I finished up some scenary around the bridge. Added plaster cloth to make the hills.
This is on the other side of the bridge
Now i am working on laying the track that will go under the coal mine. There will be access to this from removeable fascia.
Well it has been awhile without an update so i figured i would try to start posting some again.
I added a 3D printed bridge that my Co-OP at work printed for me and cut out the area for the creek to flow under.
Continuing on the mainline we come to the most recently added track section. 2 Peco large radius turnouts are used in the passing siding to allow access to the branchline.
After i get some hills installed by the bridge i will be raising the coal mine up around 5 inches to be on a hill in the corner of the layout. The Oil tanks will stay at the current height and will have an oil loadout platform. These were 3D printed as well.
From here we head around the curve into the yard. I have installed the risers of the branchline that lead up to the coal mine. This will turn into a mountain to try to hide the sump and radon pipes
In the background you can find the inclines that lead up and down from the mountains.
Here is the 2 inch high area that is above the cutout that will turn into the small town
The mainline curves 180 degrees back to the 3D bridge that started. I will be doing plaster cloth hills this weekend and i will post more when they are complete
Lookin' good dude!
I wasn't going to comment on the slightly wiggly track. I figured you would see that yourself pretty quickly, which you did.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Here is an update with some photos of the yard. I currently have the yard and the first loop of the mainline completed.
Here is a shot from the first turnout of the yard. I am still waiting on turnouts and flex to finish the engine servicing area that will come off the roadbed
Here is a shot from the other side where you can see the engine house i picked up from Menards
Here is the menards building up close. I will need to blend in the grass with the scenary i put down around the yard but I like the way it looks.
The last thing i have worked on was picking up some walthers track bumpers from my LHS along with a rust colored paint to place at the end of my yard tracks.
The last track i have to install on the yard i was waiting on getting some insulated rail joiners. I am going to but my lighted proto passanger cars on this track and dont want them lighted all the time, so i will set this track up with a switch to turn track power on and off.
And upon looking at these pictures i have fixed the two tracks in the yard that were not straight. Its always helpful to look at these pics to review my work.
Next i will paint in between the yard tracks gray and work on ballasting and other scenary in this area.
Well it's been a long time since I posted on this layout construction topic. To give an update I have completed the mainline and most of the yard. I need to still finish the engine servicing area then it will be on to putting in scenery around the yard.
I have one question for you all? When putting in scenery what order do you go in? My idea was to paint the plywood, sprinkle on turf as I go. Then ballast the yard, then put in ground cover for bushes and weeds.
is this a good order?
Well i have had some time in the mornings before i leave for work that i have invested down in the train room. I have two sections where a river will cross the layout that i dropped down 2 inches and then brought back flush with the benchwork. This way i can lay my mainline down and get to start running trains again before i have to make and install the bridges. I will just cut my rivers down into the foam when the bridges are ready. Below are the photos of the foam sections and one close up of the edge of one area of foam butting up with my benchwork that is off.
Any Ideas to fix this? my mainline is going to have to run over this area and i need to level it out into a small grade. The bottom picture shows the area. The lip is 1/4 in at the worst spot, so i will have to put in a one foot grading area to smooth it out? whats the best way to do this? Anyone have experience fixing an issue like this before?
Thanks
Spartan
Well it makes me feel a little better that there are other instances where passanger trains stop on curved platforms. On my next layout in around 10 years I will have more room to model these acurately. But then I will run into the issue of trying to model the Alaskan Railroad and Canadian National all the way into the US. It is going to be quite large. But that is a dream for another day.
Thanks everyone for the help on the layout design. My next few posts should be photos of completing sections of the track laying!
SpartanCookare there any railroads were they have stations on curves like the situation I am in?
Yes, quite a few. I have an upcoming article in MRP on a layout that includes Harpers Ferry, where the Amtak and MARC trains stop at a (gently) curved platform.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Yeah that's what I thought, are there any railroads were they have stations on curves like the situation I am in? I guess it wouldn't be too odd, as this town is supposed to be roughly talkeetna and they don't have a platform at all you just step down on to the pavement
SpartanCook The one thing i thought was weird is the town in the lower right has one spur that i would like to use as both a passanger station and a spot to unload boxcars.
That wouldn't be typical for any real railroad that I know of. More likely the passenger trains would just stop on the mainline or siding -- and that is where the passenger station would be located.
Hello All,
I have been MIA for awhile and not able to work on my trackplan with the birth of my first child. Now that mom and baby are settled into a routine I had the oppurtunity to lower my benchwork in tewo sections and am working on cutting 2 inch foam to make it flush with the other benchwork. This is where i will eventually cut my rivers out of, but until i get the bridges built it will just be a foam bridge.
