Possible change in operations The last few days I have been contemplating a change in operations. My office is just a few feet from a single track that is part of the Stillwater Central RR (owned by WATCO). So I asked myself, why not model after this line. The other thing is that this line interchanges with BNSF to the west of us and in Oklahoma City. Now the beauty of this is we have a Goodyear plant here also. So my thought is to bring in covered hoppers of carbon black (possibly also in boxcars since carbon black is transported in bags that way also) to Goodyear and then transport the finished tires out to Oklahoma City, where they will be transferred over to BNSF for distribution to other parts of the country. I'll be able to store the cars in OKC in a small yard that SLWC has recently been granted rights for maintaining by BNSF. Now it won't be too unusual to see BNSF on my layout. I may have to make some minor mods to the layout, but probably not too much. Now I just have to get my hands on some ex-CN GP40-2's to run with. Just a possible scenario I am contemplating.
I think this will be close to the final...... After some more planning I have decided to move forward to the modern era and stick with the grain elevator and milling operation. I have also decided to add the Walther's Sunrise Feed Mill to the scene. In addition, I have reconfigured the track slightly and extended the lake so that the train will pass over the lake, adding visual impact. For now I have opted for one long continuous county road that will go from the elevators, across the lake, around the front of the layout and service the milling operations and some other businesses. This will also add more areas for railfanning. By crossing over the lake this should add some visual impact also and adding the other structures should help in hiding some of the track. Here's what the final plan is: In addition, the NFW will interchange with the BNSF. Motive power for the NFW will be 4 GP40-2's in a simple black and yellow paint scheme and there will be plenty of hoppers. The process never ends, does it? But hey, that's the fun of it all!
I'm digging this design. The 3rd is the best, as I'm sure most would agree. However, when I went back and looked at the first design I noticed something that would be easy to do, but not so easy in your last draft. Anyway, the area I'm dealing with is the top section where the spurs for the industries to the left and right come off the siding. For me, I'd have to have a short run around, just enough for a car or 2 to switch those spurs. I mean duh, of course the siding is a big run-around in and of itself but you would tie up the main and it seems a bit of a hassle to go around and around to switch both sides of the industry. I was easier to add in on your first draft because the spurs were angled off and you just had to add 2 more switches and connect the dots. But with the draft right above this post, the spurs are straight east and west and I don't see where you could add a run-around logically. Like I said, you already have one, it's a bit big and maybe a hassle but it's there. It's not like you'll have to run the engine all the way around the layout But at the same time it's something I thought worth mentioning...
Thanks for the comment. I agree about tying up the main and since there is no urgency, I'm going to look carefully at the plan and see if there is a better solution over the next few days without jeopardizing the integrity of what I have on the drawing board now. I just want to get it right and be happy with the operation of the layout.
I think that you may over complicate things by creating a short run-around in the middle. Your plan is certainly for single train ops so 'fouling the main' isn't really an issue. However, you have no real way to access both ends of the BNSF interchange track without going to the long siding for a run-around move. Perhaps you will only access one direction. If not, that's where I might fiddle around and see if a passing siding (which becomes part of the interchange track) could be fit in. The other suggestion I'd make is to see if you could restore some angles with the sidings in the middle. You have two straight sidings that dominate the center of the board with your nice curves surrounding. While it might mean getting permission to fill part of the lake on the left I'd try to bend that spur toward the lower left. Maybe put a curved section in before the turnout. That might not work, but it might and if it did I think would make the layout be more visually interesting. Thanks for keeping us posted.
This should be the final plan................. I spent most of last night tinkering and did come to the conclusion things were getting over complicated for the space. I did angle the industries in the middle slightly and still maintain the visual impact of the lake in the lower left. As far as the track on the right, it will mimic real life. Here locally the line travels to the north and northeast where it joins the BNSF. As the line comes into town it turns and makes an east-west journey. There is abandoned trackage that continues to the south a little ways and then no tracks; however, it is interesting that the RR still owns the land that travels further south but has leased it to the state in order that they don't have to pay any property taxes. In fact, we are in a battle to try and purchase a narrow 10 acre strip that passes through 169 acres we own and planning a 300 home development and commercial site. Of course no one is really wanting to cooperate and the RR is probably never going to do anything with the land. This battle goes all the way to the UP and of course we know how that could play out.:sad: Enough of the rant. Any way, this should be the final. Of course as soon as the benchwork is completed and the track is test-fitted, there may have to be some slight modifications but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Again, thanks for all the input from everyone.
