Hey guys, I like some input or ideas on how to go about track design for a town and as many industry's like a coal mine, coal dealer/lumber, grain elevator, chemical plant, freight house maybe? The area is a good 4'x5'. the picture you shows the main as it loops around the upper top. Maybe even have track running thur a part of the street thur town leading to a industry?
Since your thread is under "Layout Design Discussion" rather than under one of the scale forums, and you don't tell what scale you are in, I am not sure of proportions. Is the entire area shown in your picture 4x5 feet, or do you mean a 4x5 foot corner is available?
I would say it's Z myself due to the size of the track. As far as the Industry selection I would say pick one and maybe a couple of supporting shops for it. Also a couple places to eat and one for entertainment. Then homes of course to fit.
The presence of Atlas diesels makes me think N-scale. Coal mines are usually found in hilly or mountainous areas because that's where the coal is. Grain elevators are built on flat land near farms, generally outside of a town so farmers can get the grain to them easily. Chemical plants are most commonly found off by themselves - chemical smells and the fear of chemical accidents make town councils nervous. The only industries on your list that will normally be found near each other would be the freight house and the coal/lumber dealer, which would both be in a business/industrial part of a town. The others would be isolated from each other, and unless you use scenic dividers, you'll have a hard time fitting more than one or two onto your layout. A coal mine usually has several parallel spurs running up to it, to receive different grades of coal. A grain elevator in the country will usually have only one spur, but it will be a long one to receive a long cut of cars. Chemical plants typically have multiple short tracks to receive and load different ingredients in boxcars, tank cars, and covered hoppers. A coal dealer will have an elevated trestle (on a sharp grade) so a hopper car can unload into bins beneath the track. A lumber yard needs only a spur in a parking lot so a forklift can unload the contents of flatcars, with a loading dock if the lumber is also arriving in boxcars. The freight house, of course, needs one spur with a loading dock, typically for 1-2 cars at a time. If these answers seem vague, it's because we aren't quite sure what you're asking; we're even having to guess at the scale you're using.
Rather than have a couple of large industries like you proposed, you might want to consider several smaller businesses concentrated into an industrial park.
Sorry guys it n-scale and the area picture is 4x5 feet. I don't see why one side can't have the coal mine (from Walthers) and the other the grain elevator, etc. Can anyone come up with a interesting plan for a industrial park? The layout is set in the mid 70's give and take.
Look at some track plans of big layouts. The typical huge pike will have several towns with switching possibilities, and one of those towns will probably be very close to what you're looking for as the focus for your layout. Some features I always look for: = a runaround track - gotta have one so the same train can switch trailing-point and facing-point spurs = a switchback spur to keep things interesting (but not too many or you may get sick of dealing with them) = a spur that serves more than one industry, so cars have to be spotted in the correct order = a crossing - to my eye, a scene looks busier than it really is if the tracks cross each other
