I have made some changes to my "final" track plan and now have a REVISED final track plan. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I apologize for the crude picture. I just got a brainstorm at work so I took the existing picture of the track plan I had and made adjustments to it using Paint. Remember, this is N scale, will be DCC and the layout size is 10'x12'. Also note: All hidden tracks (denoted by dashed lines) will be hidden either inside of a tunnel with a removable top or behind some other type of scenery to allow access. Old "Final" Track Plan Image removed. Cleaned house in photo album. New (Hopefully) Final Track Plan [ 12. December 2003, 17:55: Message edited by: Hoss ]
After looking at this several times, and then reading your comment in another thread about the "surround/hidden" staging, I would caution that the opening in the upper right corner of the diagram should be big enough to squeeze into. You know what Murphy's law says about derailments...! Also, I am a little confused about the tunnels at the very top of the diagram. The brown, hand drawn line seems to come out of a tunnel, but from the dashed line, I assume it is still hidden?? To make things a little more challenging from an operational point of view, you could add a few sidings in the opposite direction. For example, at the bottom of the diagram, connect another siding running straight up the page from the green siding closest to the right side, so your engine can "back" in, use the run around, and push the car "up" to the siding. You could do the same in the upper left corner. Andrew
I made a few modifications that will hopefully provide some clarification. The blue line you now see will be a removable backdrop that will allow access to the hidden staging area if necessary. With the backdrop removed, everything in the hidden staging can easily be reached from the front side of the layout. I also added some lightly colored green to kind of show how the scenery will cover the tracks. the UP interchange, the BNSF Branch line and the BNSF main will all briefly go through a tunnel under the "moutains". The same can be said for the hidden staging yard lead on the north end that runs around the end...although that portion will be removable for access. I also added another spur to the southern industry track. Is that kind of what you had in mind?? How about this.... Image removed. Cleaned house in photo album. [ 12. December 2003, 17:56: Message edited by: Hoss ]
Sorry Hoss, don't see your revised plan here. There is only one plan in your first message (as of 8:20 Eastern Wed 03 Dec 2003). However, I did see it over at The Gauge, so I understand the hidden/tunnel trackage better. I don't know how you modified the southern industry track, since that does not appear on the plan at The Gauge... I suggested it simply to add a bit more operational variety, and to increase the number of spots you would have for industries. Andrew
All fixed now. At home last night I modified the plan in RTS instead of just the rough sketch I had in Paint. After doing that, I deleted the pictures I posted here yesterday from my photo album....leaving only the dreaded red X. Should be all fixed now though.
Looks good. With the areas shown painted in, I get an even better feel for what you have in mind. This should indeed keep you busy! Boxcab E50
Hoss, I see you split the double mainline at the top right :>) I think, cosmetically, that single visible track is gonna add quite a bit of interest.... You might want to make the other track visible ,even for a second, somewhere just for that 'where did that go?..oh...there it is' element... It may be a bit hard though with grades etc, and you may not be getting that many spectators I guess :>) Looks great.
I was kind of shooting for the "Dude...what the heck happened to my train??" Regarding the single main....well...you talked me into it. I too think it will look better that way. I wish I could do a single main all the way around but it just wouldn't work for what I had in mind. Regarding spectators....well, I hope I do a good enough job on it that it will be the main attraction when we have guests. My wife would love that....hehehe. One other thought just crossed my mind. It's hard to tell from the picture but the hidden main is actually elevated 2 inches while the hidden staging is sitting on the hard deck. If I wanted to I could add a couple more staging tracks (or maybe just one) off of that mainline to have double deck staging. That would let me stage five full trains if I used the hidden main for staging too. Hmmmm..... [ 03. December 2003, 20:41: Message edited by: Hoss ]
As long as you can easily access any of those hidden tracks, it's certainly worthy of consideration! As you do not have a yard in the open operating areas, that space elsewhere could be a big help for you. Boxcab E50
In the new layout I am working on my yard (staging yard) is right out in the open. I figure if I'm going to go through all the trouble of laying track and turnouts everyone is going to see it!!!!
I'm a big fan of having a yard on a layout. My problem is....I want a yard long enough to be able to hold a full train...just like a real yard would. If I were to make a yard that size out in the open then it would overpower the layout and it wouldn't seem very realistic. I wish I had room to have a BIG layout so I could have the BIG yard that I'd really like to see on my layout.
I used Atlas Right Track software to draw the benchwork and track plan. I then printed it out in color, scanned it and saved it as a JPEG picture. After that I opened it up in Paint and added all of the scenery. Just to keep things interesting I did some more scenery work on the plan this morning. I did have to sacrifice one industrial spur, but I decided that a layout just isn't a layout without water. I didn't really know what to do with that industrial spur anyway. Just FYI....the bottom part of the layout where the lake is was inspired by the picture below...which I found on a link that someone else posted in the N scale forum. [ 04. December 2003, 21:02: Message edited by: Hoss ]
Umm... I'm just looking at that picture and imagining myself standing there looking at it and what I'd be thinking. Your double mainline disappears into a tunnel at both ends, then one track 'evaporates' at the tunnel exit.... I sort of think people are gonna think a) its a fake track (until they see something run on it) or b) think you;ve got some flash start wars transporter system :>) Perhaps if you made the 'splitting of the lines' visible just so people can make the connection that those 2 tracks arent joined at the hip from that point on? It would only have to be for a short way...6" or so even. Just an observation.....
Interesting....I hadn't even thought of that. You do realize that would require me to completely redo that pretty little picture I spent all morning on don't you?? I think you just like to see ole' Hoss work. Just kidding. That's a good observation. I could change it or I could leave it the way it is and when people wonder what the heck happened to the train they just drove into the tunnel I can give them a little wink and say it's magic.
