Bedroom sized trackplan

[ivanfurlanis]

Hi!

I post a trackplan for a bedroom sized layout (i.e., for my bedroom[zzz]) and I'd like to know what do you think about it. The size is about 14' x 14'. It features a mainline loop (a New York, New Haven & Hartford single track line) and a point-to-point interurban in post-wire life (my free-lance Atlantic Electric).

Click here for a detailed trackplan.
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1683/ae5el.gif

Schematic trackplan.


Northbound (counterclockwise) New Haven trains leave the staging and enter the town of South Troy. Here there are a number of industies: a coffee and chocolate distributor (I love them [dinner]), a newspaper printer and a coal and fuel distributor. There is also the main interchange with the Atlantic Electric that serves two more customers via a street track: Buxtehude Organs and U-M Industries (U-M stands for un-modeled: as a matter of fact this industry is set out of the modeled portion of the layout).

From South Troy both roads head North on parallel alignments and reach Chaubunagungamaug Crossing where the NYNH&H has a short spur to load pulpwood while AE has a small depot: this was once used by passengers during the trolley years, now is just a spot to load milk.

Then we arrive at Dresden Jct where the Atlantic Electric crosses the New Haven at grade. There is a second connection between the two railroads, too: this connection is used by AE to bring loaded flatcars from the nearby quarry to South Troy. The AE bridge at Chaubunagungamaug Crossing cannot accomodate these heavy loads so the NH agrees trackage right to southbound AE trains only. At Dresden Jct there is also the compact engine terminal of the interurban.

Next town is Allenton. Here Atlantic Electric enters downtown via street-running trackage and serves all the industries: Red Mill Grain, A. Wilkes Axes and the large Allenton Paper Co. The interurban ends here, while northbound New Haven trains pass the depot, run around town and enter staging.

The layout can be built in three stages:
1) Allenton downtown
2) from Allenton New Haven station to Chaubunagungamaug Crossing
3) South Troy.

Until the layout will be complete, provisorily stagings will help operations.

A number of section will be removable to access at doors and windows: Allenton NH Station, Chaubunagungamaug Crossing and the staging area: this will be built as a simple three-section board with disjoining legs.

Let me know what do you think.

Ciao, Ivan

[talon104]

Sounds impressive Ivan! Like to see pics when it's done. Go for it ,

[ereimer]

i like the plan a lot , you've managed to keep the two lines separate and add plenty of switching possibilities and staging in a fairly small space . i also like the transfer table in the staging area to move whole trains on and off the main , very good !

here are a couple of things you might think about ...

allentown is obviously a tribute to John Allen , but the "timesaver" isn't a prototypical track layout , and many people , while admitting it's a fun puzzle , think it gets old rather quickly if you have to do all that switching every time you want to move a car in out out of town . at the very least consider moving the depot to that area south of the tracks where you have 2 un-named buildings now , railroads generally do as little back and forth switching of passengers as possible , freight doesn't seem to care [:)]

many of your industries are only switchable from one direction , you may have planned it that way , but adding a run-around or two will make it possible to switch both ways . one could easily be added just east of the south troy turntable

please keep us up to date on progress , this looks like a fun layout !

[ivanfurlanis]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ereimer

i like the plan a lot , you've managed to keep the two lines separate and add plenty of switching possibilities and staging in a fairly small space . i also like the transfer table in the staging area to move whole trains on and off the main , very good !

here are a couple of things you might think about ...

allentown is obviously a tribute to John Allen , but the "timesaver" isn't a prototypical track layout , and many people , while admitting it's a fun puzzle , think it gets old rather quickly if you have to do all that switching every time you want to move a car in out out of town . at the very least consider moving the depot to that area south of the tracks where you have 2 un-named buildings now , railroads generally do as little back and forth switching of passengers as possible , freight doesn't seem to care [:)]

Yes, I know some modeler disagrees to use the timesaver in a true layout as it doesn't look prototypical. But in Mariazell (Austria) there is a small steam touristic street railway that has a terminal arranged in the same way of the timesaver! Allenton spurs are longer than the original John Allen design, this to ease operation. For example, the Red Mill Grain spur is 2' 4'' long while the passing siding can accomodate three 40' cars. Problems can be generated by the short head shunt left of the runaround. I simulated a local freight leaving Allenton using the "run trains" function of XTrkCad and I managed to leave town after 20 minutes of switching. Not so bad! Moreover, Atlantic Electric freights will start from Allenton, they will pick up cars to carry them down to South Troy New Haven interchange. Here the AE trains will excange cars with both southbound and northbound NH locals and then will come back to Allenton where they'll drop off the new cars.

