Must be nice to have at least some track down!!!
One question, in the fourth photo, there is a huge double track bridge, where did you get that?!?! I have to span my stairs.
Loco Must be nice to have at least some track down!!! One question, in the fourth photo, there is a huge double track bridge, where did you get that?!?! I have to span my stairs.
yes its nice but not where i want to be. i can do a little switching from the yard now but the leads are only so long and that means i can only switch a cut of cars maybe 10 long depending on the car. this yard that i have built is whats keeping me motivated and ready to build this layout once eveything is in place that is baseboards, mats for the flooring. now to answer your question those are the kato double track truss bridges that i mentioned in one of my earlier post. you can get them anywhere. i got them in canada for about $8.50 when i was up there last summer. but any major hobbyshop inthe usa should have them. the price might be a little higher but they are really some nice bridges.
Reggie, trainroom is looking good. What are you going to do to the ceiling? For as much $ as you have already dropped you should put in a suspended ceiling. It would really make the room a lot more finished looking. If you do this now is the time. Keep up the great work and keep us updated.
N Scale Diesels......I like 'em
Jimmydieselfan Reggie, trainroom is looking good. What are you going to do to the ceiling? For as much $ as you have already dropped you should put in a suspended ceiling. It would really make the room a lot more finished looking. If you do this now is the time. Keep up the great work and keep us updated.
i really havent thought to much about it except penning up black bed sheets over all the open area. it will be penned to the walls and studs. then wrapped around the steal beams and that way over the whole ceiling. a dropped ceiling is another $3000. i figure thats $3000 more i can spend on trains. also once you are in the room your attention will be on the trains and all the stuff that will be hung on the walls anyways.
well i have finished laying the floor mats down and i would say the room looks pretty good so far. tomorrow i will do/finish nailing in the baseboards and i think that is all i will as far as construction of the basement. then it will be on to the building of my dream layout. the pictures i have of the flooring aren't that good but i will take more when i clean the room up from all of the tools that are laying around. thre reason for using the rubber mats are: it's cheaper, can replace one or two squares instead of the whole baesment if water leaks in the basement and it was carpeted but we are praying that that doesn't happen. it cost me 400 to do the floor with the mats and would have cost me close to 1500 if it was carpeted. here are the pictures that didnt come out to good but will take more with a clean floor that way you can really see what it looks like. the first is as you are coming down the stairs.
I like them mats. They almost made it into the upstairs in my train room, but by ordering the an extra 500sq feet of the laminate flooring I got a bit of discount so the wife said, "Do the wood" If it was a basement, you can't go wrong with the mats!
Sweet wheels.....here is one of my rides:
Loco I like them mats. They almost made it into the upstairs in my train room, but by ordering the an extra 500sq feet of the laminate flooring I got a bit of discount so the wife said, "Do the wood" If it was a basement, you can't go wrong with the mats! Sweet wheels.....here is one of my rides:
i dont think i made a bad choice either on the mats. they are sofe durable and looks darn good if you ask me. also nice bike you have there. i want one but im scared i will do something bad to myself so i opted away from them.
here we go well i have done a little work in the room and its coming along pretty good. i placed all of my rolling stock in the yard and i can say i didnt have as many pieces of rollingstock as i thought i had. total count is 828 not including the 62 locomotives i have. also i have room for maybe 200/300 more pieces of rolling stock and the yard will be completly full. i will have another yard on the layout alot smaller than this one i have already. i also with the help of 2 of my friends we moved the yard up against the wall it is intended for i screwed it to the walls and the studs and it seems pretty sturdy and like it want move. also bought lumber for the last piece that goes on that back wall for the yard. will probably do the trackwork for the crossover switches at the opposite end of the yard tomorrow or tuesday maybe even today. depending if the wifey want make me do something on the honey-do list. i have pictures of the yard with all the rollingstock on it from front to back and you can see how much room i have for rollingstock left as you get to the end of the yard. also a picture of the 1st 2 locomotives to ride the rails on my new layout via "nce powercab". and pictures of the wood i purchased for the extension to the yard and pictures of it being built. hope you like the pictures.
