Hi, As an appartment dweller I have not much room for a layout. I figured that 6' by 3' would be the maximum. Last weekend I designed a trackplan that I like, the "Coal and Logging Shortline". It is created with RR-Track and with the Kato Unitrack library. I will not use Kato Unitrack for this layout, it will be build with Peco flex and medium turnouts, but it easier to work with the RR-Track program with a library containing sectional track. The minimum radius is 12-3/8" and the maximum grade is 3%, this is what I figured out : http://www.railimages.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Paul%20Van%20Hove/VIGCa.jpg Any comments ? Paul
I like the plan. The only thing that I would do is try to get rid of the snake-like track in the main yard area. Try turning the whole yard on an angle from the lower right curve to the upper left curve. This will be more pleasing to the eye than a train snaking through all of those crossovers on through trains.
I deleted your other thread with the picture of your layout, since you have it here. There were no respondents to that thread, so I thought it might be more helpful to concentrate the replies here. Are the yard tracks on cross overs or is the track elevated? I am not clear on this aspect of the design.
I love watching a train snake though a series of crossovers, but this has to be done at very slow speeds - you really want to avoid a series of S curves like you have along the yard ladder. Correcting the alignment so the main line goes through in a straight line will improve operation and will give a much more realistic appearance. I have been having a hard time sorting out the tunnel and bridges, but I think I get it now - the track that crossed the top, parallel to the upper edge is hidden, correct? It does not bridge the river, but is hidden beneath it? In the logging area - change the run around turnout from a right hand to a left hand and move it closer to the logging yard ladder. This will shorten the run around, but will give you more useable track in the logging yard. It will also eliminate the s curve that just doesn’t look 'right' if you know what I mean.
I like how the track to your saw mill works nicely as a branch line. Looks to me like this layout could keep a person quite busy. Boxcab E50
This is a nice track plan. I do have two thoughts, though: 1. Your sawmill should probably be located between the log and loading tracks. It would be a hassle for the millworkers to cross the log tracks to get to the boxcars/flatcars to load them, even with a forklift. You want to have the logs dumped into the storage pond, which is how just about every mill I've ever seen has done it. 2. Unless your log loading area is extremely busy, you've got too many tracks up there. I suspect two would suffice. Now, if it's a transloading area, such as on the logging line out of Shelton, WA, then you could justify more tracks. But it looks too busy for a logging branch to me. Still, you've done a good job. Now you get to enjoy building it! Pat
First thank you all for your comments. Mike, I agree with the snaking yard, but this could be easely fixed since I will build the layout with flextrack. Rick, thanks for deleting. The yard will be on a terrain 0.8" above the sawmill area. All yardtrack will be glued direct to extruded styrofoam. When the spurs leave the yard all track will be on cork roadbed. Rob, conserning the yard look at my answer to Mike. And yes the top track is hidden, the river is supposed to disapear in a cave in a rock wall. This wall has height from 2" where the tracks cross at different heights and 2.4" to the coal mine area.It is a bit confusing, but the blue on top of the pond will not be visible on the layout. And about my logging area I' ll check up some trackplans conserning logging to make more realistic. Boxcab E50, thanks for comment. Railery, the software I used is RR-Track and hope to begin building whitin a few weeks. Pat, you make a good point about the sawmill, guess I need to do some more trackplan investigation on the web. Conserning the logging area look at my answer to Rob. Paul
