1. NorfolkSouthern9708

    NorfolkSouthern9708 TrainBoard Member

    164
    0
    11
    I am planning my 4x8 ho layout, and not sure what to do on one half of the layout. Here is the plan so far.
    [​IMG]
    I am not happy with the top half of the layout. I want the runaround, but I don't like the industrial area, could you please help me? I want an ethanol plant, and a lumber yard.
     
  2. maxairedale

    maxairedale TrainBoard Member

    1,739
    133
    34
    The one thing that I see missing is that there is no access to the outside world, but hat is not necessarily a bad thing.

    I really don't know what you are looking for so may I suggest that you look at GregK's layout as seen below. You may be able to get some ideas from it.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    There are others here on Trainboard that are much more talented at making track plan suggestions and changes then I am.

    Gary
     
  3. Kenneth L. Anthony

    Kenneth L. Anthony TrainBoard Member

    2,749
    524
    52
    I don’t think of industrial spur crossing each other except in extreme crowded industrial areas. I am planning such a situation on the Port switching trackage of my Island Seaport layout...

    (At upper right near the shrimp harbor)
    [​IMG]

    The upper half of your layout does not seem to depict that kind of area...although practically, for a model, it IS crowded with trying to work in all the track elements on a limited size board.

    I would move the spurs for the ethanol plant closer to the mainline on the top half of the plan. Then let the various elements of the plant run all the way back to the background (or even INTO it via pictures of tanks, piping, stills, etc.) This allows a shorter lead off the passing siding/runaround track before the lead bifurcates (fancy word for SPLITS) into two spurs.
    The pictures I have seen of ethanol plants seem out in a more or less open industrial area rather than in between a lot of crowded inner city warehouses. But that may just be my limited experience.

    This change in the ethanol plant would allow the lumberyard spur NOT to have to cross the ethanol lead.

    The upper half of the layout seems like fairly flat country, and I think a railroad would try to avoid crossing a river twice. (In hilly area, it is less common. The curves of the lower half of the layout seem to suggest some natural landform forcing track alignment out of a direct path.)
    Any way NOT to have railroad cross the river twice? If the background continued to the end of the layout and there was a street or road that came out from behind the ethanol plant, at an elevated level and crossed both the river and the railroad, the bridge would help hide the ending of the river at the background, AND the hole in the background for the track. But it would take some custom bridge building, etc. I could see a truss for the river and a girder bridge to cross the track....

    I like the background down the middle.

    A small layout like this does not have much room for “staging.” But an interchange connection of some kind would help operation. I use a connection to the unmodeled mainline (at lower right) on my little “aboard the base” Navy blimp station supply railroad. Entire layout only 2x3 feet.

    [​IMG]

    Just my thoughts. I believe you have an above average layout design.
     
  4. Jerry Tarvid

    Jerry Tarvid TrainBoard Member

    739
    16
    16
    NS

    You actually have a better start to your plan than you realize.:thumbs_up::thumbs_up: The ethanol plant will use the lowest spur for hopper unloading / loading and the second spur for tanker loading. Your siding is also very prototypical. I would add one or two tracks directly above the unloading / loading spurs for storage. This will greatly add to the ethanol plant operations capabilities and provide a possible solution for the lumber yard. You could then use either one of the storage spurs as a lead to the lumber yard.:tb-wink:

    Jerry
     
  5. NorfolkSouthern9708

    NorfolkSouthern9708 TrainBoard Member

    164
    0
    11
    Sorry, I meant a Corn Syrup Trans loading terminal instead of an ethanol plant.:tb-sad:
     

Share This Page