I think i am getting very close to my end goal. You all have been so helpful in the past please let me know if you see anything wrong i didnt notice. All curves are 26+ in. The one thing i thought was weird is the town in the lower right has one spur that i would like to use as both a passanger station and a spot to unload boxcars. Is this doable?
cuyamaflipping the initial turnout
Well Duh! Byron, you have to stop embarrassing us with these simple and obvious solutions.
Seriously, I would have thought of that....eventually....maybe five or ten years from now.
cuyamaFor a single operator, no separate switchers, and no cabooses, I'm not sure that the added runaround Dave mentions is worth the amount that it would shorten the yard.
What came to mind was a way to accomplish two things at once. First, put a straight section into the middle of the 'S' curve, and secondly to add some flexibility to the yard. However, I was forgetting the objective of keeping the yard operation as simple as possible. Flipping the turnout is a much better solution.
I think the yard is an improvement, for sure. As Dave noted, there is an S-curve leading into the yard that could prove problematic. Adding a length of straight track is the most straightforward solution, but makes the yard shorter. Another is flipping the initial turnout as shown below.
This routes the mainline through the diverging path of the turnout, which is rare on real-life railroads. But if you use a #6 or larger turnout there, it wouldn’t be a problem given your minimum radius.
For a single operator, no separate switchers, and no cabooses, I'm not sure that the added runaround Dave mentions is worth the amount that it would shorten the yard. But it’s often a good idea under other circumstances.
Good luck with your layout.
Kyle:
OK, now that looks like something is happening!
As far as the yard, you have nice long yard tracks. In fact, I think they might be longer then you need given the length of your spurs. My suggestion would be to add a run-around track parallel to the yard ladder. That will shorten the yard tracks a bit but I think you would find the yard more flexible with the run-around. It would also reduce the 'S' curve that you currently have going into the yard ladder by adding a straight section (i.e. the through route of the turnout that feeds the run-around) before you get to the ladder. That might be helpful when you are backing trains into the yard.
Don't quote me on that however. I have been wrong before, maybe more times than I have been right! Hopefully Byron will offer his opinion.
You are on a roll! Keep it up!
I just threw everything together besides the yard. It looks cluttered to me i may need to fix a few things, but would this yard work to service the 4-5 industrys.
I need to make a passing siding for the towns for a passanger train.
I am modeling alaska and they do not have switchers. But its my railroad so i may have to repaint the one i have My railroad will also connect to Canadian national so i have more variety than SD70MAC locos anyways so i am open to switchers. But i will not be using cabooses. I may get one to sit at the end of one of the yard tracks but I dont like to use them.
hon30critterAW come on Byron! You gotta have switchers! I love switchers!!
I'm building a layout populated exclusively by switchers, so it's nothing against them!
In a yard with a limited number of tracks (as Kyle is considering), a separate switcher pocket helps keep things from clogging up.
cuyamaI'm not sure that a separate switcher is required in the Original Poster's concept.
I'm sure it's not, but I tend to assume that everyone thinks like me and wouldn't pass up an excuse for an extra locomotive.
Isn't Spartan modeling the Alaska railroad? From what I've watched on the history channel the road crews make up their own trains, but they always walk away after arrival and leave the breakdown for somebody else (that they never show).
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
AW come on Byron! You gotta have switchers! I love switchers!!
Sorry Kyle - now back to intelligent discussion.
For only one operator and one train, I'm not sure that a separate switcher is required in the Original Poster's concept.
But a switcher could be used, in which case a pocket where the switcher could duck out of the way would be a helpful addition.
Basic yard operation is as follows:
At least 4 classification tracks is ideal. That way you have one for through and local for each direction.
Another scenario for a smaller yard that serves local traffic but doesn't have trains originate or terminate there:
This is very basic, but I think it represents the general idea.
SpartanCook1. The train would cross the turnout on the bottom left of the diagram onto the double ended track. 2. It would pull the train fully into this siding. Then the Loco would detach from the cars. 3. That loco would do a run around on the mainline and grab the cars from the opposite side. Then push them into their respective storage tracks?
That would be the "classic" way, yes. The train could arrive from either direction, same process, only difference whether the engine needs to runaround. Somewhere in there, they might stash the caboose somewhere out of the way (if there is one).
Or they can just work from the main if there is no other traffic and they don't need to duck into the siding to let the another train pass.
Thanks for the advice Byron
That design that you showed would be perfect for my layout! It will only be me operating and my train lengths will be small at least on this my first layout.
