A new model railroad is born! I have started construction on a small n-scale layout depicting the Trinity Railway Express, roughly circa 2002. The TRE is a commuter railroad operating between Dallas and Fort Worth, TX and also hosts freight operations and run-throughs by UP and BNSF. (occasionally even Amtrak!) The layout is the n-scale equivalent of the ubiquitous HO 4x8 style layout, measuring roughly 38" x 78". It will be a twice around and will have a backdrop running down the center to separate the layout into two sections. Benchwork is old-school open-grid, "cookie cutter on risers" method. Atlas C55 on cork roadbed will be the standard. I don't have a trackplan drawn up and scanned in but here's a picture of the benchwork I've done thus far. The plywood is all cut and some of the risers are in place. I'll try to describe what you are seeing as much as possible, and hopefully I'll get a decent trackplan up before long. The Tour 1. For starters, if you look a little right and slightly above dead-center you will see a wye drawn out on the plywood. Move further right from there to the layout edge and you will see a lower-level passing siding the disappears under the upper level toward the top of the photo. This is "DALLAS", which will have a TRE platform and will represent the two stations in Dallas-proper but won't have Dallas Union Station present for space reasons. 2. Moving clockwise from DALLAS, the track crosses a creek and you can see a siding in the bottom right corner. This siding is "Coca-Cola Siding" and represents a switching branch that ultimately serves the Dallas Coca-Cola bottling plant. Cars destined for industries on the branch get spotted/stored here...mostly corn syrup cars though. The spur is designed to hold 3 corn syrup cars or 2 longer cars. 3. Further clockwise into the bottom left corner is Mockingbird Yard. The prototype is a small yard and this one is even smaller! Essentially two class/storage tracks, a combo class/engine service track, and two industries: a sand unloading track and the facing point spur further up serves another corn syrup transload facility. 4. Past Mockingbird Yard, the line is doubletracked and crosses over the Trinity River (courtesy of a Walthers truss) and curves into the area at the topmost center part of the photo. There is an industry spur leading to a warehouse in that area. 5. Further clockwise (about 2 o'clock on the top right side of the layout) finds another industry spur and the trackage veers toward the inside of the layout toward the wye. The wye and surrounding trackage is IRVING, with another TRE platform. The wye is signature element of the line in my mind...Herzog uses the area for M.O.W. operations, and BNSF's former Frisco line to Tulsa, OK begins it's trek north from here. 6. Leaving IRVING has the line crossing a creek (again!) and entering the curve to bring the line back around to the other side of the layout. Another passing siding depicts MID-CITIES station, a morphed version of several stops the TRE makes between Irving and Fort Worth. There is an industry siding as well, and also a siding leading to the TRE Yard, which serves as storage for the equipment during off-peak hours as well as maintenance and repairs of the commuter cars and locomotives. 7. The line turns to the left out of MID-CITIES and crosses "another tributary" of the Trinity River :teeth: (via two ME open deck 80-footers angling underneath the Walthers truss above) and then diverges into another TRE station siding representing FORT WORTH before disappearing under the upper level to complete the journey. So, a lot going on for such a small layout but I really think it's gonna be a fun challenge. Probably all kinds of design no-no's but I think given the space I have a viable plan. Keep in mind that I'm just trying to capture the flavor of the TRE and some of the elements are a little out of place or modeler's license applied to fit in the given space. Anyway, let me know what you think...I know it will be much easier to digest with an actual track plan so I'll work on that.
Doug, Taking TRE to the Dallas Stars games, I have noticed a hobo living in a tent just east of Irving station in the woods by the ROW. I think you should add that scene somewhere just east of the Irving Y. Looks great, BTW. Glad to see you are spending weekends wisely.....
What about a crack house? Jeff, duly noted about said hobo! I may have to use modeling license and move him slightly west of the wye since there will be some woods in that area. Might be a good opportunity for the "LED flickering campfire" trick. Mike also made a suggestion in another post that I include a gentlemen's club. You guys sure are painting a wonderful picture of D/FW, lemme tell ya! :teeth: Maybe I'll model a body floating in the Trinity River as well. hehe Seriously, thanks for the comments. I need to get some figures to load up the Bombardier cars that are all wearing Stars jerseys, methinks.
Nice railroad, I love modern era layouts. Would you be putting a DART line in there? What are your minimum radii curves? I'm just starting out, too. My layout is ambiguously set somwhere between or either Central or Southern California, and I got an Athearn Metrolink Bombardier/F59PHI set so I'll be running a fictional commuter line into Los Angeles. How do you open the coaches to put people in?
You know, I'm not sure how to open the cars but I can't imagine that it's too difficult. But I heard that Athearn glued some of their locos so maybe it's not possible, I haven't really checked into it. While I don't have room to model downtown Dallas in the current iteration, I certainly would be interested in modeling Dallas Union Station if the opportunity presented itself, and I would like to model the DART trains then. I've looked for cars that are even close to the DART sets but I haven't been successful, although truthfully I haven't looked that hard. Minimum mainline radius is 12" but most is 13 1/2" or better. I've ran my Bombardier's on Kato's 12 3/8" without incident (well, other than the obvious "visual" problems.) so I hope they will operate OK on the Atlas...I'm not gonna get worked up about how the car looks going around a turn at this point. But good operation is a concern, and maybe I should just buy some Atlas sectional and test on it before I go too much further.
