I'm trying to find the track plan I used for my first layout. I know that it was from a Kalmbach book and was 4x8 HO, even though I built it 2x4 N. I'm not sure what the name was or which book it was from, but it was started in the late '90s. The basic plan was two loops, small yard front right. The lower loop left the yard, descended slightly and went into a tunnel. It went around back and emerged at the right rear corner. The upper loop was similar but shifted left a bit and without a tunnel. There was another small yard or maybe an industry on the upper loop in the back. I had a coal mine. Finally, there was a track that went from front and center down to the right rear corner under both loops, it then switched back to a lumber mill by a pond. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it.
Buckley & Onarca, originally printed in the December 1966 Model Railroader, reprinted in 101 More Track Plans For Model Railroaders. (PS. I built it in HOn30 in a 3' X 6' space in 1969 and used N scale mechanisms to build larger locomotives than the AHM and Egger-Bahn locos that were available at the time.)
I'd like to see someone take the Buckley & Onarca, stretch it out and make a narrow gauge point to point out of it, using a mine instead of a lumber mill. MJ Fujiwara, where are you? PS: Maybe a turntable at each end?
This is one of many fatal flaws with this plan. While Bill Baron had an eye for designing appealing-looking layouts, they often fell short when it came to making sense. For starters, if you look carefully at which track crosses which where, you'll see that the grades required are nearly impossible. There are many strange aspects to it when you study it long enough; for instance, a substantial two-track engine servicing facility dominates the foreground, complete with separate ash pit track. But what's it for? There's no yard, no apparent interchange, no justification for it (there's already another enginehouse in Onarca) other than it looks cool. A passenger station on a stub-end track? Does this strike anyone else as odd? That switchback in Onarca looks like it can handle all of one car, assuming it's being moved by an 0-4-0. Why does it look as though the Onarca station is on the enginehouse track? And an industry siding that joins the mainline right at a tunnel portal? The list goes on. This was one of my all-time favorite plans when I first got into the hobby, but if I came across it for the first time today, I'd chuckle and move on.
