Tennessee Central model Railway (TCmRY) - The beginning...

TheEditor Jun 14, 2015

  1. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Tennessee Central Model Railway (TCmRY)
    Based on the Tennessee Central Railway (TCRY)

    TL;DR – Building a new layout in a small area, need some advice based on the information presented below. There really isn’t a TL;DR version I am sorry to say.

    Several months ago I started getting back in HO model railroading as the afterthought of a bet with a friend of mine. Initially the return was prompted with the beginning of a model railroad project to go with an automobile project on which he has been working for the last five years and will be coming to an end late this summer or early fall. I guess you could say that was the bug that bit as I have decided in addition to the project layout I am going to build a layout for myself.

    The problem with building my own layout is one of space as I live in an apartment. Fortunately it has a dining room which at the moment is only being used for storage. I have room, but not a lot of room. The room itself is showing in image one and as you can see has two doorways, one to the kitchen and one to the living room. As space is a concern the layout will be along the walls leaving the doorways open and accessible.

    [​IMG]

    After some research and reading I decided to, originally, prototype model the Tennessee Central Railway but due to space constraints I don’t believe a prototype layout will work so I have modified my layout idea to be protolance/freelance. The layout will still carry the Tennessee Central road name and numbers as well as colors. Sections of the layout will still be classified as sections of the actual TC even if they are no 100% prototypical. Era for the build is mid to late 50’s to early 60’s transition era so I can run both steam and diesel prototypes the TCRY used at that time. The layout itself is planned for a second lever, above the first, and accessed by a double helix. The upper level will been the coal mines and a couple of smaller whistle stops on the line. A double mainline is planned so I can run passenger service and freight service with the passenger service using the larger radius curves so the Budd passenger coaches can navigate them more easily. My preliminary base level track plan is shown in image two.

    [​IMG]

    During the progression from having one model railroad project to having two model railroad projects I met a fellow model railroader who was taking down and parting out hit layout so he could sell his home. I had opportunity to visit his layout before the tear down and it was impressive. Needless to say I took tons of pictures and asked a lot of questions.

    In the past two weeks the gentleman has torn down his layout and has salvaged all the building and other things of value from the layout. Basically the benchwork and base scenery were all that was trashed. During the tear down I asked him to preserve a couple of different building in their “scenery’d” state, one of which I am planning to incorporate into my layout as an homage to his old layout. I am not sure how and where I will incorporate this section as yet, possibly on the upper level provided there is room. The other section, approx. 2ft x 3ft, contains the roundhouse/maintenance area, image three. The track plan in image two will be modified to include this roundhouse in the general area where the roundhouse sits on the track plan. The opposite end of the main bench will contain a representation of the TVA Kingston Coal Fire Power Generations facility which was constructed between 1951 and 1955 and served by the TCRY for coal from the mine of the Cumberland Plateau.
    [​IMG]

    A few more notes about the layout design.

    • All track is HO Scale Code 83, more than likely Atlas due to cost of all the track that will be needed.
    • Entire layout will be DCC, initially using my Bachmann EZ Command as I have it and won’t need to buy another until I need it and can afford it. When I upgrade it will be to NCE.
    • On the track plan you see it is gridded at 2ft x 2ft and will be constructed as modular. This is done for several reason, not the least of which is moving if when I decide to move to another place/buy a house. The other reason for the maintenance and easy of construction in the tight quarters where the layout is to be built.
    • The benchwork will be built so as to not need attachment to the walls, including the shelf portion of the layout. This will also be designed to be modular.
    • Benchwork will be built with an interlocking leg system that my friend designed for the other layout. Sections will be tightly held together and will not require any type of clamps on the underside.
    • My thoughts are for power districts to be the roundhouse/maintenance area, power plant area, helix, yard and two coal mine areas on the upper level.

    Now for the questions.

