John - Good idea. I'll take a look at that. Main issue is running out of cash and turnouts. Can't justify $100 in turnouts and cheaping out taking Roberta (Rrrr) for a burger and a beer (just joking. I'm gonna pay for that).
Almost Final Design I'll lable things when I get home tonight but basically Divider: Just a quck mock up - just to get the concept Small Interchange Yard: With the GN / CP Mining: Just the other side of the divider Gryphin Locomotive Works: This side of the town Unknown Industry: The other side of the town Two more spurs on far side of divider and two staging tracks next to wall will be added when additional funds allow for more turnouts. Next Steps: Burying the wires Adding electrical insulators Hooking them up isolating the inner and outer loops Painting the Board: a darker sand / light tan color Suggestions Welcome
you know G&G.... now that you have added the loop, you might want to reconsider the Wye coming out of the yard as John noted. Personally, being a novice, I'd drop the reverse loop too (or Wye) for wiring concerns, or else I'd complete it last, ... but I'm an elec novice. But going to the Wye would free up some space around your mainline loop industries and Divider; and be no more additional wiring complexity than the reverse loop you have. I really like the overall plan, even lacking the reversing crossovers (forcing you to loop around).
While I'm generally not a fan of reversing loops unless they are used prototypically, this one seems to work pretty well. They are often a necessity in a smaller road to add variety. I have no reversing loops, wyes or crossovers on my road. It's not because they are difficult to wire; it's because I haven't found a need yet. I'd planned on installing the crossovers after a few months of DCC running. Four years later I've never had anyone say, "I wish we had a crossover right there!" I've also been surprised at how effectively a row of buildings can divide a scene. They work just like a hill or divider.
Operations on the Grey and Grandure The Grey and Grandure is a short-line in the Grandure Valley. Canadian Pacific and Great Northern share an interchange yard with it. The GandG gives running rights to the both roads. This includes the reverse loop so they can return to the main yard. There will be four types of operations: Entertainment for guests or when I just want to run roundy-round in which case I will run trains on the inner and outer ovals. Locals from the CP/GN yard which will traverse both ovals and turn itself on the loop. It will then drop off / pick up cars at the interchange yard. Through freight which will go through the two ovals, turn itself on the loop. Once it has turned on the loop it is now a different train arriving from some far off place. Switching on the Grey and Grandure Why not a Wye? I would have to significantly alter and by extension reduce the size the yard. To be blunt: That ain’t gonna happen. I don’t’ see a purpose other than trains being able to return more easily whence they came. Expansion Some day the layout will extend around the wall of the living room. At that time the trackage on eastern end of the layout will be completely redone. The ovals may cease to exisit as ovals. Maybe the entire layout will be changed except for the yard which is likely to be permanent. Wiring: The more I thought about it the more I realized the reverse loop wiring won't be that big a deal for me. The hard part will be the soldering. Hope this helps.
About The Divider I posted about the divider rather hurriedly as I had to get off to my temp job. The silhouette I put up is just to give me an idea of what the effect would be. Yes, a factory might be a great option there and on the opposite side as well. I'm open to suggestions.
Grey One, Looks like I'm getting in on this rather late. I do believe you made the right decision and in time you can eventually build or add a second level. Take your time no need to rush. I do like your plan. I remember my early layouts of similar design. I had nothing but fun with them. Less headaches when operating. I currently have a design that climbs and descends 1.0% to 2.5% grades. It is fun to operate and watch the trains make the hill climb. I was able to run a 30 car coal train with three Atlas GP 9's in Santa Fe, Zebra stirpe livery on the point. Wow, and it fits in my staging yard. I like the way it's coming along and the ideas shared here. You'l be rolling trains in no time. Have fun!
I think perhaps you really like doing track work, but scenery work...is just not your cup of tea. I'd start somewhere...maybe put in an industry building near where it needs to go?...
About time you showed up. My feelings were getting hurt. < big grin > Uh, right, so now you want me to put a grade in? <Eyes glaze over - far away look ...> Hmm, ya know, if I were to raise the main yard area by slipping 2"s of foam under it. hmmmm. </snaps back to realty > "Not gonna happen". Goddess give me the strength to resist. Phew, that was close. I love the sharing of ideas here and you have fun too. ________ Interesting observation. Simply put: Yes, I like design. Scenery and wiring intimidate me for two reasons: My visual acuity makes soldering very touch and go My limited field of vision and reduced color vision can be confusing. I'm never quite sure of what I see or down see. Oh, there is another very serious issue: While people here may not have noticed I am _very_ competitive. With all blue foam I'm not in the race. Once the paint goes down it needs to be superb. Not just "Goodenough" as in my namesake but, Superb. I think to achieve this I will: 1) Put up "place holders" such as boxes and tubes which cannot be taken seriously 2) Only work on scenery in one very small area of at a time. Oh, and I guess I better say that I'm not competing with anyone here except myself. "I am my own most challenging opponent." Steve Goodenough - To a teacher in high school who just didn't comprehend the huge gap in the quality of my writing. - It was either "generic formulaic outlines" or "emotionally charged details" Oh well, once more - into the breach.