It never is finished, is it? Just when I thought it was finalized, I may have more room than originally thought. As I was cleaning, organizing and throwing stuff out of the room I may end up with some more area that I can come off the left side so it will end up in an U shape. This will afford me an opportunity to have a small to medium size stub-end yard. I redid the track and will come off the upper left as a lead to BNSF and the yard and eliminate the lead off the upper right. The abandoned trackage will stay as there is no real possibility for expansion from that end. I imagine a scene there with an old, rusting caboose sitting on the track with weeds and trees growing up around it. I bought some lumber and other items this past weekend and should have the room ready by this weekend to start construction on the benchwork. As I get 2 or 3 of the modules finished I will be able to tell more how much real estate I will gain. Slowly getting there!:teeth:
Additional real estate and proposed new plan It looks like I will be able to acquire an additional 12" x 72" area down the left side of the original plan. My intent is to utilize this space for a stub-end yard for storage. In addition, I added another passing siding along the long wall. Here's the proposed new plan: Comments are welcome.
You can store more cars if you use a compound ladder track. If you choose to keep the ladder arrangement and you are using manual switch machines then you may want to flip the direction of the ladder so you have direct access to the mechanism. These Xtracad drawings, (maybe drawn by Nscale Mike), make clear the advantage of a compound ladder:
You make a good point. I'll work on the design this weekend. Also scheduled is the beginning of the benchwork. I'm going to start with the modules on the short 5' wall and work my way around. This will give me some time before I get to the proposed yard section. Thanks again.
revised yard Okay, I got a chance to work some more on the plan at work today and have revised the yard. Much more room for storage now. I am still having some issues with crossovers and making them line up just right. I'll have to do some more tweaking. I'm going to try and tweak it in between working on the benchwork this weekend.
I love it. The yard looks great! Some folks may feel you need to work in a "run-a-round" track if you intend to make up your trains using the loco. The alternative is using two locos or GHA (giant hand action) It is beautiful. Love it! Are you using RTS or Xtracad?
I like what you've done. Let me show you two variations, one small and one not so small. The first one is very much like yours with (I hope) a little more of the straight line effect I think is good in a yard ladder. The next one requires a tighter turn from the mainline to let you create a very straight yard ladder. It includes a run-around track as well. The cross-overs for this run around can be moved to create a longer track before the run-around (which I'd probably do). This plan has the same number of yard tracks but probably less total capacity.
Grey One: Thanks for the comment. I'm using RTS and more comfortable with it than XtrakCad. I'm working on the "run around" issue and by the time I get to that module I should have something figured out. Mark Smith: Mark, I like your first variation as it is visually more appealing than the second to me. As I mentioned, by the time I get to that module I should have pretty well decided how it will appear. No benchwork today as there were other commitments, but should be able to accomplish some tomorrow. Thanks again for all the wonderful advice and help here!
Mark Smith: Thanks again for your variations. I hope I have your permission to incorporate the 1st variation into my plan. Visually it looks good and secondly, it is less cumbersome to get to and from the engine house than what I had drawn up. Here it is with your variation:
another modification....... After studying the plan, I came to the realization that I did not have a decent roadway access for the employees to get to the yard, so I have modified the plan somewhat. The revisions primarily deal with scenery. I moved the lake to the top so the track will now follow along the shore of the lake. In its place at the bottom left, we now have a farm house along with the owner's wheat field. Scenery-wise I think there is more balance now plus the employee's have good access to the yard and can get to work.
Poppy, I think your scenery to track ratio is subperb. I personaly am a yard hog so I liked the other _for me_ more but the current is excellent. I don't care if the employees teleport in.