well as promised i got to do more work in the trainroom as all the wife wanted to do was go to the mall and buy a few outfits for my niece that is scheduled to be born on the 25th of this month by c section. i woke up early and got started. i added a 2 1/2' x 8' section on each end of the layout. layed the cork and track on both pieces. also i have a 3 track lead coming out of the yard as the layout is a 2 track main. i have 2 leads coimg out of the yard the middle track on both ends and it can accomodate a train length of 25 - 50'6" box cars which i think is long enough for me to switch cars in and out of the yard without fouling up the mains on both ends. so that being said i can switch cars from both ends and the 2 mains are clear and free. its not much but its more done on the layout and me that much closer to having trains run completly around the layout. hope you like.
I wish I had gotten around to this a little sooner, now that I see you're laying tracks around the bends! I wanted to take a crack at the layout design elements that were discussed back in June (at Tower A), especially the loads-in/empties-out feature that Tony and I were talking about. I'm an architect, so I just use my CAD software to draw this up; this is a first pass but just expresses the ideas.
The mainline curves are maximized to about 30" inner radius, good for high-speed mainline running. The triple track mains slim down to double track for operational challenge, and the triple track around the coal mine is treated as if it is a center-siding (i.e. east and west-bound mains on either side of a shared passing siding). This passing siding is 14 feet long, which can hold a train of about 40 cars (using 50' boxcars). The loads-in/empties-out industries share tracks that are about 6.5 feet each, so a 13' long mine turn can be totally exchanged (two tracks of loads, two tracks of empties).
This version was planned with the mine tracks dropping down a bit, the mains rising up a bit. However, since I see you've already built level plywood tops, maybe a modification would be to leave the mine at 0.0" and let the main rise higher. As it is, the gradient on the main is less that 0.5%; it could rise to 2.0" and still be about a 1% grade; N-scale cars won't even free-roll down a 1% grade!
However, where you've already laid track it appears this would require relaying. The curve around the turntable is broader (yours comes to a straight tangent rather than sweeping in one broad curve all the way around), plus it is set in a bit to leave room for the cut-off (the outer main that passes by the power plant) to drop. If the mine and power plant are not dropped down, then the cut-off can just be level, but I'd still recommend not having the cut-off join to the triple mains until around the bend, as this leaves a bit of a switching lead so that the power plant can be worked without fouling the main.
For the backdrop, I've shown 2x2 supports with a thin facing, perhaps 1/8" masonite, on each side; the 2x2's can extend down below and be rigidly mounted to the benchwork. I'm showing 2x2's at 24" centers, but they could be anywhere and would likely end up wherever a cross joist happens to appear below. But with tracks penetrating the backdrop, you need to be sure to plan the locations carefully.
I show a curved benchwork edge near the coal mine in order to open up the dead-end like a cul-de-sac, to create room for operators to get around each other. To create this edge, just set the joists back a bit and let the plywood overhang; you can add wood blocking to support a flexible fascia, such as masonite or some other material. The curve also allows the tracks leading into the coal mine to have an 18" minimum radius, with enough room between the mine tracks and the mainlines to fit in a small creek. This creek would put the broad curving mains on a tall embankment, helping to convey that this is the more mountainous region of the layout.
For the coal mine, I'm suggesting that the hidden tracks be concealed under a sort of tricky view block, using a maze of coal conveyors and taller buildings to distract you from the fact that tracks are no longer visible. The size and shape of buildings I'm showing here mean little, just trying to convey the idea. Both the power plant and the coal mine should be enormous facilities, with much of the power plant conveyed in 2D on the backdrop, and much of the coal mine implied to be where the aisleway is. Some tall mounds of coal can be between the spurs and the creek.
The Engine Service area includes a turntable and roundhouse, since I know you'd want those, but in the modern era such facilities would likely be used for non-routine maintenance, such as the car shops you suggested. Some of the space between the broad mainline curves and the turntable leads can be used for a small yard, for bad-order cars waiting to go into the shop.
