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4 x 8 Layout Contest

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  • Member since
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  • From: Colorado
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Posted by Greg H. on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:52 AM

My choices in order of preferance:

#9 Whisper River

#13 Venango & Erie

#12 Ward City Mead & Eckley

#6 Turkey Trail Railroad

#3 Loup Creek RR

Greg H.
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Posted by Hoople on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:42 AM

They all had some cool element to them, but here is my top 5:

1)Ward City Mead & Eckley
2)Turkey Trail Railroad
3)RAT Lines
4)Du Bois and Punxzy
5)Newport Northern

 

Mark.
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Posted by Texas Zepher on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 1:04 PM
 last mountain n eastern hogger wrote:
My wife says you have too much time on your hands.
What does she do between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. every morning?
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Posted by SpaceMouse on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:46 PM

 Texas Zepher wrote:
 last mountain n eastern hogger wrote:
My wife says you have too much time on your hands.
What does she do between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. every morning?

You know, I hadn't thought about it before. It would be kinda nice to have a life. Maybe get a hobby. Anyone have a suggestion?  

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by concretelackey on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:06 PM

1st-Loopy Bridge and Terminal

2nd-RAT Line

3rd-Seirra Mesa

4th-Newport Northern

5th-DeBois and Punxzy

All appear well thought out and I would enjoy seeing this more often (twice a year?)

Ken

Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"
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Posted by conrailpolice on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:52 PM

1. Rat Lines

2. Newport Northern

3. Loup Creek RR

4.Sierra Mesa Southwestern

5. Helix Mountain

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:54 PM
 SpaceMouse wrote:

 Texas Zepher wrote:
 last mountain n eastern hogger wrote:
My wife says you have too much time on your hands.
What does she do between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. every morning?

You know, I hadn't thought about it before. It would be kinda nice to have a life. Maybe get a hobby. Anyone have a suggestion?  

Chip, you forgot to put the whistling smiley after your comment!

I've voted once, so I won't vote again.  Looking forward to the result.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Thursday, November 29, 2007 1:00 PM
No votes for over 12 hours!?  Where is pcarrol, wimberly, and smoke.  I thought all of them would have chimed in by now.
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Posted by SpaceMouse on Thursday, November 29, 2007 4:57 PM
Toe the mark guys.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by whitman500 on Thursday, November 29, 2007 5:08 PM

Whisper River

Loopy Bridge

Newport Northern

Ward City

RAT Lines

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Posted by CSXFan on Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:01 PM

1. Loopy Bridge and Terminal Railroad

2. Du Bois and Punxzy

3. Ward City Mead & Eckley

4. Turkey Trail Railroad

5. Rader Authority Of Transit (RAT Lines)
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...Wink
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Posted by C&O Fan on Friday, November 30, 2007 8:48 AM

Bump

Still time to vote for your favorite !

TerryinTexas

See my Web Site Here

http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/

 

 

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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, November 30, 2007 9:26 AM

This was fun.

1. Newport Northern

2. RAT lines

3.DuBois & Punxzy

4. Whisper River

5. Ward City Mead & Eckley

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

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Posted by West Penn Nscale on Friday, November 30, 2007 9:32 AM

1. DUBOIS AND PUNXZY

2. TURKEY TRAIL

3. WHISPER RIVER

4. LOPPY BRIDGE

5. VENANGO & ERIE

These plans are also a good idea for the Nscale crowd ....

GO Army beat Navy  

 

 

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Posted by jasperofzeal on Friday, November 30, 2007 10:10 AM

Good work to all designers.  Here are my picks:

1.     Du Bois and Punxzy

2.     Rader Authority Of Transit (RAT Lines)

3.     Sierra Mesa Southwestern

4.     Ward City Mead & Eckley

5.     Loopy Bridge and Terminal Railroad

TONY

"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)

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Posted by Annonymous on Friday, November 30, 2007 11:49 AM

My top five:

1. Du Bois and Punxzy

2. Loopy Bridge and Terminal (sorry Stein Wink [;)])

3. RAT Lines

4. Becket & Berkshires

5. Ward City Mead & Eckley

 

Svein

 

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Friday, November 30, 2007 5:38 PM
Still neck and neck and neck

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Friday, November 30, 2007 10:00 PM
1400 views, 28 votes--poor showing guys

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by cooltech on Friday, November 30, 2007 10:20 PM

Wow! Such great layouts by all!  My fav's; 1) Loop Creek R R  2) Venango & Erie  3) Sierra Mesa Southwestern  4) Bechet & Berkshires  5) DuBois & Punxzy

great to be ckin' the site again. tks.

cooltechCool [8D]

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Posted by JimRCGMO on Saturday, December 1, 2007 7:14 AM

Okay, got a minor glitch out of the way (Thanks, Chip!), so here are my five (as others said, it's very close!):

1) DuBois and Punxsy

2) Sierra Mesa Southwestern

3) RAT Lines

4) Loopy Bridge and Terminal Railroad

5) Venago and Erie

 

Best wishes for the winners (and your bragging rights Wink [;)])!

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

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  • From: Philadelphia
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Posted by P & LE RR on Saturday, December 1, 2007 7:51 AM

1. ward

2. rat

3. dubouis

4. loopy

5. whisper 

Modeling the CSX Bethlehem Branch from Lansdale to Telford
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Posted by rfross on Saturday, December 1, 2007 8:32 AM

1) Ward City - because it offers a continuous run and hidden staging and challenging, yet simple and manageable, switching. Also much of the exposed track is placed at various angles which helps to prevent a symetrical look and the view block on an angle creates two different scenes which is a bonus. It would also be possible to run two trains concurrently - one switching the upper level and one running around the loop on the lower level. I like this one a lot.