One question on how you would go about operating this yard in the scenario of returing from industries scattered along the layout with a train of 7-8 cars.This is how i think it would work but please correct me if i am wrong it may be the reason why i cant design a good yard.
1. The train would cross the turnout on the bottom left of the diagram onto the double ended track.
2. It would pull the train fully into this siding. Then the Loco would detach from the cars.
3. That loco would do a run around on the mainline and grab the cars from the opposite side. Then push them into their respective storage tracks?
Or the train could come from the other direction and just pull past yard entirely then spot the cars on the needed tracks by backing into them as well?
Thanks again everyone
Hi Byron:
Thanks for the reference to David Popp's yard operations article. I just ordered a copy.
I have spent a fair amount of time trying to get my yard right. Before I read John Armstrong's book it was a disaster, but of course, being a naive newbie at the time, I though it was perfect in all respects! I'll be interested to see how it stacks up against David Popp's advice.
http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html
good read!
Steve
hon30critterI just spent some time looking through John Armstrong's yard plans, specifically at the top plan in Fig. 2-9, page 26, 3rd edition. I think that is one of the plans that cuyama is suggesting. Unfortunately Mr. Armstrong didn't provide scale measurements with his plans. Based on 2.25" track centers the plan as drawn would be somewhere around 16 ft long. The only way you could do that would be to curve the ends of the yard down the sides of the benchwork, and that would mean devoting almost half of the layout to the yard only.
The overall yard need not be that long given Spartan's train lengths, I was only referring to Armstrong's track arrangement, which would be fine in a shorter yard.
I'll look through my custom plans to see if I have a good example for his space. Because yard ladders take up quite a bit of length, the yard will probably need to be longer than 8 feet in HO to meet Spartan's needs.
This HO yard example is only 8 feet, but was designed for shorter trains, a single operator, and with no need to keep the mainline clear via a yard lead (which would probably be a good idea for Spartan's layout). His would need to be a bit longer, I think, but as HOn30 suggests, parts of the yard could curve.
I think that one key shown here (unlike the schematic on Craig Bisgeier's page) is to have the double-ended track(s) that can serve as arrival/departure tracks accessible in the same way as any stub-ended classification/storage tracks. I'd definitely recommend a little more length for Spartan's yard, as the double-ended track here is only 4'8" long.
hon30critterAs far as finding a program that can animate the yard, 3rdPlanIt can do that for you.
I don't think that is what Spartan is asking. I think that he is asking to see an animated example of trains arriving, cars being switched, trains departing, etc. This would need to be created by someone with a bit of experience. I've thought about doing exactly that, but it would take a lot of time.
There was a great article by David Popp in an MR Special Issue called How to Build Realistic Layouts: Freight Yards. It looks like that might still be available and is a helpful collection of ideas.
Popp's article is a good example of how a model yard actually works with arrivals, departures, block-swapping, etc.
Byron
Hi Kyle:
Sorry, I didn't give you enough credit. I should have realized that your plan was concentrating on the yard.
I just spent some time looking through John Armstrong's yard plans, specifically at the top plan in Fig. 2-9, page 26, 3rd edition. I think that is one of the plans that cuyama is suggesting. Unfortunately Mr. Armstrong didn't provide scale measurements with his plans. Based on 2.25" track centers the plan as drawn would be somewhere around 16 ft long. The only way you could do that would be to curve the ends of the yard down the sides of the benchwork, and that would mean devoting almost half of the layout to the yard only.
I'm not saying that cuyama's suggestion is wrong. He knows far more about layout design then I do. If I were you, I would ask him to provide a few more details.
As far as finding a program that can animate the yard, 3rdPlanIt can do that for you. Unfortunately it is not free, but I have been using it for several years and I am very happy with it. You can even do the animation in 3D, although it isn't very fast.
http://www.eldoradosoft.com/
Hi Dave
Dont worry i dont think you are trying to take over my layout. As this is going to be my first larger layout i value the advice.
I am still going to implement running track and have another loop with an incline on the outside of the layout. This will lead up to the mine track. It will be the same as the previous layout above this one with a 2% grade.
I really just wanted to simplify everything down and just focus on the yard and see what i need there first. Then i can curve my yard lead and engine service tracks after i know the yard will be functional.
The spurs are just there to show inputs and out puts of cars for my own sake trying to wrap my head on how to get this yard to function.
Does anyone know of any simple yards like I am trying to make that have an animation online? That way i can visualize how the trains will run and switch cars within a yard like this? I have between 8-10 ft and a two foot wide section to build my yard
Thanks for everyones advice and help
Kyle