If this looks good to you, I can keep on developing it. Like I said, it can work with the power plant and mine at elev.=0.0", and the mines rising higher on a slightly steeper grade. I should point out that I have planned this using No. 10 switches for the mainline and No. 7 switches elsewhere, after having seen how gorgeous Atlas's Code 55 switches are. You haven't been using such shallow-angle frogs on the switches you've already laid, so you may not want to here either, but for slick mainline speed-running, the shallower the better! Even if you're not using code 55 flex track (I think you're using code 80, right?), it still might be worth it to figure out how to connect up the No. 10 switches, just to achieve that super-sexy and silky-smooth mainline. But even if you don't, it's always possible to fit a wider-angle switch in, like a No. 6 or No. 7; however, if you plan around No. 6 then you couldn't substitute the No. 10 later on.
wp&p
thanks for the reply. building is on halt as my truck had to go to the dealership for repairs. so no way to get the wood home to build the peninsula. but anyways i like the trackplan you have come up with it is just like what we talked about and if you would like you can go ahead and design the rest if you would like. from what you have designed i will make some changes to that to fit more of how i like.
#1 i see what you are saying high speed running i dont think it is a good idea to go to fast thru a yard never know what might have just popped out on the line that wasnt supposed to be there. but every other curve on the layout can be for that. i will explain why i have the straight in that curve later.
#2 the passing sidings i like the length might make it a couple feet longer say 16ft. say go from the center of that curve above the coal mine and go 8 ft in each direction and that will be cool.
#3 the empties tracks why not just make them 7ft and the 2 tracks for both empties and loaded is a great idea. yes the coal mine will be directly on the plywood and the mainline will be up above say 2 to 2 1/2 inches. need clearance just in case a double stack needs to make an emergency run thru doubt it will happen but just in case. also to give me just that much more room to stick my hand under and clean the tracks.
#4 where the track is already layed i looked at it i think if you could really see it close up i think i have enough room to get in what you have on the plan for it. yes the cut off want rejoin the main until sometime around the the bend but maybe further down as you have on the plan i was thinking maybe somewhere on the opposite side of the room. the way i have my mains set up coming out of the yard if the mine is getting worked it can use the outside main and the north or southbound train that is coming can just jump on the middle lead to bypass the working coal train and then jump back out the the main either at that crossover or the one on the other end of the yard. yes i think that will add more to the operations of the layout and it will really test out my track laying skills. to see if it will get the passing grade from visitors on derailments.
#5 for the backdrop i will use a little thinner support because of where i have track already layed the train might touch the backdrop with a locomotive/rollingstock with extra overhang or is this the thinnest. i will use this idea to do the backdrop. also i will make sure to cut the holes in the backdrop in the right place.
#6 i think i will cut the curve into the benchwork as you said to allow for the extra room never came to mind about that and actually its not that bad of an idea. will get done!
#7 i like the placement of the turntable . now where i said earlier i would explain. that tangent you said i had in the curvve coming around the roundhouse i will have a cut off directly from the main to the turntable, servicing tracks, and allso outbound i will have a cut off for the 5 track union station four for my 4 passengers and one a pass thru for passenger. then connecting back to the main somewhere on the peninsula.
#8 yes please keep helping me design a layout that will suit me for club and personnal use. you might be mad but im using all #4 switches from atlas. track is code 80. all of my deisels have ran thru the these swicthes without problems. plus the first action my yard had was in a train show and i can say it did pretty good to me except for 2 bad switches that were replaced at the show and back up and running it was. all comments welcome. as trackplanning is not my thing but track laying/wirng.
Reggie, I have enjoyed watching your progress! I just wish at my age I had the energy you have at this point of life. But, you have inspired me and I worked on the new section today!
With the subject of rides coming up, I cannot help my self. Still a car guy at heart.
69 Charger.
70 Cuda, where my screen name came from.
Nasty one in the family, 68 Road Runner. Got it when I was 17 from Mon and Dad.
On a car note, never understood the big wheels? But then a again I wore bell bottoms and had hair down to my caboose!
Looking forward to the next up date. By the way, what part of the country do you live?
