Need some Opinions on my new design

[fiend540]

Well after my other layout design thread I decided I needed to go back to the drawing board. I figured out exactly how much room I have to work with and decided what the focus of my rail road would be. It is going to be a shelf style layout and this is the list of what I wanted it to have"

-Functional switching style layout, good balance of difficulty and ease to use
-Modern era equipment, typical gp/sw motive power
-All #5 switches
-As large of radius as possible on the curves
-Small car storage yard
-Typical city industrial setting, think grimy rundown rust belt citys

So after making my want list I set about working on a design and this is what I came up with. This is my first layout so it will really be used to learn all the techniques involved and probably will be disassembled in a year when I move. The radius of the two main curves are 20" that I hope will be plenty large enough for most modern equipment. The two 30" removable tail tracks will be powered and only removed when the layout is not in use. I borrowed the idea from MR's beer line articles and I think it will work well in my limited space situation. So enough rambling what I am looking for are opinions, ideas on what I could change to make it better. Also looking for any Ideas on what the industries in the multi-warehouse and Unknown industry could be.

 

[Beachbum]

I really, REALLY like this! Not too cluttered, rational design, good operational possibilities... And if you save it, you could easily incorporate this into a larger layout.

A few industry ideas:

Lumber yard - boxcars and centerbeam flats
Precast concrete form company - cement hoppers and bulkhead flats with rebar
Paper (or other) recycling - boxcars in and out, maybe loaded gondolas in?
Cold storage / beer warehouse - insulated boxcars
Some kind of transload facility - there's a foodstuffs one near here that gets tankers, covered hoppers and occasional boxcars - corn syrup and flour in, etc.

 

[fiend540]

I really, REALLY like this! Not too cluttered, rational design, good operational possibilities... And if you save it, you could easily incorporate this into a larger layout.

A few industry ideas:

Lumber yard - boxcars and centerbeam flats
Precast concrete form company - cement hoppers and bulkhead flats with rebar
Paper (or other) recycling - boxcars in and out, maybe loaded gondolas in?
Cold storage / beer warehouse - insulated boxcars
Some kind of transload facility - there's a foodstuffs one near here that gets tankers, covered hoppers and occasional boxcars - corn syrup and flour in, etc.

Thanks for the kind words Beachbum, After posting this I went back and tried to move some track around and just ended up with a big mess. It seems the hardest part is getting the right balance of usable track without ending up with a spaghetti bowl. Over all I am pretty happy with my original design, I figure each industry can hold 2-3 cars and for a small layout that is about right.

Anyone else want to chime in? Be it good or bad give me your opinion, I just want some feedback

 

[Rico]

I like it! As said it could easily be added to a larger layout later, either in the middle of or at the end.
I added one track for variety and to make more of a through mainline. It would also allow for two switchers to run at the same time, with care!
As for businesses, I like when a car is unloaded at one then shuffled over to the other. BB has mentioned some great ideas for industries that might use the cars from another. A team track is also a great idea as they take just about every kind of car that your industires don't.

 

[fiend540]

I like it! As said it could easily be added to a larger layout later, either in the middle of or at the end.
I added one track for variety and to make more of a through mainline. It would also allow for two switchers to run at the same time, with care!
As for businesses, I like when a car is unloaded at one then shuffled over to the other. BB has mentioned some great ideas for industries that might use the cars from another. A team track is also a great idea as they take just about every kind of car that your industires don't.

Thanks, Thats a pretty good addition I will keep it in mind. As of right now I am leaning towards Industry 1 becoming a Industrial and Construction supply company. I figure they will receive box cars,Center beams of lumber, flat cars with machinery and structural items and I can probably figure out a way to sneak in gondolas as well.