Look at the November MR. There's an aerial pic of Dallas Union Terminal, though it's a picture from the early 60s. It's in the "Prototypical passenger operations" article. I was able to open my Athearn F59PHI. Just carefully snap off the rear walkway (the rear coupler goes with it) and lift the body from the chassis. Supposedly you can drop in a DCC decoder in there, but I don't know where it goes (the PC board is right on top though). As for DART trains, you might look into some Japanese models, I heard some of the manufacturers like Kato or Tomix make light rail trains. The DART LRVs are Japanese made, aren't they? You just might find a similar model, but they're only released in the Japan market. The Kato trains we see here are made and imported esepectially for the US market. If all else fails, model a double-tracked line with concrete ties and some overhead wire to make it look like there's a DART line...Maybe model a station. I'm a recent convert from HO, who switched because I got frustrated with not having large enough radius curves on my HO layout to run Superliners, Auto Carriers, etc. So my minimum mainline radius us 18". I actually used my old HO sectional track to do my track outlines -- HO track is exactly th same width as N scale roadbed, so all I have to do is make the roadbed follow the lines.
Hey, Good luck with the layout.Is Shirley still the head of TRE? She was our boss.She took a bunch of engineers with her from NJT.When you start running trains,make sure(to be prototypical ) you add 10 min between your last 2 stops.This is called"Shirley Time".To help keep your "on time preformance" high.:shade:
Doug, Wait for the Kato FP40 and Bi Levels in Chicago Metra (or predessors) and model the Chicago River if you want floaters...... However, the TRE does run by the sewer treatment plant, giving you an op for another kind of floater......
I'll have to check out that MR photo. Yes, I knew that the locos came apart, just not sure about the cars. A fellow modeler has converted his F59's to DCC and added all the lights and everything. I hope to do that at some point. I heard there were some Japanese cars that might be a good starting point for the DART equipment, but I've not been successful in even finding what model it is that would be close. It's funny you mention about the double-track concrete ties...I was actually considering doing JUST THAT-- and have the overhead there and everything--for the train that never comes. Still might try it, we'll see. Of course I'll be using concrete ties for some sections of the TRE as well, and that really sets it as "modern" so I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out. I would have like to have spec'ed a larger minimum radius, but I decided that the sharp radius and unrealistic overhang bothers me a WHOLE lot less than no layout at all, and I really wanted to have as small a layout as possible so that was part of the compromise. There are some things I can do to get more space and slighly larger radii if I absolutely have to, like using curved turnouts in strategic spots, but I think I'll be OK. That's a good tip about the HO sectional track, BTW!
How about a Z scale TRE! American Z Line released these 2 years ago and a few are still available. Just think of all the extra scenery you could add to the layout by building it in Z scale? AZL Dallas TRE available at http://www.ztrack.com Hobo Tim
Dont you mean the Minnesota North Stars?? Sorry still bitter about losing them . Looks like a cool project Doug, keep us posted on the developing details.
To open the coaches, you simply spread the sides slightly (so the interior doesn't snag on the window inserts) and pull the underframe out. The body isn't glued on. However, the interior IS glued to the underframe. I plan on adding lights to my cab car, people in the seats, and maybe detailing the interior (anyone have a pic of the interior of a Metrolink car? I can't remember the color :embarassed: ) As for the loco, I've never found it necessary to remove the pilots. The mechanism just pulls right out.
The seats are pinkish/lavender-colored. I'll post one here later or PM you a link (no pun intended). My dad rides the OC Line to Tustin every morning. I might put an N scale version of him in my train, heheh.
Thanks :shade: It's been a couple years since I rode the Metrolink. All I couldd remember was that whetever color they were, it was not the beige color Athearn molded theirs in.
Hi Doug, Well done & Congratulations on starting the layout!!! It's all too easy to do nothing but collect models in this hobby (I am Guilty as charged). I agree on the radius issue, I too would rather have a layout with small radius than no layout at all. I would like to start my own layout soon, even though I dont have the space at the moment, I thought I would build the key yard area in two or three modules. its so frustrating not to be able to run any of my models.
cool This looks like a neat start to a layout! Z SCALE! z scale TRE! man that is sooo neat, but a bit too small for my young eyes I must admit.:teeth: It is very easy to collect models and do nothing too.
AZL Sets Nope, $350.00 for the set. Also have the Amtrak California w/California Cars Amtrak West w/Surfliner Cars MetroLink w/Bombadiers More to come!
More!!!! Coaster w/Bombadiers Sounder w/Bombadiers and the West Coast Express w/Bombadiers All in Z scale!!! It's amazing! Z is catching up to HO right now, and before long, N!!! Hobo Tim