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
well i live in kentucky just 10minutes south of the ohio border from cincinnati. i love the charger you want to sell it. hahaha. pretty sure it's not but everything has a price on it. well the big rims is a fashion statement shall i say or just another way for me to make my car a little different. it's no different than the guys who ride around with the big mud tires and reaised up 10 feet off the ground. thats there way of making their car different and the way they like it and this is the way i like it. i'm glad to be an inspiration to some as there are guys on this forum that i look at and say if wish /hope my layout turns out like theirs ( for instance csx dixieline, soo n scaler with his helix, loco with his trainroom, the actrr railroad, mobilman44 layout just to name a few. there are others on other forums but want name to keep the intergrity of this one. alot of them are on trainboard hint hint. these guys with their layouts are my inspiration and the fact that i want to run trains. im a little jealous because they can ru trains and i cant, so i look to their layout for ideas and way to make mine better. i try to learn from what misstakes they made and try not to do them samething. as you can tell i don't really have a track plan im getting help from wp&p who is a part of the tristate ntrak club of ohio. ky, and indiana. like i said im not good witht track planning but great i feel with track laying and wiring. so thank them for the inspiration as thats where i get mine from and they are the ones who got me to work as hard as i have to get to this point in my layout. Thanks to all who have been there for support and advice. please keep it coming it all is greatly appreciated.
Far as the big mud tires again don't understand that either! But Mon and Dad did not understand the long hair and either bell bottoms. Hum, just old I guess.
Far as the you wanting the Charger, no you don't! Dam thing is death trap. Makes way to much HP! Cooked the tires at 70 MPH. But that is a different story.
If you travel any I love to meet you and the family. I live in Maryville IL 62062. We could go visit K-10 Model Trains my LHS. Here is a link.
http://www.k-10smodeltrains.com/layout_tour.htm
Yep, you got me up of my caboose.I have plaster drying on my fingers as I miss spell!
I was glad for the opportunity to come over and take a look firsthand at how things are laying out in your basement. Based on the measurements taken and our discussions, I'm posting the following as the first round of suggestions, dealing with benchwork first. I know you're eager to get the rest of the lumber cut and erected, so I wanted to draft this up ASAP.
First off, you'll notice that I am recommending some changes to the benchwork you've already established. This is in keeping with my advice that you create smooth curves for all corners, to prevent accidental (and painful) knocking by train operators moving around the layout. Recall the earthquake devastation to the yard when you bumped into the one crossbrace! So, at the end of the peninsula I am suggesting that you ease it with 12" radius corners, which means cutting the joists back a foot and jigsawing the plywood, but shouldn't be too difficult. Similarly, I'm showing a 42" wide cul-de-sac at the end of each aisle, and since one of these is already surrounded with benchwork that means re-framing one section. But again, this can be done in-place by just cutting the joists and then cutting the plywood to shape. To lay out the 21" radius here, you can tack up a board that spans the aisle (similar to your current braces) such that it provides an anchor point at the center of the curve, then use whatever trammel or pencil-on-a-string that you've been using to lay out curves.
The piece that makes the transition from 12" wide to 24" wide is a special shape, one that I can produce more detailed drawing of if you need me to. The curves here are especially critical, because this is in a primary traffic route through the basement, plus it happens to be in the middle of a long skinny and relatively unbraced segment. Any bumping on corners here will have pronounced effects on trains anywhere near, so the broader the curved layout edge, the better. In fact, it might be better to use the full 8' length of this segment to make the transition, but I wanted to draw it up initially much as you presented it to me.
I've shown the backdrop as non-straight for two reasons: first, there's no reason why it has to run straight, and second, this creates much needed space for the power plant. I actually prefer a backdrop that varies in depth from layout edge because this creates areas of interest, a sense of "place" where the depth is greater. But we can play with the exact location of backdrop all day long, it's just a matter of where you connect the uprights to the joists.
The long unbraced stretch in front does concern me, and it is tempting to think of bracing it off of at least one of those two steel posts. This can be done fairly unobtrusively. In fact, bracing off of the pole on the left might allow the benchwork to be even a bit skinnier, since your aisle up against the stairs is down to only 25" as drawn. With a 9" deck you could have 28" of aisle width, which happens to be the smallest width of a typical residential bathroom door (most residential doors are 30" wide or more).
