I'd realy could use some of your ideas please

[CBCNSfan]

Hi all, well the last advice for my layout yard worked so well, I figgured I'd ask again before going too far with construction. The track is just laying in place, not nailed. The area, to be named Plesant Valley will have a saw mill ( on the right) and maybe a store or some other suggested building. Between the track and the hill a road to the station would look good (I think) and a log pond for the mill. We are looking at the 70's era, even an outhouse

wouldn't be out of place. I planned a second track for here because without it switching would be a nightmare, the mainline has a steep grade and its a long run back to the yard. Caboose will be in use to make it more interesting ( I think ) anyway here's a couple of photos to think about. Questions are welcome
Cheers Willis

 

[B_Kosanda]

Not much space there. If you put any industry along the siding tracks, those houses will look out of place. What's forward of the picture? Can the outside track switch back and run along the main? This would be onto the grey colored board in the foreground.

Bill

 

[HaggisKennedy]

I would put a team track facility back there; there isn't a whole lot of space for a large industry. An alternative would be a very small industry, one that would take one freight car at most. The houses would be smaller, maybe, as they could be company housing.

One mistake that's commonly made is to cram way too much trackwork and stuff into every conceivable space. Sometimes less is more, and looks better and not so cluttered. The team track could have a storage hut plus a platform to unload a flatcar. A small storage hut takes up less space than an industry/business, and the open space may well look better overall in the scheme of your layout.....

Kennedy

 

[B_Kosanda]

How about a plastic pellet offload facility? There is one by my house that usually has a couple covered hoppers on the siding. The building consists of only a small cinder block shed with a pump or blower of some sort in it. The trucks pull up under a little covered canopy area and sit while the pellets are offloaded.

Bill

 

[abcraghead]

How about a gravel loader from a quarry? It would add some interesting height, and not take up any space at all, as it's all above the track. It would allow you to run 2 bay coal hoppers with an unusual load -- easy as ballast and glue -- and remember a few others things too, ballast/aggregates usually can only be loaded halfway into a hopper, due to their weight, and would create quite a struggle for your train. On the real P&W, a 17 car agregate train requires two units with a total HP of 4000, and that's in a relatively mild valley railroad environment. On your mountainous road, you could easily run a dedicated "rock train" of, say, 8-10 hoppers, all half loaded with gravel, behind 4000 HP of engines -- lets say two of those big Alcos -- and just like here, you could run it *every day* or even multiple times per day. Who to ship to? A Department of Transportation spur for road building, or a dam project, or even the railroad itself for ballast, or better yet, to transload onto barges at some port somewhere, for use in roadbuilding and construction.

 

[CBCNSfan]

What's forward of the picture? Can the outside track switch back and run along the main? This would be onto the grey colored board in the foreground.

Don't see why not! what do you have in mind? the closest turnout is the mainline to the lower loops, see pic.

I would put a team track facility back there; there isn't a whole lot of space for a large industry. An alternative would be a very small industry,

That's what I was thinking about the saw mill, but I have no idea of how to fit it in.

How about a plastic pellet offload facility?

Good idea, I have no covered hoppers though, a small freight shed might work there instead

One mistake that's commonly made is to cram way too much trackwork and stuff into every conceivable space. Sometimes less is more, and looks better

This put me on another train of thought, maybe a small rural type village without any trackage, or maybe just a short team track by the pass. station

How about a gravel loader from a quarry?

This one really has me thinking, I must have eight or nine 2 bay hoppers that will unload when the chute doors are tripped. It would give a good reason for a lot of rock face and a more gentle slope from the rock face to the upper level. As a plus, there would be no houses or buildings required other than an office building, a few trucks and loaders and a pile of rocks.

Take a look at the new pic forget the buildings that are there ( should have taken them off before taking the photo) see how the above ideas would fit in as everything is worth considering before I start ( remember the trackage is not down permenant)

Cheers Willis

 

[abcraghead]

How about this?

Overhead loader for both tracks, so you can load all the cars, followed by a moving of the station to the foreground area. It's aligned to be parallel to the spur, on the theory that this might have been the original mainline once, to explain why the main now uses a diverging route. I've "kitbashed" a simpler roof on the depot and repainted it, to make it less like the Atlas stock kit. I've "paved" over the spur with gravel, and put a small maintenance shed in a similar paintjob up by the tunnel.

I don't know if you are operating under Train Order or not, but I've put a train order board on the depot, with the idea that the depot is still a functional orders location, with the baggage section remodelled as offices for the quarry. Oh, reminds me, put some yard boards near the tunnel, and another far enough back from the switch for a locomotive and all your hoppers, so they can work the area without interfering with scheduled trains.

 

[HaggisKennedy]

To me, the main thing is that the terrain over the tunnel and supporting the elevated track isn't good for anything but that. You won't have any industry on that side, since it's just "there". The houses are OK, or, maybe a building butting up against it.

