Hello Don't know if anyone could help me out on this model rr. I am trying to elimanate the 90 degree crossing on the top leve so I can run 4 trains at the same time. Anybody have any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
Hi systemtech, welcome to the TrainBoard, we're happy to have you aboard. I'm not familiar with the "Gulf Summit RR" plan. Hopefully some other TB members are familiar with it and can help you. In the meantime, if you can post the GSRR plan to this thread, perhaps I can offer some thoughts.
here is a track plan. It is from the Atlas Nine N Scale Layouts book http://www.atlasrr.com/Code80/images/11018.jpg
The Gulf Summit Layout Ironically, about 6 years back, my now ex-wife's boss had a friend who was emptying his garage of trains so he and my wife's boss could fill it with power equipment and make furniture together. I was to receive all of the trains, provided I could pick them up within the week. I did, and it was the Gulf Summit layout complete with the Atlas plan book, and it was the one on the last pages indicating it was the "hardest" one back then. It was fully scenicked without structures, and made entirely of a lot of snap track and switches so my first activities were to solder all intended joints. After a while it was quite confusing because the block tracking system was very confusing, as the breaks between blocks were not next to each other, one rail here the other rail there. Took a few weeks to resolve. The real problem i encountered was the top level which had VERY SHARP curves and didnt' even accommodate my most forgiving RS3. It was a monmumental clean up project and our work group had disbanded, and summer was coming on, and a visitor offered to buy it for a hefty price, knowing all of the problems i encountered. he is still happy with the layout. My answer to your question is to test drive your top level using a 9V battery to see which locos can run on them and which can't. Otherwise it is an incredibly visually pleasing layout. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
One possibility is to change the top tracks from a "lazy-eight" to a "squashed oval". The sides of the squashed oval could have the same curvature as the track that currently bypasses the 90 crossover. A squashed oval would do away with 90 crossover, and also replace the crossover bypass siding. Everything else could remain the same as the plan. I'm sure other folks will have better suggestions than this. I've never actually designed track plans, I just lay track, then cut-n-paste. Actually I rip up track sections and relay them until the layout looks right.
contact Fotheringill Whem you get a chance contact the moderator for this forum [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Georgia, Verdana]Fotheringill[/FONT] He built this one and used to have a thread on it:thumbs_up:
Rather than changing the trackplan, consider adding some electronic controls to make the crossing collision-proof. For example see pages 18-20 here: http://www.dallee.com/PDFs/Dallee WG20.pdf . Treat the crossing as a virtual “station stop” where each train alternately pauses while the other makes a lap around the upper level.
Remove the connecting track between the two lower legs, and make a vertical seperation between the crossing mainlines? Then the line will cross itself on a bridge (or with a tunnel).