QUOTE: many of your industries are only switchable from one direction , you may have planned it that way , but adding a run-around or two will make it possible to switch both ways . one could easily be added just east of the south troy turntable

I don't understand where you'd like to add a runaround. Actually in South Troy there are two runarounds: one (long: it can accomodate trains like 2 x Geeps + 12 x 40' + caboose) for the New Haven and another (short, just four 40' cars) for Atlantic Electric.

I'm happy you like my plan. I don't know if I'll build this layout. Next week I'm leaving Italy to spend four months in Germany, lots of thing to do....

Ciao, Ivan

[roadrat]

It looks like a very well thought out plan, I love the idea of the interurban RR what kind of engines will the AE be using? I would think 44 tonners would be great for the job.


bill

[ivanfurlanis]

QUOTE: Originally posted by roadrat

It looks like a very well thought out plan, I love the idea of the interurban RR what kind of engines will the AE be using? I would think 44 tonners would be great for the job.


bill

I very like 44-tonner, as well Alco S-1 -2 -3 and -4. While I'm in Germany I'm visiting various hobby shops. I'll choose when I'll be here. In the meantime I'm studying colors for my little road. At first I wanted AE engines in orange with blue strips, but, as the New Haven has lots of orange, at present I'm thinking of light blue with a white strip at the base of the body.

Ciao, Ivan

[roadrat]

Here's a link to a Aroostook Valley Railroad model with some great looking 44 tonners, the AVR was a northern Maine RR that started out electrified but switched to diesels.

http://www.geocities.com/talldogmolly/pictures.html

bill

[ereimer]

QUOTE: Actually in South Troy there are two runarounds: one (long: it can accomodate trains like 2 x Geeps + 12 x 40' + caboose) for the New Haven and another (short, just four 40' cars) for Atlantic Electric.

ok , i was thinking they were a little far from south troy , but it works as drawn . actually i didn't even realize the long one was a runaround [:I]

[BigRusty]

Having been a life long resident of Connecticut and also New Haven fan, this doesn't look like any of the New Haven that I know. While this is a very lovely drawing, I suggest that you mentally run trains around the trackage. There are many sidings that cannot be switched, especially at the top. One of the things that I always do is mentally run the trains around in all possible situations and see if it will be functional. I like CadRail because it allows one to actually run trains over the design, and actually switch the sidings, etc. With that much space you might consider an L shaped corner layout to avoid the running trains in circles situation. I can see no way to get an east bound to become westbound.

[ivanfurlanis]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BigRusty

Having been a life long resident of Connecticut and also New Haven fan, this doesn't look like any of the New Haven that I know. While this is a very lovely drawing, I suggest that you mentally run trains around the trackage. There are many sidings that cannot be switched, especially at the top. One of the things that I always do is mentally run the trains around in all possible situations and see if it will be functional. I like CadRail because it allows one to actually run trains over the design, and actually switch the sidings, etc. With that much space you might consider an L shaped corner layout to avoid the running trains in circles situation. I can see no way to get an east bound to become westbound.

I used XTrkCad to draw the layout; the program has a run-a-train function so I tested the various switching moves to check if everithing is ok. I put the maximum number of cars in Allenton, I randomly decided what cars had to go to South Troy and I hadn't problems to build the local.

I'm from Italy and I haven't been in the USA, so probably there are some incongruence. New Haven isn't my first choice. I'd like to model Boston & Maine and Maine Central in 1957, but there aren't a great number of equipment available (cabeese in primis) so I decided to model NYNH&H. How can a New Haven northbound become a southbound? It can't, but it isn't a great problem. I'm planning to have just two NH freight consists: one will make a counterclockwise run to simulate a northbound way freight, the other will run in the opposite direction as a southbound. The staging must be dismantled after each session so New Haven trains will build and break before and after each op.

Ciao, Ivan

[ivanfurlanis]

In the meantime I've just redesigned Allenton trackplan. I lost the timesaver but switching is easier.



Ciao, Ivan

[BigRusty]

Now you're cookin'. You might consider modeling the Berkshire, Naugatuck or the Canal Line. New Haven station has 14 tracks in the station, not including the motor storage area, the coach yards and the pocket tracks so a single track doesn't work for me. Just model the Berk and call it Danbury. That was served by a double track electrified line for a long time and now just diesels. I am planning a layout centered on the New Haven Union Station and it will take up almost 55 feet diagonally in a 24 x 44 foot room. That's BIG! I know its hard modeling a prototype from that far away, but I live 2,000 miles from the east coast and 50 years later than the era I am modeling, so I know how hard research is.