R Street Layoutb by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
R Street Layoutg by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Interesting design.... i liked that you tried to keep as much like the prototype as possible. I personaly do bendtrack which would give a little more flexability to the design than N Track does. How will this be operated when it is not at a show? I know most N track groups just run the blue line as a third main line at shows. With that in mind i can not tell if the curve is too sharp at the right side.
Justin
The map says San Francisco on it with Southern Pacific. So year is track plan going to be in? What railroad interchanges with the SP on that line?
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Prototype drawings of the area are from a report, titled "Proposed Heavy Commercial-Light Industrial Corrrridor" done by a consultant for the City of Sacramento dated Feb 1, 1964. They are based on aerial photos, also in the Report, and field visits.
The WP track is based on the actual track arrangement of the Western Pacific "R' Street Branch in Sacramento CA which ran in the "Q-R Alley" from a Wye connection on it's east end with the Western Pacific main line between 19th St and 20th Street to Front Street on it's West end. At Front Street it connected to the Sacramento Northern and the Southern Pacific Walnut Creek Branch (correction Walnut Grove Branch) both of which ran in Front Street. West of the depicted area the WP served warehouses along the Sacramento River. To get to them they had to cross both the SN and SP tracks. The Central California Traction Company also ran freights on Front Street using SN tracks.
The facilities and industries served are based on the Report and other sources.
Between 9th Street and 19th Street the WP ran along the Alley and servered only a couple industries so that area is not modeled.
The interchange between the WP and SP (one of several in Sacramento) was the tracks along "R" Street labeled "Interchange".
Two-three WP switch jobs per day worked the corridor. They were based at Hagen Yard which was on the WP main line about a mile north of "R" Street.
The SP served a number of indiustries/busnesses on the south side of "R" Street which are not depicted on the modules. The SP is of historic interest because it was the west end of the Placerville and Sacramento Valley Railroad which was the first railroad in California.
I added the curved blue track through the Wye to accomodate NTRAK standards.
The minimun radius on the blue track and diorama track is 20 inches.
This link is to Tom Campbell's "R" Street Layout Blog. He has been working on an HO layout depicting the area.
http://r-streetlayout.blogspot.com/
A portion of "R"treet is also modeled on the Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society's HO layout:
http://www.smrhs.com/layouts.html
Lots of jumper tracks to put in at the joints for a show. Lots of wiring to carry across the joints too, especially if the switches are powered.
The crossovers between mains will need to be done right (wiring), especially in DC, and the switches on the mains will have to be high quality to prevent derailments with long trains at shows.
Do you have the ability to transport all four modules to shows, along with all the urban buildings and scenery details?
Still, if you want it, and especially if this will be mainly used at home, go for it!
One other consideration. Will someone unfamiliar with the track layout be able to operate a mainline train through it at a show?
I presented the plan to generate interest. I desiged it many years ago with the intention of building it but shortly thereafter stopped participating in NTRAK due to health and other considerations.
At the time I had a GMC van and could transport a 18" module (three 6' sections) and 20' or more of 4' modules to shows.
My current vehicle is a Honda Element. Due to the length of the sections (5') the rear seats would have to be removed, the tailgate left open, the upper hatch tied down partially open, and straps required to secure the modules. The scenery is flat and buildings low so the modules could be nested pairs narrow enough to fit side by side in the width or stacked in the height of the cargo section. I did try some ideas using 4' long sections, but 5' works much better.
The number of tracks and wiring crossing the joints is not a problem. NTRAK modules have been built with more. Most of the track connections could be made with standard ATLAS code 80 track sections or Rerailer sections, although in a couple places shorter sections would be necessary .
There is nothing compilcated with the crossings between the main lines RED-YELLOW, YELLOW-BLUE. They are PECO large and in accordance with NTRAK standards.
For a show I would set the switches to run the BLUE line as shown. They would not be touched unless it was decided to do some switching to and on the diorama tracks. All switches for this route are PECO large. The RED and YELLOW mains are just straight run throughs.
For set up at home I would attach a fiddle yard to the WP main line to represent Hagen and operate a switching operation on "R" Street. The modules would also work as a peninsula on a larger WP layout.
I like the area and the potential as a switiching area. I am considering, if things work out, building the module in the future. All buildings would be made from cardstock glued to the modules.
Sacramento had an extensive railroad network. Of interest might be the posts by Forum member "jetrock" about his HO scale Sacramento Northern layout.