Here for your consideration and critic/feedback. Scale is On30 , era is set in pre WW2. operation would be of the slow and relaxed kind. 4 place need swithcing (team track, interchange,industry and freight depot) there is no runaround track per se but the wye is to be used for that purpose as well. there is an enginehouse and a small water tower/sanding station as well as some "urban" scenery. Scenery will be simple and set in nondescript northeast location. Engine are to be 0-4-0 gas mechanical 2-6-0 for some passenger service. rolling stock will be a mix of Bachmann standard freight and passenger fare plus some scratchbuilt cars. structure will be mix of DPM and Ameritowne plus a fair amount of scratchbuild structures
I like your idea of a low-key area. Too many of us (myself very much included) sometimes pack too much into a space and spoil a concept when a little restraint would be better.
Seems like you have a little extra yard relative to the number of industry spots. If you like it from a scenery standpoint, that's a valid choice. I'm not sure you have room to run around even one car at a time on the wye, once you consider the clearances required for On30 (you also seem to have a non-connected turnout on one leg of the wye). And at that, many people would find running around one car at a time pretty tedious after a while.
An alternative, if it fits, would be to add the runaround to the yard tracks via a crossover leaving just an engine length clear. I'd also try to add some length on the interchange track so that you can move more than a car or two on- or off the layout that way. You could even designate a yard track as "interchange" -- very typical in a lot of places.
In a layout this small, I'm always trying to "overlap" elements as much as possible ... let the runaround, a yard track, and an industry track all extend along the same length of benchwork, in other words. Like this small N scale layout, where the runaround overlaps some industry tracks, some yard tracks, the lead to the car float, etc.
ByronModel RR Blog
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In addition to your wye, you need a runaround to switch your layout.
Dang Byron, you said 17 times as much and still beat me to the punch.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
It is an interesting arrangement, to me, but some of it comes from the fact that the entire system hinges upon the wye. Unfortunately, and quite apart from the fact that such a layout has no appeal for me, I think the wye, while a laudable exercise in principle, is a limitation in an area this size. Although I am far from an expert in switching layouts, It seems to me that wanting to turn a train and using the same facility that affords that as a runaround is nearly counterproductive...again, on a layout of this size. You would be far better off, and get tons more "interest and fun" factor, by sticking to proper switching procedures, and achieve this by freeing up all that acreage for just that purpose.
My
1- well yard size i felt was kinda smallish, of the 3 track, only 2 are to be used for for storage and such, the spur leading to the station/freight depot has to be kept clear excpet for unloading car at depot or passenger car spotted there. that reduce the yard capacity to about 6 cars tops. which i feel is not a lot but enough to get the idea this is end of the line for a small short line RR.
2- the lack of runaround: ok, i knew this was going to be the chief comment. The original design had a runaround track, i kept changing it, moving it and messing with it, fact of the matter is, i didnt like it, i didnt like how it looked, i didnt like how it flows with the rest of the layout, in my (sometime troubled) mind a runaround would be necessary but i cant find a way to make it fit and look purty and not annoying as all
2a- the way you suggest using the wye i hadnt even thought of it ( i.e: keeping the car hooked up to the engine and completly turn it around) the way i thought of using the wye would be the keep the car on the curve, uncouple, run the engine on the tail of the wye and recouple to it. Reason for that is two fold: 1- i hadnt consider that one and 2- i plan on using the old brass hat trick of having boxcar with different heralds on both side. because the rolling stock never shows on the other side, the illusion is kept whereas if i turn it on the wye youd start your move with a Wendake short line RR car and finish it with a grand Poombah line car
3- the spurs designated A and B could be switched im sure. that way the interchange would gain maybe an extra car lenght and the team track would still remain easily switchable. sounds very easy fix and would improve operation
gotta keep in mind dimesnion. the 2-6-0 is an overall 12 1/4" long over coupler while the 0-4-0 is a mere 4 1/2" . most cars are 6-7 inch long with passenger being 9in. the tail is 13 in. which mean i can turn everything on the layout in a pinch. i can tuen the 2-6-0 by itself, the switcher with 1 box or 2 small scratchbuilt flats and i can turn passenger equipement ( leaving the car on the track and running the engine back, then turn the engine back and send it back turned
also, I planned the yard/freigth spur as a built-in inglenook puzzle. its a simpler puzzle and no need for a runaround track ;)
Try this; build it. dont scenic it, just track, then operate it like you have in mind, and then determine whether or not you will require a runaround, I suspect you will find operations severly limited without it.
Good Luck.
Have fun with your trains
you will find that it's upper level is comprised of a corner wye, runaround,and several delivery points and a coal mine perfect for Bachmann hoppers. The plan uses 18" curves. Multiply by 150% and you have a 6 x 12 L(it could be shorter) with 27" curves or double and you have and 8 x 16 L (definitley can be shorter) with 36" curves. Carsten's Publishing should have copies of the mag. The plan also appeared as a line drawing in the NMRA Bulletin in a series of articles by "spike mcginty" (do a search in the model train mag index) on building with foam
I owned the HOn3 layout for several years and it's operating scheme works. If I force my wife's car out of the garage and build an air conditioned room in the stall (my Z4 has to be inside the other stall 8>))) I will use this as part of an around the wall shelf plan for either On30 or On3 or both.
Bill Uffelman
Las Vegas NV
vsmith wrote:Try this; build it. dont scenic it, just track, then operate it like you have in mind, and then determine whether or not you will require a runaround, I suspect you will find operations severly limited without it.
I agree. I think you'll get frustrated without a runaround.
ok heres an updated version of the track plans, ive added a runaround in the yard throat but doing so it severely cut down on the yard storage ability so i added a extra spur there and pushed the station back a bit
I was actually thing of the optimal location for the runaround would have been parallel to the mainline next to the Y, by using 3way switches at sidings to C and to E. That way you can run past 2 or 3 or more cars. Your current revision will only allow you run past one car by the looks of it.
This would also allow easier 2 train operation as you would have a place to park another train.
The change for the run-around helps...how 'bout a small depot at the wye and transforming H into a larger freight depot so that you could have 2 locations on each of the adjacent spurs to spot cars. This might add some interesting moves to spot a car at a specific 'door'..
The Wye runaround is an interesting concept. Just be sure you have room for coupling/uncoupling
since you may be doing more 1 car 2 car moves than whole huge trains the extra runaround seems moot, since its solved with the Wye.
If you thnk there will be multi-train operations, the 2nd runaround would be good tho.
I was thinking about the 1 car interchange, maybe extend that to a staging track?
If you use a 3 way stub as the left hand turnout on the wye you can get a runaround by making the new track parallel the wye leg and run along the front to connect back at the kink in the front track which now becomes the mainline. Move your station so it is on the diagonal.
Still in Las Vegas NV
I liked the first version better. Use the wye for a run around. It takes the same number of moves to run around on a wye as it does on a straight track, so I don't understand the "it will be frustrating" comment. The frustrating part would be that it can only handle one car at a time. The added trackage for a run-around can only handle one car at a time too. So I don't understand why it would be any better. Just sucks up more space for a redundant function.
Well then, set it up and try it for a while, and see how you like it, thats the only way you'll be sure of it
Just hold off on the scenicing till your happy with it