 

[lmackattack]

This is what I would add id it were mine. Im thinking all you will be doing is pulling the cars with a small road switcher and only need space for one or wo engines

add 2 run around tracks to get engine(s) out of the dead end/add a few more buildings with spur tracks. remove one of the large run arounds

Just my .02
Trent

 

[DaWolf85]

This is what I would add id it were mine. Im thinking all you will be doing is pulling the cars with a small road switcher and only need space for one or wo engines

add 2 run around tracks to get engine(s) out of the dead end/add a few more buildings with spur tracks. remove one of the large run arounds

Just my .02
Trent

IMHO, the bottom industry would not need a new track, you could connect it to the original trackage, as long as you only modified the long runaround track to fit. It might make for more of a switching puzzle but I'd find that kind of fun. Plus, no real RR would put in such a crossover when it's easily avoidable by a different method (i.e. what I just proposed).

 

[fiend540]

Ok guys, I took some of your ideas and have been working on a revise while watching hockey and baseball tonight. This is my new revision, as you can see I made it so I now have a dedicated main line for future expansion and I moved some track around to make things flow better. This allowed me to fit in another industry that I decided to be a concrete transfer station that will allow me to use the handful of 2 bay hoppers I own. It also allowed me to extend the siding at the bottom of the layout. All in all I am pretty happy with my changes, I feel like I kept to the rules I had set for myself and ended up with a pretty nice looking layout. Let me know what you guys think

 

[Beachbum]

This allowed me to fit in another industry that I decided to be a concrete transfer station that will allow me to use the handful of 2 bay hoppers I own. It also allowed me to extend the siding at the bottom of the layout. All in all I am pretty happy with my changes, I feel like I kept to the rules I had set for myself and ended up with a pretty nice looking layout. Let me know what you guys think

What if you had the building supply spur come off the main by the bottom tail extension? Then the switchback to the bldg supply could be a RIP / "aisle industry" / interchange track, which would give you a reason to spot almost any kind of car on it.

There's a UP RIP track just west of Union Station in Chicago which is used mainly for intermodal cars, but I've seen boxcars with twisted drawbars and even an ancient tankcar waiting to be cut up for scrap sitting there.

John Armstrong advocated having all the TOs facing one way in an area except for one, just to provide variety, so I'd add a short facing point spur in the lower left corner off the main, where the bldg supply switch would be.

Just tossing out a random idea here - your current design is good and I don't know how the measurements would work out if you changed the bldg supply spur.

(Guess I need a flickr account or something so I can attach pix / drawings.)

 

[fiend540]

What if you had the building supply spur come off the main by the bottom tail extension? Then the switchback to the bldg supply could be a RIP / "aisle industry" / interchange track, which would give you a reason to spot almost any kind of car on it.

I tried to get another spur in that spot but with out using a custom curved turnout it wouldn't work out well. What ends up happening is I either have to pinch that inside curves radius below my set minimum of 20" or it ends up shuffling all the track work over one the long side which cuts the lead to the Industrial supply spur to way less than 30" and then I can't get a loco and 2 cars into that siding.

(Guess I need a flickr account or something so I can attach pix / drawings.)

Not true sir, when you go to make a post/thread if you look under the additional options below where you type you can click "Manage Attachments" and you can add up to 4 images of a certain size or less.

 

[nephthyr]

I like it a lot, this proves you don't need a lot of space for realistic operation! Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Beachbum]

I tried to get another spur in that spot but with out using a custom curved turnout it wouldn't work out well. What ends up happening is I either have to pinch that inside curves radius below my set minimum of 20" or it ends up shuffling all the track work over one the long side which cuts the lead to the Industrial supply spur to way less than 30" and then I can't get a loco and 2 cars into that siding.

Proving once again that my advice is worth what you pay for it.

I'll have to try a test post with a pic or two...

 

[UP2CSX]

Cory, I think it's a great layout for a small space. It looks like you have some room for some small town buildings and flats in the lower left to add a little variety as well.

 

[fiend540]

Cory, I think it's a great layout for a small space. It looks like you have some room for some small town buildings and flats in the lower left to add a little variety as well.

Thanks Jim, that was kind of my thought when I was figuring out the area. I figure this layout lets me try a bunch of different things when it comes to the scenery/buildings. My only issue now is what my best option comes to for benchwork as well as balancing the urge to buy more locomotives