4x8 track plan

[Anonymous]

can anyone recomend a 4x8 trackplan that has a prarie or can be adapted to a prarie theme. I want to model a Rock Island branch line in western Oklahoma in the 50's. I think i could get more layout with a shelf but I like continuse run so i am sticking to 4x8. I have the room for 4x11. I am modeling in HO scale. I have looked at the following plans.

Turtle Creek Central
Kansas City Central
all the Atlas books
all the plans at www.thortrains.com
St.Paul central.
madison central
san Jose central
St. luis central

Thanks !

Alex in the sooner state[:)]

[Hawks05]

i'm taking ideas from the St. Paul Central and Madison Central. also maybe some ideas of my own. it doesn't have to be exactly life like. thats what i thought i wanted to do but then i started looking at plans and stuff and it just seemed like i'd be ripping someone off. now i'm going to take bits and pieces from some and make my own.

i'm also planning on getting some Rock Island stuff. i have 2 boxcars already but i need a locomotive.

[cp1057]

Prairies, eh?

There was a prairie 4x8 in Model Railroad Planning a couple of years back, I can't remember exactly which year. I think it was called the Alberta something. It was a basic 4x8 loop divided by a backdrop with sidings on each side. It was a branch line with cars dropped off from the main line along 1 side. Does anyone else remember more specifically which issue?

Charles
Hillsburgh Ontario

[Anonymous]

I think the backdrop in the middle is the critical factor for any prairie-themed small layout, since it's the only feasible way to hide the loop. A prairie needs an enormous sky. On one side of the backdrop, I'd say you should place a massive grain elevator and let that be the focus... two or three parallel spurs with one of them going into the building for loading. Covered hoppers are great cars, because they are so colorful and they also come in so many shapes, but for a little variety one could have a trailer-on-flat-car run through or maybe even an Amtrak passenger train. The opposite side of the backdrop might be a little interchange town where the connection to a larger rail network happens. With a little ingenuity, you might even fit in a staging track- perhaps long enough for that Amtrak train- that hides in the base of the backdrop: on one of the 4' sides, place a turnout in the middle of the curve, then run a tight curve to get to where the siding is angling more or less diagonally across the table. Then, build your backdrop with two panels, one on either side of this track, and maybe figure out a way to leave the backdrop removable so that you can service this track.

Actually, that staging track would be quite long, now that I think about it.

Of course, I could easily encourage you to go into N-scale instead of HO, since a 4x8 is plenty of room for realistic modeling and operation in this smaller scale. I subscribe to the belief that one should develop their track plan at one scale, then build it at the next smaller scale... i.e. you could take any of those HO 4x8's and execute it in N-scale, and end up with good looking curves, long passing sidings, and the scenic room to breathe that must be compromised in HO. Plus, you'll find places to add in an extra feature or two, such as an extra yard track.

[DSchmitt]

Pick a plan that povides for the type of operation you want to do, whether it be switching or just watching the trains running through scenery. Don't be distracted by the authors suggested scenery. Other treatments are possible.

Arrange to have a low viewing angle, close to eye level for normal vewing of the layout.
The layout doesn't have to be at a high elevation for this. Normal viewing can be from a seated position.

This will enable you to divide the layout into separate scenes. Use building, trees and low enbankments as view blocks making the layout seem larger and the trains appear to go somewhere. Even the praire is not flat. The terain is often rolling, there are rivers and creeks. A Highway crossing over the RR can act as a view block.

[bluepuma]

I've spent a lot of time with small plans, and live in Illinois not far from the Illinois River, right across is a old RI line town, many interesting places are along the rivers. Parts are not all that flat, hidden valleys in depressions, the land rolls enough in some areas to hide the tops of a train. I would just do a loop and a long siding if possible.
Here we have a town where BNSF has a Del Monte plant at the east side of town, then the turns from W/E to S/N goes past the station, curves W/E to industrial buildings and grain storage. So, without hidden running, I'd stack buldings at the ends to hide the curves, add sidings. Town would hide the tracks if like our town the main roads cut near the start of the curve. Interest can be added with road underpasses. If enough room on all sides, I like the Toronto layout that didn't get built for the canceled show, July issue perhaps. We have some great viewblocks. It would fit many locals, but we have small woods, trees, rises. When I drove across OK, I went up and down a lot. - tom

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cp1057

Prairies, eh?

There was a prairie 4x8 in Model Railroad Planning a couple of years back, I can't remember exactly which year. I think it was called the Alberta something. It was a basic 4x8 loop divided by a backdrop with sidings on each side. It was a branch line with cars dropped off from the main line along 1 side. Does anyone else remember more specifically which issue?

Charles
Hillsburgh Ontario

That was the Alberta Central. Yes, that's a good prairie layout. The book it was in came in the January 2003 issue of MRR. You can use a track plan from a book, but I like making up my own track plans for my layout.