Oh man..... Paul is quick!
- Douglas
I'm glad my designs and articles have been useful for some of you. The track plan book project is still planned, but deferred until at least late in the year.
Mike, I had forgotten about the model NW-2s, that's a good example. But I think it's one of the exceptions -- I still believe that most mass-produced HO models negotiate tighter curves than would their prototype counterparts.
As far as adding length and a yard to the Alcos in the Alcove design, that certainly could be done. Designating one or two yard tracks as the interchange connection would be typical of many real-life situations and most efficient, although a separate interchange connection appeared in many places.
An important thing in any design intended for operations is understanding how the cars will be moved. As was noted, you want to avoid situations where you must runaround an excessive number of times and/or haul one car at a time through a runaround or switchback move. Real railroads avoid that and most modelers should too, as it can become quite tedious.
If you add the yard, think about what lead you will use to switch it. Can that same lead be used for some industrial tracks too, perhaps through a crossover? Can you pull a full yard track length on the lead and still make a switching move or runaround if required? (Real-life railroads don't always have leads as long as the longest yard track, but it does make switching a bit smoother.)
This compact switching layout design is an example of a yard at one end of the layout adjacent to the runaround. Something similar could be bent around your corner.
As far as adding some city structures, there are already some along the left-hand side of the Alcove design. If you wanted to add more buildings, placing most of them along the wall behind the operating trackage is often a good idea, as it makes for less interference when you reach into the scene while operating.
Since the land adjacent to the railroad usually wasn't prime real estate in real life, I think it's often neat to model the "backs" of the buildings along the tracks. This may not meet your cohabitant's "cuteness" requirements, so maybe split the difference, with some quaint storefronts along one leg of the layout and grittier trackside scenes along the other.
Best of luck with your layout.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Ok, take 4...
So this is an adaptation of your switching shelf layout.....with some more space. So, I added a few things, stretched it...ect. I think I will start with this. build a mockup, and then see what is missing. There is room for the backs of housing or city commerce....ect. I think this will be fun. notice I re-arranged the room to give more length to the industries side.
Chad
I see your still posting in the same format. of which I can't see because it shows up a the background with my web broser.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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.png is the most popular web image format used today for nearly every website. you can download Firefox web browser from here . It's free and easy to install. I HIGHLY suggest using that.
Chad:
I think that it's time to start laying things out and building. Once you start I'm sure that you will find a few things you want to change around but that's the fun of modeling. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress. By the way, I agree about Firefox. I just downloaded the latest version and it is really good.
Joe
Looks pretty good. Nothing jumps out as being a big operation problem. I assume there will be enough reach for the turnout in the upper right. Hey, why not extend all the way down the right side of the room now?
You know, if you're set on the shape of the layout and its location, you can always get started on the bench work and table top, then just play with the exact track arrangement in 1:1 as you build. It helps to see things in real life than just on paper. You'll likely make adjustments anyway.
Chad,
I normally don't comment on non-client's plans, just because I don't have a lot of time for analysis and also because the designers aren't always open to input on their designs.
But since you used my plan as a basis, I felt I should at least note some issues that often crop up with newcomers' plans that are reflected in your adaptation.
Adding length is always helpful and in that size you'll have no problem developing a workable plan. But here are some potential issues I noticed:
Length of switch lead (A1) versus length of runaround (A2). These don't always have to be equal, but in this case, the limited length of the switch lead at A1 is going to constrain a lot of what you'd like to do when switching. There are a number of changes you can make to help with this.
Switchback industries. You have situations at both B1 and B2 where you have industries on both wings of a switchback. If you walk through the switching of the industries, you'll see that cars probably must be removed from the County Co-op (and possibly from the industries opposite ADM) before you can switch the industries on the other wing. This is usually a bad idea and is avoided on the real-life railroads, although the arrangement is often seen on published model track plans.
In real life, these sorts of situations are much more commonly handled by a crossing (crudely illustrated at B3). But note that you would still have a bit of a "room to roll" problem at the ADM elevator (see below).
[I did use a switchback to reach the ADM elevator in my plan, which in itself is not typical. But there are no industries on the lead leg, which makes it less unusual (and a lot less tedious to switch!)]
Room to roll. In real life, industries such as grain elevators have cars spotted at one end of the track, then they are rolled by gravity (or pulled with a cable) below the dump spout or over an unloading grate to be filled or emptied. This requires extra room on each side of the industry that many modelers incorrectly do not provide. I mentioned this in the magazine article referenced in the Alcos in the Alcove layout page on my site. I illustrated this at C, but the same is true at the ADM elevator. The switchbacks outlined above obviously exacerbate this problem.
Probably unnecessarily double-ended sidings (D1 and D2) don't add much to the operating potential and aren't typical of real-life. D2 also interferes a bit with the last yard track (D3), since you must leave it open if an engine is going to run down there. You already have a runaround, so typically there would not be a second (D2).
Many newcomers to model railroad CAD create unexpected and potentially problematic S-curves such as the one that appears at E. By flipping this crossover the other-way-'round or moving it down a bit, you can eliminate the s-curve. This would also allow you to start the yard sooner, extending its length (always a plus).
I hope these comments will be helpful to you and to the others who are working to help you with your plan.
Best of luck with it.
hi Byron,
probably you made me aware about the way grain-elevators are operated. Room to roll, but how is this done on model railroads? By hand? Or not simulated at all? The issue is not unfamiliar to me, since the very same problem is part of coal haulers daily routine. Replacement of the cars during staging is an option too of course.
The length of the lead does not seem very important to me, since making up cuts of cars is done in the yard. Is it not merely used as an engine escape? (a cassette would deal with this problem, beside it can function as another interchange)
Hi Chad
your last plan confuses me. Is it oriented in a different way in your room? Did you ever considered to use a cassette to lengthen a lead track? The cassette could function as an interchange as well. You have the space to do it.
Are you still willing to make your wife happy? You did not indicate a cute town in your plans. In front of the yard might cause reach over problems.
Smile
Paul
Paulus Jas probably you made me aware about the way grain-elevators are operated. Room to roll, but how is this done on model railroads? By hand? Or not simulated at all? The issue is not unfamiliar to me, since the very same problem is part of coal haulers daily routine. Replacement of the cars during staging is an option too of course.
Yes, cars are rolled to the other end of the track manually -- typically done between operating sessions as part of the reset. And for open top loads, cars or loads can be swapped at the same time.
Paulus Jas The length of the lead does not seem very important to me, since making up cuts of cars is done in the yard. Is it not merely used as an engine escape? (a cassette would deal with this problem, beside it can function as another interchange)
It seems to me that the short lead affects switching most of the industries, since one must back down there to clear the turnouts. But there are multiple ways to switch it, some more efficient than others.
I'm not sure that he has room to add a cassette, but a simple rearrangement of turnouts would help ease the problem in the existing space, if desired.