Carlos Perea
New Member
Shortly after re-joining MRF, I came up with an idea for a layout that I'd like to create.
Currently, I'm working as a production assistant with my dad's company, and if I save my paychecks, I'll be able to afford a modest four feet by eight feet layout in about two or three years or so. This is quite convinient for me since it's also when my dad says he'll have emptied out a spare room that's he's currently using for storing old film and computer equipment. In theory, I could actually have a layout room all to myself!
Going back to the layout, note how I said "modest". This means a mostly or entirely flat layout, with a few structures and some trees (in addition to the rolling stock and tracks), and that'll be all. Before I even considered this, I already found a place to locate my layout. And what do you know, it fits this criteria! If you have any software like Google Earth, go to the southeastern tip of Florida, and locate U.S. Highway 1 (a.k.a. South Dixie Highway). I have chosen the area just south of where Card Sound Road splits off from the main highway. This is an empty area, semi-swampy area, barren except for the tall pine-like trees, patches of which remain in metropolitan areas of Miami-Dade County as a reminder of what the entire county used to look like, and the main road. I have already created a scenario for this layout, and it goes something like this:
Passenger train travel has soared to record heights. Amtrak carried over one hundred million travellers in 2007, and is struggling to find equipment that can suit the demand. "Heritage fleet" coaches, sleepers, and diners have had their retirements postponed as the railroad attempts to take full advantage of this unprecedented growth. Amtrak recently conducted a feasability study into serving parts of extreme southern Miami-Dade County, which has been undergoing a population boom as of late. Why stop there, though? Service to Key West beyond the current thruway Greyhound bus was also looked at, and determined to be at the very least marginally profitable, and at the most... the best-performing service in the system. Despite this growth, however, Amtrak is in no condition to extend a rail line down to Key West. Fortunately for them and their passengers, a major cement factory has opened a facility just south of Florida City, and it is one of those that is heavily dependent on rail. CSX Transportation is planning on extending its line that runs between SW 183rd and 184th Avenues, and then suddenly stops near West Mowry Drive. Redland residents have clamored against the project, but Miami-Dade County, who wanted to tear up the semi-abandoned Opa Locka West Airport for a similar concrete facility, is fully supportive of CSX's plans. The line is soon extended southward to the southernmost tip of the primary landmass that makes up Florida, much to the pleasure of the cement company. Amtrak takes advantage of this, and their tracakge right agreement with CSX is soon extended to cover this latest addition to their Miami subdivision. A carbon copy of their Miami station soon goes up near SW 424th Street, and is dubbed their Homestead station, despite being more than ten miles away from Homestead, proper. Oddly enough, the same is true of their Miami station. Amtrak has been doing well, but does not want to gamble with their newfound success, and decides to not extend Silver Meteor or Silver Star service to their Homestead station. Instead, their train 89/90 (Palmetto), which features reserved coach and business class accomodations, but without the Viewliner roomettes or bedrooms offered by the other Silver Service trains, is extended southward from Savannah, Georgia, now passing through Orlando, Tampa, and Miami before culminating at the new Florida City yard. Amtrak still has Key West in their dreams, and looks into rebuilding the Florida East Coast line into the Keys that was abandoned after experiencing catastrophic damage from the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, but doesn't want to re-build it on its own. CSX is quite content with the line ending just short of the Keys, so for now, Amtrak will just have to settle for the present situation. At least they can still offer a thruway service to Key West, courtesy of Miami-Dade Transit's Dade-Monroe Express route.
Looking back, I guess I got a little into it, LOL. Anyway, since I plan to build this two to three years from now (and hopefully, Walthers will have Amtrak rolling stock in the "Phase IVb" livery by then), that explains some things not quite making sense, such as the passenger count figure toward the beginning. It does require a some suspension of disbelief, however, since I doubt that any of this could happen in such a short timespan, particularly when one considers how long it takes to get anything done in Miami.
Keeping the restricted size of my layout in mind, I've decided to have the Palmetto serve the station on my layout, since it's usually a P42, the occasional Material Handling Car, a baggage car, a business class car, a lounge or dinette, and three coaches. This means I can hopefully park the train at the station without having the cars continue on off of the platform and onto the curve. Now, if that storage room really does get cleared out, I'll have a lot more space to work with, and if the necessary components become avaliable in N scale (unlikely), I'll most likely use it since it takes up less room, so I can put more in the same amount of room. As far as the freight operations go, I have no idea what kind of locomotives or freight cars would normally be associated with a cement plant, or if it varies by region. A quick look of pictures of CSX locomotives in Florida seems to indicate that the Dash 8 is their most used locomotive, but I still don't know what freight cars it would go with. There's always the chance that something more fitting to the industry may come out in the next couple of years, though, which I want to consider.
I have a rough idea of what structures I'd like to have, though. They're all by Walthers, and they're the Blue Star Ready Mix Concrete Batch Plant, Glacier Gravel Company, Amtrak Station, and Medusa Cement. I don't know if they're appropiate for what I'm looking to model, but they seem to be right for it. Some of these are discontinued, but a similar product could be on the way or they'll eventually turn up on eBay. I also don't know how I should arrange the track plan to fit all of this, so I'm looking for some help in that department, as well. I downloaded XTrkCad, and made an oval of track that occupies the outskirts of the space I have to work with. I don't know what to do with anything else, and don't want to risk what's outlined in this thread.
With that being said, what do you all think of my preliminary ideas? How can I improve on them? I'm open to all criticism!
