA behind it (the Railyard stretches from Conway, PA at its Eastern end, and Freedom, PA at its Western end), if memory serves me correctly it is nearly 5 - 10 miles long, and is some 20 tracks deep!  This yard has seen everything from old steam engines to modern diesels, and its construction still reflects its history.  Gone are the huge water towers and coaling stations for the steamers, but they have been replaced with one of the largest sanding tower complexes in the US.

I'll post pics when I get back and have a chance to post them!

Brent

Woah!!  That's huge!  I can't wait to see pics, and I understand now why shortening that end of the layout is not a possibility.  Still love your plan though, very nice indeed.

[Anonymous]

OK,
So I've been staring at this layout for over a week now and couldn't figure out what was missing...

Fife's recommendations about scrapping the turntable and roundhouse just weren't sitting well with me, but I really liked the idea of having a larger railyard for storage... so I got to playing around with the design... and this is the result:



Color Key:
Black: Track at base 0
Grey: Ascending Track from base 0 to 7 inches
Blue: Track at level 2 (7 inches)
Red: Descending Track from Level 2 to base 0

I added a few access doors so if there is a problem they can be attended to...

Thoughts?

Brent

[USNRol]

Google Earth pics of Conway yards...

 

really enjoy reading this thread the layout in question looks great; may steal some ideas from it for myself if that's OK! 

Enjoy the pics,

Roland

[Anonymous]

Google Earth pics of Conway yards...

 Enjoy the pics,

Roland

Wow!!  Thanks for those pics, that thing is huge!

[Anonymous]

Hey Lionroar;

I love your layout, that thing looks beautiful.  One question, how do you plan to integrate the access panels?  Are you going to have scenery on them or what?

[Anonymous]

really enjoy reading this thread the layout in question looks great; may steal some ideas from it for myself if that's OK! 

Roland,
No problems here!  I love designing layouts... I have 10 versions of this layout alone, so to think it is final is plan crazy... heck I'll probably change it 5 to 10 times before I screw one section of track down!

Hey Lionroar;

I love your layout, that thing looks beautiful.  One question, how do you plan to integrate the access panels?  Are you going to have scenery on them or what?

ATSJer,
Yes they will have scenery on them.  They will be simple 1x4 frames that 'lock' into the benchwork.  My goal is to make them as light as possible so I can lift them into position and hold them in place with one hand while turning the locks into position (just going to be 1by stock screwed into the benchwork, two locks per side.  The access panels are going to be tricky because you don't want them to be obvious, so careful placement of the scenery is key.

Brent

[Anonymous]

The access panels are going to be tricky because you don't want them to be obvious, so careful placement of the scenery is key.

Brent

Yeah, that's not going to be easy.  How will you conceal the seams?  This is the problem that I'm trying to think through as well; since I'm planning to build a portable permanent display I will be trying to integrate removeable terrain features (tunnels, hills, etc).  Someone mentioned cutting down into the table top to have a place where the piece sets into, but that will leave a seam as well.  It may just be something that I have to deal with, but I'd like to find the best solution possible.

[Anonymous]

Jer,
I'm hoping to 'block' the seams with scenery, place city buildings infront of the access panel so you can't see the seam.

Brent

[Anonymous]

Jer,
I'm hoping to 'block' the seams with scenery, place city buildings infront of the access panel so you can't see the seam.

Brent

Oh, yeah a city theme would help a lot, because you could blend the theme with a sidewalk or a road edge.  As for me, I'm planning on a rual landscape, maybe I can use some shrubs or trees or something; otherwise I'll just have to accept the fault lines.

[Anonymous]

Jer,
Road edges and shrubs would work for a rural scene as well.  Also, terrain can be used to hide panels as well, you could have a hill in front of the line, or rocks that cover the edge...

Brent