Layout Design Help Needed


The passenger station will be the focal point of the layout.
Hi Bob well a bit off present topic of electrical, but there are still a few things to be looked at first. You plan on putting a fair bit of change$$$ into the passenger station and equipment. Now going back previous posts the area at the bottom of the plan was for viewing and I assume entry to the room. You have shifted the station from the center area to the forefront and that is a good move, however unless you plan to have stick people or undernourished viewers and operators I can't see one and one half feet of clearance being enough. It would be a shame for an unintentional blow from an arm or butt to damage or completely ruin the station not to mention any rolling stock parked there. ( Remember Murphy's law) The second thing that comes to mind again is the radius of the loop and the lead to the station. I doubt you will have room for a max radius of 22" and that will leave full length passenger cars looking kind of odd entering and leaving the station.

Cheers Willis
 
> Don't forget your cross overs are reversing loops electrically.

Not without the loop sections they're not... Consider this. If you remove the two looping curves on the left side, there is no way to turn a train, thus no reverse loop.

If I take care of those two (or three since I may well add a wye in there) sections, the rest of the layout is just a regular oval, no reverse loops, unless I'm missing something.
 
> the area at the bottom of the plan was for viewing and I
> assume entry to the room...
> I can't see one and one half feet of clearance being enough.

No I have to admit I'd be hard press to fit in an 18 inch aisle. The good news is that the are in question is actually 12 feet wide, being the second half of our two car garage err... storage closet and junk repository. I can't use it for layout construction, but there's plenty of room for access there.

> the radius of the loop and the lead to the station.

The loop will be 22 inch radius. That section is 4 feet wide, and the track will go from side to side, so it will fit fine, just like a 22 inch fits on a 4 x 8 sheet. Granted, it will be close to the edge, but it will fit. I can even cheat a bit on the width if need be and make it 4' 6" or something.

The curve into the station was drawn quickly. It may well be 30 inch radius, with a curved turnout instead of the wye shown there. Again, this is still in the rough layout stage, one step beyond the "armstrong squares" stage at the moment, and not final by any means.
 
Hi Bob the station is stub ended, do you plan to back the passenger train in , or a straight run in and change engines for outward bound?
Cheers Willis
 
modelbob said:
I think I could do the same thing now, and have one of the two settings be for DCC while the other selects conventional DCC. I recently saw an article in one of the model mags (now where did I put that!?!) about a system that allowed a club to use both systems. It seemed a lot more complicated though, not sure why...
I remember reading that too...but I don't think I have the magazine anymore. It did seem a but complicated though. I think they were using DCC in a few small sections, and DC everywhere else. If I recall, they had a lot of 'blocks.'
 
modelbob said:
> Don't forget your cross overs are reversing loops electrically.

Not without the loop sections they're not... Consider this. If you remove the two looping curves on the left side, there is no way to turn a train, thus no reverse loop.
I got to quit trying to analyze stuff when I can't see straight. I was thinking of "fun with toggle switches" on those crossovers. Sheesh.
 
abcraghead said:
Another acquaintance of mine is an engineer at TacoRail, and has a layout in his garage in a similar state of disrepair. Last I ran it, we were using 80's BN power on the mainline, and a P2K 0-6-0 on the branchline. There is no scenery and the branch is right above the main yard on a piece of plywood.

However, operations were quite challenging due to a really stiff branchline gradient, and the use of accurate TR style switchlists. I thought it was rather cool, even if it would never win style points.

And switch indication dispatching... Josh decided to fly down that branch at a scale 60 mph, slam on the brakes, slide 4 feet, and nearly side swiped my intermodal train, being led by a BN SD-9 and Gp-9, go figure :D

Getting back on topic here.
I feel that the engine terminal takes upa bit of space. That area could be better suited for the mine you talked about, or which I would like to see, a sorta Port of Tacoma type thing. Possibly a large train-ship grain elevator, an auto unloading center, or an intermodal yard. You could then place the loco servicing up by the yard. However, that would most likely rule out the 20" turntable, or a turntable at all. Maybe just a couple of tracks with some fuel cranes and a sanding tower. You could then use your yard to receive cars from the industrial area and the port. Have a switch crew block up cars into Z trains and road freights, and go on your merry way.
 
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> I feel that the engine terminal takes up a bit of space.

That's true, but it also provides a place to park my locos, and display them.

> That area could be better suited for the mine you talked about

The mine will be near the engine terminal, above the (hidden) staging tracks, if the layout ever gets that far...

> I would like to see, a sorta Port of Tacoma type thing.
> Possibly a large train-ship grain elevator, an auto unloading
> center, or an intermodal yard.

There's nowhwere near enough room for any of that stuff, the space is actually pretty small. I'll be hard pressed to fit an enginehouse in there.
 
One of my modules has some spurs added to it so I can put in an engine house plus a couple of places to park locos and cars that need setting out. These weren't originally included in the track plan I found, but there was space to stick them in without cluttering up the place.

You never have enough space for everything. But, once you have all the pieces out there, you can be surprised what will work with some fiddling around....

Kennedy
 
> You never have enough space for everything. But, once you have
> all the pieces out there, you can be surprised what will work with
> some fiddling around....

I'm quite certain I can add some more spurs and sidings etc.

I also know I can't do the Port of Tacoma any justice. They run an awful lot of container trains and 5 pack well cars are long, no matter how you look at it.

Also, I'm way too familiar with the real thing. The Pierce County Terminal project was a yard that was about 7,000 feet long. I was our company's (the rail installation contractor) project engineer on it, and so I know just how big it really was. Nothing I could fit into a 5 foot space, or even a 20 foot space, would do it justice in my mind.

That's one reason I'm planning on the mine spur. 40 foot hoppers can make a longer looking train in a relatively short distance.
 



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