2) Loopy Bridge - because it also offers continuous running, switching and a view block. I gave this one a few points less than Ward City only because much of the track and the view block is parallel to the sides of the benchwork. Otherwise this one is darn good.

3) Turkey Trail - because of the continuous run capablity and reasonable switching opportunities. This one also has plenty of room for scenic elements because it doesn't have track jammed into every open spot on the layout. I knocked off a couple of points because much of the trackwork is parallel to the benchwork and without a runaround of some sort at the top of the plan, switching the two spurs at the top would be difficult. Otherwise a very good effort.

4) Du Bois and Punxzy - because of the random shape of the view block and a novel approach to what essentially is a twice around layout. I knocked off a few points because there are probably three or four too many yard tracks for my taste where that space could be better used for scenic elements. Also too many tracks are exactly parallel to the benchwork. Otherwise another very nice effort.

5) Whisper River may have some possibilities but I had a difficult time trying to decipher the plan. In the authors description I did like the idea of using selective compression to add depth. I also like the idea of multiple gauges - standard and narrow - all in one layout. Another good effort.

As for the rest, they didn't really do anything for me but that's just me.

Modeling the Ballard Terminal Railroad (a former Northern Pacific line) in Ballard, a district north of downtown Seattle in 1968, on a two-rail O-scale shelf switching layout. The Ballard Terminal didn't exist in 1968 but my version of the BTRR is using NP power. (My avatar photo was taken by Doc Wightman of Seattle)
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Posted by SilverSpike on Saturday, December 1, 2007 8:57 AM

Here are my picks ranked 1 - 5:

 #1 - Ward City Mead & Eckley

 #2 - Venango & Erie

 #3 - Loopy Bridge and Terminal Railroad

 #4 - Whisper River

 #5 - RAT Lines

Thanks!

Ryan Boudreaux
The Piedmont Division
Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger era
Cajun Chef Ryan

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Posted by Autobus Prime on Saturday, December 1, 2007 10:09 AM

 SpaceMouse wrote:
Still neck and neck and neck

SM:

When does voting end?  If the tie isn't broken by then, we could just have a tiebreaker round.

 Currently president of: a slowly upgrading trainset fleet o'doom.
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Posted by SpaceMouse on Saturday, December 1, 2007 10:15 AM

Tuesday midnight PDT. I doubt there will be a tie, but right now there are three layouts that are within 10 of each other and everyone else has less than half the votes. And it changes every few voters. 

Stein has been keeping a running tally in Excel. But I don't think the tally should affect the voting so I'm glad he's not posting it.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Saturday, December 1, 2007 5:55 PM
I suppose it is time that I chimed in, and bump this back to the top.   It was a difficult choice and as at least two of the other authors have stated I won't vote for my own entries.  I have several observations that I'll post after the voting ends as I don't want to "influence" anyone.  But I do have to say the two rules that I kept falling back upon to help me make this decision are: 
 SpaceMouse wrote:
The rules: ... most cut here ....

... the industry should fit.... There should be access roads to the industies (real or implied). Industries can also be implied--such as a coal conveyor coming from the other side of a hill. 

You should have a plan for scenery ( at least describe how it works.) In other words, it has to be finishable.

So:

  1. Venago & Erie - a little down played but sometimes less is more.
  2. Becket & Berkshires - also a little underdone but author included some operation information.
  3. Turkey Trail Railroad - this would have been my #1 except for points taken away due to the rules quoted above.
  4. Loopy Bridge - also a bit lacking in the two rules quoted above.
  5. Du Bois - As prior poster noted yard is a bit overdone.
Many more comments after voting is done.

 

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Posted by rs2mike on Saturday, December 1, 2007 7:34 PM

Mouse the views if some are like me are high because we are looking to see what has been voted on.  Thanks for the fun thread Mouse.

Mike

alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)

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Posted by stebbycentral on Sunday, December 2, 2007 3:59 AM

1) Ward City

2) Du Bois

3) Turkey Trail

4) Venango - Has promise as a beginner's layout, with the addition of a second loop track on the "left" side as a passing track for a second train.

I have figured out what is wrong with my brain!  On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!

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Posted by steinjr on Sunday, December 2, 2007 6:14 AM
 stebbycentral wrote:

1) Ward City

2) Du Bois

3) Turkey Trail

4) Venango - Has promise as a beginner's layout, with the addition of a second loop track on the "left" side as a passing track for a second train.

 And your number 5 is ? You have only handed out 24 out of your 25 points.

Smile,
Stein

 

 

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Posted by stebbycentral on Sunday, December 2, 2007 7:02 AM

Not really impressed with the rest of the contenders.  Don't like the plans that do not allow for continuious running.  Suspicious of the one's that include turntables, because the roundhouse tends to become a dominant item in the scenery.  Those designs might work best for a 1890's type layout, with the smaller engines and small engine facilities. 

If you are going to twist my arm though, I'd have to give 5th place to the Sierra Mesa.  It's a good beginner's layout despite the "been there, done that" design look.   

I have figured out what is wrong with my brain!  On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!

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