I've got a couple of suggestions. Since you're at the stage now, if you're going to add a backdrop, do it now before you add a lot of scenery. Trust me, I learned this the hard way, and really the only non moveable scenery I had was a fairly large mountain and an intermodal yard. They both survived mostly unscathed, but it was a PITA to get the backdrop in, especially with all that fiberoptic cable in it. As for the tracks in the street, I would also experiment with that at the stage you are now to see if you can get it to work. Check this out. While the tracks are in the street and I can get cars in and out of it, I do it with idler cars. I can't get an engine to run well enough in my yard, and since the road surface is plaster/drywall joint compound, it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean ruining the paint on the road surface around the tracks. I'm going to do away with the track in the top and move it to the bottom right next to the track that is under the crane in the pic, and see if I can actually get something to work as well as it looks on my second try. There are guys who use styrene for tracks in the street, and they say it works well, but I couldn't get the lines where two pieces were joined together to disappear enough for me to be satisfied with it. Every foot or so I'd have a joint line that drove me nuts, so I went back to the drywall compound. Try it out the street tracks and see if you can get it to look and work as well as you want to now, while you can still easily change things. You won't regret it.
Thanks! Ryan - Great! ideas. I had forgotten the need to do a backdrop first. I'll definably do that before major scenery. Seeing Sandro's backdrop makes me ponder if I dare. Street running: The first expansion module will be a 2' x 6' reverse loop off to the right. I think I'll practice the street running, (and other things) techniques there.
Ryan, The solution to that is to buy a 4 x 8 sheet of styrene at a plastics supplier. It costs about $16-$20, and rolls into a tube for easy transport and storage. In Albuquerque, it usually comes in .020, .040, and 0.60 (and more) thicknesses, in white or black. In larger metro areas, there may be more selection in terms of color. Except for textured styrene, I haven't bought a sheet at a LHS for 15 years. Most of my streets and parking lots are joint compound or, worse, matte board. As the matte board curls, I replace it with styrene. Why matte board in the first place? It was exactly the right color. Why joint compound? It's a familiar material to this old mudder.
Grey and Grandure Expansion Plans Ya, I know, the paint is not even down and I am planning expansion. I thought it might help others to know where I'm going with this.
I really like the way you've changed your thinking in order to get the project moving. Flexible! Kudos to Roberta, too. Looks great so far. Yeah, that problem gets me stuck a lot, too. Your solutions sound like they'll work just great! Looking forward to hearing more about your progress. :thumbs_up:
And On The 7th Day... Thanks Chaya! And on the 7th day he painted the Earth: Ok, only half: Mistakes that others may benefit: 1) Started in the front edge instead of the back 2) Painted the side (where I would have been leaning in order to reach the back) 3) Did not change cloths so I could lean against the wet paint. 4) Did not do it at 2:00 with when I got home. Nope that would have been too easy with actual daylight and then I could have another coat on by now. Things Done Right: 1) Did not make a mess 2) Moved track out of the way 3) Did it _before_ dropping the wires through the table so the track was easy to move 4) Requested Roberta's input on colors. I gave her about 10 color samples and then asked her what colors they were. I shuffed them and asked again. Both times she selected the color the person in the paint area and another customer selected as "light tan". That said: if it is wrong it is my doing.
I understand that it was a mistake today to paint the side first. But you will want to paint it so that the blue layer of foam doesn't jump out at you. Good start. Ed
Backdrop Plans... One thing I am learning. I must do things that can be acomplished in a short amount of time or I get overwhelmed. This abstracted mountains style for a backdrop came to me this evening. I'm working on a corresponding city and country version. Taking into account that this will be in the dining / living room It think it will be ideal. This will serve nicely as a backdrop for the trains and convey a certain feeling of decoration. At Roberta's suggestion we will do it on canvas mounted on 1/2" foamboard. Ed: Yes, I agree about painting the sides. It will be done by this time tommorrow. Pics to follow.
Final Track Arrangement. (except for staging next to wall and siding above town). The yard is way out of proportion in the drawing. I'll try to get a better picture of it.
Wiring of the Grey and Grandure To ease the wiring and still allow for two train operation I have decided to control the outer oval and yard from Power Supply “A” and the inner oval etc with Power Supply “B”. Block #4 will be shared. Envisioned operations have trains arriving at block #4, stopping, being handed over to “local crews” and then proceeding. Kludgy, yes, but works for me. The yard, engine terminal and many spurs will have one rail cut with a razor saw. In the yard it would allow the yard goat to remove the cars from a train that had just arrived. In the engine terminal it will permit several locos to be stored on the same track. In the spurs it will allow greater flexibility and the storage / staging of short locals. The gaps will be wired locally by a small / micro(?) slide, rocker or push button switch camouflaged or hidden. Thanks again to "Ben" for his ideas on using the "powered frogs" As always I'm open to suggestions.