SO, there's your food for thought! I want to get all this down and agreed upon before going too much further with track planning. What do you think?
i like very much. the rounded edges really bring out more appeal to the benchwork itself. the idea of the brace to the pole i had already thought about that and was actually going to brace the layout to it on both poles but just forgot to mention it to you. thanks for bringing that up to me. also the room is actually 15 1/2' so the walkway is actually already 30". so i dont see the need to change the width of the long narrow piece the extra 3" will just give it a little more added strength and most of all space to add track/scenery. the backdrop i had in mind to of also varying the depth of it, and where we had in mind of placing the power plant we would have to do it anyway. so i agree to all the changes you have said. now lets move on to the track planning. while you are doing that i guess i will start backup tomorrow with the benchwork. dont i have alot of work ahead of me, but i guess its all in the hobby. as you cant get to the glory without a little hardwork and sweat. i see the light. will post pictures at later date of all the work, and a few of the yard after i bumped up against it while crawling under it. i think i knocked off about 150 cars.
Reggie: Keep it going. You're doing great!
traindaddy1 Reggie: Keep it going. You're doing great!
thanks for the encouragement traindaddy.
well i have done a little more work on the benchwork and have made some of the changes that wp&p had recommened. i but first here are the pictures of the yard after i bumped the brace in the middle when i was crawling under the layout.
the middle peninsula is pretty solid as the movement wise but i will brace the legs just for the added insurance.
Good work on the benchwork! Regarding the duckunder rather than a drop-leaf/lift-out, you're young enough to get away with that, but I should point out that most layout with duckunders have benchwork set a bit higher than you do, to make it a little easier. But I guess that's always something that one can come back to later, and replace that section if a hinged bridge becomes a high priority. Right now, I know your HIGH PRIORITY is to get some TRAINS RUNNING!
So, here's my progress so far, trying to incorporate all we talked about in the track plan. I'm focusing on the 4 ft. wide peninsula, as the perimeter loop there offers a way to get out-and-back operation happening long before all the rest is complete. Plus, I was really intrigued by this, as it introduces a whole lotta good potential to this track plan! THINGS ARE GETTING REALLY INTERESTING, I must say.
I took the liberty of assigning some fake names to the various locations, so we can talk meaningfully about them. Since you've mentioned eliminating the anachronistic turntable and roundhouse, and instead using the space for industries or scenery, I've create Betaman ("Be The Man!") as an industrial district, perhaps even with tracks running through the streets, and swtiches and spurs going to all sorts of small industries. Old urban scenery, perhaps even an abandoned siding or two would be called for.
Gamma Junction and Zeta Junction together comprise the return loop that enables trains to reverse direction, i.e. originate in Alphadog, travel through Delta City and Epsilon, then return back to Alphadog facing the other direction. This would be the first level of operation, prior to getting the full main loop established. I treated these as junctions as a way to justify running multiple roadnames on the layout; the way this is configured, one can almost just think of the lower perimeter loop as being one railroad, while the double-track line that rises is the other railroad. The connections of those junctions to Epsilon and Betaman mean that they are "live" crossings - you'll have the fun and challenge of signalling actual trains across those diamonds, in both directions.
The power plant lead just fits behind the curve you've already laid (to the right of Gamma Jct.), though I did have to utilize the Atlas #4 turnouts you've been fond of to make it work. I've still kept to #6 switches for the mainlines, in laying this out, only using #4's on yard or spur tracks, as I remain convinced that major modern mainline action like you want to see just ain't right flowing through #4's. Actually, for this plan, the switches are #7's; it kinda depends on which brand you choose as to what the exact geometry is. Both Altas and Peco make switches that will fit these locations with minor fuss.
