Cement and Stone Layout


This layout is very compressed and I know that. I did add some changes to the plan a bit.

As for the yard and the way I would have to operate it, makes sense to me. Only 2 maybe 3 cars at a time on the unloading/loading tracks at the cement factoy itself. A arriving train will only consit of 2 or 3 cars from each mine and also only one mine will be arriving at a time. I would then pick up the empties for the other mine and go switch those. Departing full cement cars will most likey be only 3 or 4 cars.

As for the cement and Limestone mine yard tracks, I may elevate the yards and have those track pass over the mainline on a bridge/deck of some sort, giving me more length and also helping to seperate the 2 scenes. I also may sperate the the left scene with a bridge, but those would be the trucks/employee entrances to the facitlies.

I have a clear arrival/departure track that does not foul the main and not to mention the siding (upper most track) that could be used for overflow. This design is only one mainline track. Switching loaded/unloaded only crosses the main at one point, which would be signal controlled as I may want to have another longer train just pass thru. I don't want to do any main line switching.

It may seem like a bunch of back and forth, but thats the point. It will be a small busy place.

I have a clear operation that seems to work for me, maybe I could be wrong.


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Is this a free standing walk all the way around layout? If it is, I rather like it, although it does have a lot going on.

If it is going to be against even one of the three walls, I see the layout as troublesome to construct, maintain and operate.

I have a lot of parallel curved tracks and learned the hard way to make sure I had enough clearance to handle modern rolling stock or long passenger cars. Good luck, and please share lots of pictures as it goes together.
 
I am aiming for 2 5/8' centers on the cuves. This should be plenty for just the small cars that normally operate. could probley even do 2.25''
 
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joed2323 said:
... Your retaining wall, how is this held up, with small angled brackets??
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Yes. The wall is made of masonite, I just planted some angle brackets in staggered positions on either side, then slid the fiberboard right in between them. (I still need to figure out a better way to camouflage them though...)

kz9 said:
...I have a clear operation that seems to work for me, maybe I could be wrong. ...
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Have you tried running any XtrkCAD "visual trains" on your track plan? I made heavy use of that feature when I was designing my current layout. Those virtual op sessions helped me spot a few potential problems.
 
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What you need to do is create a Car Inventory. There should be a parameter file (protoam.xtp) with a few basic default templates for freight cars and locos if you did a standard installation of XtrkCAD on your machine.

Here is a link to the XtrkCAD Wiki Page that outlines the steps to defining and running trains:
http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/RunningTrain?show_comments=1
 
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I have to agree with Ken here. The ability to build and run trains on the layout while its still in the computer will show any potential problems that need addressing.

What's really neat, is after the layout is "finished" on the computer, is to run mock operating sessions that will find things like bottlenecks, poor design, or other problems that won't show until you do start op sessions for real.

This found several shortcomings on my layout design, that otherwise would not have appeared until after construction was finished. Its so easy to fix these on the computer before construction even starts, rather than after its finished.
 
So I had to lengthen one of my spurs on the way back to the yard and also add a run around like someone mentioned ..... :p

Operation works, but its not as efficent as some.

I also played with the yard a bit. I can hold all the cars that a mine can spot. 9 at the limestone and 6 at the gypsum and also have room for cement cars. All in all I worked out to have a empty and loaded track for each of the 3 types of cars at the cement factory.

Also I am going to be using Peco ST-244/245 instead of the SL-87/88 curved turnout. This also will improve the trackwork aswell. Xtrack does not have them in a parameter file and I also already have a few of each I found tonight. They seem to be alot smaller and have a 22'' inner and 24'' outer curve.


The cement factory is going to be the Walthers Valley Cement I already have built, so I have some play in the position of those buildings. Can't change them in Xtrack.....


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XtrackCad comes with a turnout builder that allows you to design and "build" your own turnouts, and then save them to the parameter files. I've done this with several custom curved turnouts that I'll need to build, but there wasn't one in any parameter file that would fit the situation, so I "built" my own.
 
Does the software account for coupling cars on a curve?

Coupling up to a string of cars when they are sitting on a curve is difficult. You generally will need at least 30 inch radius curves to couple reliably, maybe a bit broader.

Check your yard to see if you can really operate it with the curves the way they are.

I saw right off that if you tried to expand the yard in that area you'd have a bunch of curved tracks, which is why I thought placing it on the left blob would give you more room for straight tracks.

If the couplers function adequately on all your curves, I guess its no problem. But it would be a real bummer to find out they didn't after you built it.

You could also flip car loading and unloading and shove valley cement all the way left then use the switchback as a yard lead and have the yard tracks heading to the right. Some different arrangements can work here.
 
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