Currently, I'm working as a production assistant with my dad's company, and if I save my paychecks, I'll be able to afford a modest four feet by eight feet layout in about two or three years or so. This is quite convinient for me since it's also when my dad says he'll have emptied out a spare room that's he's currently using for storing old film and computer equipment. In theory, I could actually have a layout room all to myself!
Going back to the layout, note how I said "modest". This means a mostly or entirely flat layout, with a few structures and some trees (in addition to the rolling stock and tracks), and that'll be all. Before I even considered this, I already found a place to locate my layout. And what do you know, it fits this criteria! If you have any software like Google Earth, go to the southeastern tip of Florida, and locate U.S. Highway 1 (a.k.a. South Dixie Highway). I have chosen the area just south of where Card Sound Road splits off from the main highway. This is an empty area, semi-swampy area, barren except for the tall pine-like trees, patches of which remain in metropolitan areas of Miami-Dade County as a reminder of what the entire county used to look like, and the main road. I have already created a scenario for this layout, and it goes something like this:
Passenger train travel has soared to record heights. Amtrak carried over one hundred million travellers in 2007, and is struggling to find equipment that can suit the demand. "Heritage fleet" coaches, sleepers, and diners have had their retirements postponed as the railroad attempts to take full advantage of this unprecedented growth. Amtrak recently conducted a feasability study into serving parts of extreme southern Miami-Dade County, which has been undergoing a population boom as of late. Why stop there, though? Service to Key West beyond the current thruway Greyhound bus was also looked at, and determined to be at the very least marginally profitable, and at the most... the best-performing service in the system. Despite this growth, however, Amtrak is in no condition to extend a rail line down to Key West. Fortunately for them and their passengers, a major cement factory has opened a facility just south of Florida City, and it is one of those that is heavily dependent on rail. CSX Transportation is planning on extending its line that runs between SW 183rd and 184th Avenues, and then suddenly stops near West Mowry Drive. Redland residents have clamored against the project, but Miami-Dade County, who wanted to tear up the semi-abandoned Opa Locka West Airport for a similar concrete facility, is fully supportive of CSX's plans. The line is soon extended southward to the southernmost tip of the primary landmass that makes up Florida, much to the pleasure of the cement company. Amtrak takes advantage of this, and their tracakge right agreement with CSX is soon extended to cover this latest addition to their Miami subdivision. A carbon copy of their Miami station soon goes up near SW 424th Street, and is dubbed their Homestead station, despite being more than ten miles away from Homestead, proper. Oddly enough, the same is true of their Miami station. Amtrak has been doing well, but does not want to gamble with their newfound success, and decides to not extend Silver Meteor or Silver Star service to their Homestead station. Instead, their train 89/90 (Palmetto), which features reserved coach and business class accomodations, but without the Viewliner roomettes or bedrooms offered by the other Silver Service trains, is extended southward from Savannah, Georgia, now passing through Orlando, Tampa, and Miami before culminating at the new Florida City yard. Amtrak still has Key West in their dreams, and looks into rebuilding the Florida East Coast line into the Keys that was abandoned after experiencing catastrophic damage from the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, but doesn't want to re-build it on its own. CSX is quite content with the line ending just short of the Keys, so for now, Amtrak will just have to settle for the present situation. At least they can still offer a thruway service to Key West, courtesy of Miami-Dade Transit's Dade-Monroe Express route.
Looking back, I guess I got a little into it, LOL. Anyway, since I plan to build this two to three years from now (and hopefully, Walthers will have Amtrak rolling stock in the "Phase IVb" livery by then), that explains some things not quite making sense, such as the passenger count figure toward the beginning. It does require a some suspension of disbelief, however, since I doubt that any of this could happen in such a short timespan, particularly when one considers how long it takes to get anything done in Miami.
Keeping the restricted size of my layout in mind, I've decided to have the Palmetto serve the station on my layout, since it's usually a P42, the occasional Material Handling Car, a baggage car, a business class car, a lounge or dinette, and three coaches. This means I can hopefully park the train at the station without having the cars continue on off of the platform and onto the curve. Now, if that storage room really does get cleared out, I'll have a lot more space to work with, and if the necessary components become avaliable in N scale (unlikely), I'll most likely use it since it takes up less room, so I can put more in the same amount of room. As far as the freight operations go, I have no idea what kind of locomotives or freight cars would normally be associated with a cement plant, or if it varies by region. A quick look of pictures of CSX locomotives in Florida seems to indicate that the Dash 8 is their most used locomotive, but I still don't know what freight cars it would go with. There's always the chance that something more fitting to the industry may come out in the next couple of years, though, which I want to consider.
I have a rough idea of what structures I'd like to have, though. They're all by Walthers, and they're the Blue Star Ready Mix Concrete Batch Plant, Glacier Gravel Company, Amtrak Station, and Medusa Cement. I don't know if they're appropiate for what I'm looking to model, but they seem to be right for it. Some of these are discontinued, but a similar product could be on the way or they'll eventually turn up on eBay. I also don't know how I should arrange the track plan to fit all of this, so I'm looking for some help in that department, as well. I downloaded XTrkCad, and made an oval of track that occupies the outskirts of the space I have to work with. I don't know what to do with anything else, and don't want to risk what's outlined in this thread.
With that being said, what do you all think of my preliminary ideas? How can I improve on them? I'm open to all criticism!
), but I'm still not quite sure about how I should lay out the tracks to suit the industries I'd like to place on the layout. So far, using XTrkCad version 3.14, I've made the "mainline" that'll run around the entire table. The light lines are the boundaries of the room, and the dark ones are the borders of the table. What do you all think?
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