A couple of unresolved things: First, I tried to be generous with the Union Station Platforms at Delta, but realized later on that this places one of the two ends on the incline, assuming changes are not made to the elevation at the peninsula end. A fix would be to drop that from 3" down to 2" or less, so that the incline doesn't have to begin until after the switches (the spur going to the Grain Elevator can be fine-tuned in location). Another possible fix would be to scrap the idea of the Union Station on the rear line, and instead locate it on the front line, being served by the single-track mainline. I prefer the station one the double-track line, as this line feels more "passenger-y" to me; the front line seems to be more of a freight interchange line, at least as drawn. I should point out that the S-curve behind the station which penetrates the backdrop is there to serve as a return loop in the other direction, for train that originate in Alphadog, run past the airport, then take the branch line at Theta Junction (to be designed), then take this cutoff after passing through Zeta Junction. They end up on the rear line and follow the double track back to Theta and then back the way they came to Alphadog. However, whether this cutoff is regularly used in operations is a matter of preference; my own guess is that it doesn't really get used (since it warps the geography of the model world so much) except between operating sessions, as a way to turn a long train around.
The other thing incorrect about this plan is that I did not work in the big passing siding at midpoint; this would be on the rear line, behind Epsilon. Initially, I was trying to stick with two tracks in order to make use of the double-track bridges that you own, but I guess we can employ them elsewhere so that a shared center siding can stretch for a good long ways back there.
My thoughts on the single-track cutoff that connects the power plant to the coal mine scene is that it could be treated as if it were another coal branch that comes to join the main line at Theta. It could pop into a tunnel close to where the curve begins in the corner, which is why I left space between it and the double track main; the terrain can be a bit of a view block. I made the radius on that double-track main really broad right there, because it fits, and also because it is one place where the curve can be seen from pretty much every angle. It'll be a SEXY place to watch long intermodal cars roll by!
If I see you at the next Tri-State N-Trak meeting, we can talk more about things there, or we can find each other at the Lakota West show. Otherwise, I'll look for your comments here. And, I do welcome critique from anyone else watching this thread!
well i finally finished the last of the benchwork with the 1x5ft extension as you are coming down the stairs. not much has been done as i am waiting on trackplan to be finished. some track has been laid but not that much. dont want to do to much work and it comes back and i have to redo all of what i have done. so for now the curve as you come down the stairs is complete but not wired. also have a little track and cork laid for the autorack plant as you come down the stairs. if any of you guys have pics to share of your auto industry i would greatly appreciate it if you could show them to me. i'm trying to get ideas for mine. here are the pics hope you enjoy. some of the pics are kind of repeats as they are from different angles.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
SeamonsterThis has been the most interesting thread I've read on this forum. I'll echo what others have said and say it's truly inspirational. I've gleaned quite a few ideas from it for my own N scale layout and I almost wish I was back in the planning stage so I could use more of your ideas, but I'm too far into my layout now for that. Your yard is awesome! What else can I say? I have a comment that no one has put forward yet, but it seems obvious to me. Your postings are the complete saga for an empire-sized layout from the very beginning onwards. You have taken us from bare basement through layout planning, benchwork, drywalling, electrical, and so on. I hope that you will continue to take us through the remaining phases of your layout growth--tracklaying, scenery, structures, etc. to the finished product (as much as any model RR is ever "finished"). Keep up the good work!
thanks for the compliment seamonster, and i hope i keep inspiring others to want to join the hobby and stay in the hobby. cause sometimes its hard for me to go down to the basement to work as i am a lone wolf on this end. wouldnt say lone wolf but as i have a club i am a member of and one of the members is helping me design this layout. i havent done much more work as i have to wait for the trackplan to be complete and final adjustments to be made before i go any farther. but this little encouragement from you and others is what makes me keep going down to the basement to work on the railroad. plus i looking forward to the day that i have my first opperating session on my layout. i know that there will be problems but thats one of the enjoyments of the hobby is working out the kinks and bad problems to have the railroad running alomost flawlessly. i know this is going to take time to do as this railroad will be finished and complete when i kick the old bucket. my plans are to have trains running a complete loop by the end of the year. dont hold me to that but thats the plan and i am on schedule for that to happen. again thanks for the compliments. keep them coming
Reggie
I,ve been fllowing this post since you started. I,m liking where this track plan is going; looking good. The new pictures of the track you just laid are a wye, or turning section. If you didn,t wire this section as a reversing loop with gaps in both rails you have a dead short. I know you said you have been getting help from someone from your club. STOP trying to run trains until you get this wired correctly, I,m hoping that your friend can explain how to wire and where to put the gaps that are needed. You will burn out your DCC controller if you keep doing this; it's the circut breaker in your controller that keeps shutting down and resetting that makes the engine humm and then stop humming. Your having too much fun now to destroy an expensive piece of your railroad.