    • Considering the helix takes up so much space is there a better way to get to the upper level in the space I am working with? I would like the main bench to be at 30 inches about the floor, standard table height and the upper ‘shelf’ level to be at no more than 36 to 40 inches above the floor for construction, scenery, maintenance, visual and operation purposes.
    • There will be, at the most two operators on the layout and no more than three to four trains at any one time.
    • How can I make the helix, or whatever replaces it, work for both the passenger and freight rail? I would like the passenger rail to travel the upper level to give a sense of timing on the rail line.
    • Where/how can I get a yard into the main bench?
    • Where/how can I get a passenger terminal into the main bench?
    • Would it be better to make my yard on a level under the main bench?

    Again, about the only things that will be truly prototypical will be the locomotive, rolling stock, generalization of the area the TCRY served and some of the buildings/scenery. The rest of the layout will be more freelance at this point.

    Thanks for reading this and hopefully some people will have some suggestion on the track plan and my designs. I am open to comment, suggestions, ideas, thoughts, etc.

    Thanks,
    T.E
     

    Attached Files:

  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sweet looking roundhouse and turntable!
     
  3. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, his layout was AMAZING. I am going to grab a photobucket account and upload the images I have of it to there. I will share the link to the album when I get it done.

    BTW, part in the background of that photo, with the two red buildings, are also something I am getting intact. That section is the one I want to include in my layout some as an homage to his former layout. The two buildings were scratch by the guy.
     
  4. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. He did some nice work. Bummer to see such effort lost. :(
     
  6. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Yea. It was a beautiful layout and thousands of hours work. Sorry to see it go but glad I can preserve it in images and parts of it will live on in my layout.

    Any thoughts on my project?
     
  7. John Smith

    John Smith TrainBoard Member

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    For the helix... in a small space, I think it is better to expand the helix and wrap it around the room. You would be standing in the center of a giant helix. That way you could have 2-5 levels for a point to point layout. Hope this helps. JMS
     
  8. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Here is a picture of the planned base benchwork in the room plan. This will be the total footprint.

    [​IMG]
     

    Attached Files:

  9. mr.dean

    mr.dean TrainBoard Member

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    Can't open your photo bucket page. Says its private. Anyway to make it so we can see it?

    Dean
     
  10. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Sorry about that, fixed now!
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Each square in those attached images is equal to?
     
  12. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Each 'square' is a modular as it will be a modular layout.
     
  13. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Just wondering what the actual dimension is? Knowing would give a better feel for ideas on curve radius, reach problems, etc.
     
  14. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Right side is 105 inches, bottom is 115 inches. I can't remeber the rest right now and am away from my PC. I will post and image tomorrow with the relavent dimensions.
     
  15. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    Here is the main bench with the measurements. I have also been giving some thought to the design and the possibility of putting the yard under the main bench and having an access helix in another corner.

    [​IMG]
     

    Attached Files:

  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    You have some fairly wide bench work. Be sure to consider any need to reach across and accomplish all tasks from construction, to re-railing a car way at the back. Some sort of access such as a pop up hole, lift out scenery section, or?
     
  17. friscobob

    friscobob Staff Member

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    Looking at that available space, your curves would have to be pretty sharp for the plan to work. Have you even considered a shelf-type layout, running track along 2 walls and part of a third?
     
  18. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    The benchwork is designed as modular for maintenance and construction. As to the shelf-type layout with no ability to run continuous trains is, pardon the expression, boring to me and not something in which I am interested.

    Based on SCARM I can get 22" curves in the corners and a 22" helix will also fit but it appear if I want double track the inner would have to be 18". The line I am modeling and the era includes shorted freight cars (coal hoppers mainly).
     
  19. TheEditor

    TheEditor TrainBoard Member

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    So after alot of thought here is a the bench level N-Scale track plan, based on the two level design in my previous post. The top right sections has a helix and the helix approach, up the right side outer track, is elevated to allow other track to pass under the helix on the main bench. The yard looks a bit busy and needs to be changed I think. It was designed based on a current image of the yard at the TCRY Museum in Nashville which is built on the site of the original yard, with a bit of tracking added to make the ladder.

    [​IMG]

    Thoughts?
     

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  20. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looks like you have plenty of crossovers along the bottom edge of the drawing.

    What is the spacing between your benchwork levels?
     

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