Still, you may want to consider, in real life, would you put a structure against that "hill"? There's a train going through the tunnel, there's trains up on top, how much "stuff" is going to roll down that hill with each passage?

That may be a consideration.

Kennedy

 

[CBCNSfan]

By Kennedy
That may be a consideration.

It certainly is, now that you mentioned it. In real life I'd not consider building a house near, or certainly not below such a senario. If a loco left the track and hauled a few cars with it it could wipe out a whole village so located. I guess the same could be said for a sawmill since rock faces provide very little in the way of lumber. The gravel loader still looks good though, although I'm not sure how the RR feels about the undermining of their roadbed.

By abcraghead
I've "kitbashed" a simpler roof on the depot and repainted it, to make it less like the Atlas stock kit.

You've What! I kind of believed the Atlas station was patterned after the ICR stations here in the Maritimes
http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.com/Photo archive/Antigonish station DE88 BL.jpg
There was one even closer looking to the Atlas model here in Westville but it was demolished during the 80's .
As you can see in the photo, the grades on my layout are realistic enough
also. The Atlas Stn. does look a bit small, sort of between N and HO, and since I have a larger stn. (called Arlee or something like that) with a horrible looking roof ( just kidding ) that might just serve the purpose of hiding that switch machine, however now I'm kind of wondering as to why I'd need a station there.
Cheers Willis

 

[emt49]

To me, the main thing is that the terrain over the tunnel and supporting the elevated track isn't good for anything but that. You won't have any industry on that side, since it's just "there". The houses are OK, or, maybe a building butting up against it.

Still, you may want to consider, in real life, would you put a structure against that "hill"? There's a train going through the tunnel, there's trains up on top, how much "stuff" is going to roll down that hill with each passage?

That may be a consideration.

Kennedy

my house (real house) is bult right at the bottem of a steep by steep i mean you need to grab trees to help you climb the hill you cant just walk strate up the hill and at the top of that hill are railroad tracks. to give you a idea how big the hill is a (small town )church used to sit were my house is and the trains used to tower over that bulding steepl and all.and when thay do track work thay need to be careful because ties roll down the hill and hit my house i have one agenst it now that was brand new as of three years ago that rolled down the hill and stoped when it hit my house.

my rail fan buddies love to watch trains tower over my house. if one would happen to jump the rails my house would be history. the trees that are there are not that big so thay wont stop it thay may slow it down some. if i ever get a to use my friends digatal camra i will try to get a pic of it now is the best time no leaves to block the viwe

 

[CBCNSfan]

Hi emt, back in the early 80's I lived close to the CN mainline in Trenton Ont. I never noticed the noise untill one night both my wife and myself woke up at 3AM one morning because of the silence , They had a derailment and the lack of noise was not normal so we were wakened. There wasn't much of a hill and with about 150 ft distance and a deep ditch we were quite safe.

Well I changed things a bit because I didn't have a gravel loader but I did have a sawmill and did my best to fit that in. Attached are a couple of pics for your comments or ideas to improve on it. Far right is the log pond and on the left is finished product shipping, a forklift would go a long way here. The mountain side will have to be redone, the styrofoam base was replaced with plywood and the whole thing raised about an inch to cut down on the grade into the area

Cheers Willis

 

[emt49]

here are the pic of the trains running on the hill above my house i am on my pourch the pourch is about 5 ft off the ground and in one shot you can see the side of the house.

Hi emt, back in the early 80's I lived close to the CN mainline in Trenton Ont. I never noticed the noise untill one night both my wife and myself woke up at 3AM one morning because of the silence , They had a derailment and the lack of noise was not normal so we were wakened. There wasn't much of a hill and with about 150 ft distance and a deep ditch we were quite safe.

i know what you mean one night my gf and i were out side it was well after midnight and we herd a loud bang. when the train got to my house it was just about stoped. my gf asked what the loud bang was i told here it was eather a derailment or someone got hit by a train and the slack in the couplers just banged together when the driver hit the brakes. well just after i seid that my fire pager went off and i was dispatched to a man hit by a train about a mile from my house .

 

[CBCNSfan]

Well I always say " to each his own", man I'm glad I don't live there, even being deaf wouldn't keep me from hearing trains.
Cheers Willis

 

[emt49]

Well I always say " to each his own", man I'm glad I don't live there, even being deaf wouldn't keep me from hearing trains.
Cheers Willis

i love were i live because its the best rail fan spot i have trusal just in front of my house and a tunnel about 2 miles frome my house. i live along the C.P rail main line from binghamton ny to albany ny and beyond wich used to be the D&H.

 

[CBCNSfan]

Hi All, thanks for the ideas. Had to opt out on the gravel loader because I didn't have one but I do have a couple of sawmills. Anyway here is the result and I believe I'll continue with this.
Cheers Willis