Good Luck
Wayne
Here's the next iteration of the track plan. I'm posting a link to the overall plan which is 1200x700 pixels approx. I've also created higher-resolution images to show it in a little better detail - two halves that are each 1000 pixels wide. To view those, just browse to:
http://wpandp.com/ModelRailroading/Layout2a-102209.jpg (left side)
http://wpandp.com/ModelRailroading/Layout2b-102209.jpg (right side)
The major changes from before are the relocation of the Union Station to the front "lower main" so that it is all level, and some slight redesign at the interchange yard. Also, the industrial district now called Susanville is a little different, to bring the interchange track in to the mains prior to the curve so that the crossovers leading into staging can be utilized fully. Those crossovers aren't drawn, but they show up in the photos you've already posted.
Another major change is that I moved the Grain Elevator over to the right. I did this because of the rising grade on the "upper main", which would place this feature industry somewhat hidden behind the high line, with its tracks down low. Instead, I ran a spur off that can reach a couple of smaller industries, sort of getting lost in the concrete jungle of the urban area. Because the tracks are low, one can use space beyond the backdrop for longer spurs inside the building.
At the Auto Plant, I tweaked just slightly what I see you had laid, in that I angled the spur tracks in a little bit, basically following the diverging route of the turnout rather than the straight leg. The reason is so that there is a bit of room behind the spurs to include a building front to represent the auto plant itself, while keeping some room in the foreground for the "sea of cars" ready to be loaded. The spurs stop short of the wall so that there is room for the loading ramps; if you don't care to model the ramps, I suppose you can leave those out and extend the tracks all the way to the wall.
I tried to use the names you provided to me by fax, though I couldn't read what you had picked out for Delta City. Also, I suggested a couple of names, such as Milepost 37 instead of RSN Jct. - that one in particular ought to change, because it isn't really a junction any more; the wye isn't used for turning consists. Rather, it's just the lead in to the auto plant.
You didn't provide any suggestion for Theta, so I suggested Bengal Creek. The Bengal Creek branch is rapidly becoming my favorite aspect to this whole plan. I placed the upper main in a tunnel here so that this lonely branch line feels a bit more remote, as it should. The tunnel here also serves a very practical prupose - as this is the edge that protrudes the most into the traffic aisle through the basement, it helps to protect trains from random elbows. The tunnel interior could be exposed, though, so that it is as if you're seeing inside the tunnel, and you've modeled the tunnel walls; a piece of plexiglass could protect trains from falling if desired. There would be a small depot at Bengal Creek, and the little spur is a team track. The longer siding leading into the coal mine allows a mine turn to work without fouling the branch line that leads to the interchange yard.
I look forward to any more comments you might have. I'll be at the Lakota West show this weekend, look for me mid-day Saturday or late on Sunday; if I don't see you, I'll leave prints of this plan with the other club members.
wrumbel Reggie I,ve been fllowing this post since you started. I,m liking where this track plan is going; looking good. The new pictures of the track you just laid are a wye, or turning section. If you didn,t wire this section as a reversing loop with gaps in both rails you have a dead short. I know you said you have been getting help from someone from your club. STOP trying to run trains until you get this wired correctly, I,m hoping that your friend can explain how to wire and where to put the gaps that are needed. You will burn out your DCC controller if you keep doing this; it's the circut breaker in your controller that keeps shutting down and resetting that makes the engine humm and then stop humming. Your having too much fun now to destroy an expensive piece of your railroad. Good Luck Wayne
hey thanks wayne for the info. i kind of figured something was wrong with that section because as soon as i hoked it up thats when things all went haywire. i havent ran anytrains since that day and want until i get this thing wired correctly. again thanks. when i say a friend is helping me with this he's designing the trackplan and i'm doing the track laying and wiring. i havent asked him what i need to do as far as this section of track went. but i was going to ask him saturday when i seen him at tha trainshow. but as you can see you have answered it for me now all i have to do is get my books on wiring wyes and i think i will be ok from there. by the way it was looking i didnt think anybody seen my question i asked about the enignes humming. but to my suprise you seen it and helped me get this much closer to have my trainworld up and running. again thanks and please help me stay motivated. i know you stay a ways away from but you have an invited to come down and run trains if and when you want to.
