I thought I would post the current track plan of the Port of Catoosa RR layout. Stats: Track- Atlas Code 100- Mix of sectional and flex Turnouts- Peco small Insulfrog Min/Max Rad.- 18” Operating System- Digitrax DCC with radio throttles, JMRI and WiThrottle capable Rail Height- 50” approximate Track and wiring- 100% Complete Scenery- 50% Built for operations, will accommodate a crew of 2 to 4 depending on operators druthers. Op session length- 3 hours Future Expansion- Extend SKOL/BNSF leads down 14’ hallway to second room. This room will house the SKOL yard at Owasso OK. It will be around the room with lift-out access. The track plan has been designed to allow a complete around the room running for railfanning trains. A double ended staging yard representing the SKOL connections to North Tulsa and the SKOL extending North to Kansas. This section will only feature 3 industries, cement silo, rock quarry and transload point in the Owasso yard. Designed for operations as well, crew of 2. Crew will receive trains from Kansas and Tulsa. Trains will be broke and sorted for cars moving back to staging or the Port of Catoosa.This crew will run the Port turns. Track- Atlas Code 100, Peco turnouts- for operations this has proven most reliable. Equipment: POCR- SW1500 & SW1200 SKOL- SD40-2, GP 38 BNSF- Dash 8-40BW, GP 60, SD 60 construction to begin this winter with the goal to be operational by spring to summer. Thank you for stopping in! Dale
Attached is the schematic of the SKOL extension I will be starting on shortly. This plan shows the basic design of the track plan. We will be tying into the Port Layout coming through the short staging closet on the south end of the BNSF Interchange. It will extend down a hallway into another room. In this room the layout will be a single level around the room plan. The Owasso yard of the SKOL will be modeled and will have off-layout connections to a double-ended 3 or 4 track staging area. This will allow for around the room running of trains for railfanning. We will model a few industries for switching by the local crew; Monarch Cement Yard Transload Point Green Hill Materials BAMA Baking at Cherokee Industrial Park which is located west of Owasso. Thank you for stopping in! Dale
Dale, Your a true builder of empires! Conquering one territory after another How do they all tie together?
Hi Tom, Im just working with the land I have been granted! At the extreme east end of the hall where the track splits, the left hand track goes to the SKOL hidden track. The right hand goes to the BNSF interchange on the present layout. Take care! Dale
You just can’t leave cars anywhere.... I left this in the kitchen last night and when I picked it up this morning..... My wife is getting more blatant with her tagging.....
Highway 167 crosses the SKOL line at the north end of the layout. I had stopped the road short of the crossing because I was not sure how I wanted to build the crossing. I also knew I needed the overhead signals for the crossing. I had picked up one at a train show last year but could not find a second. I finally found one in stock. The rest is history now, the crossing, signals and road is pretty much complete. I will need to get a template to put in the road markings but it’s coming along well. As soon as I can find the sensors for the crossing lights ( I put them somewhere really, really safe BTW), I will wire the crossing lights...... Thank you for stopping by! Dale
Thank you very much for the kind words. The signals are Walthers post 1960 overheads, that is the type being presently used on Hwy 167 down at the port. The road is 1/8” MDF and I filled the edges with sparkling I got at Lowe’s. It works pretty good and will not have shrinkage cracks when it dries. I have found this material does a good job representing concrete or asphalt as well. Dale
Thank you Tom. I use a combination of Woodland Scenics Concrete paint, then I weather it with pan pastels. The joint lines are drawn with a black prisma color pencil. Where I wanted tar lines I used a micro brush applicator to dot on Pavement color acrylic hobby paint from Walmart. Thanks, Dale
To aid my guys coming in to operate the layout, I added a crossover going from the north main track to the north passing track. The crossing is located on the right end of the straight leg of the wye and goes towards Kloeckner Metals. This should help the crews deliver cars and pass cars back and forth between the east and west sides of the layout. You can reference the track plan in an earlier post above on this page. Good evening everyone!
That is correct, the Walmart/Hobby Lobby craft paint aisle is one of my favorite places for paint. A lot of it is 97 cents a bottle as well. Good bang for the buck!
Hey Vince! Was wondering about you. I hope you have been staying healthy! I went through a period of modelers burnout for a bit. Or maybe just hit a creative brick wall for a bit. I think we all do from time to time especially if we are working alone. I have also been channeling my creative side between the club layout and home. Since the picture shoot I’ve been more active on doing things on the home layout. We are going to be participating in a meet next June so I have several scenery projects I want to have done for that. How are you coming on your layout? Again, I hope you have been able to dodge COVID. We are trying to be careful here as possible but we still work so it’s always a guess if we are doing enough(probably not). Anyway, thank you for surfacing on my thread, I’m always glad to see you post!