i love everything you have done and i will add the few changes that i see just to add my little touch/signature to it. lets start withthe names. the whole railroad is getting names from my wife daughter and myself. so if you see the abbreviations of letters its my wifes, daughters and my initials. so all names will stay the same as i have them. the one you said you couldnt understand is naijahville pronounced (ny jah ville). the one you have for bengal creek PLEASE change for me to myles creek. as i dont want any sports teams names/mascots names on the layout. i know what you were getting at with that name but i have enough around the house to not want it anywhere. also the name for the black diamond coal mine change it to myles family coal mine for me and that will be it for the names. also i i see you have changed the name to the lake from reggietrain to reggitrain i like and will stick with how you have changed it. to keep my word as far as people helping me and possibly naming/doing something on the layout you can name the one post you have renamed to mile post 37 to whatever you have in mine/like. that way your signature is on the layout not just by the design but by your name you choose. i love what you have done with this plan, but i have a question about where you have urban scenery and the lower main com ing back under the two mains that are rising. i will explain to you on saturday what im talking about for you to get a clear understanding. but the placement for everything is marvolous and i like where you are going with this. could you possibly have the grain elevator placed somewhere to where it can possibly have a double ended yard instead of stub ended. if you had this that way because of the picture i said i wanted to model after let it stay the way it is and if we see where we can make it a double end later we will. but i like what you have created thus far man am i pleased.
WP&P
first off i have a question for all of the wiring experts out there. looking at the trackplan above where would you isolate/gap the track for a reversing loop/wye. i have 2 possible wye's/reversing loops one at reginalds auto plant and one at susanville or do i even need to gap it anywhere besides at the autoplant. i have placed the the gaps at the auto plant and my trains are running perfectly like they were before i hooked up that wye/reversing loop. so i can run trains from one end of the yard to lake reggitrain. if you have questions and dont understand what im saying i will try and explain again but all help is needed and wanted.
now on to the photos of the little work i have done on the railroad. have cut the creek in the plywood and cut out for the bridges that go over lake reggitrain and laid a little more track not much but its some work done. have to wait on my 2 extra bridges to get in and the piers that will hold the bridges in place. hope you like. i will keep updating as more work is done.
here are a few of the track work i have done up to the point of lake reggitrain
Reggie:
The Wye to the auto plant is easy. You need gaps in both rails at two locations. The first is the straight part of the switch along the wall leading to the plant. The second is the straight part of the switch from the lake to the plant. The gaps are after the switch so the curve and bothe switches are part of the main. All the track going to the plant from these 2 switches will be wired as one block (the reversing section). Since you are using DCC you could get an auto reverser (AR1 I think from Digitrac) or buy one from Tonys Trains. You also have some other reversing sections at Susanville. These are going to be a little harder to decide where to cut the gaps. Also all the track for your loads in empty out for Black Diamond Coal make a reversing section. A train isn't going to travel all the way thru these tracks' but the electricity will, so all these tracks must be wired as one reversing section. The track coming from the main at Delta City to the grain elevator and stub yard going thru the backdrop to Black Diamond Coal also makes a reversing section.
I looked at all this Saturday and wasn't too sure where the best places to gap these sections would be. I had 2 reversing sections on my ols DC layout. When I built the new layout; which is DCC; I decided not to include any reversing sections. Maybe someone else with more knowledge of reversing sections and DCC can help you decide where to gap and where not to. It has to do with the normal route of traffic thru these sections. In DC we didn't have auto reversers and you made the gaps so you weren't changing the reverse switches all the time; it became a real problem. With DCC and auto reverser if you were switching the yard and going into and out of the reversing block all the time the AR1 or whatever would be switching back and forth all the time, the poor thing would get qiute the workout, see what I mean.
So with so many reverse sections to look at maybe someone else can help here. Once again the one to the auto plant is easy and needs to be taken care of now.